S&S Review: The Bureau: XCOM Declassified

Title: The Bureau: XCOM Declassified
Format:  PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Release Date: August 20, 2013
Publisher:  2K Games
Developer:  2K Marin
Price: $59.99
ESRB Rating: M
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified brings the XCOM origin story to us, and wraps it around a tactical third person shooter.  Sadly, the game doesn't quite capture the special experiences we've come to love from the various XCOM games in the past.
Story and Presentation:
One of the few bright spots of the game is the way it captures the feel of the 1960's, as you try and repel the forces of the outsiders as Agent William Carter, everything just feels accurate to the times.  From his  slick-backed hair, to his pressed trousers and turtleneck, the detail in the game is definitely spot on.  The  narrative managed to be interesting and bland at different times, which doesn't happen often.  Early on, I was all in, but that quickly changed.  Towards the latter end of the game, you encounter a number of plot twists and character changes that really pull you out of the experience.  You're either going to like it or end up despising it like I did.  The story really dragged in the end, with me wishing that it would just end already on multiple occasions.  On the other hand, the voice acting is great, although it's over the top at times, it still fits.  Not only is William Carter solidly voiced, but the numerous NPC's scattered across the base, including your squadmates.  It's a pretty strong ensemble across the board, and with a strong soundtrack to boot, things only go up from a presentational standpoint.  The haunting piano in between hectic missions add to the mysterious atmosphere, with tension-driven tracks that hikes up the heartbeat during the more chaotic encounters.  The overall visuals in the game are a mixed bag.  You'll do battle in dull repetitious outsider bases to vast open areas that can really pop.  However. frequent framerate dips and screen tearing don't help the cause. If you can get past the technical issues the game suffers from, the overall presentation is solid.
Core Gameplay:
The game has a few similarities from previous XCOM games with you spending a lot of time at the main base.  You interact with different people their where you can delve deeper into the backstory if you wish.  There's not nearly as much base management as their is in Enemy Unknown, but there is agent management.  Before each mission, you can choose from a select group of agents to accompany you.  Sending agents on other side missions is also an option, which nets you experience and special rewards for completing them.  On the ground is where the game steers away from the previous XCOM game.  Instead of an isometric view, you're in a third person perspective.  Battles are now in real time, and you have the ability to slow down time in order to give orders to your squadmates and activate special abilities.  The abilities depend on what specific class your agents are in, whether it's Recon, Support, Engineer, or Commando, each one of them presents a new set of skills to assist you during battle.  You gain experience with every kill, and with new levels, you can level up both Agent Carter and your Squadmates with new abilities and perks.
This mechanic started off great, but by the third of fourth hour, it started to wear off.  The combat got very repetitious, and it started to show the flaws in the game's A.I.  On to many occurrences I found my squadmates disregard my orders, and frantically scramble to a new position where they were met with alien fire.  Enemy's are equally annoying at times.  I found myself wondering how many grenades can they throw at me?  I thought the game was broken at times, as I found myself escaping the blast radius of three or four grenades at a time.  The difficulty spikes as well, and it may require you to tone down the game's difficulty.  The game isn't that long, I finished it in about 9 hours, and during the ending, I was just wishing the game would end.  There were moments of genuine enjoyment, but it came too sporadically.
Final Thoughts:
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified was one of my most anticipated games of the year, and it didn't live up to expectations.  If you're a bit XCOM fan, there is some enjoyment to find hear.  But if not, you may want to wait for a price drop.   S&S Rating: 6.5/10 @whatsPlay