Gaming XCOM: Enemy Unknown review

I think although they simplified a few things, they elaborated on some stuff too. I shouldn't mention it because it's maybe spoiler ish, but basically the combat gets gradually deeper as the game progresses, and it ends up going further than the original. There are still some things I think they could have done better though, even UFO: Afterlight did some stuff better back in 2007 or whenever that was. But overall I like it.

 

There was a lot of stuff cut from the old game for the new one but I think it really works. You have to look at the intent and the experience of playing a game and sometimes these are not improved simply by adding more things to the game for the player to do. For example, the original Xcom featured some very in depth resource management, ammunition, stores, living space, this all had to be handled by the player. But it added nothing, it didn't make the game feel like a more authentic simulation because it was all mundane stuff that you'd have had a corporal with a calculator to take care of. The new Xcom lets you do what you need to do and that's about it.

Squad size is very small, and I think that this makes the difficulty curve bent out of whack, insomuch as the game is a lot harder in the beginning than it is at the end, and that doesn't feel right to me. Plus the inability to take proactive action quickly to reduce panic in nations harms the strategy (you can deploy satellites -if- you have a good enough network and -if- you have one handy, this takes weeks to set up). But those issues aside it's a brilliant game.

Must confess my first thought after I played it all the way through, having seen the endgame unit skills, abilities and equipment types is that this is what the Mass Effect games should have been like, or they at least could have been like this. I think this Xcom is a sound proof of concept for a current generation turn based party RPG in the style of the original Fallouts, KOTOR or UFO Afterlight. Turn based strategy, never stopped being good. People stopped making good turn based strategy games.

 

You want to said a view options are missing ie. top view, side view etc.

 

Same here, Skyrim lvl 40 on resume for a week for me cause of the XCOM....

 

I was so pissed when I played this game and saw how much they had dumbed it down. No more deliberately targeting terrain to blow holes through walls. No more shooting things in the side or rear to do more damage. No more inventories. No more facing different directions. No more multiple bases. Only one ufo at a time. The enemies don't move until you see them means you never get flanked or surrounded. How can a game from 20 years ago have better ai then a brand new one? Its just a dumber version with better graphics. So disappointing.

 

Having played the game through twice now, and then gone back to the original UFO for comparison, I have to say that, overall, I'm dissappointed in XCOM.

On the whole I'd say that Fireaxis have done a great job of preserving what was best about the original, but in the process they have sacrificed far too much of what was good about it.

The result is a good console game, but a pale shadow of the original with very little replay value or room for genuine tactics, let alone strategy.

A good case in point is the "one item each" policy. Whay should a soldier who can apparently carry a gun longer than his leg without any trouble suddenly be unable to clip two grenades to his belt? OK, the artificial item limit forces you to specialise your squad members, but there was nothing stopping you from having a dedicated medic/grenadier/gunner or indeed explosive-covered suicide-rookie in the original.

I've enjoyed this game, but I mourn the loss of the game it could have been. I totally understand Fireaxis' imperative to make a gmae that will sell, and I salute the retention of the names, graphical touches and feel of the original game. I just wish they could have released two editions so that us adults could have enjoyed a real strategy game while the console-kiddies enjoyed the patronising GUI and cover system..

/rant