Game Review – XCOM: Enemy Unknown

by Ian Dean

We all know that when aliens invade the earth, Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum will save us by downloading a computer virus into the alien mothership. However, on the off chance that a human virus is actually incompatible with the alien technology, Civilisation developer Firaxis has given us XCOM: Enemy Unknown, obviously for the sole purpose of training potential saviours for the human race.

Now I’ve never been a big fan of RTS games. Whilst I appreciate their complexity and admire the concept, I’ve never been comfortable with the chance aspect the ‘rock-paper-scissors’ mechanics most seem to utilise. Still, whenever a good (translate: popular) RTS hits the scene, I generally try to give it a go (translate: give in to peer pressure). So I guess I should apologise in advance to any real RTS fans in case my ignorance is showing.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is actually a “reimagined” remake of the 1994 original, set right at the outbreak of an alien attack on Earth. As the commander of the elite paramilitary organisation known as XCOM, it’s up to you to defend the planet. As well as upgrading your base, conducting research and building better equipment, your duties also require you to oversee every enemy engagement. Taking control of a squad of four or more soldiers, you move them through the various battlefields like proverbial pawns, tactically taking down the extra-terrestrial opposition. Sounds simple, right?

Well it isn’t. Funded by the enigmatic ‘Council’, consisting of representatives for every country involved in the XCOM project, you have a strict budget. Though you can earn more if you do the necessary missions, you also have to keep the various Council nations happy to continue funding your project. Allow panic levels in any country to get too high and they will withdraw from the XCOM project, taking their funding with them. The game essentially becomes a massive balancing act, as you try to keep the various nations on board whilst funding your own research and technology.

Of course, at some point you actually have to take the fight to the enemy. The Hologlobe in Mission Control tracks down alien activity. You must then choose which four soldiers (or six, if you unlock the right upgrades) you take into battle with you. When you arrive at the mission, you control the units individually, sending them into cover or directing them to attack the various hostile life-forms you encounter. Once you’ve moved all your soldiers, your turn is over, and you have to wait for the aliens to make their moves.

Your attacks are all chance based; every unit has a percentage applied to their attacks, indicating whether they’ll hit or not. This number takes various things into account, including distance from the enemy, the enemy’s cover, the unit’s gun (snipers get worse up close whereas shotguns get better), and the unit’s skill level. If you’re not convinced it’s worth taking the shot, every unit generally has various other actions they can do, from tossing a grenade to ‘overwatch’, a stance where the soldier shoots any enemy that moves in its line of fire.

Every soldier has a unique name, a country, and a generated appearance. By completing missions, units can upgrade, earning a specialty, new moves, and better stats. However, should your soldier fall in battle, then their death is permanent. This is both one of the best and one of the most infuriating aspects of the game, because gamers actually have something to lose. As annoying as losing all the upgrades a unit has learned, it adds a surprising amount of tension to each conflict, as you risk your more advanced soldiers to try and defeat the unrelenting enemy forces. It’s also kind of gutting to lose a soldier that has been with you a long time, as you sort of get used to having them.

So how about the presentation? The game’s nothing special in the graphic or audio departments, but it’s still at least the top end of average. The only real complaint I have with the game would be the control scheme. Yes, I played the game on the Xbox 360. Yes, RTS’ always have control issues on consoles. No, I don’t think this would be an issue on the PC. The issue was simply that I would often point at cover, the shield would ‘light up’ to indicate I was highlighting the cover, but when I press ‘go there’, the unit would often stand about a foot away from the cover. The unit would, therefore, not be getting any defence bonuses from being in cover and would be, as far as the game is concerned at least, standing right out in the open. This usually proves fatal for that character, and whilst I never had the misfortune of losing an experienced unit that way, it was still infuriating to be a man down for such a simplistic reason.

XCOM is not an action game; FPS or action game fanatics might find the transition to the more tactical and slow-paced XCOM difficult. However, it is hard to argue that the game oozes quality, with some fantastic game mechanics that can make every encounter as engaging as the last. Whether this is the best game of last year is up for debate, but it certainly deserves to be considered. This game is good.