Even if it does not claim to be an XCOM 3 at all, XCOM Chimera Squad still takes over the script from XCOM 2. The events of this spinoff take place five years after those of the second episode, while peace now reigns on earth. Thus, humans, hybrids and extraterrestrials live in harmony in City 31, and they even sometimes work together. This is the case of the members of the Chimera squad, which takes its name from its heterogeneity and shelters beings of all origins. Contrary to tradition, these soldiers are completely pre-established and are therefore not customizable at will. This change seemed rather positive to us, especially since the list of agents is sufficiently eclectic to ensure a change of scenery. There are eleven in all, although you will only be able to unlock eight during your first game. Godmother and his shotgun, Terminal and his healer drone, Patchwork and his electrifying drone, Virgil and his psionic powers or the big Axiom tank are not played in the same way at all. Special mentions for the Zephyr hybrid, which distributes slaps at full speed, and for the alien snake Torque, which coils like a boa constrictor around its victims to immobilize and suffocate them. One of the interests of the game also consists in establishing for each mission a team of four agents with the most complementary capacities possible. The predefined nature of these soldiers obviously prohibits the player from sacrificing them on the battlefield. If one of them falls in battle, it must then be "stabilized" (basically: stopping the bleeding) under penalty of game over. The unfortunate is then replaced for the rest of the mission by an android more robotic than humanoid. In addition, the scenario opposes us to three different hostile groups, and leaves us free to face them in the order that we wish. Like a Ghost Recon Wildlands or a Far Cry 5, eliminating them all ultimately allows access to the final big bad.
XCOM LIKE OU XCOM LIGHT?
Mentioning teams of only four soldiers and a total number of agents limited to eleven will certainly make fans of the XCOM series wince. Would we be entitled to an episode at a discount? This term would be excessive, but Chimera Squad is indeed more modest than its elders. The strategic phase does not propose to us to develop a base or a ship. There are still a lot of things to manage between two tactical confrontations, since it is necessary to ensure that the unrest does not rise too much in the different districts of Cité 31. For this we have a map of the city divided into six districts. You can solve situations (non-playable missions that end in two clicks), place field teams in the different areas to earn bonuses, launch secondary missions or even advance the scenario by choosing the main missions. The rhythm of the passing days obviously involves making choices, and it is therefore not possible to be on all fronts at the same time. This strategic phase also offers us an Assembly section (to develop more powerful equipment), a Supply (to buy equipment), a Pillager's Market (which rarely appears but which offers the rarest and most powerful items ), an Armory (to equip our soldiers and unlock their abilities as they gain experience), Special Operations (which notably allow them to earn resources), and a Training section (to improve an agent's statistics, and heal his disabling scars if he has been "stabilized" during a fight). In short, there is plenty to do! 
But the heart of the game still lies in the turn-based tactical confrontations, which offer us gameplay that is still just as effective and allow us to find with great pleasure the cutlery, vigilance, action points and other concepts so dear to XCOMs. The levels are very small, but you gain in immediacy what you lose in depth. Moreover, the game introduces the concept of infiltration phases. Be careful, this Frenchified term is rather badly chosen. Don't expect Hitman-style stealth, but rather Call of Duty-style window smashing and door-smashing. The original version of the game also evokes phases of "breach", and the French version would therefore have done better to retain the term "intrusion" rather than "infiltration". Concretely, the missions are divided into several confrontation phases (usually between one and three) separated by as many infiltration phases. The latter place us each time in front of one or more entry points. We can then choose where our different agents will enter (depending on our equipment), determine in which order they will fight, and use abilities to facilitate the fights to follow (group healing, flash grenade, scanner, etc.). Above all, this novelty makes it possible to immediately get into the action and avoid any dead time at the start of the mission. Indeed, the first exchanges of bullets begin as soon as the intrusion is triggered!
WELCOME TO THE BUGS FAIR
At this stage of the test, it is high time to address the points that annoy. Especially since they jumped in our face from the first minutes of play, Chimera Squad sweating the "low budget" through all its pores. Thus, the cinematic scenes are made of barely animated cartoons, and the style chosen is frankly not the most convincing. This "low-end" aspect is all the more disappointing as it is reinforced by a very imperfect French version. Some voices don't match the characters' physique at all, while not all the actors play very well. To top it off, some translation errors sometimes appear in the texts and subtitles. But the most annoying remains the overall lack of finish of the game, which results in numerous and recurring bugs. First of all, the series still hasn't gotten rid of the sometimes whimsical nature of the lines of sight. Like its predecessors, Chimera Squad does not hesitate to display at times a 93% chance to hit while a very solid and concrete wall stands between you and your target. With the consequences that we know well: shots that cross obstacles in a totally unrealistic way. But this episode wallows even more in bugs. Very regularly, you will see enemies literally pass through walls and doors. During infiltrations, your teammates will too often find themselves misplaced on the Z axis, and will then seem to levitate above the ground.
But the heart of the game still lies in the turn-based tactical confrontations, which offer us gameplay that is still just as effective and allow us to find with great pleasure the cutlery, vigilance, action points and other concepts so dear to XCOMs.
As for the camera, it absolutely does not know where to turn when it has to follow the rapid movements of Zephyr. We also had a ceiling that refused to become transparent and therefore prevented us from seeing our soldiers located below, too long texts whose end could not be guessed in certain menus, and even an impossible mission to complete , because the planned wave of enemies was not triggered and the towers of our agents were therefore running in a loop, empty. Mandatory backup refill... and too bad for those who would have chosen the hardcore mode at the start of the game, since it automatically erases the backup in the event of a mission failure. To believe that, ultimately, the release of the game in the wake of its announcement is more haste than a carefully considered tactic. Fortunately, the gameplay, both accessible and very tactical, is sufficiently pleasant to make us forget all these faults, quite inexcusable on the part of a renowned publisher and development studio. Obviously aware of this, 2K Games is also offering the game at a very low price (€10 until April 30, €20 thereafter). And even if the lifespan is less than that of a "real" XCOM, the quantity/price ratio remains very reasonable since it took us about twenty-two hours to complete the campaign.
