XCOM - Enemy Unknown stands alone in gaming landscape devoid of any recent turn based tactical combat games. It is the imaginative recreation of the classic XCOM series that drifted out of PC gaming's memory until Firaxis Games made a huge splash with Enemy Unknown in 2012. XCOM is a clever and engaging turn based tactical combat game that thrust this marginal genre into the lime light and became an instant classic itself. To explain simply; aliens are invading Earth and you have been commissioned to lead the secret international anti-alien SWAT team.
You hand pick teams of humanity's best soldiers and deploy them to different locations in the world to engage in turn based tactical combat against the ever increasing alien threat. When you're not directing combat you are determining which research your scientists should be pursuing, which upgrades to apply to your base and what new skills your men should train in, and all of this with limited resources. The different components of the game fit extremely well together; so much so that it would difficult to imagine what XCOM would like like if one of them was missing. Turn based combat, character advancement, base construction, tech tree, item creation, the awesome aesthetics, and story were purposefully thought out and blended together with excellent effect. The draw of this game is manifold and this game does so many things right it is unquestionably the very best of modern Turn Based Tactical Strategy in existence... at least until XCOM 2 comes out.
An overview look at the combat map.
The centerpiece of XCOM is the turn based tactical combat where you are in control of a small squad of soldiers directing their movements and actions during your turn. Each soldier has a certain amount of movement points to use up as well as a series of special abilities according to their class and rank. The enemies also have movement points and special abilities according to their type. You take your turn then the enemy takes their turn and back and forth it goes until you either complete your objectives or all your soldiers are dead. It's a simple concept but Firaxis grabs it, transforms it into a rhetorical Ferrari, and takes you for a ride.
The components of combat are introduced slowly and naturally. The basic bread and butter of turn based combat is 1) making sure your soldiers are in cover and 2) giving them line of sight to enemy units. Once again, this seems like a very simple and easy to learn system, but take into account that elevation, invisibility tech, and exploadable cover are all factors and that each squad member has his / her own special moves and equipment. There are choices to be made as well, do you play it cool and cautious taking extra turns to find the best cover to stage an ambush or do you go in guns blazing? Do you save the citizen by putting your soldier into harms way or do you take a bad shot from cover? Is it better to take a shot at an enemy in cover or is it better to go on 'overwatch' and take an automatic shot on the enemy's turn if they leave cover? Is it better to use explosives on a group of tough enemies or do you want to salvage their corpses / equipment? Oh and death is permanent in this game. If your soldier dies then he's dead which, depending on rank and experience, can be a difficult setback to recover from.
The combat map from a soldier's perspective.
As for aesthetics combat looks beautiful and the system feels well polished and well put together. Information is easily accessible and special care was taken to make the user interface easy to use and informative without getting in the way or breaking immersion. The maps, in addition to providing a wide array of tactical choices, are graphically pleasing. Lighting contrast, attention to detail, and camera shots that feel like cinematics make you forget that you are essentially playing a game of futuristic chess and bring the maps and the action to life. This is especially true when you send a squad to salvage your first downed alien vessel or when citizens are screaming for help in a burning building filled with chryssalids. Character animations are also quite good; the camera gets a good close up when someone opens fire, a soldier or enemy who is being shot at will duck behind cover, your soldiers will give verbal queues when they are being flanked or shot at, and the aliens look and feel so... paranormal. The aliens are actually creepy when you engage them. Firaxis did a good job of making the environments foreboding enough that not knowing where or what the aliens are is good horror in and of itself but when you do encounter a group of aliens the camera zooms in close and the effect is pleasantly unsettling. Even at a distance the aliens look and feel unsettling. I attribute this to clever animation and excellent character design.
What are they? What are they doing to that person? Why are they here?
When you are not commanding your squad in the heat of battle you are taking care of the XCOM secret base; building, researching, training, and keeping an eye on the globe for more alien threats. Similar to combat base management is all about choices which can make or break you later on. You only have so many funds to spend and so much time before the aliens strike again, is it better to get upgrades for your soldiers or build tech or mech labs or maybe make a long term investment in extra satellite coverage which provide more surveillance and extra cash but can be shot down...
Squad Selection... who goes on the next mission?
Your three main advisers do a good job of introducing you to how each of their assigned roles work (combat support, technology, mechanics) and how you can increase their effectiveness but you never seem to have enough funds to do everything well at once. Different missions offer different rewards but you are only ever able to complete one at a time and the aliens always seem to be abducting in three places at once. The result is that the panic level in the world always seems to be rising. Mission choice becomes strategic where you have to decide if the reward from one mission is worth the rise in panic in the other two locations. If a country's panic gets too high they abandon the XCOM project, If too many countries abandon then you lose.
