X-Com: Enemy Unknown (new Firaxis version)

[#BROKEN Hasney]

She asked what I wanted.

Admittedly, she did remember me playing the original on my Amiga which I was pretty shocked by.

[Tommy Gunn]

Just went on steam and bought the 5 game collection for £8.99, kind of a blind word-of-mouth purchase as I've never played them, but it's cheap enough to take the plunge.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Enemy Unknown, Terror From The Deep and Apocolypse are great. The other 2 get rid of the strategy and add a flight sim or a 3rd person shooter depending on the game. A fine idea, but the execution is awful.

[Sixx]

Only the first two parts matter. Third one was alright I guess, better than those shitty FPPs for sure.

Also, Hasney, what do you mean by "poking" your mom?

[#BROKEN Hasney]

I really like the 3rd one. Not in that real- time mode though, that was wank.

And by poking, I mean to encourage my mum to pre-order me the game ASAP and nothing involving appendages.

[Sixx]

I hated graphics in the third part.

Like trying to look futuristic or something. Dunno, just weird.

And I remember switching to the real-time mode a few times when there were some hard parts in the game, cause for some reaoson the real-time mode was way easier.

[Ultra Mantis]

I always thought Terror From The Deep was the weakest of the three. Pretty lame aliens, except for LOBSTERMAN.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Got it anyway. Up above 40-odd % now!

[The Destroyer]

We're at 66%. Nearly there.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

79% to free Civ 5!

Not convinced yet? Well I don't want to call you manliness into question, but this here might change your mind:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012...urs-with-xcom/

