Chimera Squad. Police Academy – review

Welcome to city 31

Although it must be admitted that there is a much less oppressive atmosphere. Remember how gloomy the world looked in the first and second parts? First, a tie in the spirit Independence Day with the invasion of disgusting aliens, chrysalids hiding in the carcasses of whales, and executions of civilians. And then an even more hopeless sequel with the inexorable ticking counter of the Avatar project, zombie invasions of wanderers and hunting for XCOM operatives.

So, Chimera Squad is already a completely different game in mood. This time, the world, in general, is not in danger: the problems are purely local. You take on the role of the leader of an elite police detachment sent to City-31 – a metropolis where people and aliens coexist together. Recently, disturbing events began to occur there: the mayor was killed in the city, and mysterious terrorists either abduct aliens, create sects, or open shell companies to cover up their dark affairs. Of course, later it turns out that the Big Conspiracy is hidden behind all this, and the world is still under threat again … But purely formally.

The whole plot is served in such comics – no more epic videos on the engine

Alas, the loud statements of the developers that there will be a serious plot with meaning in the spin-off did not materialize. Yes, field investigators acquired biographies, unique portraits and model models, and even, you will not believe, characters: this is expressed in short conversations between missions. And these dialogues are written, by the way, very well. Heroes poke fun at each other, discuss the situation in the city, their lives before XCOM, you can even learn something useful from these conversations. But … all this does not affect the game. On the battlefield, the heroes, as they were, remain simply idiots, which, of course, can support a comrade when he performs a useful action (“A great shot!”), But nothing more. And the script may have reduced the level of pathos due to a more mundane conflict, but it remained a set of cliches from science fiction.

The skill branches of the characters are also modest. On the other hand, among them there is practically no useless: even the initial skills will be needed until the very end of the game

No panic! Only without panic!

But do not rush to throw tomatoes on the screen. The change of scale is quite logical, because now we do not save the whole world, but we manage point-by-point sorties and try to prevent lawlessness in a single city. There is no longer a “scan” button to skip the time on the global map: one completed operation equals one past day. By analogy with the previous parts, in different areas on the city map there are always several tasks at once, and you need to constantly prioritize. If you fulfill the main mission, but ignore a side event elsewhere, panic will immediately rise there. As soon as the level of panic in one of the regions reaches a critical point, the level of anarchy increases – this is the local counterpart of the Avatar counter from the previous part. And if anarchy, in turn, reaches its maximum, then you simply lose.

Chrissalids still scare the local population (and at the same time you) the most

This approach has its advantages: a minimum mechanic suggests more dynamics. Panic and anarchy in the districts can be suppressed with the help of observation posts, which are bought for intelligence (one of three local resources, in addition to loans and electricity for research). We have to calculate our strengths: it’s better to save on weapons, but invest in improving the observation post in a lush area in order to prevent an outbreak of panic. In addition, if the population reaches the red alarm level, unrest will begin – they will also have to be distracted in order to clear levels from enemies and save civilians.

In a word, even though the drama is now unfolding over a few square kilometers, it will not be boring anyway. Yes, at first the anarchy scale doesn’t really bother: we relaxly declare quarantines, send free agents to special operations and thus level out some of the unrest. But by the middle of the second investigation (there are three in all), the treasured streak will begin to grow by leaps and bounds. And here adrenaline strikes the head in full: if it is incorrect to calculate forces and drag out investigations, the city will rebel – and you will have to start from the very beginning.

Moutons in the game became like some kind of bug-eyed upright fish and dress in sweatshirts and dude shirts

Chocolate Marshmallows

As for the fights themselves, they are all the same outwardly – with one major exception. Now the tasks are often divided into two or three battles (read – phases), each of which begins with the planning of the assault. First of all, you choose at which entrances to the location to place the fighters; in some places you can make your way with the good old explosives. Then we need to give everyone the initial action: someone, say, treats part of the party members before the assault. And only after that you finally break into the location and begin an open skirmish. It looks completely new and, I must say, fresh. The mechanics of preparation are not a decorative lotion, but a full-fledged stage of the battle. And sometimes it becomes decisive, because illiterate actions during the assault itself can send half the detachment to the expense.

And this is better to avoid, because the death of any operative leads to the failure of the mission or even the whole game (in the “Terminator” mode). In order not to lose, the soldier needs to be reanimated; however, after that they will still lie on the ground until the very end of the battle – they can only be replaced by android fighters. But smart planning is the key to a successful outcome of the battle: there is a chance to lay down part of the enemies at the beginning of the collision. For this, the party members have special “assault” skills: the alien Verge, for example, can raise not too weighty opponents into the air, depriving them of cover and turning them into an easy target.

