XCOM: Enemy Unknown

 PC
User Score
8.2

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2608 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,075 out of 2608
  2. Mixed: 329 out of 2608
  3. Negative: 204 out of 2608
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  1. mess888
    Oct 27, 2012
    4
    There are good things and bad things in this game but bad things overwhelm the good ones:

    -the choice of reducing the party to 4 members at start is too much restrictive, this also aggravates another problem with the randomness of the game, losing a man is too easy in the early game with a lucky alien hit and with so few men, losing 1 is much much important -the choice of having so    There are good things and bad things in this game but bad things overwhelm the good ones:

    -the choice of reducing the party to 4 members at start is too much restrictive, this also aggravates another problem with the randomness of the game, losing a man is too easy in the early game with a lucky alien hit and with so few men, losing 1 is much much important

    -the choice of having so few hp on your men is very bad and makes the game less strategic and tactical since every situation is basically dead or alive, they should have implemented more partial hits, injuries to legs and arms and stuff like that, and less criticals and coma and instant death

    -maps are too small and linear and once you understand them you lose a lot of feeling of the old xcom, it seems all much scripted

    -the strategy and managerial part of the game is basically absent, once you figure out the 2 3 best moves to do the replayabilty is nearly 0, you have to manage your base in the same boring way, and also so many structures are useless

    -research is very boring and linear, and since its not balanced you basically can research everything without putting any effort into it

    So in the end the tactical combats are decent, and fun for a while but the lack of strategic elements makes the game fall down soon and there are really not many reason to play again like there were in the original xcom, it feels like it is a one time adventure.    … Expand
  2. xcomlite
    Oct 28, 2012
    6
    I'm a huge fan of the original game, and I just finished the Enemy Unknown campaign in about 40 hours of game play. I enjoyed one play through, but I probably won't replay it. As a stand-alone game, I would rate this as a solid 8, but as a continuation of the X-COM series, it's a 6 at best. For my money, this game is worth about $15-$20.

    "X-COM lite" is probably the best description I    I'm a huge fan of the original game, and I just finished the Enemy Unknown campaign in about 40 hours of game play. I enjoyed one play through, but I probably won't replay it. As a stand-alone game, I would rate this as a solid 8, but as a continuation of the X-COM series, it's a 6 at best. For my money, this game is worth about $15-$20.

    "X-COM lite" is probably the best description I could come up with. In 18 years (that's right, 1994 b**tches!!) since the original game was released, they've made no serious progress towards a better game mechanics. Other than the graphics, I can't find any aspect of this new X-COM game that is better than the original. Every aspect of the game has been dumbed down and hollowed out to the point of making it almost foolproof. Thanks for not letting me fail, my self esteem has never been better thanks to this game. But seriously, all the developers had to do was take the original game, add modern 3D graphics and they'd be done - instant classic reborn for the 21st century. Instead they had to tinker with the mechanics of the game in some serious ways to make it "easier" and more "accessible". I get it, the original X-COM was not the most user friendly game to play, but ultimately it's complexity was part of the reward of the game. It was a lot more fun to save the world when you were fighting as the underdog, and every little action made a difference when things were in the balance.

    You kiddies have fun with your little 6 person platoon. Back in my day, we'd regularly go into battle using this little craft called the "Avenger" that could shoot down the biggest ships and carried a 26 person platoon ready to deploy at the crash site. Now get off my lawn you kids!    … Expand
  3. smudgey
    Nov 20, 2012
    2
    Terrible game, full of glitches and annoying AI tactics. The main flaw being the "2 turn" system in battles. Because making any movement takes a full action, scouting is almost impossible without alerting whole squads of enemies unless you move forward 1 tile at a time. This means you do not get a chance to react to any enemies you encounter, in fact the enemies get a free turn when theyTerrible game, full of glitches and annoying AI tactics. The main flaw being the "2 turn" system in battles. Because making any movement takes a full action, scouting is almost impossible without alerting whole squads of enemies unless you move forward 1 tile at a time. This means you do not get a chance to react to any enemies you encounter, in fact the enemies get a free turn when they enter your vision resulting in unfair situations were they'll move TWICE as far as they should be able to, while you sit there unable to take shots until the aliens have spread out and disappeared. Worse yet is when the aliens scout for you, if they come across you on their own turn THEY GET TO GO AGAIN. This results in many ambush situations you could never predict. When a melee character can kill you in 1 or 2 hits, you'll be screaming as you watch him clear the entire map to walk right up and kill your men that are hiding behind useless cover. Speaking of cover, it's almost 90% destructible as well meaning even in well placed areas all they'll have to do is attack you once to destroy your protection and another for guaranteed hits leaving your only option to never use any area you think might break apart. This is an issue because the aliens have you greatly outnumbered and you can't have yourself wasting turns attacking walls while they can. The camera system is garbage too, walls are only see through while your mouse is over them and good luck grappling onto roof tops, the camera only elevates 3 levels so climbing inside ships results in the game being unable to tell where you want to go usually pointing you towards the floor below you (this isn't a problem in more open maps but very frustrating for snipers). All in all, this game would be so much better if the battle system wasn't so grossly in the enemies favor, even playing on normal mode expect to constantly lose men or be forced to quicksave every turn. (Speaking of saves, autosave doesn't save at mission start AND saves every time someone dies or takes damage. So when you want to avoid mistakes, you must make sure to reload IMMEDIATELY before it overwrites your auto save in 1 or 2 turns).… Expand
  4. apexearth
    Dec 27, 2012
    2
    After about 3 hours of my life into this game I cannot go on with it. The art, ridiculous. Who throws grenades the size of a mango? That's not practical. Who holds guns half the size of their body? These guys, apparently. I feel like I'm playing a child's game but filled with gore and guts. Perhaps they're only targeting child-like adults with this game, Even the dialogue was terrible andAfter about 3 hours of my life into this game I cannot go on with it. The art, ridiculous. Who throws grenades the size of a mango? That's not practical. Who holds guns half the size of their body? These guys, apparently. I feel like I'm playing a child's game but filled with gore and guts. Perhaps they're only targeting child-like adults with this game, Even the dialogue was terrible and made me want to vomit. I really did not like this game and I never really played the old XCOM series either so I'm not running any sort of comparison between them. I don't understand what other people see in this game. It may have been good for them, but I definitely don't plan on hanging around wasting my time... Perhaps I am too logical a person and have "been there" and "done that" far too much to enjoy this game.… Expand
  5. BeardtobeFeared
    Apr 3, 2013
    4
    Picking up weapons/medkits from fallen comrades, throwing weapons to eachother, psi abilities, crouching, different types of firing (scatter shot/aimed shot/burst fire), an inventory system for every player...

