Just so perfect at what it's doing.
In the battle between turn-based and real-time strategy games, I am on the side that gives me at least a minute to decide how to move forward. Turn-based it is then!
XCOM is only the second strategy game I’ve played on the PS3, the other was the real-time WWII themed R.U.S.E. which had a lot of potential but was too fast paced for my liking. On normal difficulty my forces would be overwhelmed by those pesky Nazis in minutes not giving me enough time to do anything. It was too hectic and did not feel ‘realistic’. As in, if I were really a commander, surely I’d have more than thirty seconds to decide where to move a battalion.
XCOM is not afraid of overwhelming your ground forces with alien Nazis but once they’ve shown up you’ve got all the time in the world to think about how you’re going to deal with them.
Likewise outside of the battlefield, you can think all you want about whether you should pump funds into researching a weapon or direct the science lab’s efforts into an autopsy, to build a workshop or a laboratory, to spend money on training soldiers in how to heal faster from their wounds, or to perhaps buy more fighter jets to fend off invading UFOs.
There are choices aplenty in this game, and though it can feel overwhelming, the fact that there’s no timer counting down putting me on the spot, gives me time to breathe and almost relish the predicament I’m in, the joy in figuring out how to get out of it.
So your battle against a cheekily-designed alien menace is on two fronts, from a literal turn-based 6-man battle in various Earth-bound locales, and from the XCOM headquarters, managing your funds in powering up your force with better weapons and equipment, and progressing the story. One plot point might require you to capture a live alien in the field, another expects you to get the science labs to research a special item, etc.
All the while, the 16 countries that take part in the XCOM initiative are suffering attacks, which raises their panic levels. If a country’s level reaches high enough, they’ll leave, so you’re constantly having to appease them. It’s the most annoying part of the game, as if I see a country going into the red there’s nothing I can really do about it unless I get a request to deal with aliens there. The only way I can alleviate the situation is to send up a satellite above the country, but that’s easier said than done, if I don’t have enough money, and the monthly pay check is still a while away.
The ground battles are addictive stuff, and very well thought-out. You end up ‘leap-frogging’ your soldiers in a realistic manner, move one dude to cover, then his team mate to another slightly ahead. If you run too far ahead by ‘dashing’ you may alert aliens too soon. The more battles your soldiers survive, the higher they level up in rank and ability, and you end up mentally assigning personalties to them. Life histories. When they fall in the battle field, it’s forever. You grieve, and then move on.
I played this game on easy mode as I’m new to the franchise, and my first loss occurred midway through the game, when after an intense alien base assault, I lost one of my guys who’d only been on a handful of missions, and who I’d only brought along because the rest of the veterans were recovering from previous wounds, and also because he was South African. I saw poignancy that he should be in the team to vanquish this particular base which was in his country.
Well, the dude got killed by an insect variant of the alien race, and as if that wasn’t bad enough, he then turned into an evil zombie, so I had to kill him again. The easy thing would have been to simply load up an earlier save, but other than the fact that that would be cheating, I think it made the game more ‘cinematic’, that this rookie didn’t make it from this mission, and it keeps the game tense and entertaining.
I’ll try the game on a higher difficulty one day, but I can already foresee the panicking countries giving me headaches. I know that the priority should be to send up satellites over countries as soon as possible, but it’s always easier said than done!
So I’m probably not cut out to be a leader of nations, that’s fine. But I know that most of my soldiers will always have my back, I’ve kept nearly all of them alive during this war. Hoorah.
XCOM is only the second strategy game I’ve played on the PS3, the other was the real-time WWII themed R.U.S.E. which had a lot of potential but was too fast paced for my liking. On normal difficulty my forces would be overwhelmed by those pesky Nazis in minutes not giving me enough time to do anything. It was too hectic and did not feel ‘realistic’. As in, if I were really a commander, surely I’d have more than thirty seconds to decide where to move a battalion.
XCOM is not afraid of overwhelming your ground forces with alien Nazis but once they’ve shown up you’ve got all the time in the world to think about how you’re going to deal with them.
Likewise outside of the battlefield, you can think all you want about whether you should pump funds into researching a weapon or direct the science lab’s efforts into an autopsy, to build a workshop or a laboratory, to spend money on training soldiers in how to heal faster from their wounds, or to perhaps buy more fighter jets to fend off invading UFOs.
There are choices aplenty in this game, and though it can feel overwhelming, the fact that there’s no timer counting down putting me on the spot, gives me time to breathe and almost relish the predicament I’m in, the joy in figuring out how to get out of it.
