XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Developer: Firaxis Games,
Publisher: 2K games,
Release Date: 12/10/2012
Format: PC, PS3, Xbox360
We humans can be too curious for our own good sometimes, as one fella found out when he touched something glowing green that fell from space. ‘I wonder what this is? It might have fallen through our atmosphere and steaming but it should be alright to touch it.......Wha.....no, no, AAAAHHHHHHHH!!.’ As the quote from legendary Science Fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke says – Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe. Or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.
‘Hello Commander. In light of the recent extraterrestrial incursion this Council of Nations has convened to approve the activation of the XCOM project. You have been chosen to lead this initiative, to oversee our first...and last line of defence. Your efforts will have considerable influence on this planets future. We urge you to keep that in mind as you proceed.
Good luck Commander.’
Publisher: 2K games,
Release Date: 12/10/2012
Format: PC, PS3, Xbox360
We humans can be too curious for our own good sometimes, as one fella found out when he touched something glowing green that fell from space. ‘I wonder what this is? It might have fallen through our atmosphere and steaming but it should be alright to touch it.......Wha.....no, no, AAAAHHHHHHHH!!.’ As the quote from legendary Science Fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke says – Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe. Or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.
‘Hello Commander. In light of the recent extraterrestrial incursion this Council of Nations has convened to approve the activation of the XCOM project. You have been chosen to lead this initiative, to oversee our first...and last line of defence. Your efforts will have considerable influence on this planets future. We urge you to keep that in mind as you proceed.
Good luck Commander.’
The Muton doesn’t know what this Santa is going to bring him.
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The fight for humnity
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With voice of the Optimus Prime sound-alike shadowy man from the CoN, and thumping blockbuster background music, XCOM Enemy Unknown gets off to a cracking start. You are then given the choice on where in the world you want your base of operations situated at. Do you want it in North or South America, Africa, Asia, or in Europe, in the choice you also get a sense of what kind of game XCOM is, as you either get discounts on Fighter Jets, Research and Construction, or start off with more cash. Starting with this choice you really get the feeling that you are the worlds’ best hope, then when you see what there is to be done at base you can feel daunted at first. Your base is like an ant farm, where you can choose where to put laboratories, workshops, power generators and Satellite Uplinks. It is satellites are your main goal in the early part of the game, as also in your base is the Situation Room where there is world map and indicators of well or badly countries are coping with the alien threat. Launching Satellites will help, as if they’re Code Red at the end of the month's Council Report they’ll leave, taking their money and their part of one of the options you didn’t choose at the start of the game. That won’t be as easy as you think, as money is hard to come by (and it’s not $ or £ it’s something else) and 60 of them can buy a Power Generator and 40 can buy you a fighter jet, so you know things are bad. You can earn a bit of cash if you sell the corpses of your alien foes, and to do that you have to fight them.
This is the other part of XCOM Enemy Unknown, the combat. Unlike being a typical FPS or a Third-Person Action Adventure it’s a turn-based, strategically. cover-based tactical game. You have up to six soldiers in a battle and you can field it as you see fit, you have a choice a four classes – Snipers, Heavies, Assaults, and Supports. The glory of the gameplay is that you can rename your soldiers and can customise them The battles can get really tense as you send them to cover to fight a group, hoping you don’t uncover more of them and possibly get out-gunned. The sound of doing so fills you with dread at times. As with your soldiers there are different classes of aliens – From the tiny, scuttling mind-controlling Sectoids, creepy humanoids Thin Men (that burst into a poisonous cloud when killed), Hulk-like Mutons, flying Cyborgs that are the Floaters. Apart from the Thin Men, they have an advance class. But they don’t stop there, as the aliens carried on the mechanical foes, with along with their energy giving Drones, the hovering Cyberdisks and the ED-209-from-Robocop –alike Sectopods (which the sound of them in uncovered darkness parts of maps fill your underwear).
This is the other part of XCOM Enemy Unknown, the combat. Unlike being a typical FPS or a Third-Person Action Adventure it’s a turn-based, strategically. cover-based tactical game. You have up to six soldiers in a battle and you can field it as you see fit, you have a choice a four classes – Snipers, Heavies, Assaults, and Supports. The glory of the gameplay is that you can rename your soldiers and can customise them The battles can get really tense as you send them to cover to fight a group, hoping you don’t uncover more of them and possibly get out-gunned. The sound of doing so fills you with dread at times. As with your soldiers there are different classes of aliens – From the tiny, scuttling mind-controlling Sectoids, creepy humanoids Thin Men (that burst into a poisonous cloud when killed), Hulk-like Mutons, flying Cyborgs that are the Floaters. Apart from the Thin Men, they have an advance class. But they don’t stop there, as the aliens carried on the mechanical foes, with along with their energy giving Drones, the hovering Cyberdisks and the ED-209-from-Robocop –alike Sectopods (which the sound of them in uncovered darkness parts of maps fill your underwear).
The angry Thin Man group
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The rich mix of base management and tactical warfare, and you can rename you soldiers makes XCOM: Enemy Unknown a really good game, you can forgive it’s minor flaws. It really isn’t a graphically powerful game but the Unreal Engine it’s built on can be sluggish, and occasionally tetchy. Aiming a missile or grenade can be finicky at times, sometimes at a tense time in the battle. The camera gets blocked by cover or your soldier after you selected them to fire, your medic has sometimes have to be an exact spot to heal the wounded. These are minor problems, and some other things can be humorous, like when you select a soldier to shoot they start looking the wrong way before turning to aim at their foe. And if you have satellites (or based in the continent) in Africa and have a battle there, it’s usually in the Nigerian interior.
It is a terrific game anyway, but it’s the ability of renaming your soldiers that makes this game personal. You really feel like a commander, not only are you their leader, but a parent too, you want to keep them safe as you fight the aliens. It also keeps you biting your fingernails at times, as sometimes even a 90%+ chance of your shot connecting there’s always that small chance it won’t and you leave your soldier vulnerable. Only a very few number of games has that effect on you, and I can’t recommend this highly, it can be improved (to see it if is has see my XCOM: Enemy Within review on this site) but even with its flaws this is a really good game.
It is a terrific game anyway, but it’s the ability of renaming your soldiers that makes this game personal. You really feel like a commander, not only are you their leader, but a parent too, you want to keep them safe as you fight the aliens. It also keeps you biting your fingernails at times, as sometimes even a 90%+ chance of your shot connecting there’s always that small chance it won’t and you leave your soldier vulnerable. Only a very few number of games has that effect on you, and I can’t recommend this highly, it can be improved (to see it if is has see my XCOM: Enemy Within review on this site) but even with its flaws this is a really good game.
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+ Renaming your soldiers makes this personal.
+ Deep mix of base management and strategic combat. + A truly international feel to the game. + A brilliant intro that not only readies you for the mammoth task ahead but also gets your heart pumping for fight. + Great sound and music. + A good core of a trio of characters (CO Bradford, Chief Engineer Dr Chen, and Head of Research Dr Vahlen), and how we could forget the voice of shadowy Council Spokesman. - The graphic engine is sometimes glitchy, and making cover to move to, and rockets/grenades to fire briefly patchy. - Once you get your soldiers to a certain level (and above) the some missions feel like just going through the motions. - The final level is disappointingly easy. |
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