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Digital Gaming => Computer Gaming => Topic started by: Shelldrake on November 30, 2017, 02:39:59 PM

Title: The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - FREE
Post by: Shelldrake on November 30, 2017, 02:39:59 PM
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is free from Humble Bundle for the next 48 hours.

https://www.humblebundle.com/store/the-bureau-xcom-declassified?linkID=&mcID=102:5a1f4eaad6ab4e4d7c79b4f9:ot:576aaaf90dca63f1bd754949:1&utm_source=Humble+Bundle+Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2017_11_30_thebureau_xcomdeclassified_storefront&utm_content=Banner (https://www.humblebundle.com/store/the-bureau-xcom-declassified?linkID=&mcID=102:5a1f4eaad6ab4e4d7c79b4f9:ot:576aaaf90dca63f1bd754949:1&utm_source=Humble+Bundle+Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2017_11_30_thebureau_xcomdeclassified_storefront&utm_content=Banner)
Title: Re: The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - FREE
Post by: JasonPratt on November 30, 2017, 04:04:03 PM
Played it all the way through. Worth paying actual money for, especially if you're an X-Com fan! -- as long as you don't expect it to play like X-Com. (Which admittedly for many X-Com fans was the big deal breaker. That and the release bugs. Those were fixed eventually, I guess; I never had any such problems that I recall.)
Title: Re: The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - FREE
Post by: BanzaiCat on November 30, 2017, 04:05:44 PM
Eeeps, well I posted this in the Sales Thread too, so double coverage. Ninja'd regardless.
Title: Re: The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - FREE
Post by: jomni on November 30, 2017, 05:28:49 PM
One of the few "story" games that I actually picked up and finished in recent years.
Title: Re: The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - FREE
Post by: Arctic Blast on December 01, 2017, 03:17:15 PM
Yeah, it's actually a pretty decent game. Had it come out AFTER the newest XCom titles, I don't think it would have been smashed as hard as it was. Everyone just wanted another tactical game, and then this one appeared and Hell was unleashed (ignoring the fact that back in the 'classic' XCom days, a dull space fighter game and a bad shooter had already been dropped on the brand).
Title: Re: The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - FREE
Post by: JasonPratt on December 01, 2017, 04:21:45 PM
As I recall, it DID come out after the XCOM reboot. But it was announced before, which generated a lot of bad buzz for fans of the property (i.e. the target audience) who really wanted the tactical game remade.
Title: Re: The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - FREE
Post by: Tuna on December 01, 2017, 04:31:16 PM
Is it turn-based like regular xcom? Or is it a regular shooter?
Title: Re: The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - FREE
Post by: JasonPratt on December 03, 2017, 04:30:23 PM
No, it's a 3rd-person shooter with some light squad management. You can (usually) bring along two guys, out of a larger pool of managed agents whom you can send on missions between missions and they'll level up or die. They have specialties similar to turn-based X-com and gain abilities throughout the game, and if I recall correctly you can manage their weapon/kit loadout to some degree. Then during the missions, it'll be more like a Brothers in Arms game: you can tell this guy to go do that, and the other guy to go do the other thing, or have them form up on you. I don't recall ever losing one in a mission, but they aren't plot important so I think technically they could be killed (unlike the BiA games where no matter how bad things get the soldiers don't die until it's historically time; they just catch up with you after the mission.)

Also between missions you'll meander around a 1950s G-man base as it's progressively converted into... uh, what's the term now, transistor-punk? -- you'll meander around it checking on plots and subplots and kit expansion details.

The plot itself is pretty standard X-com tropes, just set in the 1950s. The "set design" crew clearly had a lot of fun with the evocative atmosphere. L.A. X-Noir. (But a lot more national of course, and no real open-world work just a linear shooter.)

A series of live-action commercials were made for the game, which was super-rare at the time, but I'm unsure how much airplay they got. Also very evocative.
Title: Re: The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - FREE
Post by: JasonPratt on December 03, 2017, 04:33:05 PM


These are the live action trailers all nicely stitched together in a topical chain sort of.

I should add that there are no plot spoilers in those commercials, and the actual game is considerably less jet-dark nightmarish horror.
Title: Re: The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - FREE
Post by: JasonPratt on December 03, 2017, 04:37:15 PM
Here's the opening cinematic.

Title: Re: The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - FREE
Post by: JasonPratt on December 03, 2017, 04:39:08 PM
IGN made a video detailing how the developers continually changed the game, not only during pre-production but (iirc) production, too. Some light spoilers here for anyone who hasn't ever played an X-com game before, but also some game footage. Note that while they call it the untold origin story of "XCOM", it really isn't. It's an alternate version of the same general story.