Hands-On: Forty Hours With XCOM By Adam Smith on September 13th, 2012 at 1:30 pm.Tweet this I’ve been playing a preview version of XCOM: Enemy Unknown for the past few days. I haven’t really been doing anything else, except occasionally falling to sleep in front of my computer and dreaming about XCOM. I apologise in advance for the length and possible incoherence of what follows. I’m giddy, maybe I’m rambling, but I’m as excited about a game as I have been in a long time. No coy introduction here; XCOM is marvellous and now that I’m not playing it, all I want to do is talk about it, write about it, and jump up and down hollering about it. Remakes, reboots, repetition and recall – welcome to the multiplex of today, where you might need to take out a mortgage on the sensationally priced barrel of popcorn that classes as ‘medium’, and may well have an unwanted and poorly implemented extra dimension forced into your eyes. I’m usually happy to visit the past rather than waiting for the old to be made new, perhaps even more so with games than with films. Despite that, from the moment I heard that Firaxis were making a new XCOM, an honest-to-goodness tactics and geoscape tale of alien invasion and defense against overwhelming odds, I had a good feeling. Spurred on by lead designer Jake Solomon’s enthusiasm, openness and understanding of the original game, encouraged by a promising but all too brief hands-on with the game, my excitement had become unmanageable. It often happens that people innocently ask if there are any games I’m particularly looking forward to this year. Six hours later they’ve heard all my best stories, the ones where a squad survived the impossible, the ones where a lone survivor fled back to the Skyranger, her will shattered, and, of course, all the ones with the chrysalids. I’m talking about the past but I’m also talking about the future, because XCOM is coming back and I’m hoping for a new take on what I already know, all new stories with the same props and the same cast. Preview code has been with me for a week now, allowing freedom of play up until a specific research-based cut-off point, and I’ve collected about forty hours of new stories. I want to tell you about the time my squad entered the burning ruins of a large UFO, searching the rooms slowly and methodically, travelling deeper into the interior, all smoke and the sinister glow of mysterious power sources. I want to tell you how they didn’t find a single living thing until they reached the very centre of the ship, how they heard the sound of movement and followed it. Whatever was scurrying about in the wreck seemed to be on the run, perhaps the last survivor, an engineer or a pilot, not ready to face Earth’s best. Then I’d tell you how we lost track of whatever it was we were following and I’d gesticulate wildly as I told you how those men and women died, suddenly surrounded by noise as a trap was sprung, the broken ship now a tomb not for its crew but for us, for my people, for the poor bastards I failed. It was chrysalids, you see, and they were coming out of not just the bloody walls but the bloody ceiling as well. It wasn’t a set piece though, they’d been waiting to strike and if I’d been smarter, I wouldn’t have sent my soldiers into that claustrophobic, smoke-filled labyrinth of twisted metal, I would have drawn whatever was inside out. My sniper, who had been with XCOM since the very beginning, turned zombie on us and chewed the throat out of a young rookie. As the remaining members of the squad tried to blow a hole through the chitinous wave of death and devourance, one of them blew the ex-sniper’s infested guts out with a well-placed grenade. It didn’t feel right to leave her like that. It feels so good to have new chrysalid stories, even if I’m still not entirely used to these scuttling insect incarnations of nineties nightmares. A terror mission turned from bug hunt to zombie horror when a pack of the blade-limbed monstrosities decided against peeling off our armour and instead darted down an alley to find softer, fleshier incubation chambers for their spawn. It didn’t take long for the civilians they discovered, the ones we were supposed to be protecting, to surround the grocery store in which we were taking cover, engaged in a deadly firefight with a gang of floaters. Then it was a case of cover-be-damned as eight hungry corpses bore down on our position. The dead don’t die easily and ammunition burned down quickly. The sound of each clip locking into place was like the cough that clears the throat at the beginning of a eulogy. That’s two stories, both of which involve my squad being wiped out, the Skyranger returning with nothing but the stench of fear and scorched plasma. There are happier stories too: the unlikely shot that saves a squadmate’s life or the rare mission when the whole team comes home without so much as a scratch. The successful rescue, the necessary sacrifice, the old-fashioned, fist-bumping bout of xenocide. Enough stories for now though. It’s time to pick through the details and to break down why XCOM works as splendidly as it does. Before zooming back into the tactical level, here’s how base and squad management works. There’s just the one base, XCOM HQ, although you do get to choose which continent it’s located in. There’s a geographical bonus for the placement. These include Asia’s ‘Future War’ boost that reduces the cost of advanced