XCom 2 Review - Worthabuy

XCOM 2 is the sequel to the award-winning strategy game, XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Twenty years have passed since humanity lost the war against the alien invaders and a new world order now exists on Earth. After years of lurking in the shadows, XCOM forces must rise and eliminate the alien occupation
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[@okohiaj]

Path-finding. Uh, about that... your soldiers take the shortest route to their destination. If you want them to take a detour through a door you can Hold Ctrl while selecting tiles to set waypoints. Also theres a line that shows the path your soldier is going to take. Hope that helps.

[@SnowManIsCalledJeti]

I didnt know the Ctrl trick. Thanks!

[@SahDiesalot]

+N30n_g0LD Though that being said, the waypoint system, more explicit definitions of what individual buildings in the avenger do, and some of the finer points of concealment (such as aliens being alerted to you smashing through windows) are kind of hidden away in the game and not made plain by the tutorial. Maybe having an expanded tutorial or a tips and tricks type mod that explains some of these advanced things would be worthwhile.

[@anthonynguyen8737]

+SahDiesalot Don't they tell you all of this? I remember the game literally giving you a popup telling you the whole doors and windows thing for concealment.

[@SahDiesalot]

NoobCaik N. You could be totally right, I have no idea. To be honest I didn't pay too much attention to the tutorial popups for whatever reason. Guess I had that one coming!

[@robintst]

The mod to remove that fucking turn timer is fucking essential.

[@yoshatabi]

Alan Rizkallah it just makes the game too easy and boring. I like the timer. Makes it more challenging

[@chazzychaz9313]

"scratching ur assss, turn gone" ~ XD LOL

[@Quicksilver_Cookie]

Wait for patch to fix some performance issues and we have a GOTY material here. This game is fucking amazing.

[@EKSolinari]

+MrCorvusC Please. It's going to be Dark Souls 3 baby!!!!

[@Quicksilver_Cookie]

EKSolinari Another console slasher? No thanks)

[@hamerwolf]

+EKSolinari Dark Souls? No.

[@Drain_Life_Archive]

+MrCorvusC We waited years for patches on the first game that never came. It still has bugs to this day with LoS, missions breaking(forcing a reload or retreat on ironman), and marines moving on their own when not told to do so. My advice was to never play the game on ironman mode, because when the game fucks up, you are then unable to fix it. I had an ironman run where a mission broke and forced a retreat because it would not complete. Never turned it on again.

[@AnthonyJSullivan]

+MrCorvusC Dark souls isn't a simple slasher game, if you played it and were any decent at it you'd know that. I get why people don't like it though, but the world and lore of the souls games is amazing.

[@neiltowson8884]

replay this game with the Long War mod. so much added content that it feels like an entirely new game.

[@TurielD]

As someone with over 200 hours in Enemy Unknown/Within, here's why the timers are there: It's to make you take risks. When people got good at Enemy Unknown, playing on the top difficulty had one optimum strategy: move 1 unit forward a few squares at a time, then move everyone behind that unit in a line so as not to accidentally trigger any aliens. Once aliens were found by the forward unit, retreat everyone to full cover and overwatch overwatch overwatch. It was slow and repetitive, extremely tedious and terrible to watch when used in Let's Plays. Enemy Within (the expansion) did a good job by *incentivising* you to move faster, because you got extra resources if you hit certain timers. XCOM 2 seems to have swung too far (and made the timers too strict) for a lot of people - especially with it being a lose condition now rather than a bonus objective. That said, while playing on Commander difficulty and now ~15 hours in I haven't lost any missions due to the timer. The few times it's been a close run thing it's been exciting, and felt like I achieved something by pulling it off. It's a matter of balancing I think, more than that the mechanic itself is good or bad. IMO it should be there, just not as often and more forgiving at lower difficulty. An option to just switch it off should have been built-in, rather than needing a mod.

