XCOM: Enemy Unknown

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is an exemplary turn-based strategy game. Firaxis has deftly blended management, tactics and the sort of gut-level, throaty encounters usually reserved for fast-paced action games. The mixture is potent enough that you may occasionally forget that the most critical moments boil down to nothing more than a percentage and a choice.

Perhaps that's because XCOM works best as a panic management simulator. It's about controlling the terror levels of the countries you need money from, calming the alarm of your squad members as their leader is killed and their behaviour grows erratic and your own fears as you try to remain level-headed in the face of a terrified populace, a concerned council, and the sharp, poisonous appendages of a trio of chittering creatures advancing towards your wounded sergeant.

XCOM is a great addition to the strategy genre, complete with an engaging campaign full of tension and challenges. The characters grow in satisfying ways, but the tactical game doesn't ever quite give players enough room to make the most of their abilities.

As far as aesthetic, Enemy Unknown has a couple weird things going on. While the battlefields look great, displaying an obvious attention to detail, the cutscenes will leave you unimpressed. There are choppy animations, awkward facial movements, poor character models, and flat textures. Additionally, there are times in combat when the camera will zoom in to highlight a specific moment, and these moments are quite often awkward.

Both of XCOM’s layers present life-or-death conundrums to which there is no right answer. No matter what you pick, something or someone is going to suffer for it. This kind of tension and terror rarely occurs within mainstream gaming, and almost never with this level of skill in the execution. Don’t let the “turn-based strategy” moniker scare you off; XCOM is a singular achievement that every gamer deserves to experience.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a wonderful and worthy strategy game with a layer of campy charm that makes the stone-faced seriousness of the game's characters all the more endearing. It's also remarkably accessible, thanks to a great interface that feels comfortable whether you're using a keyboard and mouse or have a controller in your hand. Enemy Unknown packs dense amounts of dramatic tension into each turn.

It’s a better looking game than what is usually expected from within the genre, even if it is a bit flat on consoles. Combat and controls are intuitive, right down to the menu systems that control it all behind the scenes. XCOM: Enemy Unknown is another well crafted strategy title from Sid Meier and Firaxis Games, but if you were expecting anything different, you haven’t been paying attention to the last decade or so.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown elicits feelings of nostalgia you might not even realize you have--but not necessarily for an earlier era of gaming. Researching new equipment and customizing your soldiers is like a trip to the toy store, and bringing them to the battlefield feels like ripping open the packaging and playing with that new, awesome toy for the first time, discovering all it can do and testing its limits.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown charges you with what amounts to a challenging dream job. Because you’re put in direct control of how the game progresses, you’ll experience the bracing feeling of being in charge. The game performs and controls almost equally well on consoles as it does on a PC, and a range of difficulty levels makes it reasonably accessible regardless of your mettle, adjusting the way aliens engage you on the battlefield in addition to tweaking costs and damage values.

Mostly, it's a game that understands that loss can be leveraged in parallel with rewards to tell a great story. It paints from a unique emotional palette: doom, sacrifice, luck, surprise, revenge. It uses death like most of us use mayonnaise, and Impossible difficulty practically makes XCOM into a Mourning Simulator.

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.

The cleverest part of XCOM: Enemy Unknown is how it bundles up all of its complexities and interdependencies and presents them in a package that, while not easy, is at least easily digested. It's often overwhelming, but in the best way possible. XCOM gives no quarter to players with the hubris to think they can play Enemy Unknown at a pace other than the one set by Enemy Unknown.

So as long as you’re happy that the game’s real qualities are found in single player, offline gaming sci-fi epics, XCOM: Enemy Unknown comes highly recommended. Remember that this recommendation also goes for players who aren’t usually the turn-based type. As long as you enjoy action, sci-fi and a rich amalgam of gaming styles, there’s loads to enjoy right here.

This game is a winner. So much craft has gone into its atmosphere, into innumerable small details that together add enormous depth and flavour to the world: the occasional conversations overheard while fiddling around in the base; the mission loading screen, which gives you a view of the troops inside the carrier, fidgeting and tapping their feet in transit; the ridiculously cute touch of soldiers acquiring nicknames like 'Longshot' or 'Odin' after a few missions.

That is the beauty of this creation, and that is the beauty of a game that feels like it is more than just a hobby - although it soon becomes an obsession. Of course, that was proven with its critical and commercial success, which spawned multiple expansions, a full-fledged sequel, and has, in many ways, turned the circle all the way back by inspiring future titles to build on the success and mechanics employed here.

Con Enemy Unknown la saga XCOM vuelve a gozar de la buena forma que los fans de la estrategia por turnos llevaban años demandando. Tras varios capítulos decepcionantes, los creadores de Civilization se hacen cargo de la nueva entrega y logran grandes resultados. Un título de fuerte componente táctico, de diseño simpático y estilo sencillo; pero que tiene intacto el principal punto clave de la saga: la capacidad de enganchar.

PC-Spieler genießen schärfere Details und eine angepasste Steuerung - mit Gamepad spielt sich XCOM aber auch hier besser. Viele Möglichkeiten, das Team auf verschiedene Art auszurüsten, ausgesprochen packende Stellungsgefechte, komplett zerstörbare Umgebungen.

Firaxis umschifft jegliche Remake-Klippen, stets darauf bedacht, das beste Spiel zu machen, das sie können. Wohlbekannt und fremd zugleich entwickelt Enemy Unknown so seinen ganz eigenen Rhythmus, sich jederzeit dadurch auszeichnend, wie ähnlich es doch in seiner Sogwirkung dem Original ist: Ein Spiel mit einer Breite und Tiefe, die man dieser Tage nicht mehr häufig sieht und das parallel zu eurem Taktik-Verständnis immer weiter wächst. Bis es vorbei ist und man noch einmal von vorne anfängt.

Retour gagnant pour XCOM qui parvient à se moderniser sans pour autant trahir l'esprit de son mythique modèle. L'aspect gestion évite l'écueil de la complexité artificielle et les combats ont pour leur part conservé l'éclat de ceux d'UFO : Enemy Unknown tout en se dynamisant sensiblement. Le mélange de ces deux éléments s'avère délicieusement plaisant. Souhaitons donc un beau succès à ce titre qui mérite franchement d'être essayé, puis adopté.

A la fois accessible à tous et profondément stratégique, XCOM : Enemy Unknown donne une bonne leçon aux wargames classiques, parfois poussiéreux et barbants. Ici, on réfléchit et on se divertit en même temps. Pour les adeptes du genre comme pour les novices la sanction est la même : quitter le jeu laisse à chaque fois un délicieux petit goût de reviens-y.

Nonostante i suoi difetti, XCOM: Enemy Unknown rimane un'esperienza magnetica, in grado di ridare lustro a una serie storica. Il lavoro di Firaxis non è fedele all'originale come forse i fan più irriducibili avrebbero voluto, nondimeno è un'interpretazione valida e moderna dello stesso gioco, spettacolare e narrativa come pochi strategici hanno saputo fare finora.

Het mag eigenlijk wel verdomd duidelijk zijn: XCOM: Enemy Unknown maakt een bijzonder goede indruk als strategiegame en het zou niet eens heel erg raar zijn als dit ook gelijk het beste strategiespel van dit jaar wordt. Misschien is die XGN Game Award al binnen. Maar goed, XCOM: Enemy Unknown komt over als een heel sterke en ontzettend zekere game, en ook na tien uur spelen ben je nog lang niet uitgespeeld.