So I’m playing through XCOM: Enemy Unkown, and it’s not until about the 3rd mission or so that I’m totally hooked. And by that I mean hooked. This can be an addictive game.
Players control a squad of troops in tactical turn-based gameplay. Taking runs moving or assigning actions player move the characters throughout the field of play working around cover as well as looking for a tactical advantage for position that does not expose the unit to the enemy. Individual troops have their own specialty, such as a sniper or heavy artillery. These different types of units provide the player with a variety of options to deploy the squad and engage the enemy during each mission.
Successfully completing a mission will, depending on events, will afford progression for individual troops. This in turn will open up new abilities, which in turn open up new tactical possibilities to play through. Of course, the opposing forces don’t just sit on their alien laurels. They are moving around (turn-based as well) and have their own different units and abilaities.
Originally released in 1994, UFO: Enemy Unkonwn is now getting a reimaging of the franchise, a sort of remastering of the first game. Think “Battlestar Galactica” – it was a television series back in the late 70s, got retooled into “Galactica 1980” and then several years ago it was rebooted into one of the best things on television. The XCOM franchise is sort of like that. There was the original game which many people (justly) loved, and several sequels, then nothing. Now we go back to the beginning.
While on the ground the squad action is turn-based, but there is another element to the gameplay, that of strategy and managing resources. Players need to balance a monthly income with allocating resources to develop weapons, research new projects, etc. By building more satellites and tracking more alien activity on the planet, the squad will be deployed more and get more rewards. This of course comes with its own set of risks, as building up the satellite system early before the technology is developed to handle the threat, well, there are balancing issues players need to keep in mind.
Missions vary, but come in a few different flavors. Basically they are rescue missions, where players have a group of civilians to save, an escort mission, where one high value person needs to be found and taken back to the base at all costs, or drop in and eliminate all the aliens. Of course the terrain affects how these missions play out, at times there are plenty of cars to use for cover, and at times you are infiltrating an alien ship with nothing but hostile forces surrounding you.
The storyline follows the invasion, researching some tools, and attempting to deal with the aliens. It’s a solid plot that is effectively told through a few cutscenes and uses the missions to propel events forward. Oh, and when a member of the squad dies during a mission, it’s dead.
After a few missions, I took things slower, and my success rate soared. It can be easy to get sucked into an action mentality and move the units as far ahead as possible to get them into the action, but that’s a mistake. Later on in the game as the enemies get greater in number and power, not rushing in is advantageous. I wound up moving my squad forward during a turn a few members at a time while the others performed the “overwatch” action (basically getting them ready to shoot anything alien) and then leapgfrogging through the mission this way.
Line of sight, flanking, cover, actions spent versus available for each type of weapon and more are all going to be considerations when playing XCOM: Enemy Unkown. It finds a good balance between action and tactical strategy that stays true to its origins while firmly getting planed in the modern gaming world.
Multiplayer is here, and I only dipped my toe into that proverbial water. It looks like it will be a solid offering to extend the gampelay. Points are assigned to a squad, and players then use those points to distribute abilities. This is done to keep things on a level playing field, which is nice. Especially nice is the fact that the multiplayer isn’t necessarily the focus of the game, but a solid addition to the core single player game.
Even if you’re not a strategy type of gamer, XCOM: Enemy Unknown might be for you with its blend of several genres and a solid storyline packed in with gameplay that is well balanced and engaging.