XCOPS rebuilds the familiar turn-based tactical action of XCOM, turning it into a swat-sorta game where missions revolve around breaching and clearing small areas. Several times each mission you get to choose different entry points (which offer different bonuses), stack your squad up (or spread them around several breach points), then hit that GO GO GO button and pile in. Action largely unfolds in the familiar XCOM way, though here turns are interleaved between friendly an enemy units, rather than one side going then the other. And you have an HQ which is a bit like a slimline XCOM base and… it’s kinda neat! New RPS VidBud Colm is well into it: Not that Matt disliked XCOPS, mind. “Overall, Chimera Squad is solid,” he said in his written review. “It’s still a shadow of its progenitor, with its new ideas not quite making up for the loss of old ones. But if you try to treat it as its own thing, play at a higher difficulty, and do your best to ignore the snake’s voice, I’d say it’s worth a punt.” Until 6pm today (10am Pacific), that punt will cost you £8.49/€9.99/$9.99 on Steam. After that it’ll double, which is still fairly cheap. It’s been a wild week for XCOM-y action. Chimera Squad launched the very day after Gears Tactics, which is basically Gears Of War but XCOM. Our Nate chuffing adored that, declaring in his Gears Tactics review that “I’d argue it sets the new gold standard for turn-based tactics.” I snapped up Chimera Squad myself but have only played the first few missions so far. I’m certainly tempted by Gears Tactics too, maybe it’ll be the game that gets me to finally sign up for Xbox Game Pass - god knows Microsoft have priced Gears Tactics high enough to strongly disincentivise actually buying the game. What are you playing in this bountiful week of tactics, pals? Maybe our XCOM: Chimera Squad guide can help you out of a jam.