[@whatisbestinlife8112]

If you don't want to outright turn the timers off, but take a bit of the pressure off, there is the True Concealment mod. What it does is it doesn't start the timer until you break stealth the first time. So you can take far more time approaching and setting up your first ambush, and not have to rush through the map initially.

[@ParadiseDecay]

I'm surprised you didn't flip when you have an alien 1 square away from you at point blank range and you miss! - That's a Tomb Raider linear moment or a Witcher 3 turn moment.

[@psyantologist]

+Paradise Decay A turn-based game takes into account that your enemy might not "stand" in front of you. It looks like that in the turn-based representation, like a chess piece on a board. Still, if someone runs at you in an attack move, you can still miss the attacker at point blank. In fact, depending on your weapon, you have a smaller chance to hit at point blank than you do at mid-range.

[@cestarianinhabitant5898]

+Paradise Decay Tomb Raider moment? Lara never misses in Tomb Raider... She is the very auto aim function of the games.

[@baybursa6202]

Mack you can upgrade the limit to 6 people on missions.

[@baybursa6202]

Oh and love the review as always 😃

[@WorthABuyreviews]

+Bayburs A Oh that's nice, I had a feeling 4 was a bit small for a group.

[@RAYGUNNOOB1]

+Worth A Buy when your guys level up you can get a guerrilla tactics school and you can buy upgrades for your squad which costs supplies

[@hza103]

+Worth A Buy !! they're the most important upgrades aside from the advanced warfare 100% healing thing

[@ParanoidJackson]

There is a mod that makes it eight total but it's a bit buggy. I was able to pick up to seven but once I unlocked the last slot it bugged. Now I see six max and the game populates the other two. They just appear at the landing site and afterwards magically return to the barracks were you will get a notice they have been promoted.

[@GODzilla_FH]

There are some cool "tweak" mods for the timer as well as some who lenghten the time considerably or disable it completely. I'm a fan of the timer because I remember how I used to play Enemy Within: a) form a firing line b) draw out the enemy c) annihilate them d) repeat. ^^ I use the mod "true concealment" where you can more or less decide for yourself how much extra time you get. As long as you're concealed, the timer will not tick. Fair imho.

[@noksookao]

Timers on the VIP extraction/assassination mission are ace. Especially when you've got reinforcements dropping in on the extraction zone, makes for some excellent tactical improvisation.

[@darknightexex]

11:30 you blocked the way from the door to the place u selected :D hence the idiot chose the window

[@Arkeli5]