weaponry and training, and South America’s efficient questioning and dissection techniques, which allow the player to complete autopsies and interrogations instantly. Being based in one location doesn’t mean it’s not important to expand coverage though and this happens in two different ways. First of all, new satellites and uplink facilities must be constructed. The satellites can then be launched over different countries, which reduces the panic level in that part of the world and provides a bonus from the ruling government. Any UFOs in the nearby skies will also now be detected and this is where the second part of geographical coverage comes in to play. Detecting UFOs is all well and good, but to bring them down you’ll need to station Interceptors, or more advanced fighters, on that continent as well. They can be transferred or purchased, and to stop the world from turning its back on XCOM, it’s necessary to expand coverage frequently and intelligently. The single base doesn’t dumb down the strategic side of the game and it has the advantage of looking utterly stunning, the side-on ant-farm design a perfect introduction to the game’s chunkily believable B-movie aesthetic. An alien containment chamber is instantly recognisable because it has a massive transparent chamber in the centre, with science bods prodding clipboards all around. Engineering workshops are full of automated machinery, robotic arms ready to build massive guns. And the guns really are massive – a heavy weapons squaddie can’t be mistaken for anything else because he is toting a bloody great machine gun, a rocket launcher strapped to his back. Every animation is a big sell. People don’t reload carefully and daintily, they SLAM a clip into their weapon, and an angry muton doesn’t snarl, it ROARS AND BELLOWS AND PUNCHES ITS CHEST AND THEN EVERYBODY PANICS AND WHIMPERS, CRYING AND PEEING IN THEIR FANCYPANTS ARMOUR. There’s not a great deal of subtlety in the portrayal of the space bastards, although there’s a huge amount of character and variety. Sectoids are almost dog-like at times, fitting their role as advanced, expendable scouts perfectly. They scamper, crawl, snarl and flee when the going gets tough. Adding to the characterisation are the comments of XCOM’s lead scientist, engineer and your own second-in-command. Encountering a new type of alien, technology or weapon for the first time leads to a description, usually shocked and awed, as the various higher-ups remain in contact. It could be grating but the execution makes it a wonderful touch, not only because it adds to the game’s atmosphere of panic and wonder, but because it also provides hints and a sort of ongoing guide to the world. “You probably want to avoid shooting that UFO power core”, science lady might say, to which you might well respond – “at this very moment, on the verge of total annihilation, I’ll shoot any damn thing I please as long as it’s guaranteed to vaporise every alien in the vicinity. Thanks for the tip.” BOOM Sure, she’ll chew you out for destroying precious artifacts but, hey, I just saved the lives of four rookies who were in over their heads. I’m some kind of goddamn hero. The interaction with XCOM staff also helps to avoid some of the problems of the original (yes, there were problems; I usually try to deny them as well). It’s no longer possible to miss vital research and you won’t have to consult a FAQ to work out how to reach the next point in the game’s narrative. That narrative was always there, it was the link between one piece of research and the next, the escalation occurred in stages as did the player’s progression toward understanding and destroying the alien threat. The difference in Firaxis’ XCOM is that the narrative has found a voice, so objectives are set during discussions between the various members of the organisation. It starts with the construction of a containment chamber, and the research, construction and action necessary to fill that chamber with a living specimen. There’s no requirement to follow these tasks but it’s all delivered sensibly, as part of the fiction, and it’s not as if the objectives are the only thing to concentrate on; the world is still falling apart around your ears, don’t worry about that. A great deal of Firaxis’ work, beyond the brilliance of the actual tactical systems, has gone into the setting, and the world, its inhabitants and its visitors are all recognisable to players of the original, but with so much more detail to them. There are still page-long textual descriptions when research is completed, but there are also cutscenes showing the joy that becomes fear when a UFO is shot down, only for movement to be detected inside the wreck. Nowhere more so than on a terror mission is the effort that has gone into creating a living and dying world evident. There’s a real sense of activity beyond the pockets of activity that the player sees, with an ordinary mission area often surrounded by a perimeter of police vehicles, their occupants now encased in green gunk, their Pompeii-like poses suggestive of particularly unpleasant endings. One UFO crash site that I saw had a truck parked nearby, a dead stag dumped in the back. A hunter had seen the flaming saucer crash and curiosity had made him pull over and take a look. His body was a little further down the trail. That’s one more, tiny story. On terror missions the stories are painted in broader