Star Wars Zero Company – XCOM in a galaxy far, far away. review

Played on Xbox Series S

After Marvel’s Midnight Sun was a commercial failure, it seemed like they could move away from big-budget turn-based tactics. The genre is already pretty niche, and even if the Marvel brand doesn’t help attract a large audience, that’s okay. However, it turns out that everything is not so bad – according to Steam statistics, the sales of the same type of game “Star Wars Zero Company” are quite good, fully satisfying the needs of XCOM fans, providing exciting tactical battles, and greatly complementing the rich Star Wars universe with new characters and conflicts.

⇡#Keep a mustache

To get a better idea of ​​what era Star Wars Zero Company is set in, you can watch the animated series Clone Wars – which tells the story of the long-running conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Separatists. Although the game’s protagonist, Hawks, has never been mentioned in the universe before, he is known to have served as a company commander under General Pom Krel, who is considered one of the most unpleasant antagonists in the series due to his methods of combat. He behaved poorly against Hawks – he sent his company into an apparently disastrous battle against the Separatists: nearly all the soldiers died, and the Republic blamed Hawks, not Krell. What followed were court-martials, dismissals, and the emergence of Zero Company, a mercenary unit led by Hawkes.

The standard appearance of the eagle is successful, but if necessary you can change it a lot and even give him a helmet

You might think that after all this, Hawkes would fall over to the enemy’s side, but that’s not the case – he continues to work for the good of the Republic, albeit unofficially. His new adversaries are cultists from the Infinite Helix (another brand new name in the Star Wars universe) – Separatist fanatics obsessed with spreading the Shadow Plague throughout the galaxy, infecting every cultist. Its essence is that the virus forcibly establishes a Force connection with the cult leader, the charismatic villain Kundli Fatt, not only making the victims her followers, but also turning them into super soldiers with super powers. Granted, the chance of death after infection is about 50%, but there are still enough surviving cultists to cause the Republic to worry and desire to destroy the Infinite Spiral.

Not only does Hawks have to fight these villains, but he also has to perform other missions throughout the galaxy that are ignored by representatives of the Republic. You can’t deal with this alone, so the leader invites other poor guys to join his squad, who for some reason can’t officially enlist. Clay, a bounty hunter, has long tried to defeat those who destroyed her Mandalorian clan. Kabu, a former boxer, has a cybernetic arm that allows him to rapidly change rhymes with every conversation. And there’s Baroness Jay, whose mining outpost has just been overrun by the cultists we’re hunting. The company is diverse and all the characters are interesting enough that you want to learn their backstories, complete their side quests, and spend more time with them during your outings.

Sometimes decisions have to be made even in conversations with peers

We’ll take all of these heroes with us on a mission, but first we need to create our own eagle. Choose a race (from Human to Zabrak – there are many options), decide on appearance and clothing (there are more options) and choose one of eight classes that vary in passive and active skills. For example, a marksman’s critical hit chance is increased and he can fire repeatedly. The Heavy draws the attention of enemies within a certain radius and takes more hits and shots due to increased maximum health. And Scouts sometimes give the team extra advantage points when they defeat enemies – combat resources shared by everyone that are used for powerful special abilities, like firing a rocket launcher or firing volleys at multiple targets simultaneously.

If you don’t like the class, you can easily change it almost from the beginning of the game, and the same goes for the weapons we use during the character creation phase. The main difference between guns is how many action points they cost to use. Each character, including Hawks, has only three of all actions in a turn. For example, the simplest blaster pistol only costs one point to fire, but its damage isn’t the most impressive, nor is its range. But the long-range blaster can “eat” up to two points, serves as a type of sniper rifle, and is the most powerful in the entire list. There’s also a repeater – similar to a bunker-busting machine gun – and a blaster rifle, which you can use to decide how powerful you want your shot to be and how many points you want to spend on it.

Why shoot them one by one if you can defeat them all at once?