    These are just a few of the things XCOM EU has left out of their game, and it seriously suffers from replayability for that. I about uninstalled the game when I found out I    Picking up weapons/medkits from fallen comrades, throwing weapons to eachother, psi abilities, crouching, different types of firing (scatter shot/aimed shot/burst fire), an inventory system for every player...

    These are just a few of the things XCOM EU has left out of their game, and it seriously suffers from replayability for that. I about uninstalled the game when I found out I couldn't take a medkit from my critically wounded medic to heal him.

    While the original was difficult and hard to get into, Enemy Unknown suffers from the opposite end of the spectrum endlessly 'streamlined' gameplay with very few paths or strategies to win the game    … Expand
  6. mrmaps
    Dec 17, 2012
    1
    A well polished turd.

    Just like Fallout 3, just like Civ V, XCom Enemy Unknown looks great with smooth gameplay, and is boring as hell. If you know the original , this lame copy of the truly great original Xcom is not worth a jewel case purchase next year. The scenarios are way too easy, the multiplayer system is a joke, there is just non of the startling surprises and sneaky tactics    A well polished turd.

    Just like Fallout 3, just like Civ V, XCom Enemy Unknown looks great with smooth gameplay, and is boring as hell. If you know the original , this lame copy of the truly great original Xcom is not worth a jewel case purchase next year. The scenarios are way too easy, the multiplayer system is a joke, there is just non of the startling surprises and sneaky tactics that made the original such a fun game. If this is what major game review sites rank in the upper 90%, I'm only buying used games from this point forwards.forwards.    … Expand
  7. Slackerboy
    Oct 22, 2012
    2
    Go in knowing that this game is designed to make you feel as much pain as they can, as a result the difficulty curve is nuts. You will go from all silly easy missions where you take almost no damage at all to an endless series of losing your whole team forcing you to reload saves over and over until you work out some way to beat the mission.

    If you are attracted to games that require    Go in knowing that this game is designed to make you feel as much pain as they can, as a result the difficulty curve is nuts. You will go from all silly easy missions where you take almost no damage at all to an endless series of losing your whole team forcing you to reload saves over and over until you work out some way to beat the mission.

    If you are attracted to games that require replaying the same level 10 times in a row, then this is your game. If however you do not like being hit in the face with a hammer this is not your game.    … Expand
  8. Gomez
    Jan 16, 2013
    4
    In the near future when aliens invade earth and start destroying everything they find you get put in charge of earths last stand; an organisation called Xcom. You get given a secret underground base which you are constantly expanding in order to combat the aliens from here you can send out satellites (which will track down enemy UFOs), build facilities, launch fighter planes (to take outIn the near future when aliens invade earth and start destroying everything they find you get put in charge of earths last stand; an organisation called Xcom. You get given a secret underground base which you are constantly expanding in order to combat the aliens from here you can send out satellites (which will track down enemy UFOs), build facilities, launch fighter planes (to take out UFOs) and send out troops to different parts of the world. As you progress further through the game you will find out more about the aliens and eventually travel to their mother ship and take out their leader.
    Xcom is a turn based strategy game in which you use guns to combat an alien threat which also includes blood so 12 is a pretty accurate rating for this game. The game can get very addictive when you play it and can leave you playing for hours but it can also be extremely frustrating at times for example if all your best troops get shot or if the games physics make no sense what so ever (unfortunately this happens quite a lot). Xcom can make you very angry at times but it can also improve your knowledge in strategic thinking over time.
    The gameplay of Xcom is a turn based strategy with simple movement and shooting based on chance the problem with the game is that there is so many glitches to do with the animations and objects in the world for example I have shot through solid objects way to many times to be just a glitch that they forgot about and the chances of shooting aliens make no sense whatsoever for example if you shoot at an alien behind heavy cover while standing right next to him you will not have as much chance as if you where shooting at him from behind while standing miles away
    My verdict on this is that it is a good game to play if you want to play for a long while if you don    … Expand
  9. omegaoftime
    Nov 6, 2012
    6
    Firaxis's reboot of X-COM streamlines much of the old mechanics in the original game, but the result is a mixed bag as it's plagued by many bugs that affect the overall enjoyability. Having clocked about 97 hours on the Steam version, what was an enjoyable experience starting from normal mode became frustration as I spent more time with the game. Some of the frustrations I've experiencedFiraxis's reboot of X-COM streamlines much of the old mechanics in the original game, but the result is a mixed bag as it's plagued by many bugs that affect the overall enjoyability. Having clocked about 97 hours on the Steam version, what was an enjoyable experience starting from normal mode became frustration as I spent more time with the game. Some of the frustrations I've experienced so far were enemies that teleported in and out of view at the end of a turn, SHIV (tank-like units) that get stuck or can't shoot, line of sight issues, and rocket launchers not hurting target is just a taste of the what's to come. Although not gaming breaking on easy and normal modes, these bug heavily affect game play on classic mode where you can lose entire squad due to any of the above. For example in my classic playthrough, I often get three or more enemy groups teleporting in front of my squad and wiping them out (this happens often).

