PSA: Swap the radial ability menu in Star Wars Zero Company for more of a trad XCOM-style experience

Star Wars Zero Company is enough like XCOM that everyone’s been calling it ZCOM, but there are some ways it isn’t quite XCOM enough for me. For starters, the radial menu you use to select each character’s actions, a controller-friendly system that flings all your abilities out in a circle around the active character like a medieval jailer’s ring of keys.

The first time I panned over to find an enemy I wanted to attack and then had to pan back to the character I’d selected to pick an attack off their radial menu I found myself wishing for a more traditional way to play. And look at that, there it is in the options menu. Go to the Gameplay section, scroll down to Ability Selection Style at the bottom of the General area, and bump it from Radial over to Linear.

(Image credit: Electronic Arts)

That puts moving and shooting and overwatching and etcetera onto a numbered row of boxes down the bottom of the screen where God intended, getting them out of the way when you’re trying to line up the perfect angle to punch someone into a wall from. There’s also a Hybrid option if you’re indecisive and feeling a bit “¿Por qué no los dos?”

I’m still in the early hours of Star Wars Zero Company, but playing with a mouse and keyboard, Linear Ability Selection just feels better. Between this and the fact you can bother a gonk droid, maybe it is a 90% masterpiece like Ted says.

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