strokes and there’s a suitably apocalyptic feeling. Air raid and ambulance sirens wail, blockades have been set up, tanks burn in the streets. The battle has already been lost, XCOM are just there to minimise casualties and to hit back as hard as they can, to let the invaders know that there are consequences, no matter how slight they might seem. Maps aren’t randomised, which distressed me a little, but although I’ve seen a bit of repetition enemy placement and types don’t repeat, and no two missions have been quite the same. The detail and variety are excellent, and there are some sizeable locations. The alien AI takes advantage of the space too, with separate groups occupying different areas and then flanking, surrounding and generally making a nuisance of themselves. Cover is hugely important, with a normal turn being a quick jog to the best position available and then a shot fired, overlook engaged or an item used. The aliens know this too and the easiest way to see your squad decimated is to trade shots without moving, like a tennis player in a baseline rally not willing to take a risk. You’re always outnumbered, so in a straightforward slugging match, you’ll eventually lose. This is a game that rewards intelligence, learning and brave decisions as much as planning, prepration and positioning. The special abilities, probably the most discussed change from the original game, are essential tools to tip the balance. You’ll need every trick your soldiers have learned and every piece of equipment you’ve researched. Choosing a loadout is simple; gun, armour, sidearm and auxiliary item. The latter can be a medikit, a flak jacket, a grenade, an ARC thrower (stun baton), or whatever else you’ve researched and constructed. That item is an ability or stat boost available in addition to whatever class-specific abilities your soldiers has. The classes are sniper, assault, support and heavy, and they all have strengths as well as a choice of abilities at each promotion after the first. A sniper, for example, could have the ‘squad sight’ ability, which allows him/her to shoot at anything that a member of the team can see, even if it’s outside normal range. This kind of sniper is best placed on a rooftop, away from the action and with a height advantage adding to accuracy. But there’s another type of sniper, one with the ‘snap shot’ ability that allows him to move and shoot in the same turn, normally impossible with a scoped rifle. The sniper with that skill is better able to react but less accurate, less of a ghost. Brilliantly, long-serving soldiers are given nicknames that fit their class type, so a sniper might well become ‘Ghost’, although my personal favourite was a heavy weapons guy called ‘Stacks’. Over a hundred missions in, I’m a happy convert to the class and ability system. It means there are more tactical decisions on each turn and more quandaries in squad selection, particularly given that there are only four-to-six soldiers allowed in the Skyranger. Do you take all of your elite soldiers or stick in an untrained rookie or two? They’re not as much of a loss if they die, plus on an easier mission they might pick up a few kills and become more useful in the process. That’s not to say it’s ever easy letting someone die, no matter how green they are. They might have silly gung-ho soundbites (can be turned off), but I’ve even found myself warming to that aspect of the game; it’s all part of the world’s oddball military sci-fi texture and, besides, bravado swiftly becomes fear. Further to that, when everything is going to hell, I sometimes yell daft things myself every time one of the ‘orrible things goes down screaming. To counter your soldiers’ skills, every species of alien has a special ability too, none of which I’ll spoil here. Suffice to say, they fit the character of each type and often subvert the tactics already taught, making the battlefield even more problematic with yet more issues to take into account during every phase. There’s so much more to say. I want to share everything that’s happened, want to talk at length about how critically wounded soldiers can be accidentally killed by a grenade even as a medic is closing in, about the special council missions that offer great rewards at great risk. We’re talking disarming bombs in a power station or rescuing a UN official, pinned down and under fire on a huge concrete bridge that looks like Godzilla just stomped on it. I’ll finish by saying that my biggest concern has completely evaporated. I wasn’t sure how different the game would feel on each playthrough, whether it would be as replayable as the original. I’ll need to answer that when I’ve got the full game and spent almost two decades with it, but I’ve started from scratch at least ten times in the last week, and it’s felt like a different experience every time. When I wrote about Crusader Kings II back near the beginning of the year, I said this: “If it doesn’t wind up being among my very favourite games of the year, spectacular things will occur in the next ten months.” Well, CK II will still be up there, but XCOM really is something spectacular. With all the burden of expectation and doubt, it manages to be both a hugely respectful reimagining and, all ties ignored, one of the best turn-based tactical games I’ve played in, well, forever.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Oh shit, missed the fact there was a demo.