    Also, the way the game decides on your chance of hitting is finicky and broken. You can miss often when your shot chance is 75%-100%. If your shot chance is 50%, don't expect to land any shots at all. Having an MBA and taking more than enough math courses (and statistics) for several lifetimes, it makes you scratch your head why you sometimes fail to connect on even 85% chance to hit shots. I've never had problems with other games that rely heavily on chance (like Final Fantasy Tactics) before until now. Even the original X-COM was fair in determining chance and probability.

    All in all, the game is enjoyable when the game engine decides to behave itself. However, I would not recommend paying full price for this game until Firaxis decides to patch up the bugs. You should be relatively fine if you play on easy or normal modes. But if you play on any other modes, expect to see severe bugs and broken game mechanics often.    … Expand
  10. Mohawkie
    Nov 29, 2012
    0
    At the time of submitting this review there was 629 positive reviews and 87 negative reviews, this will be the 88th negative review, I dont know how 629 positive reviews made it in here, probably newcomers that never experienced the pioneer legend that is the original XCOM. the xcom remake from Firaxis released in 2012 is an insult, it is a cash grab, it does not honor the originalAt the time of submitting this review there was 629 positive reviews and 87 negative reviews, this will be the 88th negative review, I dont know how 629 positive reviews made it in here, probably newcomers that never experienced the pioneer legend that is the original XCOM. the xcom remake from Firaxis released in 2012 is an insult, it is a cash grab, it does not honor the original game, is is a husk of the former game. In several interviews, dev blogs and news updates the devs clearly stated they were going to improve on the initial game, that they were fans of the original, they knew what fans wanted and had been listening to them for years etc, and bla bla bla their life was changed because of that XCOM original ALL LIES, all hype built to increase sales. Talk about apples, apples apples apples and more apples, and on the day of release they effin release an ORANGE. They exploited the XCOM name to make themselves rich, they simplified everything and took customization away from the original, this game was rushed to the market, and is not worth it, do not buy this game, replay value is nil, streamlined storyline, linear to the max, very very dissapointed, damn you greedy cash grabs STOP ruining legendary masterpieces, 629 positive reviews ? are you guys on crack ?… Expand
  11. Demonbox
    Nov 2, 2012
    5
    So (35 years old lover of the original here) how is this game?
    This game is not so bad as someone described it, still be assured, this is NOT your old XCOM.
    What i found very bad? The AI is more like an AS (Artificial Stupidity) and tries to compensate by cheating, hitting 100% and dealing tons of crits (not making the game harder btw, just annoying), is this THAT bad? Yes 'cause leaves    So (35 years old lover of the original here) how is this game?
    This game is not so bad as someone described it, still be assured, this is NOT your old XCOM.
    What i found very bad? The AI is more like an AS (Artificial Stupidity) and tries to compensate by cheating, hitting 100% and dealing tons of crits (not making the game harder btw, just annoying), is this THAT bad? Yes 'cause leaves no feeling of strategy... in a wannabe strategic game, the aliens will always behave like stupid, just they hit you more often and harder.
    You can ONLY equip 1 main weapon (only the one fitting for the class the game chose for yr soldiers), 1 side weapon and 1 (or 2 if you unlock certain perks) grenade/Medikit/Stunner/etc.
    The campaign is way too scripted, i tried as hard as i could to make it last longer (squeezed 70some hours out of 2 games classic+impossible) but that just means grinding mission after mission (after a while they start repeating).
    I only listed the bad aspects of the game, so why a 5? 'cause for a while you can have some fun with this alien game... For a while, then you will put it on yr shelves and leave it there forever and go back to the old (real) X-COM.    … Expand
  12. Triggerhappy
    Nov 22, 2012
    5
    A very mediocre turn-based console game. Read some of the negative reviews before purchasing, and take my word as a decade-long tactical games fan: this game offers NOTHING new. Nothing at all. There is absolutely NO reason to play it. Actually, I believe that even an RPG like Dragon Age: Origins had more of both strategic and tactical choices.
    Very dissapointing, unbelievably overpriced.    A very mediocre turn-based console game. Read some of the negative reviews before purchasing, and take my word as a decade-long tactical games fan: this game offers NOTHING new. Nothing at all. There is absolutely NO reason to play it. Actually, I believe that even an RPG like Dragon Age: Origins had more of both strategic and tactical choices.
    Very dissapointing, unbelievably overpriced. Oh, and the voice acting is atrocious. Borderline criminal.    … Expand
  13. xian
    Oct 31, 2012
    6
    A squad of soldiers in turn-based battles against evil aliens. This concept worked in 94/95 and still works today. I always liked the theme in XCOM. Defending against an alien invasion, doing autopsys, researching new weapons, equiping your soldiers, fly out into the night and show those alien greenheads out the door - it was fun in the old games and it's still fun in Enemy Unknown. TheA squad of soldiers in turn-based battles against evil aliens. This concept worked in 94/95 and still works today. I always liked the theme in XCOM. Defending against an alien invasion, doing autopsys, researching new weapons, equiping your soldiers, fly out into the night and show those alien greenheads out the door - it was fun in the old games and it's still fun in Enemy Unknown. The downsides: I don't want to give the narrative about console ports on pc again, but... here it is: mediocore graphics, simplified game mechanics, slowly responding interfaces, reduced tactical complexity tue to reduced control options, cheesy cut-scenes, railroaded storyline...