Delighted you picked this one up Mack. Ufo-enemy unkown 1994 was one of my favourite games of all time so it was only natural that xcom-enemy unkown would be an instant purchase for me and I pumped four times the amount of hours into it then I did rift the mmo which was 256 hours! Xcom2 is even better. I think this game is amazing and I already have 83 hours in it and beaten it once and now doing commander and i'll move on to legend etc. Pretty much the same way I played the first one. I think I got about 9 hours sleep over the three days it took me to beat it. I'd pass out rather then fall alseep, wake up like 3 hours later and go right, xcom2 quick and go again until I'd pass out again lol :D Love it. It is a shame you missed out on the first one because if you had played it you might have a different opinion on the timers. I think they were badly needed and make the game. Without them it just turns into an overwatch exploit fest. People exploited the overwatch in the first game, sitting for turn after turn in overwatch waiting for activated aliens to come to them which wasn't too bad in xcom one because all your guys would shoot the first alien they saw even if the first shot killed it but in xcom2 the overwatch is much more effective with guys shooting in sequence and taking out different targets if the first one dies. No timer would be overwatch OP as fuck. You will learn this as you get better at the game. I completely understand your opinion now because you are new to the game but when experienced the timers are badly needed and the devs really got it right, not wrong, on that one. (Only my opinion of course but players of the first I think would agree. Except the overwatch exploiters lol). *(This next bit I wrote before the video had finished so you already know this now but I decided to leave it anyway. I have to write bullet points as the video goes or I forget what I want to say before the end lol Old age sucks). The other issue with the pathfinding was hugely frustrating in the first game too, which is why in xcom2 they added waypoints. If you hold down ctrl while setting up your movement you can move one square at a time and plan the path you want them to take yourself. The devs messed up with the tutorial that it doesn't teach you that anywhere. I only know about it because I saw dev's talking about the feature in early promo vids, before I stopped watching so I wouldn't spoil much of the game. A mistake I made with the first one because I couldn't resist the excitement. I knew so much about that one before I even played it. With xcom2 I resisted all the preview vids and screenshots and xcom2 was all the sweeter for me because I had no idea what was coming in any of the missions and as a result even being a massive veteran of the previous games I found my first playthrough challenging. Once I beat the game I went and looked at the preview vids of the people I follow and I have to say I'm delighted I didn't watch them before because my god did they spoil so much. I mean come on guys and gals it's a preview video, the devs give you early access and you go spoil so much of the game for anyone who wants to see your opinion before buying. Shame on you I say. Previews should only contain your trusted opinions about whether the game is forming up as something to be bought or not (like how Mack did this one) not contain boat loads of spoilers. So glad I didn't watch any of them until now. I took a leap of faith with just buying it blind but considering how much I played of the first one It was an educated gamble :D Although sword of the stars 2 scared me for life :"( Anyway as you can see from this book of a post I really like xcom and I'm so glad you thumbed it up. Would hate to fall out with you Mack :D (Only joking). Thank you for all the videos and keep up the great work. All the best.

[@SyDiko]

5:03, didn't know Guile was in Xcom lol

[@MountainKing88771]

I wasn't a huge fan of the timers but I downloaded a mod that added 4 more turns instead of unlimited turns. This way there is still the stress of completing a mission on time but the extra 4 turns gives you much more room to work with.

[@erikbrear4579]

Holy crap, thanks for the tips on disabling the timer, and using waypoints on units! Keep up the good work Mack!

[@_Makanko_]

The previous X-com was great, this one seems to push it further with giving you more freedom over missions and the like, that's really great. Also, besides playing on veteran, play with Ironman as well, no turning back :)It does have a learning curve and I remember restarting on a previous game aswell when realising the base layout matters quite a lot too late in the game.I agree on your WAB, I am defenitely getting this game (in a couple o weeks).

[@vuk5576]

Mack instead of sending your guys head first through windows,and alerting enemies,you have a feature which lets you plan out the route which your soldier will take when going to a specific place.

[@glennv3176]

Hey Mack, I know you haven't played the previous Xcom titles, they were 95% the same without the timer. Problem without the timer is you can slowly overwatch through every mission and be immortal, unless you have the restraint to not abuse overwatch, the game gets too easy/boring quite fast, I love that timer because I have no self restraint, I cheese when I can. Great review

[@Mister_Facepalm]

I really hate the timer too, but even still, I think it's good for setting a faster pace on certain mission types.

[@7ehrawk]

The reason he burst through the window. Is because his path was blocked by the other two characters. Not saying that in a different situation. Where he had room to get by. That he wouldn't still smash through the window. The game is a bit finicky with things like that. But in this situation, he had no other options.

[@NickNiccelson]

11:10 The guy knew the door was there Mack. He took the window instead because your other 2 guys were body-blocking him from reaching that tile if he'd taken the door. Unless the ctrl waypoints let you override that and have him barge through anyway then it's working as intended.

[@tunesfortoons6507]

Mack please fix the bell. it's such good fun. adds a whole new dimension to the comedy. your videos aren't the same without it.

[@MsErtwer]

11:09 He went thru the window because the path thru the door was blocked by your 2 mates there and the space between them isn't considered as free space they can move thru, only a free tile is considered as free space to move thru.

