The Bureau: XCOM Declassified Review

This game for anyone who hasn't heard of it is a Third Person Shooter with Strategy Game elements thrown in. The player takes on the role of an agent called William Carter who gets caught in the middle of an alien invasion while transporting an object of interest. Soon after he escapes the surprise attack and is drafted into XCOM, a super secret group of the worlds best and brightest or at least it was in Enemy Unknown. In The Bureau the global scope is swapped for a map of America which is where the player will be able to see the state of the country and receive missions. In the field the player is part of a squad of three two of which take orders from him with the third being him. 

The Bureau is not a bad game by any means in fact it can be quite entertaining at points but it is a product of uncertainty. The game itself underwent three changes in its core design and it is surprising that a game as good as The Bureau was the end result. It does many things well like creating a vision of 1960s America tainted by glowing spires, bodies and Alien Invaders. It creates a believable albeit restricted world around the player for him to be immersed in. Part of this is the sense that you don't have much time before the end of humanity and its this feeling that pushes you onto the next mission. Its only after the game gets to its mid point did I start playing the missions with any interest for the story, The base that a majority of the game takes place in is also one of the best parts of the game in the beginning stages but it can get boring after a while. 

Restriction was the main problem I found with this game. In Enemy Unknown the player took command of a base and could decide on research projects, build equipment, train troops and so on. With The Bureau the Player could only really send agents out on a handful of missions along with helping out with a few odd jobs around the base. Few missions are available in the game for the player to send agents on but this is because agents level up fast and have a level cap of five. The criteria for the missions is a stat that governs the needed strength the do the missions which is counted up by the agents levels. I found this to be a quick fix for the missions as there's no criteria unique to a mission so any agent can go on any mission.

A small thing that annoyed me was that weapons could not be researched or upgraded. This doesn't really affect the game as the player can progress easily enough but it would make the game more enjoyable. 

I like killing aliens as much as the next guy which is why I would recommend this game for at least a single play through. I would also recommend that anyone who plays this game not set their expectations too high or too low. 

6/10