The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - Hands on Preview

By Tracey McGarrigan

Following the success of the BAFTA award winning sci-fi strategy franchise, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is the latest title to be set in the XCOM universe but as we found out when we recently got some hands-on time, it offers a very different experience to its predecessors.

Set in 1962 at the height of the Cold War and the Space Race, The Bureau tells the origin story of the secret XCOM organisation and our first impressions are that it balances typical XCOM features with new ideas rather well. Originally established as America’s covert defense against the Soviet Union, The Bureau finds itself up against an unexpected enemy as aliens attack Earth. Playing as Special Agent William Carter, adapting to advanced alien technology and tactically leading a squad of agents against mysterious, slippery Sectoid attacks, then investigating and covering up the mess in order to prevent worldwide panic is all part of the day job.

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified

In a world of celluloid and rotary dial telephones, The Bureau showcases retro sci-fi tech typically found at home with The Jetsons. Though the agents start their campaign with 1960s weapons, scavenging alien materials out in the field and dropping them off at the Research lab back at HQ allows them to adopt, create and manipulate new technology including laser and plasma weapons in a similar process to XCOM: Enemy Unknown. There are plenty of other direct XCOM influences as The Bureau also fully embraces the heartbreak of permanent death where every command can mean the difference between life and death for Carter, his squad and mankind. Players can develop and name their individual squad members but we’d remind folk not to get too emotionally attached in case the team doesn’t survive.

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - Sectoids

In the spirit of the XCOM franchise, The Bureau’s combat design requires players to think and act tactically but the view, flow of action and overall pace feels completely new. The old bird’s eye view over the battle is replaced with a third person perspective which completely changes spatial awareness whilst turn-based encounters instead play out in real time. The tension is heightened and quick thinking, logically confident brains are needed to make the right call when the going gets tough. As well as sweeping across parking lots or ducking behind Chevrolets and gas pumps dotted along the way, Carter must also constantly issue orders to his team, be it move to cover, lob grenades, select targets or medically assist someone bleeding out (which happened a lot – R.I.P Rotten Billy Bob Engineer, our time together was brief).

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - Battle Focus

The Battle Focus menu is where Carter can lickety split quick, command his team (dilly dally and they will cry out awaiting orders, though they do generally hold their ground intelligently whilst waiting). Smoothly zooming in and out of the action, entering Battle Focus mode never fully pauses the action, rather it slows it down just enough to get eyes on what’s happening and make a decision. Those who are military minded will spot early on what needs to be done and can queue up multiple orders – Carter might use his special lift ability to uncover a heavily armoured alien from hiding as his Recon Sniper expert finishes him off with a bullet. Support Officers can knock encroaching aliens away with a pulse wave to create a short breather. Meanwhile his Engineer can place explosive mines behind or in close proximity to enemy lines and taunt them, luring them into an angry explosive death. The whole sequence is much faster and there’s no sitting back, watching events unfold or labouring over crucial decisions. There are Resupply Stations every now and then that allow you to swap in and out members of the team which slightly dampens the threat of perma-death and gives an advantage if things are going terribly wrong. From here, Agents who are not in battle can be sent out on special mission to gain XP, offering more ways to upgrade Carter’s entire squad, not just those that fight alongside Carter.

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - Squad Revive

The cut scenes are well polished and of course crammed with lens flare and zoom whilst the behaviour of the townsfolk in between areas of battle is also interesting to watch. Before the aliens invaded, they infected the townsfolk with a form of mind-control that has left many of them repeating their actions during the last couple of minutes before the invasion; a woman cyclically complains about her heels, a guy continually attempts to drive his car out of the garage with a bloodied body slumped over the bonnet. Though the sleep infected townsfolk were passive in the demo, we’re told some can be more aggressive. Clearly, though The Bureau has been erasing the truth for decades, the time will come for the truth to be revealed when released on August 23, 2013 for X360, PS3 and PC.

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