[@jeffrey12396]

The reason why he jumped through the window was because the path with the door was block by the other two people, I don't know why he couldn't of squeezed between them though.

[@nonameguy96]

doesnt matter if theres a door a window going in and out a buiding while concealed will break concealment

[@SteinarNord]

11:11 If you`re talking about the clip why your guy goes through the window, his squadmates where blocking the tiles next to the door ;)

[@sonofhendrix1618]

Thanks for the review i counted on there being a 'worthbuy' review. Im really tempted to buy this now especially as it has full workshop integration. I remember playing Xcom enemy unknown on the Amiga 500.

[@dsilfvast]

Mac, you can upgrade your squad size in the guerrilla training school

[@dimitre316]

I think the XCOM games are the holy book of "how to" do a liner story driven game. BTW Mack, you should do XCOM: Enemy Unknown on Mackscorner, no timer in that one. Well there are a few, but they make sense, like a bomb is ticking, a reactor overloading, those scenarios have a move limit.

[@heppsan]

Good review, but about the mission timer, it actually adds to the game. Firstly it's not on every mission. And many times it comes later on, when you have been revealed or spotted, cause then the aliens will try to destroy evidence, so the timer makes sense. Some missions is also made to hard so you should not attempt to kill all aliens, but bust out a VIP and get the hell out before the time is out. Also, when you fail to evac before the timer go out, the soldiers left behind gets captured, that will make new missions available later on where you have the chance to free your captive crewmembers.

[@dizzee2100]

It's too easy without timers, you can spend as much time as you want to heal and reload.

[@kpsnnf]

+Dizzee healing has charges (the amount of charges dictated by the specialist class perks)... and reloading ends your current turn, leaving you vulnerable to alien flankers (as you won't have overwatch if you choose to use reload)

[@kpsnnf]

******shrug* duno what crawled up your arse and died but you should drop the attitude you aren't entitled to have... nothing has happened in this conversation to warrant saying what you've said wasted my time typing up a response and this is what i get in return, typical

[@kpsnnf]

***** you knobhead

[@ParanoidJackson]

Mac, get the mod from workshop that puts a hold on the timer while you remain concealed and the other that adds turns to the total. That way you get a fair shake and don't lose the tension. Once your troops level and you get better guns you're going to want that tension so that the game remains a challenge.

[@maciejsojka6588]

Mack You can upgrade squad size, and many more stuff. Also a good thing about this game is if you don't like something you can change the timers and much more in the INI. files, the devs made it very easy.

[@MrLincoln87]

Mack, have you played Fallout Tactics (or any of the older Fallouts) ?? This really reminds me of Fallout Tactics, in which you can change a few settings and do full turn based movements, turn based movements in combat only, or just out right do what you want move who you want when you want. And that game also has the same issue with where you want your guys to run.. such rage has happened in that game for me. If you haven't given it a go, then you must! It should be pretty cheap about now being maybe 10 years old.

[@farrukhdada6688]

worth a buy after they fix this game. unoptimized as shit. i'm having to put it on hold for now for that reason.

[@farrukhdada6688]

yea i can understand the minor hiccups outside of gameplay with the frame rate dropping even though that's not good at all. but.. what annoys me how during gameplay when my turn ends the game sometimes will freeze for 10 seconds or so and then continue,, god damn that's pissing me off.

[@brenner4240]

+Farrukh R Agreed, they have to work on that problem. The skyranger loading screen and the "skyranger landing" cutscene both stutter like hell for me, and I have a freaking 980 TI. Not having any real problems during missions or inside the base though so, except some minor pause after the "discover new enemy pocket" cutscene maybe.

[@farrukhdada6688]

therainbowpigs thanks i'll look into it. so many games to play *cigar*

[@ChaoGuy2006]

+Farrukh R There have been some fan-fixes if you want to play with the engine.ini file ghostbin.com/paste/of9am (basically the debug is still trying to talk to the beta server or something along those lines- you can disable it). But yes, being this is such an easy fix, Firaxis should have known better. Not to mention past games have done DLC gouging, but sold a GOTY edition with the DLC included. So wait for the fixes at a minimum. The game itself looks really, really good though.