So your battle against a cheekily-designed alien menace is on two fronts, from a literal turn-based 6-man battle in various Earth-bound locales, and from the XCOM headquarters, managing your funds in powering up your force with better weapons and equipment, and progressing the story. One plot point might require you to capture a live alien in the field, another expects you to get the science labs to research a special item, etc.
All the while, the 16 countries that take part in the XCOM initiative are suffering attacks, which raises their panic levels. If a country’s level reaches high enough, they’ll leave, so you’re constantly having to appease them. It’s the most annoying part of the game, as if I see a country going into the red there’s nothing I can really do about it unless I get a request to deal with aliens there. The only way I can alleviate the situation is to send up a satellite above the country, but that’s easier said than done, if I don’t have enough money, and the monthly pay check is still a while away.
The ground battles are addictive stuff, and very well thought-out. You end up ‘leap-frogging’ your soldiers in a realistic manner, move one dude to cover, then his team mate to another slightly ahead. If you run too far ahead by ‘dashing’ you may alert aliens too soon. The more battles your soldiers survive, the higher they level up in rank and ability, and you end up mentally assigning personalties to them. Life histories. When they fall in the battle field, it’s forever. You grieve, and then move on.
I played this game on easy mode as I’m new to the franchise, and my first loss occurred midway through the game, when after an intense alien base assault, I lost one of my guys who’d only been on a handful of missions, and who I’d only brought along because the rest of the veterans were recovering from previous wounds, and also because he was South African. I saw poignancy that he should be in the team to vanquish this particular base which was in his country.
Well, the dude got killed by an insect variant of the alien race, and as if that wasn’t bad enough, he then turned into an evil zombie, so I had to kill him again. The easy thing would have been to simply load up an earlier save, but other than the fact that that would be cheating, I think it made the game more ‘cinematic’, that this rookie didn’t make it from this mission, and it keeps the game tense and entertaining.
I’ll try the game on a higher difficulty one day, but I can already foresee the panicking countries giving me headaches. I know that the priority should be to send up satellites over countries as soon as possible, but it’s always easier said than done!
So I’m probably not cut out to be a leader of nations, that’s fine. But I know that most of my soldiers will always have my back, I’ve kept nearly all of them alive during this war. Hoorah.
Delightful, tactical alien blasting.
É um jogo divertido, mas se torna repetitivo com o tempo (joguei um total de 17h), a partir de uma parte eu fiquei só no automático, joguei um pouco do XCOM 2 e não lembro de ter sentido isso. Apesar dos pesares, é um bom jogo de estratégia, é muito massa esse apego que você cria com os soldados. Descansem em paz Calabrezzo e Tuco Salamanca, vocês lutaram bravamente.
Great tactical gameplay - especially at the start, it can feel really stressful in a fun, tense way. Eventually (at least on lower difficulty levels), you can reach a point where you're sufficiently ahead that you can just keep playing indefinitely. I like that the game has real stakes with permadeath, even if I don't always like it in the moment! The new technologies / facilities give a real sense of progression across the game, and the combat has a decent level of variety with the different classes, so you can create a balanced squad to take out to the fight.
Years ago, I was introduced to the genre of turn-based tactics games with XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and for better or worse I was left chasing that incredible high ever since. The only other game that could provide that perfect mixture of strategy, risk management, and the iconic kick of RNG was none other than XCOM 2. While the sequel largely supplanted this one in terms of pure gameplay, every once in a while I still get the hankering to start a campaign in this atmospheric sci-fi horror setting to beat down aliens with my stompy mech soldiers.
But why was I so instantly captivated by this game? This wasn’t something I could easily answer at first while getting thoroughly obliterated as a newbie commander. That first campaign was confusing, brutal, yet still inexplicably fun. 1000 hours of play later, I’ve come to the conclusion that XCOM has the most perfect loop of interesting decisions and significant consequences constantly alternating one after another, keeping players invested all the way up until the endgame. The choices are weighty, varied, difficult but still intuitive to understand. Whether things go right or wrong, both newbies and veterans can always uncover a new layer of strategic depth.
I was hooked on this rapid and dynamic loop of learning, adapting, and gradually molding my troops into badass alien killers. My first campaign didn’t go very well, but as soon as it ended I was pumped to start the journey again with the knowledge that I had gained through my mistakes. Then I did it again, and again, until I finally won my first classic ironman campaign after a long, bloody war with a death toll in the 50s. That victory was one of the most memorable gaming moments in my life, and something I always hope to experience again when playing other strategy games.
