XCOM: Enemy Unknown - PC Game Review

I actually played the original (1994) XCOM: Enemy Unknown as brand new.

I imagine it was the first turn-based tactical game I ever played. And it was pretty good, although it was very, very complicated. I even made a trainer for it! (it just maxed out the stats of all your soldiers). The rest of the series had good and lame moments. Terror from the Deep was just a re-skin. Several other were utterly unplayable. I liked XCOM: Aftermath, however.

The new, 2013 version is as good as the original, if not better. And the whole interface system is a whole lot easier - and arguably better.

The new scheme, instead of a numeric bunch of hit points, just allows you to move a certain range and perform an action, or run to a farther place and end the turn for that character. Gone are the complexities of counting individual steps (and subtracting stance changes on both ends) to find out the best move. Or figuring out how to fit another alien body or weapon in your backpack (the tiny space in the backpack was really annoying).

One thing that I really do miss is the ability to just fire at a wall and destroy the alien's cover. Also, I can't properly recall how it worked on the original, but the new way the aliens activate when you see them is probably the weakest spot on the whole game.

And BTW, one grenade, really?


I have played 32 hours so far till the final mission - which has the annoying attribute of not allowing you to save the game, so I didn't finish the game (and it doesn't seem worth the effort, giving what I read).

Overall, excellent for fans of the genre. And there is plenty of DLC already available...

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