Review for XCOM: Chimera Squad. PC game, the video game came out on 24/04/2020
The world told in XCOM: Chimera Squad is very different from the current one, but also from that shown in the previous chapters of the Firaxis Games series: following the end of the war, aliens, hybrids and terrestrials now coexist in a society that continues to present the same contradictions and problems of past years . Thus, five years after the XCOM 2: War Of The Chosen finale, the special team Chimera Squad maintains order inside the futuristic City 31, site of numerous riots caused by groups of rebels, which aim to obtain greater power, especially following the chaos generated in the urban center by the death of one of the political figures of reference.
XCOM: Chimera Squad follows what is the style of the previous chapters of the series, with some interesting additions that do not change the basic formula of a turn-based strategy. The place of main interest for this chapter is the aforementioned City 31, battered by riots in which groups of rebels take part who try to destabilize the balance gained through tears, blood and plasma rifle shots by the members of the XCOM teams in previous conflicts. Precisely to try to quell these uprisings, the special Chimera Squad team intervenes, consisting of eleven specialists - which we will unlock along the way - ready to take the field to stem the situation and find out what really lies behind the chaos that is enveloping the metropolis so much. as unexpected as it is brutal.
With XCOM: Chimera Squad the guys of Firaxis Games have tried to review some of the characteristics of the series. Although we still remain anchored to the formula underlying the other chapters, namely that of a turn-based strategy, the management part (albeit present) is revised and modified in this title, proposing a type of game that tries to attract both the most avid fans of the series both novices. Chimera Squad was an important opportunity for the developers to review some gameplay ideas, introducing mechanics designed to give a breath of fresh air to a consolidated but still improvable scheme.
Maintaining control of city riots is not easy and it is good to carefully study the situation before acting: from the gaming hub it is possible to keep track of all areas of the city, on which you often have to intervene to prevent chaos from spreading. It is from here that the various imposing missions with the turn-based fighting typical of the series, with some variations on the theme: first of all a new mechanic called Breach, which allows you to lead your team members into a deadly entry into the field in the first round, selecting enemy targets in a sort of bullet time that allows you to get a huge advantage over your opponents if you are good at using your cards well.
You can choose from multiple points from which unit members will enter the scene, conferring special bonuses and directly proportional dangers depending on the choice, always pushing to evaluate the risks carefully before making a decision. Very often the missions are divided into several parts interspersed with each other by break-in phases, providing an interesting variation to the pace of the game. At the same time, citizens to be rescued during missions acquire even greater importance: it's up to us to decide whether to risk it risking their rescue, aware that by leaving them behind we will contribute to increasing the level of riots in that area of the city, while by bringing them to safety we can provide a panacea to the overflowing discontent of the city.
Another novelty is the presence of a ordering of shifts, in which the action of each soldier - ally and enemy - is performed according to a precise sequence given by the time line present on the screen (compared to previous titles in which each turn saw us move all the members of our unit as a group, selecting them one after the other). The moves of the opponents therefore become more predictable and it is possible to react quickly to an attack, without having to wait for all enemies to take their actions. As explained in some interviews, the development team made this decision to provide a greater decision-making power to the player, now able to immediately counter the attacks of an enemy and no longer obliged to wait for the end of the moves of all opponents. The positioning on the timeline can also, as needed, be modified with specific skills, providing a way out even in the most critical situations.
The immediate counterattack therefore makes it easier to respond to the opponent's moves: aopposing artificial intelligence not particularly bright normal difficulty, which is one of the 4 different levels that can be selected together with numerous modifiers, which allow you to customize your game by adding options that increase the difficulty indirectly, proposing - with the hardcore mode - a single save slot or forcing to replay the campaign from the beginning following a game over. All elements that, moreover, wink at the replayability factor.
To replace what was the division into classes of soldiers in previous chapters, there are specifics in XCOM: Chimera Squad characteristics of individual members who are part of the team, all with their own personality: each individual represents a different type of soldier with different abilities, which are unlocked by leveling up and which make him even more lethal in the field or more effective in supporting the team. To pass the missions it is necessary meet the main objectives e make all the elements of the team survive: paying attention to the health of the soldiers therefore becomes a fundamental requirement, especially because once all the health points are lost, they will bleed, that is a status that if not treated will lead to death and the consequent failure of the mission within a few turns.
Not just fights though: from the Chimera Squad base of operations you can decide how to manage and how to upgrade your team, perhaps buying new weapons and equipment for your team, carrying out training that improves the statistics of the characters, working in the area designed to develop new prototypes, or even starting investigations from which additional resources are obtained to be spent to purchase equipment or finance support teams to patrol some sections of the city for us (lowering the respective level of chaos). It therefore becomes possible to control everything in a precise way, distributing the various team members between the various tasks and deciding which ones to send on mission. Over time the number of characters increases, allowing you to operate on multiple fronts in the same day: working with such a small roster compared to the canons of the series, however, we would have appreciated more customization possibilities both from the point of view of skills and aesthetics.
As for the technical sector, XCOM: Chimera Squad does not offer anything exceptional, but it is in line with the canons of the series. The animations and graphic care do not make you cry for a miracle, but they are still functional to their purpose. Similarly, the locations where the missions take place are pleasantly detailed and equipped with a large number of covers with which to protect themselves during their advance towards the enemy. The camera is not always comfortable, especially in closed spaces not too large in size where many of the battles in the game take place.
The presence of the localization in Spanish: all the characters are in fact dubbed, which gives the whole Chimera Squad an additional depth that allows you to better appreciate each individual character, especially in comparison to what happened with the previous chapters of the XCOM series where, inevitably, you had to get used to rather anonymous soldiers , with the constant risk of seeing them fall on the battlefield.
XCOM: Chimera Squad is an interesting variation on the theme of a series that has been very successful over time, but which also prepares for a new change for the foreseeable future. The new turn-based style allows you to take full action on the battlefield and respond blow for blow to enemy attacks, providing greater control of the situation. The selling price is undoubtedly excellent and we are sure that fans should not miss the work, especially in light of the presence of new mechanics that, in all likelihood, will also be proposed again in a future XCOM 3.
► XCOM: Chimera Squad is a turn based game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K Games for PC, the video game was released on 24/04/2020