But why was I so instantly captivated by this game? This wasn’t something I could easily answer at first while getting thoroughly obliterated as a newbie commander. That first campaign was confusing, brutal, yet still inexplicably fun. 1000 hours of play later, I’ve come to the conclusion that XCOM has the most perfect loop of interesting decisions and significant consequences constantly alternating one after another, keeping players invested all the way up until the endgame. The choices are weighty, varied, difficult but still intuitive to understand. Whether things go right or wrong, both newbies and veterans can always uncover a new layer of strategic depth.
I was hooked on this rapid and dynamic loop of learning, adapting, and gradually molding my troops into badass alien killers. My first campaign didn’t go very well, but as soon as it ended I was pumped to start the journey again with the knowledge that I had gained through my mistakes. Then I did it again, and again, until I finally won my first classic ironman campaign after a long, bloody war with a death toll in the 50s. That victory was one of the most memorable gaming moments in my life, and something I always hope to experience again when playing other strategy games.
really quite astonishing. the gameplay loop of research, building facilities, and increasing passive income to utilize in combat is decidedly a winning one; the gameplay here is so satisfying in a way i haven't really experienced anywhere else. the b-movie tone and energy add a lot of charm to the game as well - i found myself getting really invested in the stories i would create on the battlefield and the war tales of my soldiers. insane replay value, too; at three deals this is nuts
Pro tip: you can name the soldiers after people you hate and send them to suicide missions
I love stories where there is struggle. For the most part, 9/10 players I bet never even finished this game. That's what makes winning all the more sweet. Playing this game is as hard as actually fighting off an alien invasion
Almost feels like an extended tech demo for the sequel. The early- and mid-game were fun but I struggled to continue playing once I'd seen all the mission maps and types for the 3rd time.
Not terribly compelling narrative, but some great strategy gameplay. I just wish it had some more personality that was interesting.
its alright but not really my thing
Quiero agradecer personalmente a Alexelcapo por introducirme a los juegos de estrategia por turnos
Yo morire por Alexelcapso
Yo morire por Alexelcapso
Never played older X-COMs, but this one I found insufferable.
First of all, I think it looks ugly and sounds very generic. Second of all, it acts like it's some kinda cinematic experience, while having no sense of good pacing and delivering all information through simple talking heads. Third of all, the controls are very unintuitive, there's no free camera rotation, mouse wheel changes elevation for some reason instead of zooming in/out, and the zoom keeps resetting after each turn. Plus I hate these tacked-on "cinematic" close-ups for simple actions that you're gonna be doing thousands of times. They get old really quickly.
The actual combat seems fine, but it didn't really strike me as anything special. It's your standard, run-of-the-mill turn-based combat. It is kinda cool how you can change elevation and enter buses and shit like that. But it's also the kind of game where you can be hiding behind a stone wall and somehow get hit by the enemy, or approach the enemy, shoot them point-blank and miss. This kinda immediately ruins all the immersion they're so desperately trying to create with that "cinematic" bullshit.
First of all, I think it looks ugly and sounds very generic. Second of all, it acts like it's some kinda cinematic experience, while having no sense of good pacing and delivering all information through simple talking heads. Third of all, the controls are very unintuitive, there's no free camera rotation, mouse wheel changes elevation for some reason instead of zooming in/out, and the zoom keeps resetting after each turn. Plus I hate these tacked-on "cinematic" close-ups for simple actions that you're gonna be doing thousands of times. They get old really quickly.
The actual combat seems fine, but it didn't really strike me as anything special. It's your standard, run-of-the-mill turn-based combat. It is kinda cool how you can change elevation and enter buses and shit like that. But it's also the kind of game where you can be hiding behind a stone wall and somehow get hit by the enemy, or approach the enemy, shoot them point-blank and miss. This kinda immediately ruins all the immersion they're so desperately trying to create with that "cinematic" bullshit.
A superfluous XCOM game that only ages like milk. A direct downgrade from the game it is remaking, and then gets massively outdone when XCOM 2 dropps. It's difficulty is non-existent, it's too easy to accidentally cheese this game, nothing feels earned, good or bad. Most of the time, I feel like I'm playing a more dated game than the original DOS games (which ironically do not feel dated).
Fantastic game.
From what I read online, there's no reason to play this over Enemy Within unless you want a more mechanically basic experience. It would be nice if it told you that in-game.