    The bright side: Only a few minor bugs at release (positive thing... I'm old...), no major balance problems. Nice story and technology concepts.

    Enemy Unknown is not a bad pc game and it's not one you will remember in two years either. But it's still a pleasant experience to play and probably worth your money.    … Expand
  14. DoctorFoxhound
    Nov 2, 2012
    6
    The game is gorgeous due to both exceptional graphics and design. I loved the turn-based combat and really enjoyed leveling up my crew with gear and skills.

    I'm giving this game a score of six mostly because of it's low replay value. I had a similar experience to some other reviewers in that I was obsessed with this game when I first got my hands on it, but after about 25-30 hours into    The game is gorgeous due to both exceptional graphics and design. I loved the turn-based combat and really enjoyed leveling up my crew with gear and skills.

    I'm giving this game a score of six mostly because of it's low replay value. I had a similar experience to some other reviewers in that I was obsessed with this game when I first got my hands on it, but after about 25-30 hours into it I got really sick of it... I no longer felt the need to upgrade my crew because they already felt maxed out, the environments and missions did start to feel repetitive, and pretty quickly I ran out of things that seemed worth researching in the lab. Despite having so much fun in the first days of owning it, I really can't see myself stomaching another playthrough.

    All of this being said, Xcom is a great game and for a lot of people, 25-30 hours of grade A, engaging game play is worth the price of admission. My only recommendation might be to wait until the game goes down in price if you are looking to pay 50 bucks for a game you can sink dozens and dozens of hours into.    … Expand
  15. antarem
    Nov 9, 2012
    6
    review for russian speakers people.
    Это хорошая игра, но XCOM 94го года в был в разы лучше. Все что    review for russian speakers people.
    Это хорошая игра, но XCOM 94го года в был в разы лучше. Все что разработчик смог улучшить это графику. Все остальное стало хуже. Что больше всего раздражает: теперь в игре нет такого понятия, как пуля - реального физического объекта; есть понятие попал - не попал.(никаких больше случайных убийств шальными пулями) Никакой разрушаемости в игре нет, пули пролетают сквозь двехметровые стены. Как вообще в ТАКТИЧЕСКОЙ игре можно было так наплевать на реализм. В общем кто не играл в первую xcom, советую это сделать, вы сами поймете, какая новая xcom получилась отвратная, благо что ее можно купить в steam, не заморачиваясь с dosbox'om.    … Expand
  16. Welgar
    Feb 8, 2013
    6
    You can't help but compare this game to the original two XCOMs. Pros:

    - Improved graphics with some nice visual effects (like over-the-shoulder view etc.) - Operatives' classes and special abilities - Innovative combat system (cover/flanking, two-stage movement) - Storyline of sorts Cons: - Strategic (globeview) part became silly and boring: you are limited to one base;    You can't help but compare this game to the original two XCOMs. Pros:

    - Improved graphics with some nice visual effects (like over-the-shoulder view etc.)

    - Operatives' classes and special abilities

    - Innovative combat system (cover/flanking, two-stage movement)

    - Storyline of sorts

    Cons:

    - Strategic (globeview) part became silly and boring: you are limited to one base; items are manufactured immediately; you can't sell what you've produced; moreover, many items are free and unlimited (like grenades or standard guns); basically you just assign research and build a few base facilities, the rest can be done right before a mission.

    - Few things to research and manufacture: only one advanced type of interceptors, several laser and plasma guns, a few armours, and some special items.

    - No inventory manipulation

    - Often unrealistic battle situations: e.g. chance of hitting an alien almost doesn't depend on distance, or you may stand just one step away from a high wall and be considered "exposed" from that side.

    - Overall, many things in the game don't seem logical/realistic. How is it possible that it takes 8 days for a few eggheads in my lab to research some mysterious crazy alien technology and immediately come up with blueprints for a new weapon (which the engineers will make for me in no time)? Or what is the connection between having satellites over three African countries and 33% increase in budget? And besides, where are all the other countries? Why don't I ever have missions there? It all makes role-playing quite difficult.

