By Ian Abbott

Welcome to The Bureau. Set in the early 1960s at the height of the Cold War, The Bureau was set up by JFK as a top-secret government base to combat and counter the impending threat of a Soviet attack. However, when a series of unexpected alien enemies began to attack the USA, the base was re-appropriated, new technologies were developed and public communications were handled sensitively to ensure an information pandemic did not ensue.

With a plot, dialogue and storytelling that were scientifically ambitious and cleverly woven together, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified offered an interesting take on the transference of power between vessels and carriers, whilst there were lashings of other sci-fi trimmings and conspiracy theory gloss.

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified certainly had the whiff of a gently fried sectoid corpse; there were plenty of mutons to gaze lovingly at and the industrial language combined with plot promises came directly from another planet too – but something seemed awry. Although there was the power of the XCOM brand in the title, an entire team of comrades to direct and customise in the heat of tactical battles and familiar locations like the petrol forecourt to explore, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified was a seismic shift away from the 2012, multi award winning iteration XCOM Enemy Unknown in both the game’s developer (now 2K Marin) and consequently the playing style.

Adopting the role of Agent Carter - who has to deliver a briefcase (contents unknown) – this origin-story introduction to XCOM saw me playing a third person tactical shooter role rampaging across different American states trying to dampen the escalating alien invasion that kept springing up. I was able to bring comrades (two this time) out into the field of duty to gain experience, level them up and unlock armoury upgrades and bespoke their skills. Rather than the turn based strategy of Enemy Unknown where I had the ability to weigh up, retreat, flank or attack the enemy - this time the heat of the battle was unswerving.

I had the ability to command my comrades and focus them on a task (e.g. mounting a turret or setting off a decoy), but time merely melted (when entering Battle Focus mode) rather than froze completely as bullets fluttered past my head until I or they were toast. I felt like a plate spinner, tending my tiny flock rather than focussing on myself. It certainly developed my reflex skills and required a greater state of heightened awareness and planning, otherwise one of my team would resort to crying out “awaiting orders”, especially when there were several mind controlling beasts lurking within a five metre radius.

Feeling electric in battle for the first half of the game as new enemies emerged (how I grew to loathe the advanced drone as it attempted to repair enemies) I developed and used new class specific abilities to lift enemies into the air and mind control them to attack themselves. However, the types of enemies did not increase and soon became quite predictable whilst being relatively easy to kill. The surprise had gone and so had the pleasure of battle.

Narrative wheels and eaves dropping on character conversations around the base revealed neat back stories, but 2K missed a trick in the design of the side missions as they were identical to the longer main missions – whereas they could been used in a much more creative way. Perhaps they could have helped suppress the information doled out to the general public about the alien attacks or utilised other agents to reveal the thoughts towards XCOM and Agent Carter? Something, anything would have been welcomed as different from the main mission design which was so FPS heavy.

With so many muted shades of grey and pale blue the environmental design combined with the slow building and atmospheric Garry Schyman score feels real and you can see where Nick Pope has made suggestions about the authenticity of aliens and UFOs. The complex narrative and intentions of the leading characters (CIA Special Agent Carter, The Bureau’s Director Faulke, Dr Weir and Agent Weaver) ensured there were four endings which were significantly different and offered me both intellectual stimulation and sci-fi satisfaction, yet overall, the game felt like it was more focussed around a game of guns rather than sci-fi tactics, strategy and skill.

The industry is currently drowning in mediocre sci-fi shooters. If The Bureau had come out before Enemy Unknown (my 2012 game of the year) or if it didn’t have the XCOM brand attached to it then this would be a very different review. There’s plenty of good to be had here and my favourite mission over the course of the 14 hours it took to complete was the wittily titled Crack in the World.

After an arduous seven year gestation period and three different studios attached to deliver it, 2K Marin appeared to deliver us from evil as the final game developer yet I believe the game has suffered from a lack of clarity in both the game’s target audience and execution. It certainly did not satisfy me as a fan of the XCOM franchise as it was too removed from the original XCOM style of play and may not appeal to first generation, FPS players wanting to explore alternative sci-fi strategy games either. It’s XCOM Jim but not as we know it.

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is out now on X360, PS3 and PC