[@xonegamer7274]

+therainbowpigs Because it loading the mission. Happens all the time to me too. I hope they will fix this.

[@watchingvids101]

Sounds exactly like XCOM Enemy Unknown just with turns added and a different setting and enemies. You'd love the first XCOM Mack with the expansion Enemy Within and perhaps the mod 'The Long War'. Give it a go sometime if you ever crave more turn-based strategy!

[@ahmedshamsi9737]

Guys to solve most of the jittering and shutter and frame drops turn OFF MSAA/FXAA don't have any at all cause it takes a massive hit on performance

[@Joe-jc5ol]

The path finding is correct, but you had 2 guys blocking the door, he had to smash through the window, there was no other way.

[@catsilvy]

Those battles looked like a great night in town.

[@84jesterx]

reloading does not end a soldier's turn unless you make them move first. it did in Enemy Unknown. ENJOY the change.

[@magnus073]

I just discovered your channel. You really do first class reviews of games and movies. Also I enjoy your sense of humor. You were spot on with your review of the Last Jedi

[@johnberryconwayiii7071]

I like the timer, makes your decisions more meaningful

[@megatrace]

I thought Hans von Swinehund was a name generated by the game for a second there.

[@HermesDaCat]

Totally agree, the timer spoils a lot of the strategy.

[@Red_Lion2000]

You can have six people in your squad, you just need to unlock it in the guerrilla tactics school.

[@RK-je9nc]

MACK, love you vids, but 20 mins on the original is barely enough time to name your soldiers. The 1994 ones has sooooo much more depth than these new XCOM games. If you want actually strategy check it out, want to flank you can, want to send 26 soldiers you can! want to blow up a barn you know and alien is hiding inside, you can! want to equip all you soldiers with rocket launchers AND normal rifles and be able to switch to the weapons in combat as needed without being restricted by the "class" of you soilder, guess what! you can!

[@yoshi88mario]

Mack, are you planning to play/do a WAB video about Firewatch ?

[@JonathanDavidsonn]

Hrm... That one time when he mentions the path finding, he doesn't understand that he blocked off his two guys from going to that location, so the AI thinks of going through the window.

[@ArcangelGamingEntertainment]

So look often I don't agree with some of the stuff you say, but the reason I keep coming back to your channel for reviews and recommendations is because even though you were shit at this game, even though its got a learning curve, and even though it might not be your genre of games you still gave it an honest and fair review and appreciated it for what it is. Thank you for that and I'll definitely be back for your next worth a buy :D

[@korbeskorner]

Once you get down underwear, space isn't so cold.

[@krish698]

I kinda like the whole turn limit thing you know since it makes you feel like a resistance in that you can't just turtle all the time. You got to go in and work with what you got and lose a few soldiers if worst comes to pass and there is no other way to complete the objective. Also as far as I know you can still complete the mission even if all your soldiers die or are left outside the evac zone when turns end as long as the main objective was completed. But yeah I can understand people wanting to have a bit more gameplay than the mere 12 turns. Also Mack if your soldier will break concealment then it will show you that with a big red eye icon on top of the square you want to move as you can see in your own video.

[@anddo24]

Guile, LMAO! Ace review as always

[@t0manick]

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a lot of fun too, maybe you should play it after XCOM 2, although it can be kinda weird to play the first game after the second one. It has the same combat, but no line of sight indication, no stealth, no melee. Construction of the base is more limited. Much less of customization of soldiers. But no timer in missions :D

[@firestarter000001]

Yeah i kinda have the same thing with the timers. Atm got used a bit to them and it stopped to be that annoying, but i still like most the missions without timers. I think i will finish once the game with timers, then go with the mod disabling timers but one diff level higher.