[The Destroyer]

Awesome, now I get to find out in advance if I wasted my money.

[The Destroyer]

Hooray, the demo runs ok.

Not had the chance to play it much, but the game seems alright. Less evil than I remember the original game being, which is a good thing in my eyes.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

WE DID IT GUS! FREE CIV 5 FOR ALL!

[The Destroyer]

Now to find someone to give my copy to.

I really enjoyed the one "proper" mission in the demo, I want more, now!

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Played the tutorial and didn't go any further. It was too fucking good that I want to wait for the actual game to play the mission!

[The Destroyer]

Disappointingly, no matter which abduction site you choose, you get the same mission.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

The other XCOM is coming out by the end of the year too. Now 3rd person instead of FPS and one guy who played it said it had the feeling of being a "1940's Ghostbusters".

[Ultra Mantis]

Kotaku says While everyone gets excited over Firaxis' very-promising XCOM remake, it's easy to forget that there was once another XCOM game on the cards from 2K. One we haven't seen nor heard from for a very long time. There may be a good reason for that. First seen by the public as a uniquely retro first-person shooter, these screenshots sent in by a Kotaku reader - part of what we're told was a recent marketing survey - suggest the game has gone back to the drawing board, coming back as a third-person shooter. While the 1960s setting and general XCOM prequel vibe remains, it's now apparently being pitched as a squad-based game similar to SOCOM or Republic Commando, with the player in command of a team of agents, which you can order around the map to perform various actions. The survey suggests the game is still in development at 2K Marin (it was originally being led by 2K's Canberra team before all the delays), as it tells the user that "it is being developed by the same people who created BioShock 2". If that's not interesting enough, the survey takers are also being told the game would be for PS3 and Xbox 360 (with no mention of PC), and are being asked how they'd feel if it was made available as a $30 downloadable title, as opposed to a $60 retail game. All of which, if true, make it sound like 2K is set to pull an "I Am Alive", cutting its losses on a troubled project and trying to make the best of a bad situation by selling it on the cheap. Bear in mind though this is all unconfirmed. We've contacted 2K for comment, and will update if we hear back. UPDATE - 2K tells Kotaku "We have not made any new announcements regarding the XCOM title currently in development at 2K Marin, and it is our policy not to comment on rumors or speculation."

[The Destroyer]

Not really being grabbed by those screenshots. Hopefully Enemy Unknown will have plenty of mileage in it.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Pre-loaded. Cannot freaking wait until Tuesday.

[The Destroyer]

Will we get it on Tuesday though, or are Steam a bunch of shits who'll make us wait til Friday?

I'm really hoping for Tuesday, since I've got a day off on Wednesday. Friday is bad, because I've got work on Saturday. Eating into my alien killing time.

-edit- Steam is telling me it's available Friday. Bastards.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Oh Baird, I have so much to teach you via the magic of PM.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

