Aliens… All that needs to be said.
If you are part of the gaming community then you should have at least heard of the original X:COM. Widely considered to be the greatest PC game ever made, X:COM Enemy Unknown is actually a remake of it, and a really good one at that. The game itself has a rather simple premise, Aliens invade earth and you are put in charge of the X:COM project, a huge counter alien organization.
The story itself is nothing too interesting or remarkable. You have your stereotypical lead scientists and lead engineers who act as anchor points from where the plot moves forwards but take that away and it’s essentially just a really bad sci-fi drama. The main parts that you come for X:COM’s story however are the ones you create yourself. You control an elite squad of up to 6 people who are your main task force in dealing with the alien threat. You can name and customize each character to your heart’s content and so I chose to name most of the original squad after my friends. Doing this makes the game feel more organic as you create your own stories from interesting events that happen during your campaign. By the end of the game none of my original squad had survived (the squad member I named after my girlfriend survived the longest surprisingly) and yet I was still invested in my entire team. One person in particular was nicknamed ‘Deadeye’, a sniper with a jetpack who carried my squad through so many missions and then tragically died on the final mission when flying headfirst into a suicide attack against a giant robot. In many ways this kind of story telling is better than the norm as it allows you to create your own personal ones that you will tell people, like I am doing now!
The front cover of this fine game!
Design-wise the graphics are pretty decent. The game is deliberately slightly cartoonish to match the 80’s sci-fi movie feeling that the game often depicts, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. Each of the locations you visit and the look and style of your personal base is unique and work well when depicting a slightly ruined earth. Eventually however some of the maps start to get recycled so you will start to notice similarities, however that only happened for me about once or twice during my main campaign. The sound design is also purposely retro, with no real soundtracks standing out however it does work to feel like a true tactical game. The alien designs however are the real shining point, each alien is distinct in it’s own way and some of them are downright gruesome such as the thin man. Make no mistake even though this game has cartoonish graphics, it is a very graphic game.
The gameplay is the main selling point of X:COM. You control your squad in a turn based/grid based combat style similar to top down board games and aim to complete objectives such as killing aliens or disabling bombs. The main reason why this is so good and addictive is the addition of random chances added to the mix. Just because your solider sees an enemy doesn’t always mean he will hit him, leading to both some frustrating misses and some amazing kills. This combines with the game’s absolutely brutal difficulty, if you don’t like a challenge this game is most definitely not for you. This is mostly due to the fact that even though the aliens start on the same ground as you, they won’t wait for you. The scale of their invasion will increase, more powerful aliens will be added to the mix, and your new recruits will easily die as the days go by. If you lose your squad of best guys in one session then you will have to train new ones and the aliens may just kill them in the very next mission. This is one of those games where if you don’t research items properly or don’t use tactics to your advantage during battles you could be 10 hours into your campaign and realize that there is just no way to win the game. Forcing you to restart your entire campaign and start again. While some would call this stressful, I call it truly testing your skills. You not only need to be a master tactician, but also a competent micro-manager who can deal with things such as specialized loadouts, base facilities and even dealing with things such as giving certain soldiers powerful psychic abilities. It brings your full abilities as a gamer to the forefront and it does it wonderfully.
The first aliens you encounter, the Sectoids.
Things aren’t all sunshine and rainbows however. As said the game is brutally difficult and as such it isn’t for everybody. The main problem the game faces however is the strange split tone it faces. At some points it is a cheesy sci-fi B movie and at others it’s trying to be a horror. At the start the horror parts work well however as the game goes on and your squad begins to crush any aliens in their path you lose the sense of being scared and instead it is replaced with determination, which is an apt metaphor for the game I guess.
Overall however this game is a masterpiece. Combining both the elements of the past with the additions of modern gaming it provides a wonderful strategy game for us to look to. Allowing the gamer to truly be tested in their skills and providing stories for each person that plays the game, it is truly a wonderful piece of work. Now if you don’t mind, I’ve got an earth to save!
Jinx The Game Critic (Archive) 