general guide to the game/should I buy it? (Is it fun)

So I'm tired of seeing so many people asking if they should buy this game/is it good threads so here we go

a bit of background I do like the other xcom games (even the silly enforcer) but saw the trailer for this and knew it was going to be a 3rd person semi tactical etc. not a turn based game, I am roughly 2/3rds through the game on the 2nd hardest difficulty.

story: There actually is one this time around rather than a paper thin:kill the aliens, and here are random people floating around xcom...that said I don't feel connected to the characters near as much as I think they were aiming for.

customization: lacking, not that I pay attention to how my random nameless characters look but it's less than it previously was. But the skills are roughly similar to enemy unknown (level up pick one or the other...but they are all roughly the same, either A laser turret or B rocket turret)

classes/characters: there are 4 classes (I don't count commander because that is you and you are always active)
support: Generally what you'd expect (if you've played xcom) I see no real reason to use this because while with 6 characters and a solid weapon choice a support is awesome, with 3 and half their skills are generally focused on when something bad happens fixing it.
assault (commando) he taunts he fights he throws enemies..away from him..ok he uses machine guns and while I personally don't like them I can see the value.
Sniper(scout? maybe) between being the strongest initator/aoe..and disengage (the enemies automatically target his diversion)..I have to ask what the dev's were thinking..oh and he has a sniper rifle (yes seriously his skills are so much better than the actual sniping thing)
engineer, if his AI was better I may think he is the best..but really he uses a shotgun and his ai seems to pick between sit a mile away from the fight or go facetank the muton. But ignoring that he has mines/turrets/ a scatter grenade (makes enemies run away from it)

commander: heals multiple summons/lifting enemies (or allied turret) can equip everything..but hey it's the main character.

weapons: the game says the alien weapons are better outright (I'll get to a complaint later) but it hosts your typical variety of machine guns/rifles etc. though honestly I'm just using a pistol and a launcher (the launcher swiss cheeses any "big" enemies like mutons/alien spaceships..oh that is an enemy now not a wierd screen/space chase thing)

so how linear is this game? is it like the other ones with random missions and...no it isn't at all. there are optional missions but in stage it is the linearest game you will ever play, in most scenarios there is an A or B path A is the right way (to progress) B is a room with a picture in it and maybe some ammo...in some cases A is the right way B is the way you will go later but if you go now the game glitches up and you will fall off the planet and die.


the most important part of course being the combat and strategy inside combat right? ok quick tip use skills..which ones? when? all of them now all the time (minus heal, save that..and maybe lift incase there is a big enemy coming..yes you can lift pretty much any enemy in the game) my general strategy for every engagement, go into order mode, engineer throw down a turret and come to me..then throw everything else and pretend your using your shotgun, sniper critical hit whichever unshielded enemy is away from everyone else, now throw your aoe (firing zone) at the biggest clump, ill summon my drone/sectoid..and after all this is over we will clean up the remaining enemy or two, maybe lift someone noticably different (see walker/muton/shield commander)

yes seriously that strategy works for 90% of engages, and if something goes wrong (or there is a second wave I wasn't prepared for) sniper throw diversion generally towards them..and we run away and wait for skills to come back up. (I have had 1 engagement where this didn't work..minor spoilers you get the launcher in the stage...hey guess which thing is best suited to taking a slow moving high damage enemy who fights you all by itself)


now my complaints section: ignoring minor bugs (like sometimes characters faces don't make sense for what they are saying) and some minor performance issues..my biggest complaint is that the game doesn't tell you things that would be extremely important in making decisions: for example you have backpacks (basically your accessory slot) I have two where one "reduces damage from all sources" see every attack in the game (unless you are the worlds worst grenade thrower or use firing zone on yourself for some reason) and another which "reduces damage from enemy attacks and gives you a bigger clip size". ok cool right? do they reduce the same amount of damage? Does the one reduce it by a bigger % or base value per attack. same thing with weapons how much more does the enemy shotgun do than the human one? This is important to know when your entering an area with low ammo and you see a human weapon laying around. But the game doesn't have any indicator to explain these things. Also the "costumes" get kind of silly and like many others I prefer Carter's "default" over his Archer-like sweater or the space suit (even if it makes more sense for it to change)

overall would I buy it again if I had to? probably not, I'd say rent it if you have a console or wait for it to go on sale


ok only update: So I just finished the game at the last stage (obvious spoilers here..nothing to major) you pick a new character to play as..who is just a reskin of Carter (yes I know it isn't Carter but to avoid major spoilers) and the last stage actually required me to somewhat change my strategy..aka play more defensively and do more "kiting" which of course makes the AI even more terrible where "move here" means stand here at all costs including when a grenade is at your feet or your in melee with a muton.

honestly I did enjoy the game, but I will not buy the obvious dlc that will be coming (Major spoiler here****)

if I had to guess there is going to be a mini-campaign vs the ethereal and some random new enemy, with a new weapon or two.




so closing statement: Hope this cuts down on the forum questions. Really I think some reviewers were a bit steep on this game (especially the ones that give certain games that follow the most cookie cutter route every year a 9 or 10 <_<) And hope this guide gave you a bit of incite into the game. Well that's all I have to say so have fun.