XCOM: Enemy Unknown Review, 9.0 out of 10 based on 4 ratings

This looks like a job for Extreme UFO Makeover: Extraterrestrial Edition.

Of course, the real main course of XCOM is its tactical turn-based strategy. Over the course of the game, alien events are reported over the world and it’s up to you how and if you want to respond to them. Choose your soldiers, select their load-out, cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war. Classical X-COM had each soldier possessing a certain amount of time units, each step taking some up, with guns, grenades, and other equipment each requiring a percentage of a soldier’s total time units to use. This new version works in pretty much the same way, except without the numbers associated. Each soldier has one move, and then an action, which you can spend to move again in lieu of firing. Gun down enough of the enemy and your soldiers level up too. They gain very specific perks relating to what class they wind up specializing in: support, heavy, assault, or sniper.

Purists may complain about the loss of time units, but the truth of the matter is that you’re still doing the same thing, just without the math. That’s more or less the case for every change that Firaxis has performed on XCOM. It loses a lot of its micromanagement to direct itself in a more focused manner at the gameplay. It’s almost as if this is a more concentrated version of X-COM, rather than a sequel. The base management and missions snap by pretty quickly for the most part, with a few of the larger ground missions taking more time than others.

The power shorts out when they try to use the globe scanner and have the hairdryer plugged in at the same time.

In case you’re maybe feeling that I’m vacillating on my tone a little here, let me be abundantly clear: this game is really good. The streamlined base building and management turns a lot of your attention from unnecessary fat to real resource problems, from your early game drought of weapon fragments to late game Elerium dilemmas. Making the decision of how to spend your limited resources on production and research has real consequences in the field and on the map. Take too long to produce a new weapon for your interceptors and you may find yourself getting shot down, and ultimately losing a country’s funding at the end of the month. On the other hand, if your ground soldiers aren’t adequately equipped, a poorly calculated move could result in a fatal unpleasantly close encounter with a Berzerker Muton.

Lots of people are going around and saying that this game is too hard. Don’t let this fool you, as it’s not so much the difficulty that will get you, as the unforgiving nature of the consequences of inattentive or poor decisions. While it is true that the higher difficulty modes are certainly rougher on you (especially with Iron Man Mode: an auto-updating save that forces you to swallow your choices and deal with it. No safety net allowed) its easier difficulties are reasonably nicer to the player, making it easier for new players to get into turn based combat, which is often a real problem for the genre.

Col. James Costanzo demonstrating his skill in field surgery with a scattergun.

All that said, this is hardly a perfect game, even if you (like I am attempting to) leave the original game far away in its glass case of awesomeness (with System Shock 2, Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2, Monkey Island 2, and Freespace 2). Yes it only allows you one base, no there is no base defense combat, and yes your squad size is only a maximum of six, but there’s really nothing stopping you from going back and playing the classic X-COM. The problems here are mostly minor, such as not being able to choose a soldier’s specialty. A little raw luck and you wind up with a collection of veteran sniper and support. Also, your soldiers tend not to react to discovering aliens (who get a free move when discovered) and can easily wander into a cluster of them if you’re not careful about sending them too far ahead. This wouldn’t be a problem if certain missions, like bomb activation, or terror alerts don’t encourage you to move as fast as you can to minimize damage. I know why they did this, to prevent players from coming upon a cluster of aliens and getting three or four shots before they have a chance to move into cover, but they could easily fix it by having the aliens appear in cover, rather than move to it. The music and the graphics are certainly passable, but they aren’t going to inspire anybody. Likewise, the writing (there is a written plot here) doesn’t churn your stomach to hear it, but it’s hardly award winning. The multiplayer is obviously tacked on a little, and doesn’t add much to the game, but it’s an alright addition. It’s pretty obvious that it was an afterthought.

The fact of the matter though, is that what we have here is an excellent game, and one certainly worthy of the XCOM title. Updated mechanics, more accessible strategy, and a laser-like focus on the decisions you make rather than the numbers that surround them let you jump right into the game and start getting your soldiers slaughtered right away, oftentimes not even at the hands of the enemy, but at the hands of your own panicked soldiers with twitchy trigger fingers… Shaun.

A review copy of XCOM: Enemy Unknown was provided to Blistered Thumbs and reviewed on a PC. 23 hours were spent completing the campaign mode, and messing around in the multiplayer some.

Often accused of being an alien himself, Johnny deflects this mistaken assumption by catching as many earth germ diseases as possible, and not dying from mostly any of them. Perhaps in an offer of acceptance and friendship you might offer him a symbolic sample of your blood. Details on how to get it to him will be provided over e-mail, or on his Twitter feed. Isn’t humaning great?

XCOM Enemy Unknown Review - ZGR

By ZGRDaniel

XCOM was one of Daniel's most memorable gaming experiences as a teenager. Does the reboot stand the test of time?

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Review

By Johnny Maloney

In the near future, a world torn apart by invaders, society on the brink of collapse, ONE man will rise above and review a game that won't really make that much of a difference to the unrest around him... but you should read it anyways. It's Johnny with the official XCOM: Enemy Unknown review.