Soldier selection. What abilities and equipment will he use?
Every time your soldiers return from battle they earn experience and every time they level up you are able to choose between one of two new abilities they will carry with them from then on. Your squad will also return with spoils of war including alien technology and alien corpses which can be researched to unlock a dizzying multitude of new items, weapons, buildings, and abilities. With a bit of research and some clever tactics you will also be able to take live alien hostages which the science team will... research... for the greater benefit of humanity.
What shall we build today?
Every bit of research, building, and recovery takes time though, which is measured in days. You are able to speed the clock up to make days fly by in an instant but it will immediately stop once you detect alien activity. It never feels like you have enough time or enough money. Such is the plight of humanity and such is the brilliance of XCOM's base management game. The pressure isn't just on the battleground, the aliens are closing in around you and you must somehow survive, evolve, and defeat the enemy with limited resources and limited time.
Research... unlocking new cans of worms to open later...
This is where the game-play and the story get more interesting. As you unlock more and more technology from researching the aliens your soldiers become dramatically better... but at what cost? Sure laser guns are pretty cool and etherium powered fighter jets are awesome, but what about splicing human and alien DNA or joining a human mind to an alien telepathic relay? The aliens seem at first to be unnatural and horrific but half way through the game I realized that the research I was doing and the augmentations I was making to my soldiers were taking humanity down the same road that the aliens must of have traveled before us. This is especially true in the Enemy Within expansion where you have the choice to literally meld human beings with alien DNA or replacing their arms and legs to allow them to control powerful mech warrior battle suits. Your advisers begin hinting that they are uneasy with the sort of leaps and sacrifices humanity was making in such a short time. The concept is never developed beyond an interesting aside but I found it thought provoking nonetheless.
As for difficulty this game is delightfully hard but fair on the normal setting and ruthlessly unforgiving on harder settings. Making the wrong decision will kill your soldiers and making the right decision can still kill your soldiers since the chance to hit and the damage taken is determined by probability. Waiting too long to expand your satellite coverage or get essential upgrades like power armour and laser weapons will become an issue as the aliens will begin to step up their attacks; sending more powerful breeds of warriors and larger ships to do their abductions and terror attacks. You really don't want to still be shooting lead when the Mutons arrive + fighting chryssalids without armour upgrades is ghastly suicide.
Under heavy fire and next to a vehicle that's about to blow up... Run!
By the end of the game though your soldiers are pretty awesome and when your technology catches up with theirs then things really begin to take off. I won't spoil the story but I will say that humanity fights back against the alien invaders and you do eventually discover why they are here and get to try to take on the big bad boss who sent them. When I finished the game I found it a fulfilling experience... at least for a few days.
As for replayability XCOM has a number of game options which are unlocked after your first completion and there are always the aforementioned ruthlessly unforgiving harder game settings to test your mettle against. There are also a host of XCOM mods which change how the game works that can be downloaded for free.
Finally there is the expansion pack, Enemy Within which adds a host of new enemies, missions, maps, research, items, upgrades, and story material in addition to MELD which can be used to splice alien and human genes to create super-soldiers or bridge the link between human physiology and machines to create battle mech warriors. It also adds the subversive EXALT terrorist faction which work alongside the aliens as a secret anti-XCOM organization that will sabotage your progress and require you to track, infiltrate, and then destroy their cells (think of Marvel's SHIELD vs HYDRA dynamic).
Humanity evolves to get clear shots at enemies hiding behind cover...
In my opinion Firaxis nailed this game. They brought to life a genera that was thought to be dead and scratched an itch that many gamers never knew they had. The turn based combat is accessible enough for new players, deep and challenging enough for hard core players and compelling enough to keep you coming back for more. The graphics are nearly flawless (occasional clipping every so often) and the ambiance is fantastic. From combat to base management and from the store to the mechanics this game doesn't seem to miss a beat. Overall it is a very well thought and well polished package that stands alone without any competition save the original XCOM games from the 90s and games like Final Fantasy Tactics (also from the 90s). Like a well trained sniper Firaxis found their target and took their best shot. The results? The players chanted "more" so loudly that XCOM 2 is on its way and the first person shooter game which was originally supposed to be the revival of XCOM is thankfully forgotten and shelved.
Firaxis lines up a target and gets a critical head-shot on the market which begins hemorrhaging money and fan support...
No comments:
Post a Comment