XCOM: Enemy Unknown

XCOM is back!!
If you have fond memories of the original from the 90's like I do anyway that is. This was my favourite game back on the PS1 so much so that I got it on the PC too. I also got the sequel "terror from the deep" when that was released in 1997 or 98 I think.
Anyway I just have to write a review about this game as I feel it will go under the radar being released at the same time as all the AAA titles that come out this time of year.

The plot is pretty straight-forward: aliens are invading planet earth and you as the player are the commander of an international defence initiative called XCOM (short for extra terrestial combat), is charged with repelling the alien hordes. The way you go about this is by managing XCOM's finances and resources, and deploying soldiers to take down the alien threat wherever it appears on planet earth. Deploying soldiers on these missions will take the most of your time and is the real fun too be had. I can only explain the way they play as a cool sci fi version of chess only you can take cover and throw grenades at they enemy, thats when you eventually find them. Thats the real beauty of this game it's also the reason for the "enemy unknown" in the title. Each mission will begin with your squad deploying from there transport and only a small part of the map will be visible as the affective area closest to your squad. You then have to take turns moving around the area hoping to find the enemy whilst keeping your squad safe either in good(but destructable) cover or in an advantagious position like an elevated floor of a building looking down on enemy. The ground missions in XCOM are tense, drawn-out affairs where patience and nerves of steel are required. The temptation to send a team storming into a UFO crash site or alien base is something players will need to rein in; if you do this, your soldiers will die – simple as that. When an enemy enters the player's line of sight, the game takes into account their troop's position, the weapon they're using and their overall skill level and then assigns them a hit percentage. This means opening fire on some targets can be risky; do you take the shot where you have a 55% chance of hitting a target? Or do you leg it back into cover? Make the wrong choice and your troop is toast.



The stakes in every mission are raised considerably as the player progresses further into the game. Every soldier who makes it back alive from a mission and makes a kill or two will earn a promotion and a new ability, which the player can unlock abilities depending on what class they are – be it the ability to target enemies in their team-mates' lines of sight (sniper) or faster movement between cover (squaddie). As troops level up, they even acquire nicknames, making any death suffered on the battlefield feel more personal. There's even a memorial wall in the base barracks, complete with bagpipes on the soundtrack to hammer home the sense of loss. This game is ruthless when you make the wrong call. It's the Dark souls of strategy games and for this I blumming love it! There is definitely that sense of attachment with characters , which is a powerful tool in keeping you on the edge of your seat and always concentrating throughout, lest you lose a good soldier that you've invested hours in building.

At the start of the game, players are assigned a budget from member states of XCOM, and it's up to them to decide how to spend it. They're also tasked with deciding when and where to deploy the XCOM troops, which can have a profound affect on the funds coming in. If they ignore the pleas of certain nations where abductions or terror attacks are taking place, the panic-levels of those countries will rise and they'll eventually pull out of the XCOM project, cutting there funding. Running XCOM is as much a managerial and political juggling act as it is a tactical affair. Although its sometimes worth losing some of the nations as the funding is hardly noticed. If you have the choice of sending to USA or Nigeria being attacked at the same time then your selection is an obvious one.

Its a shame that this game will be overlooked by the masses as its amazing. It will also get overlooked by completionists as this game has an achievment for beating the campaign on impossible level. I struggled to beat it on normal. Fire axis studios had a lot of trouble from microsoft with this cheev as they had to prove it can be done so they had all staff playing it for months. Eventually two poeple managed it. You also need to play through the game five times!!
I not only think this is the best strategy game this year, its the best strategy game of this generation. If you fancy something different to anything else out there and a solid challenge buy it now!!