XCOM: Enemy Unknown

[Hooahguy]

Finally got started on this game, its quite challenging I must say. The AI seems to be quite good.
Shame I accidentally uninstalled the game/lost my savegame file and now I cant play until I get back to campus on a strong internet connection.

[Jarmam]

Had no idea about this game until I saw Day[9] get *massacred* at it on Classic Ironman a few times before he just quit. I was playing Shadowrun Returns at the time and discovering a love for tactical shooters I didnt know I had so I thought "heck why not" and bought XCOM.

Beat the Classic Ironman a few weeks ago after 22 attempts (although at least 10 of those were me losing guys left and right at mission 1 and going the coward's route of retrying - yeah, I still suck). I gotta say I had a feeling I'd like the game based on what I saw in the LetsPlay, but I did not expect to fall completely in love with it. Holy hell does this game not joke around. I loved the constant tension and the progression of difficulty (new gear vs new enemies). In fact the only two letdowns were the endfight in the base assault and the endfight in the last level - the only really terribly balanced thing seems to be Squadsight (+Double Tap), which essentially turns your snipers into I-win-machines, esp against sole enemies with high hp. So no using Squadsight in the impossible playthrough ^^

I actually like the sort of simplied macromanagement aspect of the game. I got plenty of 1990's gamer frustration from the actual missions, and that's before the alien material gets a half-life. It struck a nice balance of not being too long and complex, while still maintaining the merciless fun/frustration-balance perfectly. Had a mission where 3 of my corporals were off-duty due to being nearly dead, so I sent a bunch of squaddies and corporals into the first mission featuring a Sectopod! Throw in a couple of Sectoid Commanders aggroed accidently and the mission was a blast! I ended up with 4 guys with 2 health left, but no casualties or critical wounds (taking the Will penalty). Next mission, all I face are Floaters and Thin Men - and 2 Thin Men flank my Colonel Sniper and wound her critically! Got lazy for a second, instant punishment. Good going, game! Dammit that Will penalty hurt when she later became my "defensive" Psi user.

It was quite fascinating how you slowly develop a care for certain soldiers that have saved your entire squad in pinced situations. I spat Coke all over my keyboard when the infamous sniper Tong Hi Lao was insta-gibbed in a council mission by a drop-in Thin Man. That guy was my best soldier! Too bad for me, suck it up and train a new Sniper. Funnily enough my new sniper squaddie by the name "Emily King" ended up saving me later by landing 3 35% shots in a row on Mutons in the train-mission, prompting me to rename her "Emilia Rex". She later became the first soldier in Archangel armor and earned the nickname "Angelica", which I found quite fitting, because of....
... am I playing "the Sims" in alien invasion space?

Game was good, looking forward to an expansion. If nothing else then for some more map variation.

[easytarget]

Yeah, that's a testament to a great game in my opinion, it creates great emergent stories about what happened that players are itching tell other players about. This game is full of those moments. The tension is well balanced especially in the tactical side, I wish they'd done just a bit more on the strategic (it comes down too much to just launching sats).

It's probably been my favorite game over the last year and I look forward to new content and hope Firaxis keeps giving it some love.

[Monk]

I don't understand why they haven't. By all accounts, the game sold well. I'm just waiting to throw some money at them for more content.

From the sounds of things the main creative forces behind Enemy Unknown have left development and went on to other things. The lead on Enemy Within isn't the same as the ones who made the base game. That may be the reason new content has been a long time in the making..

[Jarmam]

So yeah... a lot of people have noted how much harder "Classic" is than "Normal".

Let me just for the record state that "Impossible" feels like 3 times that gap atm. My Classic squad was made up of 2 assaults, 2 snipers, a heavy and a support, with the assaults spearheading to scout for mobs, letting the rest move in peace. Assaults are a great class to gear up due to their sick mobility with Run and Gun - and Im now considering not using any at all! Enemies seem to hit *every single shot* at medium range and they come in legions instead of packs. Assaults just die. Instantly. I dont think even Titan Armor with Chitin Plating would stop this, and I used Ghost Armor on Classic. My previously so graceful idea of not using Squadsight is also being seriously reconsidered, not because of "bossfights" but because of Thin Men. They are surprisingly terrifying when they pack 6 health instead of the usual 4. Add their annoying +hit modifier from Impossible and their stupidly powerful Light Plasmas in mission 3 and let the nightmare commence. The game does - not - joke - around. Also panic levels... yeah. Forget all about going for continent bonuses. Pick the 30% credits-per-month continent, you will never unlock it by satellites.

I wonder what Mutons will be like. I have yet to get anywhere close to seeing them :) Playing again has let me to get quite excited for the expansion, mostly due to the limited map pool. Its really starting to show itself. Takes a lot of the appeal out of the game when you "learn" most of the maps. I know its unavoidable, but for once I would seriously consider investing in a map pool DLC.

[HopAlongBunny]

A little more from RPS:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013...-enemy-within/

Enemy Within sounds like a beast :)

[easytarget]

I've pre-ordered. Wasn't going to, but found it at GMG for 20 bucks. I'll get value out of that with just one complete campaign, and I know, just know, I'll play it through more than once.