http://www.destructoid.com/review-xc...n-236113.phtml

I dream of XCOM. I have fever dreams where I debate using my assault soldier’s Run and Gun ability to flank an alien or play it safe and stay behind cover. I wish I was kidding or being hyperbolic, but I’m not. I gain new strategies as I lose sleep. There are two types of games I delete upon completion. There are those I am done with but, on a very rare occasion, there is also a game that just isn’t done with me. These are games I obsess over. I begin to incorporate them into my daily routine, somewhere between eating and sleeping -- sometimes cutting out basic living essentials, when necessary. I don’t want to eat because I’d rather play a dang videogame. This is not normal. For me, someone who struggles to do anything consistently for two hours, this is what can only be labeled "super abnormal." So take the act of me wiping XCOM from my hard drive as high praise. It speaks volumes on how addictive and replayable XCOM is. It’s not you, XCOM. It’s me, truly. Now, pack your shit and leave! XCOM: Enemy Unknown (PC [reviewed], Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) Developer: Firaxis Games Publisher: 2K Games Release: October 9, 2012 MSRP: $59.99 Enemy Unknown is a game about defending the world on a budget. Corners will be cut, soldiers will be lost (RIP Chad Concelmo), and countries will withdraw support if you don’t help them when asked. Not since Dark Souls has a game been so gleefully vicious in punishing a player’s loss. There are many times where I was tempted to start anew, but I played the odds and pulled through. That’s the genius of XCOM: It wants you so badly to give up, but that small percentage of victory will give you the courage to continue. In Mass Effect, alien takeover was a backdrop. In EU, it feels like an inescapable reality that beats your team down, time and time again. Being that EU is a considerable challenge full of painful losses even on easy, it is a fairly faithful remake of the original, landmark X-COM (you see that hyphen!?!). The base building, squad management, tactical combat, space battles, leveling, and most other elements of the ‘94 MicroProse cult hit appear, albeit with fat trimmed. Through the modern miracle of intelligent menu design, a fair difficulty gradient, and refined combat, the team that made Civilization a great fit for consoles has done the same for XCOM. Firaxis has made a simpler (but not simple) XCOM that is approachable to more than just diehard series and genre fans. As your squad gain new abilities and passive buffs, elevation and grouping become more important aspects of strategy. Once you can use a grappling hook and make psychic links with others, the game becomes even deeper. However, EU never comes close to approaching the complexity of other games in the strategy-RPG genre that the original helped pioneer. This design choice may divide some genre fans, but there is certainly a good enough challenge and varied tactical options to satisfy most players, especially those that worship Final Fantasy Tactics, Jagged Alliance, or Valkyria Chronicles. One smart change is that the player now controls a maximum of six members on a mission, instead of an entire platoon. Coupled with the small maps and quick animation, this makes EU a much faster paced and accessible action game. The action and missions themselves transpire so quickly that it’s hard to stop playing, as you rationalize taking on one more abduction in Japan. Every now and again, actions will be presented in a cinematic style that is similar to Valkyria Chronicles. It helps highlight the turning points of a battle, racketing the tension up at times. EU begins with a cinematic tutorial and a series of missions that feel on-rails, but the game soon opens up to let you screw up in the most fantastic ways imaginable. You’ll always have a primary goal that revolves around researching a specific thing, capturing a specific alien, and, occasionally, invading a specific location. These goals keep the player free to do what he or she wants when it comes to taking on missions or building the XCOM headquarters. You can fulfill these goals at your leisure, but you’ll always be at risk of panic striking nations. Your base is not only where you upgrade troops and do research, it’s also how you track progress made across the globe. Since XCOM is a private military with an international council, you’ll always be in danger of countries withdrawing support if their panic level rises to five (the highest level). The only way to combat this is to do missions in that country or launch a satellite over it, which takes a lot of time and money. If too many countries pull out, it’s game over. I lost a country in every region but still managed to beat the game. The possibility of losing always loomed right over my shoulder, making for a relentlessly tense experience. A good thing, mind you. Even after a flawless battle, there is no escaping the inevitable tough decisions you’ll have to make at the base. The hardest decisions come from invasions that ask the player to take a mission at one of three countries presented. Each offers a difficulty level, reward, and panic level. I found myself constantly conflicted. “Do I risk Australia pulling out of XCOM just so I can get some immediate cash from China?" is the type of question you’ll find yourself asking a lot. Managing your research and development is also a hard job that you’ll only figure out through time and experience. I’m replaying the game on Classic difficulty (read: Hard), as this review goes up, and am still discovering new strategies on and off the battle grid. Missions cover bomb defusals, VIP escorts, and rescue operations, but most of the time you’ll just need to wipe out aliens in one of the game's 80 maps. This is a lot harder said than done because of monster closets. This term, made popular by critics lambasting Doom 3’s enemies that magically appear instead of approaching the player, is the best way to describe one of EU’s most puzzling and upsetting design decisions. Unlike most other SRPGs, the enemy does not move until discovered. Once discovered however, the enemy is given a free turn to move and take cover -- which for the player, really, really sucks! The main problem with this is that you start playing the game around this design decision, which, in effect, ruins the game. It makes sense to slowly creep through a forest, hoping to get the drop on aliens. It doesn’t make sense to slowly