XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a breath of fresh air to console owners who are drowning in a sea of first person shooters, sports and racing games. XCOM is a turn based tactical role playing strategy game, quite the mouthful. It comes from Firaxis Games and is published by 2K games, and is a remake (or a reimagining) of the 1994 games known as XCOM: UFO Defence. It’s not a game that I would usually buy, which made it even more of a surprise when I found myself enjoying it…a lot.
Set in the near future, you are the commander of XCOM (an elite paramilitary organisation) and are in control of Earth’s defences against an alien invasion. You are tasked with keeping all corners of the planet safe, which as I quickly discovered, is no easy feat. XCOM is a game that, at times, will require patience, and a lot of thought. Not only will you need to consider your next move in the turn based combat, but you also need to manage your base. Finances, research, base and solider additions and development are all in your hands.
I would advise that everyone keep the tutorial turned on for the first go at the game. While controlling the game in itself is joyously simple, knowing how to play initially would be a struggle without it. Walking you through moving around the map, different cover types, how to shoot and use support actions eases you in to the action nicely. You are basically split into two teams, humans v aliens. Once one team has their turn, it’s time for the other to take theirs. Each ‘turn’ consists of two movements from each member of the team. This may be changed depending on which action you take, for example a long dashing run takes up both movements, the same as attempting a headshot with a sniper. There are upgrades to certain classes that will allow you to shoot after a long dash, or take two shots at an enemy per round. It is imperative that you tactically use your classes. Trying to split your squad up to feature a bit of everything (sniper, heavy, support etc.) I found to be the best formula. It’s all well and good having a squad that can all fire rockets, but you can really progress more effectively when you have healers, snipers, people with smoke grenades and more. On top of that, at the end of each mission, you are given a list of what you have scavenged from the map (such as alien corpses and gun fragments). These scavenged items are needed for research, and building new items of your own, aswell as facilities within your base. Blowing the enemies up destroys such scavenged items, and your development along with them.
You will regularly get choices on which mission to do next. And there are benefits and negatives of doing any of them. The less you do in one country will mean that the panic level will rise. If those levels top out, the country will pull out of the XCOM project, taking their funds with them. You are constantly asked to look at the bigger picture. While one mission would give you a big boost in the short term, neglecting a country as a whole could see less funds in the long term. Less funds means less development of new facilities, weapons, ships, this will have a knock on effect down the line. Purchasing satellites is absolutely key. They lower panic levels and increase your monthly earning. But satellites cost a fair whack of money, you’ll need to purchase new satellite uplinks in order facilitate them, but having more satellite uplinks means you need more power, which you’ll need to get more power stations, or a thermo generator. Putting the same facilities directly next to each other also gives a bonus overall. You’ll be constantly picking and choosing what should be the next best option, be it in the missions or back at your HQ.
I need to go back to the tutorial briefly. It gave me (as I’m sure it did to others too) a false sense of ease. Everything seemed to simple, move around a bit, look for the next bit of cover, flank the enemy, shoot the enemy, done. I soon realised the difficulty increasing tenfold, and every mistake you make is quickly taken advantage of by the intelligent enemy. They coordinate well, and before you know it half or all of your team are dead. And when they die they stay that way. If you’ve got a fully upgraded sniper who you’ve had for since the start of the game, and has been on 20 missions for you, don’t think you’ll get any of his upgrades back when he’s shot down. You’ll need to pick a new recruit from the barracks and start all over again. It’s agonising, but brilliant all at the same time. And just when you think you’ve mastered how to defeat one type of alien, a different type will be thrown at you, who will require all new ways for thinking on top of what you’ve already been doing. The enemy are at their most deadly when you can’t see them. You don’t know what you’re up against or where they are. And one dashing move too many could easily seal your fate.
There is a multiplayer option for those who want to pit your wits against other online. One person will control the side of the humans, the other the aliens. Unfortunately I couldn’t get a game against anyone, and kept being told that my version of the game didn’t match up with the other person. I have downloaded any updates when prompted, so it was a shame I couldn’t get on. Although I was slightly relieved by this, as no doubt I would have been shown how wrong I’ve been playing the game.
The visuals fit the game really well, slightly cartoony with plenty of different environments to battle in. Weapons look and react differently to the next, and all the movements of the characters and the different styles of enemy actions and reactions are great. The user interface for everything could have easily been a lot more beefed up than it is, but it’s made in a way that it works perfectly for console gamers. Everything is slick and navigating around the HQ is a breeze. The sounds have been implemented well from the voice acting to the sound effects, everything fits nicely.
There is so much I could say about this game, but it would probably end up turning into a mini guide. But rest assured, while it is such a hard game (and I’ve only been playing on normal difficulty) and the feeling of failure is every present, it is so, so good. From deciding on what to research next, which country to help to sweating as you’re on your last man against your team mates who have recently been turned into zombies. It’s been a while since I’ve had the ‘just one more game’ feeling on a title that I really knew little about, but it’s been ever present while playing through XCOM, and I can’t wait for my next mission. 9/10