XCOM: Enemy Unknown in Gamer's Gaming

This is one of a slew of games I bought this past Christmas season while games were on special. For those who don't know it, it is a game produced by 2K games and developed by Firaxis. It is inspired by a game of the same name that was released on PCs back in the 90's, I believe. In any case, the property had gone untouched for years before Firaxis came along to make this game, and subsequent follow-ups and DLC.

Overview: This game focuses on a group called XCOM, a combat and research initiative started by a coalition of nations to investigate and react to extraterrestrial events on Earth. XCOM is called into action after alien abductions begin taking place around the world. As time goes on, research into the aliens and their technology takes place which allows for Earth's top scientists to recreate or mimic the technology for XCOM use, as well as designing systems to monitor and aid the member nations. While I have not finished the game yet, I find it very exciting, and some of the decision making falls under the necessary evil category. You are constantly under attack and usually, three missions are offered at once. The panic level in the nation you help goes down, but the panic level rises on the other two continents you didn't help. That's right, not just the country, but the entire continent. It requires a careful balance of meeting the world's needs while doing what is necessary to stave off the alien threat. However, if 8 nations panic to the point of pulling the funding from XCOM, game over. This game falls under the category of strategic RPG, which I will explain.

Gameplay: So, by strategic RPG, I mean their are many different decisions to balance and systems to upgrade. Combat takes place in something of a grid-based arena, though you won't ever see a grid. All you will see are the places your squad members can go to. Each squad members turn involves two phases. They can dash, a single movement that covers double their normal movement, but cancels their second phase; or they can move a normal move and have an option on their next phase. Abilities are based on the unit's type (heavy, assault, support, or sniper), but fall under a couple of smaller categories. Obviously, there is an attack option, as long as one of the enemy combatants is in range. There are unit specific abilities, such as headshot for snipers or run-and-gun for assault units, which allows what is, essentially, a third phase for assault after two movement phases. There is the reload option for all, which is self-explanatory, as well as Heads-Down option for increased defense in cover, or an Overwatch option, which allows a reaction attack any time an enemy moves within the firing range of your unit. Combat rolls out in turns, with your units taking all taking their turns, followed by the alien units taking their turns. Combat proceeds until all mission parameters are covered. In most cases, it is a simple matter of killing the enemy before they kill you, but other mission types, like "save the civilians" or "capture/kill the enemy leader" do exist, with small variations. It should be noted that, if one of your units is indeed killed, they do not come back. They are replaced with another unit, or, if you are out of extras, units will have to be bought. At first, this is not such a big deal. It become a big deal later on after your units have increased their rank, which offers new special abilities. Having a high ranked unit get killed really...well, frankly, it sucks. Alot. You lose all that experience and have to train a new soldier to take their place. And it just gets worse as the game goes on and alot of your soldiers attain high ranks.

But all that is just half the gameplay. The other half takes place in the XCOM base of operations. After the initial introductory mission, you are given a choice of where to locate your base, and then are introduced to some of the secondary characters. I won't bother with names, because you'll see them if you play the game, but I will explain the areas of the base. The research area is our first stop. Here, alien technology as well as the alien corpses are researched. If you can catch one alive, they can also research these live specimens as well as containment units for them. Research discoveries will take time, but the research funnels directly to engineering. Engineering is responsible for taking research findings and putting them to good use. New weapons, body armor, fighter planes, etc. all come from Engineering. This area is also responsible for building new facilities within the base for power, research, development, and alien surveillance. The barracks are where you can check out your units and alter their weapon loadouts between missions, as well as other specifics like names and looks. This part of the base also houses an officer training area, to increase general squad abilities, and increase the squad size. You start with 4, but can get up to 6 squaddies per mission. There is also a Wall of Remembrance for units that have been KIA (killed in action, in case you don't know). There is also a hanger, for your fighters that are called on occasionally to shoot down enemy craft. Once satellites come into play over different continents, fighters must be dispatched to patrol each of them. You can use this area to view the specifics of your fighters or dispatch them to new continents. There is also the Strategy Room, where you can view each country's panic level, launch satellites (if you have built them in Engineering), sell alien rewards on the "Gray Market" or fulfill sub-missions given by XCOM's member nations. Finally, there is Mission Control, where you scan for alien activity and launch missions.

Well, that was alot of typing. I will add more as I play or (hopefully) beat the game. If there are any questions people would like answered or any errors I have made that need to be addressed, feel free to comment. Until next time, this is the Gamer, signing off.