    - The game is short and not so replayable. It took me 28 hours of play to win the game while reading carefully every research report and being sometimes too strategic and cautious. And since you have a very linear story, you don't want to start over and hear all the same stuff again. I expected more.

    All in all, though the game, at least its tactical part, is still interesting and fun, it feels more like a simplified and cut-down version of the original XCOMs. Apparently, 2K will introduce more features as DLCs (something Microprose couldn't back in 1990s), which may be the reason for producing this game as it is.    … Expand
  17. Bolzen
    Dec 15, 2012
    0
    The game looks good. But that´s it. This is not a X-Com game at all. You can clearly see, that its made for console. Nearly every strategic element was erased. And to make it worst. The maps are not randomly generated. So you have to play the same maps again and again and again and again.... and again and again and again ... zzz ZZZ zzz ... and again and again and again and again...The game looks good. But that´s it. This is not a X-Com game at all. You can clearly see, that its made for console. Nearly every strategic element was erased. And to make it worst. The maps are not randomly generated. So you have to play the same maps again and again and again and again.... and again and again and again ... zzz ZZZ zzz ... and again and again and again and again... zzz ZZZ zzz ZZZ zzz ... and again and again .... zzz ZZZ zzz ZZZ zzz ZZZ zzz ZZZ zzz .... and again .... zzz ZZZ zzz ZZZ zzz ZZZ zzz ZZZzzz ZZZ zzz ZZZ zzz ZZZ zzz ZZZzzz ZZZ zzz ZZZ zzz ZZZ zzz ZZZzzz ZZZ zzz ZZZ zzz ZZZ zzz ZZZzzz ZZZ zzz ZZZ zzz ZZZ zzz ZZZzzz ZZZ zzz ZZZ zzz ZZZ zzz ZZZ...… Expand
  18. RadarE33
    Dec 5, 2012
    5
    A game with excellent potential... just poorly executed. Playing on normal difficulty is adequate enough for overlooking the mass majority of the issues that plague this game, but upping the difficulty makes its glaring flaws all the more apparent. First things first: This game is uses a combat system that is similar to Fallout 2, with the addition of a cover based system to help yourA game with excellent potential... just poorly executed. Playing on normal difficulty is adequate enough for overlooking the mass majority of the issues that plague this game, but upping the difficulty makes its glaring flaws all the more apparent. First things first: This game is uses a combat system that is similar to Fallout 2, with the addition of a cover based system to help your troops not get shot. Naturally this might sound awesome, right? Well... unfortunately Firaxas and 2K couldn't spring for half decent AI that seeks to employ superior tactics. They opted instead to give the AI bonuses to aim, health and critical hit chance on the higher difficulties. This turns the game from a test of intellect and tactics to seeing if you can avoid getting steamrolled by dimwitted, cheating AI that kills your soldiers from half way across the map, with full cover to boot. Get used to that cause its going to happen. A lot. And when it does, your dopey soldiers (the "best of the best", as the game describes them) will panic, freak out and either run into enemy fire, hunker down in front of enemies, wildly shoot at them, or my favorite, shoot at your guys with surprising accuracy; another thing that's lacking from the best and brightest the world has to offer, as they can't barely hit the broad side of a barn. Yet they can kill your own troops with ease when panicked. These two companies, having a vastly warped sense of "turn based combat" will ensure that two things happen if you go scouting. 1. Upon spotting an enemy group, the enemy will get a free turn to position themselves against your soldier, DURING your turn, or 2. Your soldier will idiotically charge to where ever he or she was told to go instead of pausing to ask for new orders. This ensures your troops get slaughtered pretty quick, even with hunker down/ overwatch combos. If that isn't bad enough, cover is as durable as wet toilet paper, meaning that when you get shot at your cover will either crumble or catch fire, exposing you to a follow up barrage or forcing you to high tail it away from the vehicle/whatever, leading to a storm of plasma fire. Don't get me wrong; I like the fact that the scenery is destructive and can blow up. Its more that the devs wanted to inflate the sense of "difficulty" by stacking the odds against the player, rather than taking time and effort to create an AI that gives the player pause when it humbles them with strategy and tactics. The strategy element has some good elements to it, having to manage panic, finances and supplies. The problem is that what could have been a great strategy element is is reduced to something much more simplified and dull. Countries will freak the hell out if you bungle a mission, regardless if you managed to put a huge dent in alien forces before dying or rescuing a VIP/butt load of civilians in the process; they'll count as dead if you die. Either you kill everything in sight or you fail the mission, period, despite the fact that your mission (in about half the cases) is to stop terror attacks or protect VIP's. Partial credit would be nice (as was evident in the old XCOM games) but has given way to that CoD mentality; everything has to die no matter what, even in the face of objectives or feasibility. When the **** hits the fan (and it will), nations in the same continent will start to panic big, even though they didn't get attacked. The funding (something that wasn't an issue in the old XCOM) is scarce and serves only to once again, inflate the difficulty, despite the fact that you are the "last, best hope of humanity" and would naturally get loads of cash to do your job (see: the old XCOM). Because of requirements for even the basic of facilities, you could find yourself crippled if you opt for cash missions to purchase satellites, weapons, armor, or new troopers, all because the Dev's were too lazy to include a "personnel requisition" option that was present in the old XCOM. Worse yet is the fact that you can't sell any weapons or items you craft to council members; you're stuck with them. If you're lucky, a nation may ask to get that tech off you, but instead of negotiation they just tell you what you'll get. Gone are the days of being a dealer of all things alien. The story itself is good in the beginning but starts to fall apart once you research Psionics. In regards to the setting and logic behind R&D, it is truly laughable. Instead of reverse engineering alien tech and creating weapons that use materials from your own damn planet, you're forced to rely on alien materials (of which don't exist on Earth) to construct alien weapons that rely on... alien power sources. Humanity is well and truly boned if this is how we'll fight the aliens; if XCOM dies, everyone's back at square one. I don't even like the old XCOM and regret it's purchase, but I saw the potential for a truly awesome game. Sadly, it looks as if we'll have to wait for the realization of that potential, cause it isn't here.… Expand
  19. fifty
    Dec 27, 2012
    3
    Funny thing this game. I've loved most of the franchise so far.. but thing is, this game feels updated in some ways (nice graphics), but the distinctly no-choice approach to many things makes it a bit difficult to feel engaged in and certainly feels like a step back from some of the previous outings.
    To pin down my gripes:
    1. The "hidden council" made me feel distinctly disassociated    Funny thing this game. I've loved most of the franchise so far.. but thing is, this game feels updated in some ways (nice graphics), but the distinctly no-choice approach to many things makes it a bit difficult to feel engaged in and certainly feels like a step back from some of the previous outings.
    To pin down my gripes:
    1. The "hidden council" made me feel distinctly disassociated from events.
    2. from my play throughs the plot is liner - it doesn't matter what you research or what order the end game is either win or lose. and your choices to that point make no difference.. moreover no 'prologue' endings.. what a missed opportunity to give you the illusion of having had choice and giving you replay incentive.
    3. the game chooses your characters classes for you! :(
    4.equipment and even research choices feel very limited.