Mon premier jeu
El gameplay táctico es divertido y sencillo de empezar a aprender, pero no me gustan los juegos con muerte permanente
Extremely good and infinitley replayable. Super fun strategy game with permadeath that makes every decision mean something I loved this game. Pro tip: start in Africa.
Holds up surprisingly well to this day.
While I'm not typically a fan of turn-based games, I thought I'd give the XCOM series a go since so many people have said it's great, and about 20 hours and a complete campaign later, yeah I think I see why.
By far the greatest strength of XCOM EU is the personality given to your characters. I would stream this in Discord calls every once in a while and had my friends create soldiers, which led to some laughs and sadness when one would land a lot of shots in quick succession or proceed to die. Besides my personal soldier, one of them even ended up being the "hero" of the story who decimated everything in her way. I knew the character storytelling was interesting before playing, but I didn't expect to become that attached to characters that frankly don't have much to say.
The gameplay systems also add a lot to the experience, particularly outside of individual battles. Having to choose between certain countries to protect while others collapse and stop supporting XCOM was great, since it never felt like a choice was particularly easy. Combined with researching and purchasing upgrades for soldiers, managing a pretty tight economy, and building up the base, and the sense of progression is great.
Only have some minor gripes with the game that hold it back from being a masterpiece. Namely, that you can't either pause during or fast forward an enemy turn. The amount of times a turn started with something that made me want to load a save, only to have to watch the other five aliens on the field necessitate that loaded save even harder, can be really annoying. Also the odd bug here and there, including some that made me close and relaunch the game itself.
But yeah, I'm really happy with the 20 hours I sunk into this game. It isn't too long, has plenty of strategy, and feels rife with personality. Will totally be checking out XCOM 2 at some point soon.
P.S. Found out after I finished the main game that Enemy Within is the same game but with added features. I only feel slightly stupid
By far the greatest strength of XCOM EU is the personality given to your characters. I would stream this in Discord calls every once in a while and had my friends create soldiers, which led to some laughs and sadness when one would land a lot of shots in quick succession or proceed to die. Besides my personal soldier, one of them even ended up being the "hero" of the story who decimated everything in her way. I knew the character storytelling was interesting before playing, but I didn't expect to become that attached to characters that frankly don't have much to say.
The gameplay systems also add a lot to the experience, particularly outside of individual battles. Having to choose between certain countries to protect while others collapse and stop supporting XCOM was great, since it never felt like a choice was particularly easy. Combined with researching and purchasing upgrades for soldiers, managing a pretty tight economy, and building up the base, and the sense of progression is great.
Only have some minor gripes with the game that hold it back from being a masterpiece. Namely, that you can't either pause during or fast forward an enemy turn. The amount of times a turn started with something that made me want to load a save, only to have to watch the other five aliens on the field necessitate that loaded save even harder, can be really annoying. Also the odd bug here and there, including some that made me close and relaunch the game itself.
But yeah, I'm really happy with the 20 hours I sunk into this game. It isn't too long, has plenty of strategy, and feels rife with personality. Will totally be checking out XCOM 2 at some point soon.
P.S. Found out after I finished the main game that Enemy Within is the same game but with added features. I only feel slightly stupid
99% chance of hitting...
One of the most frustrating games I have ever played.
real good but isn't THAT REAL, play 2 :)
Cool idea but lost interest, felt generic and repetitive. You could be standing right next to the alien and still miss your shot.
[Played with Enemy Within, of course]
XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a must-play Tactical Strategy game. If you enjoy the genre, XCOM has to be on your list. It's just so iconic and does so many things right. There's minimal story here, and the systems aren't as in-depth as they may seem at first glance, but Firaxis just knows how to make strategy feel fun, rewarding, and engaging. Somehow even outside of Civilization, they give you that "One More Turn" syndrome yet again.
I'll never trust a percentage again either.
Score: 92
XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a must-play Tactical Strategy game. If you enjoy the genre, XCOM has to be on your list. It's just so iconic and does so many things right. There's minimal story here, and the systems aren't as in-depth as they may seem at first glance, but Firaxis just knows how to make strategy feel fun, rewarding, and engaging. Somehow even outside of Civilization, they give you that "One More Turn" syndrome yet again.
I'll never trust a percentage again either.
Score: 92
Cool story, interesting gameplay.
Good strategy game!
Good strategy game!
Great if you come up with your own story
Oh the enemy is known we just dont want to say it
it's italians
it's italians