Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 57 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 1221 Ratings

  • Summary: Enemy Unknown couples tactical turn-based gameplay with action sequences and on-ground combat. Recruit, specialize and train unique soldiers and manage your personnel. Detect and interrupt the alien threat as you construct and expand your XCOM headquarters. Direct soldier squads in turn-based ground battles and deploy air units such as the Interceptor and Skyranger. The fight spreads around the world as the XCOM team engages in over 70 missions, communicating and negotiating with governments around the world. Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 56 out of 57
  2. Negative: 0 out of 57
  1. Oct 16, 2012
    100
    This game will test your mettle in a way that will make old fans tingle with a sense of unforgiving nostalgia, and will make clear to newcomers just exactly what XCOM is all about.
  2. 100
    Is this the only shape a fresh new XCOM could have taken? Definitely not. What it is though, is a sincere and absolutely splendid tribute to one of the best games ever made; undyingly in love with the source material, but at the same time absolutely determined to be its own beast. 'On the shoulders of giants' one of the final achievements says. Firaxis just put another giant there.
  3. Nov 6, 2012
    85
    The developers of Firaxis did a great job of transfering the old PC-game into the year 2012. The view and the optics are not high-end but they are prefect for this genre, while the speakers, the loading-times and the multiplayer-mode are weak points. The gameplay is deep and tactical and the good old XCOM-setting is omnipresent. XCOM: Enemy Unknown makes round-based strategy socially acceptable again.
  4. Oct 8, 2012
    70
    Despite some bugs and average production values, Firaxis convincingly restores XCOM to life: its difficulty, management and tactical gameplay are there. Very nice to explore, Enemy Unknown leaves you with but one desire: to play a sequel that is richer and prettier than ever. Get to work!

See all 57 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Negative: 77 out of 394
  1. I'm afraid "old school" x-com fan boys are scaring away people from this game. I see so many old school fans complain about how "This game isn't as good as the original" and 0 out of 10 because the original is better and this sucks". That's not fair. I'm not bashing old school fans, but just because the remake/reboot isn't as good doesn't make it crap. Go play the original all you want! But don't drag this game down because of it. I am aware this game has some issues. Such as the bulls*it free move aliens get during your turn, and some crash to desktop bugs (which are extreamly rare.) But that doesn't make this game bad. Aside from those problems, i sit and play this game for hours at a time. Its fun and addicting. You also get attached to your soldiers, and get legitimately sad or pissed off when they die. All in all, its problems held it back from being the best game of last year, but it still one of my favorites. Expand
  2. 8
    Having played the original XCOM when it was first released, in my opinion this new version has ironed out the annoying and unnecessary aspects of the original. Does anyone else remember how irritating and buggy the original was? My only protests: the absence of HQ invasions, the low variety of missions, and the level of creepiness and fear that an alien-themed game should have is lower than I would like. Expand
  3. 6
    A disappointment. Certainly the best XCOM game since Terror from the Deep and a ok game for what it is but that's about it. It's short, dumbed down, the production values are iffy, the RNG combat mechanics stupid and annoying, the art style terrible. Too bad Firaxis didn't want to make a truly great game. They just wanted to make an accessible game. Expand
  4. Well if you are 10 yrs old and can't remember the original, this game will be awesome to play. However, if you know anything about the original, please leave your expectations in the empty box after you purchase this or you will be disappointed. How a 20 yr old game with graphics that seem older than that can still be more fun today than this game was is beyond me, but it is true. As other reviewers have pointed out the one glaring thing that disappointed me was the lame fog of war. In the original if you walked around a corner you could get blasted in the back of the head and not even know what happened, just like real combat. In this you walk around the corner see the alien behind you then watch it go and hide so you get a chance to get your bearings and attack, super lame. In the original I actually felt technically inferior to the aliens as I watched them dismantle my squad in a matter of minutes even late in the game. In this if you make it past the first few months forget about it, you are on cruise control from there. It's as if you switched place with the aliens and now you are the technically superior force, watching aliens cower from you. What a joke. I wish this let's make our game so the biggest simpleton moron can play it in the name of making money tradition would end, SOON. Expand

See all 394 User Reviews