    So to sum, whilst I don't want to say 'too simple'... that's what I was left feeling.. A good game in here if only they'd added a bit of plot, personality and detail of choice to it.    … Expand
  20. Iconoclast2112
    Nov 5, 2012
    0
    A dumbed down console version of one of the greatest games ever. And it fails to even come close to matching the original design with its shallow strategic layer, gimmicky and repetitive tacticals, and missing critical content that was a hallmark of the success of the original. How the developers could have missed the clue boat when the original was there to be studied is beyond me. IA dumbed down console version of one of the greatest games ever. And it fails to even come close to matching the original design with its shallow strategic layer, gimmicky and repetitive tacticals, and missing critical content that was a hallmark of the success of the original. How the developers could have missed the clue boat when the original was there to be studied is beyond me. I would be ashamed to have my name associated with this piece of fluff.… Expand
  21. Band33to
    Nov 7, 2012
    0
    No, no, no, no, NO! This game is terrible. 'Requires some brains and patience?!' said the USA Today. Hahaha This game is a very limp, vapid and pale imitation of the original. There is not depth, nor emotional connection to the characters and limited control akin to painting by numbers. This is a very real and very sad representation of what the games industry is all about today.No, no, no, no, NO! This game is terrible. 'Requires some brains and patience?!' said the USA Today. Hahaha This game is a very limp, vapid and pale imitation of the original. There is not depth, nor emotional connection to the characters and limited control akin to painting by numbers. This is a very real and very sad representation of what the games industry is all about today. Very similar to Hollywood. REBOOT! 'Hey what happened to the character development of the original?' 'Charawhat kid? Look at the explosions!!'
    'Yeah but the original had depth and a story line to it'
    'Depth? Look at the boobs on that generic female co-star' Pathetic.    … Expand
  22. suneater
    Nov 30, 2013
    5
    People who bash Dark Souls for its "Artificial Difficulty" haven't played Enemy Unknown. This game takes a well known PC series and consolifies it, dumbing down the base building to a single base, dumbing down the soldier customization into locked equipment slots with a shallow skill tree, and dumbing down the combat into praying you don't get flanked by enemies who get free turns and statPeople who bash Dark Souls for its "Artificial Difficulty" haven't played Enemy Unknown. This game takes a well known PC series and consolifies it, dumbing down the base building to a single base, dumbing down the soldier customization into locked equipment slots with a shallow skill tree, and dumbing down the combat into praying you don't get flanked by enemies who get free turns and stat bonuses. On Normal difficulty the game is too easy, with enemy AI being dumbed down... yet on Classic difficulty they get free accuracy and critical hit buffs. Ironman Mode is unplayable because one year after launch and there are still frequent bugs and crashes that will count your mission as a loss after you restart the game.

