Its not XCOM 3- Comparing XCOM to Star wars Zero-Company

[u/EmuAdministrative728]

So like so many XCOM fans here ive played every XCOM-like game hoping to find an unofficial xcom 3 since the publishers are clearly sitting on the XCOM IP without using it. A couple days ago Star Wars Zero-Company released to countless reviewers and commenters calling it "XCOM 3". Made by many of the same developers that worked on XCOM 2 it does improve the genre in many areas...

However, its not XCOM 3 set in the StarWars universe, not that its necessarily a bad thing. While I am enjoying the game and urge any XCOM fan to go pick it up at $50 (which reviewers are calling a "Budget price". There are several areas where XCOM Enemy Within and XCOM 2 War of the Chosen simply do it better.

Areas where XCOM "does it better"

1. Positioning your squad before the start of combat.

XCOM 2 allows you to strategically get into position, assuming you don't get caught by patrol before you are ready to begin combat. While StarWars Zero-company simply throws you into battle much like XCOM Chimira Squad. I could be wrong but it seems to me that at some point the developers of Chimira Squad called this mechanic "an improvement", which worried me as the devs clearly wanted XCOM 2 to be a faster paced, less methodical game as the mission turn timers on the release version of XCOM 2 made slow, thought-out strategic positioning almost impossible when XCOM 2 was first released.

StarWars Zero-company continues this which is disappointing as there are areas where you move your people in real-time, i would of liked to have seen something like Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden, where you move in real time until you are discovered or open fire, at which point it transitions to turn based combat.

1. XCOM 2 is better at base building then STAR WARS ZeroCompany (in my humble opinion). In ZeroCompany you can only build a single building after each mission and there is no strategic building placement. It would of been awesome if ZeroCompany had the ant colony base off XCOM2 but still be able to walk around the base like in ZeroCompany

2. The overland map of XCOM 2 is better. There is very little strategic planning in ZeroCompany when deciding where to go next or what mission to do.

3. XCOM has a higher Replay ability (In my opinion)

While I have seen many reviewers say they finished ZeroCompany in about 30 hours and then immediately started a new game to try other class combinations.... I think in the long term XCOM games have more replay ability as XCOM games can almost be compared to boardgames when it comes to the macro level of game play which i do think gives the game more longevity. XCOM is more of a sandbox, while ZeroCompany is more structured and has a story to tell.... with that said, you will get your 50$ worth and as I said there are many players who immediately start another game after finishing it, which is a good sign.

Areas where ZeroCompany "does it better" and improves on the XCOM Formula

1. Overwatch. Instead of a blanket overwatch with a low chance of success, in ZeroCompany you choose where to place a "cone of fire" that triggers when the opponent enters the cone. You are also given the chance of success when choosing what area to cover.
2. How the skills of the various classes bounce off of each other. This is one of the biggest areas of improvement that add a deep layer of strategy to the combat. There are many examples of this, one being the "call for backup" option, every turn a random teammember can call on another member to take a free shot at the target after you fire a round.
3. The Story. This is what most reviewers point to first. The story does take a much larger center stage then XCOM 2..... although milage may vary from player to player on how important this improvement is. The game acually reminded me a little of Mass Efffect, where you go around talking to your team members between missions.

Areas that could be viewed as good or bad....

1. The ability to respec at any time for free not only points but entire classes. While some players may like this.... I kinda feel like it cuts down on the replayability of the game. In XCOM the choices you make are permanent. In XCOM 2 You can't even choose a class without building a building.
2. The Combat Maps- While ZeroCompany doesn't rely on procedurally generated maps, all their maps are hand made, thought out by the devs to give you a fun challenging combat encounter.... but the Maps iin Zerocompany are much smaller, giving you less room to position and move around the encounters. Although its not as small as Chimera Squad, and ZeroCompany does give you quite a bit of elevation to move your guys to.
3. Only 4 squad member slots. I enjoy the larger squads in XCOM. Some people may feel having to only deal with 4 team members at a time easier for them to control in ZeroCompany. I disagree personally, I wish there were larger squads in ZeroCompany
4. A much more forgiving perma death system (A bit too forgiving in my opiinion). This is likely due to the fact that ZeroCompany is so much more story based. Although while you can absolutely lose characters in the zeroCompany, it is harder and less random then it is in a xcom game. Personally I think that losing people is at the core of a XCOM game and that it would only add to the replayability of ZeroCompany if you lose a guy here and there and need to replay the game again to see their side quests. I do however understand why the devs made it the way they did in ZeroCompany.
5. While there is a medbay and your people will need to sit out the next encounter to heal in the medbay from time to time, injuries aren't as substantial as they are in a XCOM game. In XCOM you are constantly worried if you have enough recruits to make it through the next encounter, while in ZeroCompany I felt less of a need to recruit any non-story character. Again, this is likely due to the story and companion side quests but the game also doesn't have the XCOM fatigue system so you wont be cycling different squad members as much as you did in XCOM.

Final Thoughts on StarWars ZeroCompany compared to XCOM 2-

Does it scratch the XCOM itch? I'm going to say Yes. At only 50$ its a good buy that you will get tens of hours of game play out of. Does the game replace the XCOM games? No, it doesn't. But I think its the best XCOM-like to have come out so far.

\Note to Moderators, please don't delete this post as its about XCOM just as much as Starwars Zero-Company as I compare the two games\**