[QUOTE=Elv02;45332074]Also, is The Bureau as bad as everyone says?[/QUOTE]
This post turned out to be a lot longer than I originally intended. However, it's not fair to call it a 'review', because I spend most of it talking about flaws to answer the "bad as everyone says" question. I also want to point out that my computer is a potato, so the actual graphical fidelity of these screenshots is my problem, not The Bureau's. It wasn't too badly optimized, for its many other faults. It actually kind of ran decently when I'd lowered most settings. So, point to them.
I wanted to like The Bureau, but it's halfway between traditional XCOM squad turn-based shooter and realtime cover-based tactical squad shooter, and it kind of fails at both. Your AI teammates are [I]useless[/I] in the early game, and going into the tactical overlay to give them orders [I]doesn't pause the game[/I], it only slows it down to 15% speed or something. You can only ever have two AI teammates in your squad; all missions are 3 people only. Because the dumb AI is weak as well as useless early on, the difficulty curve is unevenly slanted, especially if you try and play run-and-gun because it looks like Gears of XCOM (they kept the unforgiving consequences of rash haste from XCOM).
The targeting cursor in the tactical mode is a physical object in space and will [I]get stuck on map elements[/I] more often than even the AI will. So, while you're trying to get your AI teammates to get out of the line of fire or into cover that requires them to run into fire along the way, they continue to be shot while your cursor gets hung up on a fence for valuable seconds. Then one of them goes down, and you need to go run out there and rescue them unless you like the idea of facing late game with level 1s/no help because you just let the AI permadie all the time. The cursor also has a fairly short maximum usable range to prevent you from commanding your AI from the back of the map, which may include you needing to run out from cover to command them to stop being idiots and take cover/attack, and now [I]you're taking fire[/I].
And, in my experience, if [B]you[/B] go down, your AI will ignore you so you fail the mission. Speaking of ignoring, they'll ignore your orders randomly and frequently, most often if they've been pathed up to 'designated' cover for a particular staged battle.
[t]http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/1117179143071807282/85FC3AD2B13EEC45C975F4063F907A55EA912A0B/[/t]
Hey, dude, there are hostile aliens out there, get inside to this safe spot.
[t]http://cloud-3.steampowered.com/ugc/1117179143071818279/D1426377A246BCA465E96E506504377F11F441AD/[/t]
"No."
It was trapped in development hell, and you can tell, because the set pieces are GREAT:
[t]http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/1119430406543519547/516255CFE1B19D29B92FDCBFCF2FA72ECED532B6/[/t] [t]http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/1119430406543920665/6EC9ECB8A38F75D770809AB168F877500470B512/[/t] [t]http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/1119430406543546361/681088D699B8F9C9E5AFB0857F286BC45B49D396/[/t] [t]http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/1119430406543520707/264E4DAA0516C5AA00FF633BA3BEE9438860A1B0/[/t]
Unfortunately, the parts between the set pieces are a lot more bland and uninteresting and are intended to be rushed through. Like that corner that is literally nothing, hidden by darkness and fog.
The writing is [I]okay[/I] but the dialogue specifically is pretty bad; within half an hour, I already didn't give a shit about any of the characters after hearing them talk in tired tropes and, at least a few times, almost word for word well-treaded clichés. The writing in that aspect really could've used some work, although the main storyline (from what I saw before giving up on the game in disgust) was definitely doing interesting things, with an alternate 50s-punk vibe thanks to adapting alien tech. [sp]Apparently you go to space for the endgame. I've tried to avoid spoiling myself in case a patch or mod actually fixes the game and I can play it, but I couldn't avoid the big-reveal screenshots everyone had to post. :v[/sp]
At least, half the time, the bugs are funny. This NPC doesn't do this normally, but for this entire conversation, there was a spider on the ceiling that was more interesting or something.
[t]http://cloud-3.steampowered.com/ugc/1119430406543937309/0B4814F57B0B232BAFFE3D26472CD8AD3815708F/[/t]
I really want to like The Bureau, because what does work works really well, but I just can't have fun playing it.
Already own all the games except Darkness 2 and Xcom: the Bureau so I just went with the standard bundle, but it really is a nice bundle for people who don't have these games.
Great... I only have 4.44DKK on my paypal, which is just under $1.. God dammit.
I just bought the xcom bundle on the steam sale too god dammit.
[editline]9th July 2014[/editline]
[QUOTE=Elv02;45332074]Sweet bundle, too bad I already have most of these games.
I can definitely recommend XCOM:EU and Bioshock 1 and Infinite, as well as Spec Ops. Don't know about Mafia II or Darkness II though.
Also, is The Bureau as bad as everyone says?[/QUOTE]
Yes. The Bureau is pretty bad. If they had kept it as a first person shooter instead of changing it to third person squad based tactical shooter 3/4ths of the way through development it could've turned out to be a decent game. Instead since they had to rewrite everything near the end of development it turned into rushed crap.
Aw yeah on Saturday I'm going to have 20 bucks which means I finally get to play XCom: Enemy Unknown.
Hell yeah.
Damn all these games suck
[QUOTE=Re1nhardt;45335473]Damn all these games suck[/QUOTE]
for the bioshocks alone it's worth it if you don't like the other styles of games
I was thinking of buying Darkness 2 and Bioshock when they were on sale, glad I didn't.
The Bureau: [url]https://www.humblebundle.com/gift?key=VzKrvrDP88tbECyE[/url]
Not a bad game in my opinion, it's not as good as any other XCOM game but it's still a decent game in its own right. I bought it as a bundle with enemy unknown (great game) and wanted to at least try it before shelving it forever but once I drudged through the opening of the game it became pretty fun. If you're going to take this, play at least past the introduction missions.
Fuck I already have Bioshock, Bioshock 2, Bioshock Infinite, Darkness II and Spec Ops. I feel like that bundle might not be worth it for me.
Oh well, maybe the extra games will be awesome.
I just got everything except Infinite and Enemy Unknown, I already have the latter and I don't know enough about the Bioshock series to pay $20 on the third game especially when it was just on sale for much less on steam.
Great deal though, I really wanted to try the Bureau and Spec Ops, plus whatever comes later is just a bonus.
This isn't too bad of a deal all things considered. Last few bundles were sort of hit and miss.
[vid]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/29209413/ShareX/xcom.webm[/vid]
so about the bureau....
A little bit late but I couldn't find a thread to post these:
This should be Bioshock 2 [url]https://www.humblebundle.com/gift?key=uMwrFVXMDXGM2f4m[/url]
This should be Spec Ops: The Line [url]https://www.humblebundle.com/gift?key=Fb7B6XSz6wUVvkHu[/url]
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