Even if you can eventually get good enough at the game to make the timers bearable, it doesn\'t make playing with them fun, or make Bradford yammering about them less annoying and stressful in a bad way.
I saw the various reviews on the Internet and found a lot of complaining about the timers. Yet I found the timed missions to be at least not any much less fun than the non-timed missions. I\'m guessing this is more of a massive YMMV, by my reckoning most of the players don\'t really mind the timers, but there seems to be a large group that really hates them. My point about the timers is more about not letting someone considering the game be put off by them right away.
As for Bradford yammering though, that\'s a more general complaint than just the timers. :)
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Turn Based Tactics Noob Totally Enjoys XCOM 2
I bought XCOM2 Collection on the NintendoSwitch upon the recommendation of my brother-in-law. This game is my introduction to the XCOM series, and also my introduction to the Turn-Based Tactics subgenre in general. In 25+ years of gaming the only other turn-based strategy game I've played was Civilization III. Despite all that, I am finding it to be an extremely enjoyable game.
The game is notoriously hard. And it is, especially in the early game, even on Rookie difficulty. It never felt unfair though. Well, except for when I first encountered the Alien Rulers, but I looked up strategies against them and even they are manageable.
The main reason why the game is hard is that it constantly throws you into the deep end, and never bothers to teach you any of the mechanics. Nintendo games will have expertly laid out antepieces across levels gradually introducing new mechanics. XCOM 2 has none of that; there is a tutorial mission that teaches you the following: movement, using cover, picking up bodies, using a grenade, and evac. In the following mission, you're in your first "proper" mission and the game suggests you use your Ranger to slash the Sectoid (they take bonus damage from melee attacks). I didn't, and that's how I lost Jane Kelly and another rookie on my first playthrough!
That's about as much as the game tells you anything about the mechanics. Okay, maybe it tells you how to knock out an enemy VIP for capture. But after that, crickets. Here's a bunch of things we can research, which to take? Shrug. Your soldier just got promoted, and you have to choose a new skill for him (permanently), with a one-liner description for each choice, no demo or trial. New items to build, more one liner descriptions. Here's a new enemy, it looks intimidating and dangerous. Go deal with it.
So yeah, if you're new to this game, sacrifice a bit of your ego, turn the difficulty down to Rookie and search Google for "XCOM for noobs". Anyway, the missions being procedurally generated, every playthrough is unique, making the game extremely replayable.
Once you have a reasonable idea what you're doing, it's not really that hard. Every other review I've read mentioned something about timers, how unfair and brutal they are and how they force you to play extremely aggressively. Yet I've found the timers to be reasonably generous and I've always ended with 2-3 turns on the timer every single time. Seriously, again, I'm a noob to XCOM and to the genre and I found no issue with the timers, and all the mission types that are timed have them well-justified in my opinion.
Review summary: consult those strategy guides (there are plenty of spoiler free ones). Don't save scum (okay, maybe a little). Ignore everyone whining about the timers. Have fun!