The Bureau: XCOM Declassified not only fails to grasp its strategy based roots but struggles to smoothly incorporate some of the most basic elements of gameplay.

Set in the 1960′s you take the role of William Carter, a CIA agent with the task of delivering a mysterious object, as things don’t turn out as planned Carter finds himself caught within a global alien invasion. After showing the ability to command, Carter is brought into the XCOM project to combat the new alien threat and keep it hidden from public domain.

While the story has plenty of potential, filled with plot twists and interesting concepts that promised much however the abysmal animation quality and equally poor dialogue stomps on any attempts for the story to blossom. As your character speaks to others, it won’t take long for you to notice the constant repeat of three animations that just feel artificial, along with poor voice acting that simply changes tone every sentence making it impossible to take anything they say with any care. Plot holes run amok with many of the side quests, and dialogue not connected to the main focus of the storyline.

The Bureau tries to blend the turn based strategy of the XCOM series with real time cover based shooting. Promoting teamwork and RPG elements to overcome challenges works well on paper but poor execution through AI simply makes many of the strategy components redundant. Often finding my partners simply refuse to take any useful cover unless directly told to do so, however when they take position the poor AI simply takes over, soon making them move out of cover instantly. The AI will often struggle to perform basic tasks, watching myself go down right next to an ally as they simply stand on my face watching my hp slide down to zero.

While enemies are based on those featured in previous XCOM games, within The Bureau they lack the identity and unique traits that made combat diverse, tense and tactical. As you progress through the game, enemies will remain the same except for an additional armor or shield bar with the word elite lazily thrown after their names.

Character progression within the game is very limited, offering little combat customization. As you and your squad levels up you are given the choice between two new upgrades, often being the choice between duration and damage. This design has been taken from XCOM: Enemy unknown which worked fine within the game design however playing as a single character through the whole story, and only having two teammates with you at all times means characters simply feel too limited, with a maximum of three skills per class, you’ll soon find your preferred attacks and have no reason to add diversity to your tactics throughout the entire game. Skills are activated by bringing up a battle HUD, giving you access to your own and team skills, during this the game will slow down giving you more time to plan and consider your options. Though slowing down the game reduces the pressure, the game continues to play making many tactical attacks an impossibility. Many times I found myself trying to time my snipers critical strike with turrets and protective abilities however the moment a skill is selected it will begin to play out giving you little time to organize the ambush you planned in your mind, often resulting in a messy and inconsistent first attack.

One of the huge holes apparent within the game seems to be a lack of co-op within the game, the structure of combat and the storyline feel setup for two players. Situations where the main character become split up for short periods of time from the team, as well as the dependency on tight coordinated teamwork scream out for two player interaction. Many flaws within the game, specifically the unreliability of the AI would be overcome and none apparent with a second human player. With a second player the game could be incredible enjoyable and the fact developers missed this opportunity is a great disappointment.

The Bureau is definitely not one of the worst games available for sale, but simply tries to do so many things, it does none of them well. Barely meeting the line of mediocre in any aspects of gameplay giving it no identity on the market, and as such simply giving no reason to buy it especially at a full AAA title price.

edit: Fixed typo.

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified not only fails to grasp its strategy based roots but struggles to smoothly incorporate some of the most basic elements of gameplay. Set in the 1960′s you take the role of William Carter, a CIA agent with the task of delivering a mysterious object, as things don’t turn out as planned Carter finds himself caught within a global alien invasion. After showing the ability to command, Carter is brought into the XCOM project to combat the new alien threat and keep it hidden from public domain. While the story has plenty of potential, filled with plot twists and interesting concepts that promised much however the abysmal animation quality and equally poor dialogue stomps on any attempts for the story to blossom. As your character speaks to others, it won’t take long for you to notice the constant repeat of three animations that just feel artificial, along with poor voice acting that simply changes tone every sentence making it impossible to take anything they say with any care. Plot holes run amok with many of the side quests, and dialogue not connected to the main focus of the storyline. The Bureau tries to blend the turn based strategy of the XCOM series with real time cover based shooting. Promoting teamwork and RPG elements to overcome challenges works well on paper but poor execution through AI simply makes many of the strategy components redundant. Often finding my partners simply refuse to take any useful cover unless directly told to do so, however when they take position the poor AI simply takes over, soon making them move out of cover instantly. The AI will often struggle to perform basic tasks, watching myself go down right next to an ally as they simply stand on my face watching my hp slide down to zero. While enemies are based on those featured in previous XCOM games, within The Bureau they lack the identity and unique traits that made combat diverse, tense and tactical. As you progress through the game, enemies will remain the same except for an additional armor or shield bar with the word elite lazily thrown after their names. Character progression within the game is very limited, offering little combat customization. As you and your squad levels up you are given the choice between two new upgrades, often being the choice between duration and damage. This design has been taken from XCOM: Enemy unknown which worked fine within the game design however playing as a single character through the whole story, and only having two teammates with you at all times means characters simply feel too limited, with a maximum of three skills per class, you’ll soon find your preferred attacks and have no reason to add diversity to your tactics throughout the entire game. Skills are activated by bringing up a battle HUD, giving you access to your own and team skills, during this the game will slow down giving you more time to plan and consider your options. Though slowing down the game reduces the pressure, the game continues to play making many tactical attacks an impossibility. Many times I found myself trying to time my snipers critical strike with turrets and protective abilities however the moment a skill is selected it will begin to play out giving you little time to organize the ambush you planned in your mind, often resulting in a messy and inconsistent first attack. One of the huge holes apparent within the game seems to be a lack of co-op within the game, the structure of combat and the storyline feel setup for two players. Situations where the main character become split up for short periods of time from the team, as well as the dependency on tight coordinated teamwork scream out for two player interaction. Many flaws within the game, specifically the unreliability of the AI would be overcome and none apparent with a second human player. With a second player the game could be incredible enjoyable and the fact developers missed this opportunity is a great disappointment. The Bureau is definitely not one of the worst games available for sale, but simply tries to do so many things, it does none of them well. Barely meeting the line of mediocre in any aspects of gameplay giving it no identity on the market, and as such simply giving no reason to buy it especially at a full AAA title price. edit: Fixed typo.