⇡#just space

Fans of turn-based tactics will fall in love with Zero Company at this stage, seeing an unlimited number of character customization options. But this is just the beginning. You’ll then become acquainted with the unique abilities of your story companions, you’ll hire new fighters with your favorite skills, and you’ll open a black market for weapon modifications that affect properties. You’ll start to improve your relationships with your colleagues by trying them out again and again, and as your bond level increases, you’ll be able to choose rewards – for example, you’ll both be able to go further in combat or deal critical damage more often. You’ll start fleshing out central locations, which will lower the prices of items in your store, open more units to hire new employees, and more.

Yes, you can bring anyone to your team (if the mission conditions don’t prohibit it), but you still try to try out the story characters – their abilities are so good that they get even better with upgrades. Trick is able to stand up when seriously injured, which helps because he doesn’t have to run to save him – and after improving his skills, he won’t break bones in this situation, so there’s no need to put him in the hospital. Jay’s ability to complete a low-health target once per turn without spending turn points on it is already a wonderful “passive” – ​​but then she’ll be able to do it twice per turn. What can we say about Telley? She is a Jedi Padawan who uses the Force to repel and disorient opponents, and deflects enemy blaster charges with her sword.

Sometimes our fighters can compete with Imperial Stormtroopers in terms of accuracy

All of this brings endless possibilities to combat, and you’ll want to carefully consider every move. It must be remembered, for example, that if the target is defeated, Kab’s melee attack will restore all action points he spent. Ticks are able to throw grenades great distances. It’s recommended to check your surroundings for ways to quickly eliminate a particularly tough target – for example, by pushing them into the abyss with a powerful strike. Sometimes, it’s more logical to have not four characters with guns, but three, and add a car repair robot to their company – he can’t shoot, but he carries around a bunch of grenades (including repellent) and gives his buddies extra action points. After playing for a few hours, you’ll start to make more tactical decisions as you encounter more and more cultists, who transfer their passive bonuses to other enemies upon death. Who should be eliminated first? Who should you follow? But there are also mini-bosses here!

The only disappointment is the lack of mission variety, especially as you delve deeper into side missions and complete optional orders. Either wipe out waves of enemies, then hold a point, wipe out waves of enemies, then we evacuate someone, wipe out waves of enemies… The combat system never stops entertaining, but sometimes you can’t help but let out a tired sigh, especially in the second half of Zero Company. Before starting the next mission, you can take part in a fun “game within a game” where you interact with the table in the center of the base, which can be helpful. In one tab, you can choose a contract, spend your energy, and make decisions that affect not only your colleagues’ attitudes toward you, but also your rewards. In another game, you can upgrade your relationships with different factions in the galaxy and receive gifts from them. Sometimes, a crisis situation arises – you need to choose between two unpleasant options, which affects the gameplay of the next outing, and you have to choose the worst one.

Considerable diversity in locations where battles take place

***

Veterans of Firaxis is a studio that has been working on the XCOM series for a long time, having worked on Star Wars Zero Company, so there’s no doubting the quality of the game – these guys know a lot about tactics and strategy. Here you not only enjoy the tactical gameplay (although sometimes you have to endure the failure of 90% hit rate), but you also delve into the menus with great enthusiasm: customize and upgrade your squad, try different professions and change equipment, which brings new opportunities to the battle. It’s a bit of a shame that Marvel’s Midnight Sun didn’t get as much attention and was considered a failure, but it’s a great and equally exciting game. But “Zero” proves that audiences haven’t lost interest in this strategy.

advantage:

• A fun story with lovable characters and a very charismatic villain in The Eagles;
• A variety of career, equipment and hero upgrade options;
• Exciting tactical gameplay that rewards thoughtful gameplay using the environment and character abilities;
• A fun “game within a game” that involves participating in actions and factions on a galactic map.

defect:

• The monotonous nature of the missions starts to get a bit boring towards the end of the game;
• A standard quirk in XCOM is missing opponents who are almost standing near your fighter.

Rating: 9.0/10

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