[@DavidBowring]

I'm surprised you've not played XCOM Enemy Unknown / Within. There's only really one type of timed mission so you'll be able to take your time and learn the tactics. I was horrified you were moving into non cover spots! :-P You can pick it up pretty cheap too.

[@tehf00n]

Fuck me that control modifier gonna change some shit up !

[@mahartma]

Agreed on the timers, it isn't sound fun at all but stressful. For performance, switch to FXAA and disable the advanced shadow/lighting stuff. Integrated graphics and potato cards don't have a chance with this one.

[@EliKRistberg]

I am propably the only person who actually likes the timer cause it really challenges your strategy and makes the missions more intense.

[@FrazzleCat]

There's currently a bug that will cause the game to crash and corrupt all of your save games that were saved during that mission. It appears to be connected to the presence of Crystalids (spelling?). Anyway it could force you to repeat an entire mission, and Ironman difficulty can get seriously boned by it. You may want to wait for a patch for this.

[@RK-je9nc]

The original from 1994 has so much more depth and options strategy with: FULLY destructible terrain, up to 26 soldiers, tanks, flying suit for your soldiers, entering the UFOs, build up to 7 bases around the world and even travel to Mars!! if you can get past the retro graphics the original is still unbeaten IMO.

[@expressionamidstcacophony390]

+Ren K >Fully destructible terrain Complete with levitating farm houses when you blast the bottom floor with heavy explosives. :P

[@kpsnnf]

the timer isn't so bad... personally i think it makes you strive to play better and better you can also still extract by sprinting to the evac point because you can then use evac, even when you've used both your actions on sprinting

[@IMWATCHING501]

Hi Mack, fan for a while. Just want to mention that you don't need the timer stoppage. You need a lower difficulty. You wanted it hard, you got it hard, it might have killed the fun for you, but the game got hard right?

[@jefbord]

I'm surprised Mack didn't comment those 90% hit chance misses. Awesome game, nerves of steel required though

[@forerunner3982]

Timers are there to counter the campy style of the first game, and to make the player value mobility a lot more, but I understand complaints

[@CAP198462]

Free to try on steam until Monday, might as well give it a go.

[@flora4402]

I completely sympathise with your complaints here The timers are bullshit

[@snappyskillz4477]

Mack I was wondering what your opinion is of total war Attila, I'm not sure if you've played it? It would be great to hear from ya. Cheers!

[@GYIYGABITE.]

4:55 - .....Guile!?

[@kevinwilson455]

yup :)

[@GamingDemonGirl]

+GYIYGABITE By now that particular hairstyle has become sort the running gag of the XCom games. Way back in the original game there was only a very limited amount of randomly assigned hairstyles and skin colours. One of which was the Guile flat top. This meant you ended up with a lot of Guiles in your squads and the look became iconic. It is kind of an inofficial trademark of the new games to include at least one soldier with that hairstyle in there.

[@dimitre316]

+GamingDemonGirl it's also a pun on the big headed alien depictions of the past. Kind of the same as with British longbowmen who would show their pointing and middle fingers at the French. An act of defiance and mockery.

[@qet4645]

+GYIYGABITE Yup, also Westley Snipes sitting across :)

[@GYIYGABITE.]

GamingDemonGirl Oh, right! I forgot. It's been so long since I last played XCOM I totally forgot about that detail. Looking forward to buying XCOM2. :)

[@TheWayoftheSith]

Yes Mack we know about the 2 move styled TBS stuff, its been in all the TBS strategy games I've tried since Enemy Within was released.

[@dug5275]

In regards to Rick who saw a crash on a twitch stream those guys have a whole lot more going on then most of us. The twitch stream alone is very resource intensive. Having said that, a 1.0 is almost surely going to have some problems. None for me so far. Also agree about the timers. Mack went with the "no timer" option. There is also a "tweak" mod which adds 4 turns to a normal mission. That works for me (so far).

