For those who do not know what XCOM is, XCOM is a popular strategy video game about a global defense force that protects the planet from alien invaders that was a big hit in the early 90s for the PC. Since 2012, XCOM has been coming to the console platforms with the critically acclaimed title XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Enemy Within was an expansion to Enemy Unknown. XCOM 2 is the sequel to XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and it is amazing.

     The story of XCOM 2 is set 20 years after XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Humanity is now governed by the aliens and humanity is living under the tyrannical rule of the new government ADVENT. The global defense force known as XCOM is now a global resistance and must take the fight back to ADVENT and reclaim the planet for the human race. And as the commander of XCOM, the player gets to lead and manage the global resistance.

     The gameplay is the same from XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Each level, the player has two turns per soldier, the player can have 4-6 soldiers on the field. Soldiers in the game can be promoted to different classes, and the player can upgrade their mobile command center and equipment as the player progresses and does more missions. Since the player is playing the role as the commander, the player also needs to manage their global resistance by getting more supplies, contacting other rebel groups to join the cause, and recruiting more soldiers to join the resistance. But the best part of XCOM 2 is the soldier customization pool, a returning feature the developers have brought back from XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and it is a blast to create soldiers that can be brought into the game.

     The other aspect to the gameplay are the enemy soldiers that the player must go against. There are various kinds of enemies that require different tactics or better weapons, so it is essential that the player needs to upgrade his/her soldier’s equipment. Everything matters.

      The cons of this game are that the game sometimes crashes on the consoles, and there is not a lot of customization options available on the consoles that are only exclusive on the PC.

     The pros of this game are the excellent storytelling, sharpened graphics that have improved since Enemy Unknown, the amazing customization pool that was mentioned earlier while limited on the consoles has improved greatly, but the meat of this game is the heavy use of tactics and the ever evolving gameplay.

      The game is affected by every decision made in the game, and if the player makes bad decisions, the game reminds the player to be more critical with decisions on picking up supply drops, recruiting more soldiers, upgrading equipment, and be careful with what missions to avoid or do.

     XCOM 2 is a must for Xbox One, PS4, PC, and it gets an 8 out of 10. XCOM 2 is rated T for Teen by the ESBR for Blood, Use of Tobacco and Violence.