1. deathsquishy

   9

   XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a challenging sci-fi, turn-based, tactical game that assigns you as the commander of a military operation, and the first line of defense against an invading alien menace. With most 'Tactics' style games that release these days being typically medieval, XCOM is a breath of fresh air in the genre. Fans of the original XCOM games released back in the 90's may find this new addition to the franchise a little dumbed down, but that doesn't stop it from being an excellent, solid strategy to challenge all who will bravely defend our wonderful planet.
   
   Even on the lowest difficulty, XCOM can certainly provide some challenge to those who may be newer to this type of video game. You start off in command of four soldiers, who each have two moves they can make per turn. Each move can be used for either moving a certain amount of tiles, firing one of two equipped weapons, using one of the soldiers abilities, or simply ducking for cover. The greatest foe in the game is the luck of the roll, as the farther your unit is from an enemy, the lower the chance to hit, but moving in closer will put the soldier at greater risk, and may alert more hidden aliens. Taking cover behind objects on the map can provide you either half cover or full cover, and being smart about when and where you position your troops is necessary, as the game is very unforgiving to your mistakes. The combat can get tense when you fire a shot with an 85% hit chance and it still misses, but with each enemy kill comes a sigh of relief, and with each mission victory, the joy of accomplishment. The easier difficulty settings can help, but later on the difficulty may turn of some strategy noobs. Nonetheless, it's a great system, if a bit more simplified from the original XCOM.
   
   Troops that survive more missions and get more kills will level up, allowing you to give them addition perks and abilities. In addition to leveling up, researching and buying new armors, weapons, and other various tools in your base gives the game much customization. You can also build more labs and workshops in your base to decrease research and build times, as well as other faculties for more researching more advanced upgrades.
   
   Every in-game month a council with review everything you have done in that time, and provide you with further credits. You can earn more credits by sending up satellites to monitor specific parts of the world. When one of these satellites picks up an alien UFO, a short mini-game will begin, where you send out a Reaver jet to attack and, hopefully, destroy it. Once destroyed, you can explore the crash site, kill any remaining alien survivors, and reclaim further resources for studying back at HQ.
   
   In previous XCOM games, the story was deep, long, and memorable. Sadly however, Enemy Unknown's story is very short and simple. The dialog throughout the game is generic and uninteresting, and completing it ends the game, making you either reload an old save or start a new game. The story missions and objectives can be fun, but thankfully you can just keep playing the random missions and shooting down UFOs, extending the game to whatever length fits your fancy.
   
   The graphics aren't totally phenomenal, but many of the animations and designs look excellent. Each of your soldiers are fully customizable in appearance, but designing and coloring your units armor requires you to spend extra cash on dlc. Each alien is memorable in both their looks, and the tactics required to take down each one, and each time a new alien is introduced, comes an interesting mix of fear and curiosity. XCOM isn't without it's bugs however, and seeing people shooting through walls, or textures disappear when they're not supposed to can be sadly frequent.
   
   For those of you who can appreciate a challenge, XCOM is a decent purchase. It may be simplified in some ways compared to the originals, and the odd graphics hiccup will occur, but it remains a very solid and tense strategy game.
   
   Overall score:
   8.7/10… Expand

   • Helpful? 3 of 3 users said Yes.
2. BlondeMcGuinn

   8

   An enjoyable game, but it could've been better. I am a huge fan of the original, so the trimming of much of the intricate base building, micro-managed inventory, expansive research, and varied troop base skills killed much of XCOM: Enemy Unknown's charm. There is also confusion during battle in relation to the Overwatch option (a soldier's line-of-sight is actually through walls?) and there are graphical hiccups galore. I wish there were more customization features for troop management, aircraft creation, and more objects to research. More than fifty percent of my play-through my scientists were getting a paycheck for sitting on their asses because there was nothing for them to do.
   It's damn fun though. Building a dependable core of troops is as rewarding as gaming gets; situations in which injuries often knock your best troops out of action make you feel like a football coach: you've gotta have a good bench. This gives the game a depth missing from all other gaming, and your attachment to your crew is stressful, heartbreaking, but ultimately, it's just fun as hell.
   I bought this game being a fan of the original (well, the Playstation version based on the original) and I don't regret it. It's fun, very tough, but could've been more. Thumbs up from me.… Expand

   • Helpful? 3 of 3 users said Yes.
3. Shaman327

   7

   I eagerly awaited the release of XCOM: Enemy Unknown and have been playing it for about 10hrs so far and I have mixed feelings. First, let me give you the positive aspects. - Great graphics and audio. Everything you would expect from an updated XCOM game. - The AI seems to be pretty good so far. - If you're new to the XCOM games or prefer a less complex system then your in luck. - Good customization of your characters - A much better 3D environment were height has more influence on strategy and tactics.
   
   Now the cons: - If you're a previous enthusiast of XCOM and like all the control over your characters
   you're going to be disappointed. Like several others have stated in their reviews its a dumbed down version of XCOM. - TUs have been replaced with two action moves so you can only move so far and then shoot or you can dash for twice the distance. The real big issue I have here is that if you move 1 tile or 10 tiles in your first move, you've burned half your actions. - No crouching, changing directions (FOV), backpacks for carrying extra ammo (oh yeah, no ammo!), No single fire vs auto, No aiming. etc - Character leveling and load outs are a joke. Your character get assigned a class type (Assault, Support, Heavy, Sniper) after (I think) their first mission. I'm not sure if there is some method to this or not but than only certain characters can carry certain weapon types. Strength, Dexterity, etc have no bearing on this. Leveling your characters means choosing from two choices of advanced abilities at that rank and you can't pick two from the same rank. - Base building has been totally revamped and although I like the ant farm style layout, building, manufacturing and research are really dumbed down. The new system will have you scrounging for cash and trying to keep every nation happy which is nearly impossible.
   
   Even with all its flaws its still a good game to play and I am enjoying it. It was NOT the XCOM game I was hoping for though. I think a lot of people who gave it really high scores are just trying to make themselves feel better after realizing its not the game they were expecting. Its still pretty fun though and for that I'll give it the 7 rating.… Expand

   • Helpful? 7 of 12 users said Yes.
4. ransom34

   3

   First off, this is really not an X-Com game and if you go in looking at it as a new IP then you will be a lot better off. The game is heavily streamlined/dumbed-down from its origins and rather than a turn-based strategy game like the original X-Com games, you are buying a turn-based ACTION game, like a turn-based Gears of War. You are limited to 4 squad members to start, you cannot build or manage new bases, the maps are pre-done rather than random (and can repeat through a game), and virtually all of the strategic portions of the original X-Com have been deleted. I suspect this was done to "attract the CoD/GeoW audience" but it just makes the unsuitable for any true strategy gamer and its slow pace will certainly keep away the FPS fans. Now this is not specifically a "bad" game, and if you are the type of gamer who thought "wouldn't it be cool to command a Gears of War squadron (dressed in Mass Effect armor) in a turn-based game but without all those unnecessary strategic elements, new base building, and micro-managing" then this is the game for you. X-Com EU has loses the overall strategic gameplay, and is all turn-based action with Mass Effect armor and guns. Not for me, but who knows, there might be an big undiscovered market for this game type.… Expand

   • Helpful? 13 of 43 users said Yes.

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