    While you definitely get your money's worth with EU's lengthy campaign, be prepared for a lot of frustration due to your troops getting one-shotted regularly in the early missions, 3 marines missing their overwatch shot in the same turn on the same enemy, your troops shooting each other while panicked (in cover!), and not being able to hit the broad side of a barn until your unit is so kitted out they look like a Space Marine from W40k.    … Expand
  23. demongoat
    Oct 27, 2013
    6
    tl;dr good game built on bad foundations, possibly wrong devs lots of bugs, heavily simplified, base game mechanics broken, but still a lot of fun

    XCOM is a series known for its difficulty, encouraging players to use tactics to defeat a considerably more powerful force. Though it's had some 'rocky' games in the past, the original was met with critical acclaim for breaking a lot of    tl;dr good game built on bad foundations, possibly wrong devs lots of bugs, heavily simplified, base game mechanics broken, but still a lot of fun

    XCOM is a series known for its difficulty, encouraging players to use tactics to defeat a considerably more powerful force. Though it's had some 'rocky' games in the past, the original was met with critical acclaim for breaking a lot of ground in the Turn-Based Tactics genre. For its time, UFO Defense: Enemy Unknown was very well developed, with cover mechanics bringing a whole new level of tactics.

    Since the release of UFO Defense, there have been a total of 9 games released to the series, with XCOM: Enemy Unknown being the 8th. One would think it safe to assume that great strides have been made to the gameplay since 1994, a grand 18 years ago at time of release. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

    XCOM: EU's improvements are decent updated graphics bring the immersion up noticeably, nice customization options to personalize your troops plus gameplay has been streamlined to accommodate for console releases.
    However, the issues are also numerous. Poor QA testing has left many bugs even a year after its release, a large number of features were removed for 'streamlining' (I assume), and the continuation of relying on RNG to decide the outcome of a match flying in the face of 'tactics'. Cover has little effectiveness, accuracy issues meaning a point-blank shot can display a 20% chance to hit, repetitive mission mean a player can lose interest quickly and a lack of randomly-generated maps removes a whole level of dynamic gameplay.

    What is interesting is that, despite these glaring issues, XCOM: EU is still a lot of fun to play. For that I have to give it merit it's clearly a very good game, but I wonder how much that has to do with it being part of the series.

    On my Realistic Review Scale it gets a 4, slightly below being an average game due to some glaring faults.
    However, on the Metacritic Scale where an 8.5 is average, I'll have to give it a 6.

    A very good game marred by poor design decisions and QA but isn't that the tune of strategy these days?    … Expand
  24. Gixian82
    Jun 22, 2014
    6
    While nice looking and shiny on the first look and obviously fun for a lot of today's players, for anyone who grew on the old 1994, the new one is flat, shallow, repetitive and soon boring. I know the old game was not perfect, and a lot of micromanagement there was unnecessary, but still the remake is far too simplified and streamlined. While it looks like a strategy game, beside theWhile nice looking and shiny on the first look and obviously fun for a lot of today's players, for anyone who grew on the old 1994, the new one is flat, shallow, repetitive and soon boring. I know the old game was not perfect, and a lot of micromanagement there was unnecessary, but still the remake is far too simplified and streamlined. While it looks like a strategy game, beside the tactical combat (which may or may not suite you), there is no strategy involved in the game at all, as outside the tactical missions the game is fully scripted and ignores how good or bad you do. Anyone looking for a true XCOM game have much better choices around than this one.… Expand
  25. truthmonger
    Oct 22, 2012
    2
    Firaxis really dropped the ball, even more than they did on Civ V. The NPC dialog is like a bad 80's cartoon, the game is unbelievably limited - I've played free games that had more options, more realism and more depth. The alien designs are either stolen from other games or are just plain stupid. Seriously, wait till you see the ravagers...you'll think you're back in Dranei land! AndFiraxis really dropped the ball, even more than they did on Civ V. The NPC dialog is like a bad 80's cartoon, the game is unbelievably limited - I've played free games that had more options, more realism and more depth. The alien designs are either stolen from other games or are just plain stupid. Seriously, wait till you see the ravagers...you'll think you're back in Dranei land! And you'll learn to hate those f*#kers because until you develop the most powerful armor there is no defense against their TWO instant kill attacks. Oh and did I mention that its impossible to get the jump on enemies because they dont roam around..they just wait like land mines till you find them. Then they just keep flanking you, and if they cant they hide and wait for you. There's no stealth abilities. Hell you can't even carry multiple grenades until you've gottten 3 or 4 promotions!! This game is beyond stupid, its NOTHING like XCOM. The graphics look like something from 2003, the controls are flaky and the camera will make you wanna kill yourself. And if by some miracle you can actually win against the uber-cheating AI, you'll get the weakest ending since ME3. DO NOT BUY.… Expand
  26. N8_2
    Jan 22, 2013
    8
    Having played the original XCOM when it was first released, in my opinion this new version has ironed out the annoying and unnecessary aspects of the original. Does anyone else remember how irritating and buggy the original was? My only protests: the absence of HQ invasions, the low variety of missions, and the level of creepiness and fear that an alien-themed game should have is lowerHaving played the original XCOM when it was first released, in my opinion this new version has ironed out the annoying and unnecessary aspects of the original. Does anyone else remember how irritating and buggy the original was? My only protests: the absence of HQ invasions, the low variety of missions, and the level of creepiness and fear that an alien-themed game should have is lower than I would like.… Expand
  27. greenpLayer
    Oct 27, 2012
    1
    I was looking pretty much forward into playing this game as it woke memories from the past. I pre-purchased from Steam and went on to play as soon as it was launched.

    The game has really nice graphics, only it has so many bugs I am currently stuck at the base after playing the tutorial. Reading 2k games forums, I am not alone. Its a big bummer to pay 50 EUR for a game and not get past    I was looking pretty much forward into playing this game as it woke memories from the past. I pre-purchased from Steam and went on to play as soon as it was launched.

