History VideoGame / TheBureauXCOMDeclassified

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler: Subverted with William Carter; he was ALWAYS a Heel, being all along a paranoid anti-communist 1960's racist bigot with anti-social, self destructive tendencies due to the deaths of his family and the societal trends of the time, and the bonding with the Ethereal Asaru was the only thing making him act like a moral, STABLE person in the first place.]]

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler: Subverted with William Carter; he was ALWAYS a Heel, being all along a paranoid anti-communist 1960's racist bigot with anti-social, self destructive tendencies due to the deaths of his family and the societal trends of the time, and the bonding with the Ethereal Asaru was the only was making him act like a moral, STABLE person in the first place.]]

''The Bureau: XCOM Declassified'' is a tactical ThirdPersonShooter prequel to the 2012 ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'' by [[Creator/TakeTwoInteractive 2K Games]], for PC, {{Xbox 360}}, and PlayStation3. It was released on August 20, 2013.

** Some of the backpacks XCOM agents can wear look like mini [[Film/{{Ghostbusters}} protonpacks.]]

* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Multiple reviewers have commented on the remarkable similarity between Agent Carter and Robert "[[TheTerminator T-1000]]" Patrick. The voice actor even sounds quite a lot like Patrick.

* RenegadeSplinterFaction: It's hinted that Faulke was turning the Bureau into one. The group's official mission was to coordinate resistance in the aftermath of a Soviet invasion of the United States. However, before the game even begins the Bureau had switched over to recovering and researching alien technology on Earth such as Elerium. Faulke had also used his high level political connections to pretty much sever the Joint Chiefs control over the Bureau. [[spoiler: In the epilogue the chosen host of the Ethereal is debriefed by someone referred to as the 'Councilman', implying the Bureau now answers to a global organization instead of just the U.S. government.]]

** [[Film/TheAvengers "What Are You Without Your Armor?"]] for stripping the armor off five Mutons before killing them.

* ArbitrarySkepticism: The Russian spy dismisses the notion of alien invaders as mere children's tales, despite having infiltrated a base dedicated to fighting the invaders with their own weapons and there being an actual alien in the lab while reports base personnel talk about nothing but the devastating attacks that have wiped out entire cities.

** There's a [[Franchise/{{Bioshock}} Big Daddy doll]] in Operation Guardian.

Turns out that the "United States Bureau of Strategic Operations Command" (which would later become XCOM) was established by [[UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy JFK]] as a rapid response unit against ''communist'' invasion rather than aliens. But when the Outsiders arrive in middle America in 1962 and Sectoids start showing up in the streets, all bets are off and The Bureau reorganizes itself into XCOM to fight back. The game shares much with ''Enemy Unknown'', including art style, cover mechanics, and emphasis on tactical thinking instead of running-and-gunning. Mike Futter of ''[=GameInformer=]'' compared it to the later ''Franchise/MassEffect'' titles in feel.

Turns out that the "United States Bureau of Strategic Operations Command" (which would later become XCOM) was established by [[JohnFKennedy JFK]] as a rapid response unit against ''communist'' invasion rather than aliens. But when the Outsiders arrive in middle America in 1962 and Sectoids start showing up in the streets, all bets are off and The Bureau reorganizes itself into XCOM to fight back. The game shares much with ''Enemy Unknown'', including art style, cover mechanics, and emphasis on tactical thinking instead of running-and-gunning. Mike Futter of ''[=GameInformer=]'' compared it to the later ''Franchise/MassEffect'' titles in feel.

** TheGoomba: Sectoids are basically the Grunts from {{Halo}}, SlaveMooks who are individually weak and poorly equipped, but are deployed in numbers to support more high-value units.

* RedScare: Set in 1962 at the height of the ColdWar. Rather than a unit intended to fight off aliens, The Bureau is meant as a counter to the Reds.

** Despite being a game about an alien invasion, the main flying saucer seen in the game is human in origin and is based on a real life design.

* BeamMeUpScotty: General [=MacArthur=] [[http://www.snopes.com/quotes/macarthur.asp never actually said the page quote]].

* AnyoneCanDie: This game doesn't pull any punches; by the end of the campaign [[spoiler: Agent Nils, Agent Kinney, Agent Da Silva (depending on what choice you make), Doctor Dresner, possibly [[DecoyProtagonist Carter]] (if you choose to kill him), Agent Weaver or Director Faulke ([[SadisticChoice depending on who you choose to save]]), and many other minor characters can either die or are dead by the games end.]]
* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: Carter can only bring two agents with him.

* GenreBlindness: Like the aliens from VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown, Outsider weapons self-destruct when their operator dies. Unlike them, however, the Outsiders sometimes just leave their guns lying around for you to use.

* AnyoneCanDie: This game doesn't pull any punches; by the end of the campaign [[spoiler: Agent Nils, Agent Kinny, Agent Da Silva (depending on what choice you make), Doctor Dresner, possibly [[DecoyProtagonist Carter]] (if you choose to kill him), Agent Weaver or Director Faulke ([[SadisticChoice depending on who you choose to save]]), and many other minor characters can either die or are dead by the games end.]]

* ViralMarketing:
** The live-action trailers, amping up the UnPerson and ConvenientlyInterruptedDocument tropes used in the promotional images even further. Which gets rather disturbing at times.
** The ''Project: Enemy Unknown'', ''Citizen Skywatch'', and ''Erase The Truth'' [=ARGs=], all of which follow a common thread.
** And now there's a [[http://hungoverx.com/ tie-in browser not-quite-game]] which approaches "viral" from a different direction.