A Fun Tactical Shooter Lost In the Shadow of it's Better Big Brother.
In many ways, I still want the XCOM FPS that was annoucned way back in 2010. I thought the 1950s setting combined with the horrific alien blobs that apparently killed people by forcing themselves down their victims throats, essentially drowning them, and the shape-shifting geometric space ships combined into what looked like a very interesting game.
You probably don't remember the trailer...or if you do, you probably remember the Internet rage that came out around it as gamers rioted at the idea of an XCOM game that wasn't a tactical game.
The newly announced XCOM FPS faded from the radar, and was almost forgotten with the announcement and release of the amazing XCOM: Enemy Unknown. In 2013, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is released with relatively little fanfare after being in what can only be called "Development Hell" for 3 years.
Despite this, I still had fun with The Bureau. It doesn't break any new ground (many aspects of the game are clearly inspired by the Mass Effect games), but it does what it does well. It is easy to move your AI teammates into the position you want them to be, and to use the abilities you want them to do.
I found the combat to be fun, and the controls to be nice. If you played Mass Effect, you will likely recognize the ability wheel that lets you control what you and your agents do. Your agents a chosen from a roster, and they level separately. But be warned, if your agent goes down and you don't save him, he and his experience are gone. This adds a bit of tension to your orders as you try to keep your boys in cover while trying to drive your alien opponents from theirs.
However, I can't help but think this game suffers from being released in the shadow of the absolutely amazing XCOM: Enemy Unknown. While the Outsiders are nominally in charge of the invasion, other XCOM opponents, such as Sectoids and Mutons, are arrayed against you, with little rhyme or reason why they are there. Really, the story of Bureau doesn't really jive with the story that was in Enemy Unknown, but on it's own it works alright.
Still, I can't judge a game to harshly on "what might have been". While I would hesitate to call it great, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is a solid game, and I don't regret buying it at all.