creep through a forest, fearing aliens will get the drop on you as you suddenly freeze in time. As a defense measure, you can position your guys to go into overwatch, gunning down any creature that passes their line of sight. It’s certainly a change from the original, where aliens would be found standing still when discovered. A lot of XCOM comes down to luck and risk. Every shot you fire is complemented by a screen with info on the percentage of the shot landing and damage it is likely to do. This is a risk you agree to take. The same can be said for the smart cover system that divides positions as no cover, half cover, or full cover, each increasing your chances for an enemy to miss. I eventually grew to accept these monster closets, but it sure is a jarring element to battle. It is made even worse with the occasional glitch. One time I had an alien suddenly appear beside me and drop a grenade. I didn’t care very much for its parting gift. It may have taken console games a good amount of time, but I think we’ve finally arrived at the ideal control setup for a turn-based strategy game. Being able to quickly zoom out with the left trigger, rotate camera with D-pad, and switch characters with the bumpers feels natural. EU takes influence from Call of Duty in more ways than one. Just as CoD and Gears of War popularized the use of sticky actions for shooters -- as in the game guides your character/crosshair to the action you wish to perform -- EU does the same for strategy games. Getting rid of grids and adapting this new system feels natural and so damn good. Ironically, the PC controls are abysmal. Firaxis took one step forward and one step back. There is no quick zoom button (there is one listed in the options menu but it wouldn’t work, no matter how I reconfigured it), rotating the camera is awkward, zooming is even worse, and keyboard shortcuts are not as smartly placed as they are on the controller. The menus are harder to navigate, you can’t zoom in on your headquarters, and a lot of other actions that are easy to perform with a controller are made difficult or taken out altogether. You’re going to want to play this with a controller and, yes, I know how strange that sounds. Even the PC exclusive grid mode is a nuisance that only breaks immersion and makes the game frustrating. Once you’ve conquered the campaign (my playthrough ran 23 hours), multiplayer awaits. Playing only with friends and fellow reviewers, it was hard to get a good grasp of where the multiplayer scene can go. The mode is a mess that, like the singleplayer campaign, gives players the freedom to screw themselves. Multiplayer is just straight forward one-on-one match, but you are free to make your squad however you like. Each unit and each modification to a unit costs points which can be limited (or not) by the host. This means you can have six-on-six matches with the most powerful enemies in the game, or play a straightforward match. I found the aliens to be so laughably unbalanced that it risks making the mode completely irrelevant, unless an update gives the host more options to limit loadout choices. The map selection is small, the netcode is touchy, and there are some terrible design choices, like letting players see the opponent open doors, thus giving away positions in an already tiny map. Maybe it will grow on me or be fun with more match rules, but I got pretty negative impression from my time with it. XCOM looks good and sounds good, but the score is too similar to Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Mass Effect. I know EU shares the former’s composer, but it still cheapens the experience and makes it feel less unique. The greater problem are the bugs that not only get in the way of presentation but combat as well. One bug kept me from being able to properly use a key feature later in the game that lets you further upgrade units. Another bug had my character’s ponytail wrap around the loadout screen and dance around, as if possessed by the God of hair (an awesome bug, I must admit.) You’ll also see lots of clipping and glitchy cinematic camera angles in combat. So, it’s fair to say that EU has some problems. While the game lacks the polish we’ve come to expect from Firaxis, it stands up as one of the most addicting and fun strategy games I’ve ever played. The game has its issues. It doesn’t help that it ends on the worse stage with one of the worst boss battles in recent memory. Oh yeah, and you can wash it all down with a terrible ending cinematic. Outside the endgame, you’ll rarely see all of the game’s issues grouped together in one place. Sure, the UFO missions aren’t the best and you’ll run into the occasional bug, but I am willing to accept these minor issues. That’s just how much fun the game is. If you’ve ever played a game on a PC with a loud fan or sneaked into the living room as a kid to game at night, you should be able to understand that sometimes it's worth putting up with a little discomfort for a lot of enjoyment. That’s Enemy Unknown for you. I was disappointed EU didn’t have a great story, at first. But, somewhere along the way, my own story played out through the game’s intense missions and grueling decision making back at the base. My story is about an unlikely group of space heroes. After months of waging a seemingly impossible war, my elite squad of XCOM soldiers died. Well, all but one. Her name was Tara Long. With one bullet left in her rifle aimed at two of the toughest foes she’d ever seen, she knew it was fate when the SUV behind the Mutons exploded, sending the two to a fiery death. As the world descended into panic, Tara led a troop of new recruits. Hamza the support, Conrad the heavy, and Tony the assault rose through the ranks and succeeded where the older soldiers failed. Let’s not forget Holmes, the sniper who once saved the day after going into panic mode, gunning down an incoming cyberdisk as his sanity deteriorated. Poor Holmes hasn’t been the same since …. Against all odds, Destructoid managed to save the galaxy, even though we barely manage to keep this site running. That’s a story worth seeing to its end, even if I’ll soon forget it as many more stories play out in my future XCOM sessions. All the small nagging complaints I have with the game fade away when I recall all the great moments I've had with it. Final Verdict: 9.0 Superb: 9s are a hallmark of excellence. There may be flaws, but they are negligible and won't cause massive damage to what is a supreme title in its *genre*.

