X-Com2: The Kotaku Review

[FlyingPenguin]

Considering how I've loved every game in the series, and everyone ranting this is the best game so far, I guess I'll bite...

http://kotaku.com/xcom-2-the-kotaku-review-1757343867

[Err]

Here's TotalBiscuit's WTF impression video. He liked it so much that he put 70+ hours into it so far.

[FlyingPenguin]

Ok, the game is AWESOME. Like Total Biscuit and all the other reviews mention, the game changer is that your squad almost always starts in "concealment mode". So you are pretty free to run, helter-skelter, across the map to the objective, without worrying too much about being seen. You DO need to be careful and try to use cover, but you don't have to sneak up on the aliens like you did in the previous games. This is a LOT more fun. Instead of spending 20 minutes sneaking up on the aliens, only to get your squad decimated, you can move quickly into position.

The new controls are MUCH simpler and require a lot less micro-management. Squad combat control is simple and elegant.

I even love the back story. We LOST THE WAR at the end of the last game, and now it's years later and we're fighting a guerrilla war against the aliens ala Half-Life 2, who are now in cohoots with traitor governing officials.

The graphics also raise the bar.

The save game system is like it used to be: you can save anywhere, any time, so if a mission goes south you can back up several turns and try it again.

I played the first night and just got lost in it, losing total track of time. If you loved the previous games, you'll definitely love this.

[Genom]

Started playing. I used to rock the old Xcom games, never played the 2013 version more than a few minutes. This one I am just bad at it. Maybe I am doing a lot of bad stuff, but I seem to have the most missing, panicky bunch of goobs.

Also, have missions popping up all over the place, and no idea of what to prioritize, but I guess it will take a few campaign restarts to get past that. Fun game.

Oh, and they need to work on their performace big time. This type of game should never have crappy framerate drops and stutters.

[FlyingPenguin]

Different game from the older ones. Since you start out stealthed, this game actually rewards you for being bold and usually punishes you for being cautious - the opposite of the old games.

The first mission IS ridiculously tough. The best thing to do is get as close as you can and flank them then setup overwatches on everyone before you stir up the hornets nest. Doesn't hurt to watch some walkthrus on YouTube.

The good thing is there's less micromanagement in this game.

Some good starter tips here: http://www.gamerevolution.com/features/ ... t-campaign

Yeah, there are performance issues. Crank down anti-aliasing. That helps, and you won't notice it in this game. Make sure you have recent drivers too.

[Genom]

I've progressed a few more missions, and playing a mix of cautious and bold has worked OK. Had one extraction that I took a rookie with 3 veterans. Rookie gets shot, panics, and blows herself up with a grenade.

Still, managed to grab her body, the alien VIP, and run to the extraction zone just in time, as it was the last turn before the alien reinforcements started shooting.

[FlyingPenguin]

Some great game tips here:
http://kotaku.com/tips-for-playing-xcom-2-1757857367

[FlyingPenguin]

Great tip from the above link, is that since Advent reinforcements drop flares a couple of turns before they drop in, you can setup an ambush for them. So satisfying.

I've try to use overwatch A LOT. It really rules in this game. I use fast runners and snipers in overwatch as my lead elements advance.

Some nice examples someone posted in this video.

[Genom]

OK, is anybody's game running like shit after the patch? It is just about unplayable for me now. No matter what my graphics settings are, the game has a 1-2 second pause, every 3-4 seconds. In every single screen. Loading, playing the intro, in a mission, whatever. I've updated my graophics drivers, downgraded them, it's all the same. Game runs like total shit now.

[FlyingPenguin]

Played late last night and it was about the same as ever. I get occasional hiccups like always, but then again I'm running a high end GTX 980

[Err]

OK, is anybody's game running like shit after the patch? It is just about unplayable for me now. No matter what my graphics settings are, the game has a 1-2 second pause, every 3-4 seconds. In every single screen. Loading, playing the intro, in a mission, whatever. I've updated my graophics drivers, downgraded them, it's all the same. Game runs like total shit now.

I don't have the game but you may want to check out the Steam Forums. I remember seeing a video on how to tweak the settings to smooth the game out. If you have an NVidia card, go into the NVidia control panel uder Manage 3D games and check the settings for XCom2. Make sure the Use Hard Drive Cache is on. You may also try changing the Power of the card to Prefer Performance for this game only. From what I've read, Xcom2 is very CPU intensive too.

[Genom]

I spent a couple hours tweaking it last night, and it was the v-sync settings that broke it. The tweaked vsync settings that is. Setting it back to enabled vsync in game corrected the major issue. Still have lots of random slowdowns and such, but thats shit everybody is getting it seems.

Really disappointing that a modern game can have such a glitchy engine, especially when it does not need to have these stupid graphical errors. I have a pretty decent rig (i7 5820, 16GB RAM, GTX 970, 840Pro SSD's), so there are no reasons this game shouldnt run like butter.

[Err]

I spent a couple hours tweaking it last night, and it was the v-sync settings that broke it. The tweaked vsync settings that is. Setting it back to enabled vsync in game corrected the major issue. Still have lots of random slowdowns and such, but thats shit everybody is getting it seems.

Really disappointing that a modern game can have such a glitchy engine, especially when it does not need to have these stupid graphical errors. I have a pretty decent rig (i7 5820, 16GB RAM, GTX 970, 840Pro SSD's), so there are no reasons this game shouldnt run like butter.

Your rig shouldn't have any problems. We're getting a lot of unoptimized AAA games lately. It seems to be a crap shoot even within games running the same engine. Avalanche studios made Mad Max and Just Cause 3. I can run Mad Max on my I5 2500K (OC 4.2), 16 GB RAM, GTX780 at 2X DSR downsampled to 1080 at a steady 60 FPS. However I had to tweak the hell out of JC3 to get it stable. Enabling Adaptive Vsync helped me a lot. (If you are going the play JC3, create a firewall rule that blocks the game after you start it for the first time. It stops the game from connecting to Square Enix's servers and constantly updating leaderboards and such nonsense in a single player game.)

In your profile for Xcom2, try enabling Triple Buffering. If your slowdowns are during the turns, I don't know if there's anything you can do except wait for a patch or a community fix.

[FlyingPenguin]

There's some cool mods for XCom2. Still enthralled with the game. Hard to stop playing.

http://www.vg247.com/2016/02/27/star-wa ... mod-steam/

[FlyingPenguin]

Heh. I make my Grenadiers wear Storm Trooper helmets.