Star Wars: Zero Company Review - Taking Turns With the Force
We are just a day or so away from Zero Company launching on PC and consoles, and I am a little obsessed. After finishing the preview a couple of weeks ago, I couldn’t stop thinking about the game, and when review code arrived, I immediately sank myself into the experience, taking it all in and poking my nose into every virtual corner the game offers. It has been a fantastic journey, albeit one with some rough edges here and there, that should not only keep turn-based tactics fans happy, but also introduce a whole new crowd to the genre I love.
I’ll try not to cover too much ground I already covered in the preview, but here’s the long and short of it. Zero Company is a turn-based game from Bit Reactor, a team that features more than a few developers from turn-based masters Firaxis. A host of the devs have experience on both Xcom and Midnight Suns, and it clearly shows in Zero Company. This is a game that takes elements from both of those games and adds a healthy dose of a beloved space opera to create what is my favourite turn-based experience since the aforementioned Midnight Suns.
My preview was undeniably glowing, and while my thoughts on the game as a whole are almost exclusively positive, I would be remiss not to mention some of the issues that have popped up as my game time progressed. Firstly, it is a little rough in the performance department, especially as the game heads towards its climax. There is a lot of graphical pop-in, and sometimes there is a huge delay between turns. I must stress that these issues aren’t game-breaking and, as someone who has been doing this review thing for a long while, I get the impression that most, if not all, of the issues will be resolved with a day-one patch.
Much more problematic than some fixable graphical glitching is the camera and how it reacts to different heights and levels within the map. I spent way too much time fighting the camera, trying to target a higher platform or getting it to focus on an enemy that was below me. It is fiddly and frustrating, especially in maps where verticality plays a huge part. It is my sincere hope that this is rectified quickly because it is the only part of the gameplay that I didn’t enjoy.
I have to say, as the story went on, I found myself becoming a little disinterested in what was happening. For the first half of the game, it is all a little stock standard as far as storytelling goes, but my opinion changed when a huge bombshell dropped, and all of a sudden the whole tale was turned on its head. It was exactly what the story needed, and from that moment on, I was 100% invested in discovering just how it all played out. There are some wonderful mixes and tricks used in the second half of the game that really kept me on the edge of my seat, and once I finally reached the end, well, I was more than satisfied, yet left wanting more, which is pretty ideal from where I am sitting.
Really though, this game is all about that sweet, sweet tactical combat, and as the game progresses, it only gets more enticing. There came a point, about a third of the way in, where I could add a second class to all of my units, and it is here that I really felt like I was bending the game to my will. Mixing and matching classes is glorious, and it allowed me to really alter my approach to the battlefield. Having a soldier with medic skills allowed me to free up a unit slot, and adding some close combat talent to my snipers ensured I wasn’t going to be annoyed if someone got too close for comfort. It is a brilliant system that encourages experimentation and should ensure the replayability is high for those coming back for a second round.
Also, as the game progressed, I found the environment to be of increasing importance. While it was fun to explode barrels in the early stages, later on, when battling on clifftops or walkways, it becomes essential to take the environment into account. There is nothing more satisfying than using Tel, the company’s resident Jedi, to force-push a bunch of super tough enemies off the edge of a catwalk without taking a single hit. The environment is often your best weapon against the hordes, especially in later levels, so using it wisely is a must.
I mentioned in my preview that the game felt a little easier than Xcom 2, and after playing the whole thing, I can confirm that is true. Normal difficulty, where most people will start, is quite achievable without too much stress. I managed the whole game without losing an operative, which is something I couldn’t say in Xcom at all. I think even inexperienced folks should start with normal difficulty because the game does a fantastic job of teaching players how to play without ever throwing them against a massive difficulty wall. On the other side of things, Xcom pros might want to start out on hard for more of a challenge; I know I will be playing at that level on my inevitable second playthrough.
As for the game length, this is a much tighter runtime than either Xcom 2 or Midnight Suns, both of which could easily top 60 hours. It took me roughly 30 to get through the game, doing as much as I possibly could. I say that because there were missions I couldn’t tackle, some popped up and conflicted with other goals, some I couldn’t get to in time and others upset members of my crew that I didn’t want to upset. All this means that my second playthrough is going to feature a host of content I didn’t get to experience the first time around and that, my friends, is undeniably awesome.
Star Wars: Zero company takes the turn-based tactics genre and opens it up to a whole new crowd with its more welcoming difficulty curve, Star Wars setting and engaging meta content while at the same time offering all the tactical depth and nuance that fans of the genre expect. There are a few rough edges, mainly around the camera and some graphical glitching, but none of that is likely to hang around for too long after launch and a patch or two lands. It would be nice if it was a little more optimised for handheld PCs, but that is really just nitpicking. If you have been burned by turn-based tactics games before, well, this might not be for you, but for everyone else, a grand adventure awaits.
Star Wars: Zero Company was reviewed on PC with code kindly supplied by the publisher.