[Ultra Mantis]

95% on Game Informer
9/10 on Eurogamer
4.5/5 on Joystiq

Looking pretty good with the critics. I assume any dropped points are due to the absence of Snakeman and that alone.

[Ultra Mantis]

I was going to hold off on getting this for money / work reasons but now I'm teetering on the verge of pre-ordering the day before release. Somebody push me over the edge then I can hold you responsible.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Free Civ 5! 2 excellent games from the price of 1!

[Ultra Mantis]

Very good point Hollywood Hasney but I'm going to have to get this on console since the Steam demo almost made my shitty laptop explode into tiny fragments.

[The Destroyer]

Some twitchiness when aiming the rocket launcher and frag grenades aside, I am really enjoying this game.

[Tommy Gunn]

Just played the demo on PS3, really WANT this game. Tempted to get a last minute online pre-order to get the Elite Soldier bonus stuff, whatever it is, but I may be too impatient and just go into town tomorrow and buy a copy.

[The Rogerer]

"Ironically, the PC controls are abysmal"



Just bought it for PS3

[#BROKEN Hasney]

I've not had any M+KB issues at all yet, but my 360 controller is on hand just in case.

Last mission I did last night wiped out most of my non-rookie crew. Those thin men are bastards for poisoning. Once of them dropped in and had overwatch immediately. Thought I was safe running through the building to get a better vantage point... Was not expecting them to shoot through the skylight.

[Tommy Gunn]

Walked into GAME and bought it on PS3, the Elite Soldier Pack comes bundled inside anyway, unless GAME have special copies, I feel like pre-order incentives are a big bag of lies.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

The Steam Civ5 and TF2 gear weren't lies. They were pre-orders only.

I don't mind pre-order bonuses like that. They're not going to effect the game you're buying. I hate the ones with locked content in the product you're willing to hand money over for though.

[The Rogerer]

Beg for your hat, son

[Tommy Gunn]

Originally Posted by Hollywood Hasney The Steam Civ5 and TF2 gear weren't lies. They were pre-orders only.

Sorry, I should have said I meant for console pre-orders. If I had a good enough PC I'd be pretty excited to get free Civ 5 with it.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Looked at the clock and it was 9pm. It locked up on the final mission and I'm glad it did because I was about to die and I would have reloaded. That was 1:30am.

They've just streamlined the game in the best ways from the original. Can't see anything else topping this as my GOTY. Going to start an ironman game after I finish.

[Ultra Mantis]

Love this. Named my troops after people I know and so far my girlfriend, best friend and former college lecturer have all died. Going to gloat that I outlived them all in the alien invasion and they will have no idea what I'm talking about.

[Tommy Gunn]

Completed it last night, runs like dogshit on PS3 after the first few months in-game. Gonna wait for a patch before I try and tackle Classic mode.

[Ultra Mantis]

Tried Ironman Classic twice and it was game over by the time the terror mission showed up. Absolutely brutal, aliens wiped out the entire cast of Breaking Bad, Lost and Firefly.

Think I'm going to play Dark Souls for a while to reinflate my gaming ego.