ThereвЂ™s a shimmering effect when you enter the map room, where a 3D globe moves towards the screen and breaks apart into constituent particles as it does so, a sight so beautiful you just want to stick it on repeat with a Pink Floyd album. The latter is an incredibly lavish production of what is basically a side-on 2D view of an ant mound, which zooms in and out of the rooms as you click through them. XCOM 2 splits between missions on the ground, where you control a group of soldiers (initially four, soon six) and fight aliens/save civilians/steal technology, and the XCOM base itself. Here the restrictions are as tight as they were but, when youвЂ™re scrabbling every day just to find supplies and keep out of sight, the whole setup makes much more sense. At once the scenario fits beautifully with how XCOM 2вЂ™s mix of turn-based strategy and base-building works вЂ“ in the original game you apparently had every nation on EarthвЂ™s backing, but could still run out of doctors or scientists or troopers. The tutorial establishes this new XCOM as a ragtag rebel group, abandoned by most of its old allies (who have signed up with the alien rulers) and lacking leadership. This staple enemy type, though humanoid in appearance, is an unholy genetic hybrid вЂ“ and just the tip of the iceberg youвЂ™ll eventually uncover. ItвЂ™s a clean and organised dystopia, with people efficiently marched through weapons scanners and dispatched for any infractions real or perceived by AdventвЂ™s troopers. Twenty years have passed since the original gameвЂ™s events, with Earth now ruled by an alien-human dictatorship known as Advent. Chances are if you played it, you also failed to save humanity.

FiraxisвЂ™ 2012 strategy title was a remake of a 1994 original, UFO: Enemy Unknown, which cast you as the commander charged with responding to an alien invasion of Earth вЂ“ building up the eponymous organisation, responding to attacks across the globe, and hunting down alien operating bases. A mong XCOMвЂ™s distinctions is that it is a difficult game, so the sequelвЂ™s concept is quite brilliant: the first time around, you lost.

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