Setting up ambushes is extremely satisfying placing two or three soldiers in overwatch, then opening fire with another to start the engagement can basically wipe out an entire group of aliens at once.

It’s a very generous system that makes it pretty easy to move around without being spotted, though a patrol can definitely blow your plans if you get too cocky. 3: One Free ShotĬoncealment basically gives you one free shot at the aliens at the start of every mission. Thanks to a button that allows you to save a soldier to your recruitment pool, we’ll all be spending far less time remaking the same people every game - and we’ll be able to share our creations. On the other hand, there are vastly more props to choose from, including mix-and-match armor pieces for arms, torso, and legs, lots of hats, and stuff like cigars and bandanas. It’s a little disappointing that, just as with Enemy Unknown, there are a small number of pre-built heads to choose from instead of sliders to modify facial features, so distinctive-looking (or extremely ugly) people might not be possible to replicate. I created IGN’s own Marty Sliva and Jose Otero in the character editor, and came out with reasonably good facsimiles - it was great watching Jose slice up Advent troops with his machete sword and Marty go to town with his sharpshooter rifle and heavy pistol (which, using an ability called Lightning Hands, can be fired without spending a move and followed up with a rifle shot).

The character editor is going to eat up a lot of my time as I build friends, coworkers, and family members to serve as my in-game soldiers, scientists, and engineers. It reintroduces us to XCOM’s basic mechanics, and shows off some new ones: setting up ambushes while in concealment, carrying downed soldiers to safety, picking up loot, an increased emphasis on blowing holes in walls with explosives to clear routes, and calling in a Skyranger to extract your soldiers. The first mission of XCOM 2 is very much like XCOM: Enemy Unknown’s tutorial: rigidly scripted, forcing you to move to exact tiles and play out its story of rescuing a high-value prisoner from an alien facility.

Xcom 2 remove weapon upgrades