XCOM: Enemy Unknown

[Monk]

A glorious review from the always excellent eurogamer http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...known-review_3

Man are we gamers getting spoiled lately

XCOM is getting almost universal acclaim, which is really surprising given the shoes it's trying to fill. The lowest score i've seen so far is from PC Gamer and that was an 87.

Rock Paper Shotgun's review, which is nonscore based, paints an almost insanely positive picture with a few caveats, which are mostly aimed at the interface, camera and localisation for the game.

Release for North America is in 12 hours, rest of the world in a couple days.

[Fragony]

I have been waiting for something like this since the hilariously flawed but oh so fun Silent Storm. Don't tell my mom but the most fun is dressing up your squad.

[Monk]

I have been waiting for something like this since the hilariously flawed but oh so fun Silent Storm. Don't tell my mom but the most fun is dressing up your squad.

I'm with you there, that's exactly one of the reasons i pre-ordered. More customization options is incredibly hard to say no to.

[Monk]

Steam says I have about 7 hours played. To be honest I am shocked. It did not feel like 7 hours, but I certainly felt time slipping away as I just kept telling myself "Okay okay, seriously, THIS is the last mission." I'm on my way out the door but I wanted to take a moment and reflect upon those 7 hours of gameplay, my failed attempt at saving the world.

The game is fantastic, I have to say, but the deeper you get into the game the much more apparent that it becomes: This is not a remake of XCOM, at all. In my opinion that same spirit is captured in the game's narrative, the feel of fighting against the unknown and the pain of loss from your soldiers, but it is very much it's own game. Perhaps far more than could ever have been observed from watching videos or playing the demo, once you're about a month into the game doing missions it becomes quite clear. XCOM is it's own game, fully and apologetically. It's XCOM in so many places that when you arrive at something that is different, it almost takes you by surprise.

In my opinion, I think it keeps just enough of the old mixing with the new to be something really incredible, but others may disagree! I think whether people will truly enjoy XCOM: EU, if they are an XCOM fan, comes down to whether they can accept that or not. If not, well, there's always Xenonauts to look forward to.

I played the game on classic, no ironman mode but it may as well have been because I didn't reload/save once. Crusader Kings II taught me the value of loss in a real way. It' was hard to resist hitting that reload button and before CK2 came along, i have to admit, I used to do it more than a few times. XCOM feels like a game that demands you play it 'fair'. No reloads, taking every shot it gives you on the chin without flinching.. but let me tell you, it can be tough. Over the course of my 7 hour attempt to stave off the end of the world I started to get really attached to my forces. I liked these guys, and after we ran all over the first 6 missions without any problem, I thought I had a venerable A-team.

And that's when a UFO landed in Nigeria. Landed UFOs are a mission type where the xenos have landed in a nonpopulated area for unknown reasons, so you send a team in to find out what they're up to. It's like crashed ufo missions except with maaany more enemies.. and my poor A-team got decimated. Not a single one survived, only one of my vets, Abby Robinson, aka "The Duchess" wasn't KIA. She had been in the infirmary from a previous mission. Losing so many of my best troops was hard, but i battled back and was making a really spirited comeback, likely due to still having one good core member to build around. I was able to progress for quite a few more missions.. and then the terror missions started.

The first one we took out with only one dead, but on the next.. oh my god. A broken overpass, fending off wave after wave of crysalides and zombies. It was like L4D if the zombies turned into mutant bugs if you didn't kill them fast enough. I finally got the upper hand, my troops were shot up but still going strong. And.. well.. let's just say XCOM is a game that likes to pile it on...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Needless to say.. the heroic last stand, felt like a pointless waste of life. When The Duchess got a plasma bolt stuck in her chest and the mission was all but done.. I sort of had to just stop playing. Not that I didn't want to keep going, but I knew that was it. No more vets, my best soldier KIA, and only rookies back at base to face the ever increasing brutality of the xenos. 7 hours. 3 months of missions, the world had ended. And that.. was the most fun i've had in a while.

[Monk]

double post

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

So yeah, classic ironman is pretty fricken hard. I was lulled into a false sense of security - a half dozen missions and only 1 casualty, then an abduction mission I *really* needed to win ended in 4 of my best troopers KIA. There were just too many enemies and they overran us. :(

[White_eyes:D]

After sinking 8 hours into this, I can safely say this is the most fun game I have played this year.(Before CK2 of course)

Nothing is more soul-crushing then watching one of your Veteran soldiers receiving that one-shot kill, nothing is more satisfying then getting that unlikely kill for a particularly annoying enemy. It also seems to punish you if you rush too much and rewards you for patience. When in doubt; Overwatch and reload.

There was only one enemy in the game that was extremely tough to kill and you only encounter it 3 times throughout the game. As far as I know anyway, could have been a random enemy...

Now I know you need about one of each class in your unit but my favorite was the assault class. "Run and gun" mixed with "Rapid fire" and a dash of "Quick reflexes", makes them the perfect killing machines.(My best Assault class Soldier is sitting at 60 career kills)

@Monk: I feel your pain on that terror mission....there was a difficult mission before that where you had to hit a supply UFO, which saw most of my Veteran team killed or in the hospital for a number of days. Had to take that terror mission with only my Best man and mostly recruits. Lost China(?) and only just barely made it out with my best unit, had to buy a bunch of recruits after that one.

[Monk]

Nothing is more soul-crushing then watching one of your Veteran soldiers receiving that one-shot kill, nothing is more satisfying then getting that unlikely kill for a particularly annoying enemy. It also seems to punish you if you rush too much and rewards you for patience. When in doubt; Overwatch and reload.

Absolutely. A lot of the actual firing comes down to that randomness, but the game will reward you if you play well. You're always outnumbered, and for most of the game you are outgunned. But with skill and a little luck, you'll never be outfought.

As for skills, Hunker Down has got to be the most underrated skill in the game. Overwatch is grand for the front line troops, but when I am unsure and expecting an attack, Hunker Down is such a great move. An instant double to your defense while in high cover is no joke!

On my second on classic, this time Ironman. In the initial mission we were fighting in a convenience corner store, and after clearing out the first room we could hear sectoids scurrying around on the other side of a wall. So. I did what any red blooded American would do while in charge of a clandestine international para-military organization....

I told my Russian point-man to whip out his grenade and blow the wall separating our forces down BECAUSE WE'RE X-COM AND THAT IS HOW WE ROLL. We mopped up local resistance and suffered only one wounded. It's gonna be a good game, i feel.

Now I know you need about one of each class in your unit but my favorite was the assault class. "Run and gun" mixed with "Rapid fire" and a dash of "Quick reflexes", makes them the perfect killing machines.(My best Assault class Soldier is sitting at 60 career kills)

Assaults have got to be the greatest example of XCOM's risk vs reward gameplay. Run & Gun is by far one of the best abilities in the game because of how much it changes the entire dynamic of a mission. Combined with Lightning Reflexes your assault troopers are the stuff of legends, I don't care what world you're from, a shotgun to the face will hurt.