Xcom 2 is here tomorrow, and I for one am looking forward to personalising my cadre of elite marines and taking on the alien scum. One of my favourite things about Xcom, and the reason I love the series so much, is the bond you form with your soldiers, this because of the permadeath feature, but equally because of the range of customisation options on offer. In particular, being able to name your soldiers makes such a difference.
But who to name them after? My last play of the original game (well, the reboot) saw me name my soldiers after popular sci-fi movie characters, which worked better than my first play, where I named them after my friends. Watching your buddies die is less fun.
So which way will I go this time? Name them after the players at my beloved Arsenal FC? No, they'd just bottle it and finish in fourth. Name them after musicians? I'd be worried they'd all check out aged 27. What about video game characters? That might work... Hmmmm. Decisions, decisions. What I don't want to do is spend too many hours of my initial play through customising my troopers, because you know, there's aliens to kill!
Regardless of what I call the troopers in my private army, I can't wait to see how this next game plays out. Expect my thoughts on Xcom 2 in the nearish future.