Before the assault, the Gremlins can heal the fighters, scan the terrain and put marks on the enemies. But you can do this only once per task

And here the main feature of the spin-off comes to the fore – your wards. All eleven fighters in Chimera Squad are truly unique and in demand. Of course, their specialization largely repeats the samples from the original. There is Godmother – a stormtrooper with a shotgun, capable of taking out several enemies at once with a shot over the area. There is a Puff – a snake that enters the hatches during the assault, spits poison and pulls the tongue of both comrades and enemies. And my favorite operative is the alien Zephyr, who fights hand-to-hand. At first, it is rather weak and useless, but if it is properly shaken, Zephyr becomes indispensable. She cuts down groups of enemies with a series of attacks, blocks other people’s blows and shots and, with the support of fellow healers, takes out opponents one by one.

At the same time, you will not be able to go through the whole game with the same four fighters. One can get injuries that significantly reduce its effectiveness in battle, and will have to send him for recovery. Another will need an upgrade to improve health, and it will need to be temporarily replaced by someone else. So in any case, you will use the abilities of all your operatives – and, believe me, each of them will show himself as a valuable member of the team.

And so that you certainly explored the capabilities of each fighter and did not get stuck on one thing, the developers increased the pace of the game. Remember how in the previous parts of XCOM some missions could last for an hour, or even a half? So, in Chimera Squad, each battle lasts about five to ten minutes, and the longest missions rarely take more than half an hour to complete. The reason for this is the reduced size of the cards: now the entire level space can be limited, say, by the room of the bar, where 5-6 opponents have dug in. There is no time to hide and maneuver especially – you need to act quickly, so the fight sometimes lasts literally two or three moves.

True, for the same reason, improvements to weapons that provide reloading without the cost of money supply seem pretty useless. Why are they needed if for the whole battle you can never once recharge corny? But at the same time it works for the atmosphere: if before it was not believed that literally two dozen enemies lurked on a huge flying saucer, now everything is logical. You fight not with huge battalions, but with isolated groups of enemies.

Having received a special ability, Zephyr will learn to neutralize several enemies at once in one turn. Ah yes woman! Alien alien

And one more small, but very significant difference: you can no longer freely switch between fighters. Now there is a single turn sequence column where your fighters and all enemies fall. The order is determined randomly, and it may happen that first you look like the most useless fighter from the team, and then immediately three opponents open fire on you and take down a good half of your health.

The next operative can be accelerated, but only once per level – so the game again forces you to act quickly and not relax. You feel like a hero of an action movie about the police of the future: a muton with a shotgun bursts into the door with a wild roar, scaring off nearby enemies, two more burst through the windows and shoot the gaping vipers, and the last tank appears, absorbing all enemy damage. A shot from each, a pair of fragmentation – and that’s it, take out the customers. After a while, however, this is a little boring, but then another new fighter appears in the team, and with it new opportunities and tactics.

Many enemies migrated to the game from the second part, but some have new abilities. Andromedon, for example, sometimes learned to shoot through walls – although this is clearly a bug, not a feature. However, there are not so many similar errors

But there is an important clarification: it all works if you pass Chimera Squad at a high level of difficulty. But on average, sometimes it seems that they play with you in a giveaway: you lazily throw enemies with blinding grenades (now they don’t need ML at all for throwing), they try to shoot back in a panic, get a couple of plasma charges into their heads and die down. In order for hardcore and at least some kind of challenge – say, enemies with a thick skin and good evasion – you need to set the complexity higher.

Although there are also such missions, from which eyes climb onto the forehead. I still remember how I tried to win the battle for six (!!!) hours, in which it was necessary, being in an extremely disadvantageous position, to shoot reptiles who tried to destroy precious samples of scientific research. There were always not enough moves, but I didn’t have time to get to the enemy without losing any of the team. I had to restart the entire level twice, so that the randomizer scattered the enemies humanly – then at last it turned out to at least break through to the target, even if it was under heavy fire of the enemy.

How we played

In what: The key is provided by the developer.

On what: PC

How many: about 18 hours

Editors Achievement

“For all categories and ages”

To teach dad, younger brother and son of his mother’s girlfriend to play Chimera Squad.