[@fetusbabe]

Hey Mac!! Just a reminder that I'm still up to make some thumbnails for ya if you need any. Last time ya said you'd shoot me a message when ya got back from holiday sooo here's another message just in case ya forgot. If not, no worries, keep making great content : D

[@ProtosMerkabah]

I had a Scottish Sniper. He was brilliant! But then he died in a no-win scenario...

[@WeasyMac]

R.I.P. Hans von Swinehund

[@ThomasZiano]

You should really give the original (UFO enemy unknown) another go, it's a great game still today! Kikoskia on youtube has a very entertaining let's play of it (make sure you don't get the one in the ocean though). Chances are you'll find it better than any of the recent x-com games!

[@chrisrorie1]

Glad you liked it. I have played 2012 unknown, and 2013 within. They have not slated this for console yet, so I will have to wait. Enjoy, love this series. The glitches you mentioned have plagued xcom since 2012, but occur infreq enough not to ruin game play.

[@kaiosun]

turns are not ruining the game. You need to select your path and guys and then you will see if you can just rush through the enemies or if you have to avoid the enemies to get to your item/vip. There is a reason those are called guerilla missions. In and out. Story missions with no timer feel just "meh".

[@Alimthehotty219]

Hes trying to attack us let's just send in the cavalry

[@bowser515]

I hope Mack Mackerson pulls through...

[@scottminer9600]

I just watched your ME Andromeda 'preview' video. So I just had to see your opinion of Xcom 2. This game is a SUPERIOR sSciFi game, despite its lower budget and simpler mechanics. It seems you agree...

[@radu_c]

Mack you are the Deadpool of the gaming reviewers :D great job

[@snickawest]

As someone who loves XCOM and has played it for the last 20 years, I love your take on it as someone who is not familiar with the series. Well done. By the way, try Open Xcom: UFO Defense Final Mod Pack... you may never play XCOM 2 again.

[@Ixnatifual]

The pathing is actually pretty good. It prioritises path that do not reveal you unless there is no such path. In the video there was no path to the target through the door as two of your troops were blocking all possible routes. It also warns you with a red icon if you're trying to take a path that reveals you. I agree with the turn timers. They were not present in the previous game except on a special bomb type mission. I think they should simply have made reinforcements start arriving if you take too long. The abitrary timer is too abstract and the results too black and white, and it takes away a big chunck of what I loved in the other XCOM games where you try to position your troops cleverly.

[@Rickenization]

The reason he jumped through the window is because your two soldiers were blocking the way.

[@jacobgriffiths5261]

at 11:00 when Mack is complaining about the pathfinding the reason the ai chose to run around was because your own men were blocking the short route.

[@Argoniur]

+jacob griffiths yes that's true, yet the game doesn't hint to that or makes a good job explaining it, so its a problem, he is not the first person i see complain about that

[@Paqu1]

Great review as usual. However it got me wonder that didn't you have any performance problems? I have i5-3570k @ 4,3 ghz, 8 gb ram, GTX680 and Iam barely getting 30-35 fps on medium settings. Often it dips even below that. Also thanks for the timer mod tip. I have to get it as I have begun to hate the timers which seem to show up on almost all missions. There was timed missions on the previous XCOM but most of them were without one. So having some timed missions here and there was no problem really and made some variation to the gameplay. But on this one timed missions seems to be the norm which sucks.

[@RealismFTW]

I've never had a problem with the time limits. I've never felt like I didn't have enough time. I'll admit I'd rather be without them, but on some missions it does make more sense.

[@crunkplaya6929]

I'm glad there's a mod to turn off the timer. I've played Enemy Unknown and Enemy WIthin and I think it's fun with the timer on but it's definitely a helluva lot more fun with the timer off.

