STAR WARS Zero Company™

is good

I would rate the game about 75-80/100. Overall it is fun. Pros * combat * story * graphics * general vibe of the game * good value for price Cons * bond system is highly unintuitive and punishing * poor enemy variety * poor weapon variety * illusion of depth with class system * melee is in the game but not really supported More details below: The story and the characters are well written. The setting and vibe set you up as if you are really part of a fun mercenary band. Even the custom companions get dialogue, appear in base, and feel part of the team. There are about 8-10 total classes, with multi-classing available. The game lets you freely change between them between missions. This sounds great and flexible, however, the actual power of your character comes from the bond system, not from your class. The bond system is how you increase damage, health, and other key stats as meta progression between missions. This system is intended to be simple and therefore hides a lot of the detail about how it works from the player. However, in practice, it is very complicated. Per unit caps on how much bond per mission. Your class influences which joint training you are offered, and so on. None of these can be respecced, so even though you can change classes freely, you absolutely can gimp your run. This system is so sneakily bad that I did a second playthrough before finishing my first to "fix" my build. I went from 50 HP and struggling to kill enemies to 100 by the same point in time. This required bee-lining certain upgrades and recruiting a mass roster of mercenaries to sit on the bench and become friends. There are only 4 weapon types you can choose from. Sniper, rifle, repeater, and pistol. They all feel quite similar, but the balance between them drifts as the game progresses. Combat itself is fun. The cover bonuses, range limitations, and more create an engaging dynamic. Enemy variety is quite low, and you will see the same enemies over and over.

Fun game, leans well into the genre and Star Wars. Definitely needs more polish though. If you like SW and turn based games, I easily recommend it!

Does anyone else feel like this game was poorly optimized? I have played games that should in theory be more intensive that run smoother.

Its a fun game. I loved midnight suns, wasnt sure Id vibe as much with star wars and blasters buts its got a similair fun to it. I do still prefer the hero animation and such. Reason I ghive it a negative review is the crashes. Performance is pretty good for me over all but I have had probably 4 or 5 locks or crashes. 1st needed to reset my whole pc for some stuttering it gave to everything. 2 got stuck and had to reload the game, and a few time the game freezes on a blaster hit causing me to end process and redo the mission. One just happened right now which nudged me to leave this review. Sure theyll patch it up

Can't recommend at the moment, at least for me. It just crashes a lot and that's after updating my drivers. Hopefully it'll be fixed in a little while. Gameplay is fun, voice acting is dope. Seems very story focused vs regular "xcom" style games. I'll definitely buy it later.

Loved the "internship" joke! xD