00:00Star Wars Zero Company is giving the people what they want and that means more XCOM. You've got
00:05your small squad of powerful but perishable heroes. You've got hit percentages. Yes, you will be cursing
00:11the RNG gods all the time. You've got cover exploding into shards and rubble and you've got
00:18those moments where you claw back victory from the jaws of defeat through judicious overwatch use.
00:24So I've played about 18 cycles of a press preview build which is still firmly in the early game and
00:31there were moments where it really felt like I was playing a Star Wars themed XCOM mod but with
00:37AAA production values and so much more customization both cosmetic and mechanical. But aping XCOM is a
00:46really big risk. Zero Company is very XCOM but it isn't XCOM and there are some places where
00:54it differs that really work like the focus on teamwork and camaraderie that that's all fantastic
00:59but then there are the places where it just feels like a lesser example of the XCOM 2 model. Okay
01:06so
01:06a big one for me is the lack of fog of war. I hate it. The absence of patrols and
01:11surprise attacks like
01:13there's just no real tension and don't get me wrong there's drama on the battlefield but so much less
01:20than I'd expect from something that really is descended from XCOM. And despite only playing a bit of the early
01:28game I'm still already a little bit bored of fighting droids with guns and guys with guns in really similar
01:36combat focused arenas with loads and loads of crates everywhere. Where Zero Company pushes things forward
01:44is in the presentation. It is incredibly cinematic. It looks very flashy. You've got striking cut scenes
01:51and you've got loads of opportunities to just hang out in your den and chat with your teammates. And in
01:57this regard it's pretty evocative of both Mass Effect and more importantly Midnight Suns. So yeah it
02:03looks great and it sounds great and there is so much character and that's not something that's normally
02:09a guarantee in a tactics game. So this does feel special in that regard. So there's a lot to like
02:16but I don't know if this is going to be a slam dunk.
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