XCOM Enemy Unknown: X-COM Reimagined

XCOM Enemy Unknown, developed by Firaxis, is a turn-based tactics and world defense simulator where humanity has made first contact with a new and seemingly aggressive alien race. It is up to the newly activated XCOM Defense Force lead by, you the player, the enigmatic Commander to step up and combat this new threat.

With those familiar with X-COM UFO Defense, it follows similar narrative hits of that game but adds its own interpretation and flair to the story and characters.

Enemy Unknown, modifies and streamlines the game into less of an invasion simulator and more into a rapid response task force responsible with spearheading the fight against alien incursions.

Funding is more transparent here as well and is represented by a panic meter that shows funding nation willingness to support XCOM so long as they can help manage the alien threat in relation to how much a nation is able to manage their population.

The means to handle "panic" is different as well. In UFO Defense, the alien invasion could be effectively halted with enough radar coverage from strategically located bases and enough air power to take done any UFO that entered Earth's atmosphere. The player would effectively halt any operations and infiltration efforts before they took root and subsequently show the would they have the invasion under control.

Here it is streamlined into having one primary base and develop the satellite capacity to cover the funding nations and develop specialised air bases to respond in a timely fashion to UFO's. Coverage has the benefit to allow nations the means to handle the smaller incursions without XCOM intervention and by extension prevent alien influence causing undue panic without a concerted effort. Until this coverage is achieved, one must choose between which nation they either support or is in most danger of backing out from the XCOM Project.

Each continent is split up into between two and four major funding blocks and when one achieves complete continental satellite coverage the player then receives a continent specific bonus that stays in effect as long as XCOM can maintain its coverage. These bonuses provide additional incentive to invest in countries and continents besides their monetary contribution and contribute towards XCOM gaining an edge over the alien invaders, however they aren't strictly necessary. It does add another layer for the player to consider when deciding on countries XCOM should focus their attention on as one can permanently lose this bonus if any of the countries on a continent pull their funding.

In service to prove your value, air combat and crash landings are also a natural extension of what falls under the project's jurisdiction. Regrettably what Air Combat is provided here feels anemic as it is a one-on-one mini game watching two aircraft shoot at each other automatically and having the potential of using special abilities, which are consumables, at the right time and then retreating if in danger and then string the combat by the number of aircraft in line until you either run out or crash the UFO. Arguably the weakest aspect of the game and can be a formality eventually with the right aircraft and weapons.

Mission variety is improved in the sense of objectives although over a long enough play time they can repeat, but doesn't diminish the experience too much. The benefits of the modernisation is the potential story telling by the moment to moment action in combat and the increased personality induced by the voice work of your soldiers. A negative to that, most likely out of limitations or an attempt at cinematic experience, is when runs into an enemy patrol every single one does something equivalent to "Anime grandstanding" to announce they found you and take combat positions, it does interrupt combat flow but I feel is not enough to totally discredit the gameplay experience completely

In an opposite feeling towards air combat, crash sites are, subjectively, fun to fight through. As with experience, one can get a feel towards how encounters can play out and aesthetics of the map sells the impact with debris scattered between you and the target. In this respect it does a good job, in my opinion, of capturing the feeling of trying to subdue and capture an alien vessel. Special mention to battleship map in particular as the ship is the map itself and presents some of the highest level of challenge but rewards equally powerful loot in return.

I think a departure in a negative way is in how shots are played out in game, it is a binary hit or miss with the maths behind the scene rolling for a outcome, this can lead to some animation jank in both hitting and missing an enemy. It feels like a step down from where a bullet was an entity and every one had a chance to hit something and could lead to humourous coincidences of hitting unintended targets.

The reason I feel it becomes a problem is the visual dissonance it can cause, especially with the animation jank that can show the character going out of their way to miss and shoot in another direction completely added with the human bias can make shots seem less "fair" than it should.

The combat system does try to off-set these negatives with the introduction of classes your soldiers will specialise in, each with their own selection of abilities and when leveled up enough help neutralise elements of the random number into the same power one feels when one gets to the end game of the original game.

With the addition of all the power does come some downsizing on squad sizes where it initially starts at 4 members and can over the course of the game increase to 6. In comparison to the original which could have up to 26 soldiers on a battlefield gives a general scale of how much each soldier is intended to bring to each battle. This does make one value each soldier more and consider them more as an elite team of specialists with one can develop a character around.

Enemy variety is for the most part faithful to the original with some undergoing some interpretative
changes that don't feel too out of place and can technically check off a list saying "this alien from X-COM is here". It does have a few new types of enemies to encounter, but overall takes the originals and tries to make each one have something that makes it unique enough to stand out while still toning down some of the most overbearing qualities of the originals.

Psionics has been reworked into something with a bit more to play while making it harder to churn out a psionic corp. On the enemy's side it used for mostly panic and mind control with some species specific ability but overall feels more subdued and less oppression from original game.

Something that was added later as a DLC was the addition of the "Second Wave" option. This was added to give a player more options to play a campaign by adjusting it with a number of modifiers that can increase randomness, apply additional combat modifiers or makes the games strategy layer harder.  Not all second wave options are unlocked by default and requires the player to complete the game on every difficulty level from normal difficulty upwards with each difficult completed opening up access to harder and more challenging modifiers.

Voice work is overall good with a some stand outs being the 

• "The Councilor", an enigmatic shadowed figure whose voice carries with it weight and authority

• Chief Engineer Dr. Raymond Shen who gives off an almost grandfatherly feel with his calm and reasoned tone

• Chief Scientist Dr. Moira Valen, who exudes an air of a mad "German" scientist who gets results regardless of ethical concerns towards the aliens. 

The rest of the voice work hams it up some and there should at least some remark or comment that should illicit. at the very least, a smirk.

Music does sets an appropriate sci-fi tone with an military action movie feel that is interspersed with some horror-like tones. It sets up the theme concept of a military organisation fighting against some great unknown well and even though it feels mostly muted in comparison to the action it complements the theme of the game well.

One could mistake all the negatives into thinking it is not a worthy successor, and one can make merits to that effect, however I see it as a worthwhile attempt to bring this genre of gaming into the mainstream. It stumbles and falls and yet through all the that it still sticks the landing that still captures the core and attempts to make it into more personal experience. It provides the the player to place some emotional weight and attachment to their soldiers and in doing so provides an enjoyable albeit flawed game experience.

XCOM Enemy Unknown, although not a perfect "X-COM" game, does do a lot of things well enough that it produced a positive influence on the increased popularity of the tactics game genre and for that I am thankful for its creation. It is a some

 Images source:

IGDB XCOM Enemy Unknown

Video Source:

XCOM Enemy Unknown Last Stand Trailer