My First Session of XCOM: Enemy Unknown
My first exposure to the X-COM series was watching my older brother play X-COM: UFO Defense and X-COM: Terror from the Deep. It was full of blasting Mutons and Lobster Men with the occasional first two rookies dying when the Skyranger landed (never stand near the bay doors during an alien attack). Now its' my turn to send rookies to their death.
"We can disobey suicidal orders? Why wasn't I told?"
Just short of two decades after UFO Defense was released, Fraxis releases their take on the X-COM series, XCOM: Enemy Unknown. They've done an incredible job of modernizing the series. The reboot retains its predecessor's turned based combat, base building, researching, and team management. Gone are the ammo clips, extensive inventory managment, and the frantic clicking on your interceptors to fire missiles. It's a gorgeous game. There are plenty of reviews that say the same thing and this article isn't going to be a rehash of it. What I'm going to discuss are a few moments that bring back the X-COM thrill.
While playing an abduction mission a rookie XCOM solider found himself under fire. After sustaining a hit, he panics and freezes while the car he was using for cover catches on fire. Panic XCOM soliders do no respond to commands. The car beside him blows up at the start of the next turn and it kills him instantly. I was amazed and horrified that my green horn died. This is exactly what XCOM is all about, getting slaughtered by the unknown. It brings back fond memories of your team dying left and right in the original game.
Another thrill of XCOM is stunning an alien so you can capture it alive for research. It sounds easy but it's not. An alien typically needs to be weaken before stunning them. You always risk killing your target by accident instead of weakening him. The exciting part is hoping your guy doesn't miss the stun shot. Missing the shot usually results in your target killing the stunner. Doing all this while keeping your team alive is very fun. It's the X-COM experience that I love.
I'm doing my first terror mission and anticipating a lot of civilians screaming and dying. Terror missions were always a pain in the original game. I'm really excited to see if how many soldiers, probably half, remain at the end of the mission.
Verdict: Buy it
Just encountered my first terror mission after a couple of hours of playing.
"We can disobey suicidal orders? Why wasn't I told?"
Just short of two decades after UFO Defense was released, Fraxis releases their take on the X-COM series, XCOM: Enemy Unknown. They've done an incredible job of modernizing the series. The reboot retains its predecessor's turned based combat, base building, researching, and team management. Gone are the ammo clips, extensive inventory managment, and the frantic clicking on your interceptors to fire missiles. It's a gorgeous game. There are plenty of reviews that say the same thing and this article isn't going to be a rehash of it. What I'm going to discuss are a few moments that bring back the X-COM thrill.
While playing an abduction mission a rookie XCOM solider found himself under fire. After sustaining a hit, he panics and freezes while the car he was using for cover catches on fire. Panic XCOM soliders do no respond to commands. The car beside him blows up at the start of the next turn and it kills him instantly. I was amazed and horrified that my green horn died. This is exactly what XCOM is all about, getting slaughtered by the unknown. It brings back fond memories of your team dying left and right in the original game.
Another thrill of XCOM is stunning an alien so you can capture it alive for research. It sounds easy but it's not. An alien typically needs to be weaken before stunning them. You always risk killing your target by accident instead of weakening him. The exciting part is hoping your guy doesn't miss the stun shot. Missing the shot usually results in your target killing the stunner. Doing all this while keeping your team alive is very fun. It's the X-COM experience that I love.
I'm doing my first terror mission and anticipating a lot of civilians screaming and dying. Terror missions were always a pain in the original game. I'm really excited to see if how many soldiers, probably half, remain at the end of the mission.
Verdict: Buy it
Just encountered my first terror mission after a couple of hours of playing.