[@Wolfsheim23]

You should play XCOM 1 too. Both are excellent and both are very different games, I like to go back and play 1 and still play 2. Some aspects are better in one, esp if you play the long war mod. I don't like the way randoms maps are generated so much. Too samey, but both are among my favorite games to go back and replay. If Jagged Alliance 2 would be redone to this level of quality, I would never desire another game type.

[@bungholio81]

hey Mack, have you had a look at The Forest yet, it's awesome, properly scary and has the best tree chopping animation ive ever seen in a survival game!

[@MikaelKKarlsson]

I'm 23 hours in and Mack is spot on here with what's great and what's less so. Some 6-7 hours in I almost quit the game on account of losing five people on a mission, due to info that the game did not convey. I generally despise gameplay where you're given a task that's practically impossible to solve the first time in. But I calmed myself, figured out a path to focus on, picked up a couple of mods, tweaked some config files for performance and it's been much fun. The mission timers are a huge factor in some cases and if you get a tight mission early in the game when you don't have the equipment or experienced soldiers to deal with enemies quickly enough, don't be afraid to just get your team out of there. If that's even an option. Mods I'd recommend right away are Free Camera Rotation, TimerTweaks (a few more turns here and there) and Faster Run Animations. Though in the case of the latter I learned that you can press Tab after having issued a move order and you can start controlling the next soldier right away (remember that for when you're evac'ing six soldiers and a VIP one by one...). But don't just add a lot of mods for fun, since you will have to load an old save game later to get rid of just about any one you didn't like. Perhap's that's normal for Steam Workshop, I don't know. I'm really surprised that a developer like Firaxis couldn't be bothered to convey so much useful information in a 5 min introduction video or something. Perhaps it's beneath then to make a simple video, and kinda admit that they failed to get it into the tutorial. Better keep your mouth shut and le the "community" deal with it, eh. `ding´

[@AN-kb4kh]

It has to be said that they are not just arbitrarily putting turn limits on missions. It's not on all missions and it makes sense in cases where it is used. As a small squad, you can't expect to hang around all day when rescuing a vip because you will get overrun. I'm 20 hours into the game and I've never failed a mission due to the time limit. There is plenty of room for tactics within the permitted time on time sensitive missions. Also, in the previous xcom you could crawl forward with your squad at a snails pace. Yes this was easier but it was also boring. It's nice that there is some urgency to these missions.

[@prowokator]

mac, you really should take a look again at the original ufo: enemy unknown. if you like this new one, you will most likely like the 20 years old one too. I still play it from time to time, not many games that stand the time like that.

[@nathansonger3586]

I'm sure we can agree that your posistive reveiws are great!! But the rants are so funny!!

[@MakoRuu]

5:00 Man, Guile is getting old...

[@mmiisshhaa]

even tough im not into strategy games this looks fun

[@RandyRelish99]

What the hell happened to that xcom fps that had you in the 50s shooting black goo

[@XenomorphFiend]

This is the first video I've seen for this channel. Pretty decent review, but what's with the bell?

[@Volti102]

Just so you know, the "Face first through the window" bit at 11:10 was because you blocked the path to that spot with your other two troops. They would have gone through the doorway and then wouldn't have been able to get past the 2 dudes sat in the way... Also you do get a curvy line which displays the route that the troop will take if you were to send them there... Also you did get the red Eye sight/Reveal symbol which appears along the users path if it is going to alert and enemy by travelling that way... Just saying. There are plenty of reasons as to why your guy that jumped through the window and the game did try and tell you. :p

[@WorthABuyreviews]

+Volti Yeah I know but you would think they would run through doors by default unless you specifically tell them to dive through a window, not the other way around. If you watch my stream I am in a abandoned house with no door, just a big open gap and he still uses the damn window. The line it draws as you move the mouse is terrible, it jumps all over the place and it's so easy to forget to check it. Very clunky system.

[@tibielias]

hey Mack, nice review! Have you tried XCOM Enemy Unknown (2012) and it's expansion set Enemy Within?