XCOM Enemy Unknown Review

Hey! Wanna play a turn based tactical role-playing game? If your first reaction to that question is confusion along with a quick no as a reply, then a few months ago I would have been right there next to you, looking down on the person like some kind of weird overgrown kumquat. That is until I played XCOM Enemy Unknown.
I am now a changed man, looking with the kumquat man at the person who will never experience the feeling of playing XCOM Enemy Unknown. If you’re bored of playing the same generic FPS or RPG over and over again and want something that challenges your brain rather than just your quick wits then XCOM might be for you.

I acquired this game by pre-purchasing Bioshock Infinite along with the original Bioshock game. As I was in Bioshock frenzy during that time XCOM took a back seat. I did play the tutorial and the first few levels but then I went onto the original Bioshock (for the second time) followed up with the amazing Bioshock infinite when it was finally released (Still trying to get over the ending for that game). After those two gaming behemoths, life (work) took over and XCOM was effectively out of sight & out of mind (I couldn’t even see it on my steam library list!).

After a few months I found myself in a gaming rut. I had just finished playing Antichamber (Great game) and had been called a “noob” one too many times on League of Legends. I was floating through the video-gaming universe unattached to any gaming planet. Then, out of nowhere Steam notifies me that Gurdeep (Kingofallcosmos) has started playing XCOM. And like the smell of fresh baked bread my memory synapses remind me that I too also have that game again. I message him about it and he suggests having a go on the multiplayer. Although I lost two of the three games I played against him, (The score is now 5-2 in my favour now, but no one’s counting) I instantly got the taste for the game. XCOM pulled my wandering gaming mind from the big all consuming blackness to orbit its turn based tactical role playing planet. Within a few hours of playing, I was hooked.

Me outnumbered against the tyrannous Kingofallcosmos. 

The Game

The story line is simple. Earth is being attacked by aliens and the world’s military are powerless to stop them. Countries around the world have come together to fund a project to defeat the aliens called, you guessed it, the XCOM Project.

The game play is a lot less simple. You have a team of soldiers to help defeat the aliens that have landed on earth. You start off with only four soldiers per enemy engagement with only simple military guns and armour to attack and defend with. The soldiers start off as squaddies with no traits or special abilities either. The combat objective is essentially to kill all the aliens. There are a few civilian rescue missions but they can also be completed by killing all the aliens. As the genre description says, you and the enemy take turns to command your soldiers to either move, attack enemies, defend their area or heal themselves or allies. As you complete these missions, you gain money and resources. The soldiers also are able to gain experience after battles and “rank up” to gain new abilities such as gaining a smoke grenade or being able to take a free shot after they have been moved. The battles feel a bit like chess. The soldiers that have different characteristics that you need to manoeuvre carefully to ensure you can get the best out of them without being flanked or ambushed. Keep the group close together and you’ll have a strong group that can defend each other but vulnerable from a grenade attack, spread the soldiers out and you’ll be able to flank the aliens and get better shooting opportunities but you may soldiers isolated and unable to defend from large groups of aliens. The other big thing about XCOM is that when your soldier dies in combat, that’s it, their dead! They don’t come back! If your super awesome colonel dies in combat, you have to replace that soldier with a squaddie and level him up from scratch!

My heroes in the final battle. (Sadly not everyone survived :( )

This however is only one part of the game. While you aren’t fighting the enemy, you have to manage the finances and resources (which you gain from the combat play) of the XCOM compound. This involves ensuring the scientist are researching new guns and equipment for combat, or getting the engineers to build more weapons, armour and facilities or buying more jet fighters to stop UFO attacks or even recruiting more soldiers (to replace the ones that were KIA :S)    
This can get the gamer into quite a quandary, do you choose to either fund for a satellite to be built for a country or buy better weaponry for your soldiers to be able to attack the enemy aliens OR buy some interceptor jet fighters to defend the countries from UFO attacks? A lot of choices have to be made and the other issue is you can’t save everyone and you can't build everything. You effectively become a micro-manager of a company telling everyone how to do their job.  But in a fun way, honest!

The humble XCOM base or as I like to call it, home.

Opinion

 

I think game will appeal to most people. If you like football manager style games, then I think you will love this game. If you prefer your RPGs then this game has that element too. I really enjoyed trying out a new skill out in combat and seeing it take out some touch alien opponents. FPS gamers who want to take a break from being constantly reminded how many people have “romanced” their mothers will find this the perfect antidote to the thrill a minute shooters. The other big thing about this game is that it can be HARD. There is more than one way to lose this game which causes you to think about every part of the game. Also in combat, the AI can be unrelenting and pitch you against some very tough enemies very early on. This may put off many in playing the game, but it definitely give people a real challenge to think about this game tactically which makes the payoff better when you beat the aliens. If you're really hardcore you can try Ironman mode which stops you reloading previous saves.

 

Sometimes the chances can be slim...

...but when they come off it's rewarding!

I have to be honest when I first started this game I didn’t think much of it. At the start it is a bit of an overload of information and there is a lot to think about and remember. But once I persevered and got to understand what everything does, I was engrossed. This game was the source of my insomnia for a week. The feeling of getting a critical shot with a 35% hit chance is something that needs to be experienced. There will also be times when you have that one shot that needs to connect or your battle will fail completely and you will lose one of your most precious soldiers. The multiplayer experience is also to be enjoyed. Although quite a bit buggy, pitting your tactical wits against another human is terrifying but certainly very entertaining.

All in all this game is great fun. It may not have the Bioshock style big story but it makes up for it in gameplay. But don't take my word for it, GET UP SOLDIER AND SHOOT THOSE ALIEN SCUM!

30/09/2013 Edit: Added mention of Ironman mode