    The game has really nice graphics, only it has so many bugs I am currently stuck at the base after playing the tutorial. Reading 2k games forums, I am not alone. Its a big bummer to pay 50 EUR for a game and not get past the tutorial.

    I have emailed steam, notified 2k games and never got a reply. Well my friendly suggestion to anyone is wait until price drops to 5.99 or the game is fixed because if you are unlucky enough to run into a bug your game is over.    … Expand
  28. Diablo3sux
    Oct 20, 2012
    2
    They turned the franchise into a boring action-only game for consoles. No more strategic decision, game is dumbed down. If you liked the two predecessors do not even give it a try, you would be disappointed.
  29. SittinginBasket
    Oct 23, 2012
    5
    A fair game, with interesting gameplay and visuals. However, the game lacks in story-depth and suffers from the lack of attention and story-telling after the first half of the game. The game has extremely little variety in choices and missions. Research and interrogation is extremely simple and short-lived, without adding much to the story, and is quickly forgotten. The best items can beA fair game, with interesting gameplay and visuals. However, the game lacks in story-depth and suffers from the lack of attention and story-telling after the first half of the game. The game has extremely little variety in choices and missions. Research and interrogation is extremely simple and short-lived, without adding much to the story, and is quickly forgotten. The best items can be attained early in the game, and research and production no longer have a function in the late game. Missions are extremely repetitive, and will force you into completing the same missions over and over again with absolutely no variety. Ending is extremely disappointing, and again drops the ball with story-telling when compared to the first half of the game.… Expand
  30. teh_pastor
    Nov 6, 2012
    0
    This game makes a point of everything that is wrong in the current game industry today. You create game and for maximum revenue the game is created for multiple platforms, thus the game are limited to the limitations of the poorest platform. Yes the beloved Xbox or Playstation. XCOM deserves so much more that XBOX and Playstation.

    Yes the name is almost the same, graphics are nice,    This game makes a point of everything that is wrong in the current game industry today. You create game and for maximum revenue the game is created for multiple platforms, thus the game are limited to the limitations of the poorest platform. Yes the beloved Xbox or Playstation. XCOM deserves so much more that XBOX and Playstation.

    Yes the name is almost the same, graphics are nice, sound is nice but the nice things stop there. The rest of the game is poor at best, but utter **** is a more suiting word for it. Back in the good old days, a company name MicroProse released a tactical strategy game that was challenging on every department. The game play was way before it's time, and like Doom it was responsible countless clones that never actually could compete. There was only one Xcom, the rest of the clones, although some were quite enjoyable, none of the could ever compete with XCOM: UFO Defense.

    This "new" XCOM lacks everything the old game had. From tactical movement, to base building, to interactions. In short almost everything XCOM was, except for the name is lacking in this release. My recommendation, if you enjoyed XCOM: UFO Defense and spent countless hours replaying the game stay away. If you haven't played XCOM: UFO Defense before, don't even bother. This game is nerfed down to the limitations of the XBOX and Playstation. In short, this game rates as close to zero as one can get.

    Nerefed down review: STAY AWAY! Firaxis and 2k games don't deserve our hard earned cash for this crap.    … Expand
  31. fleatoad
    Dec 29, 2012
    0
    The game is boring. It adds nothing but new graphics. Its had all the strategy tactics and choices ripped out. Leaving just shallow game play. 10 hours in and the game became a chore to play.
  32. jeka3276
    Jan 19, 2013
    0
    Dear Sirs programmers if you're creating, excuse the expression, "a piece of **** please do not call it a cult name.Thanks for the time wasted.From Russia with Love.
  33. faceless-1
    Nov 18, 2013
    7
    This game is not bad, but original X-COM was better. No base battles, space ships got simplified (only sky ranger), no and team you waaay smaller. The good idea was soldier classes, but sniper class is way overpowered in compare to others. Still XCOM: Enemy Unknown is solid game and good tribute to original X-COM.
  34. IonDissonanc357
    Nov 20, 2013
    7
    Fun game but not worth the $40 i spent on it. I'd say you get around $20 worth of fun out of it. The line of sight is unpredictable and shooting down ufos is extremely boring and might as well not even be a part of the game. Maybe it's just my computer but the voice overs simply don't work.
  35. Hall7718
    Feb 21, 2014
    5
    Purchased this game in a Steam sale and spent about 6 hours playing it. The mechanics started feeling repetitive and unoriginal after the first 4-5 missions. Game mechanics are in every game, but for some reason this game kept reminding me that it was a game... not an action packed experience. Before others say I'm not cut out for turn based games... I've got hundreds of hours playingPurchased this game in a Steam sale and spent about 6 hours playing it. The mechanics started feeling repetitive and unoriginal after the first 4-5 missions. Game mechanics are in every game, but for some reason this game kept reminding me that it was a game... not an action packed experience. Before others say I'm not cut out for turn based games... I've got hundreds of hours playing Civilization V. XCOM wasn't the game for me.… Expand
  36. Brosman
    May 13, 2013
    9
    I'm afraid "old school" x-com fan boys are scaring away people from this game. I see so many old school fans complain about how "This game isn't as good as the original" and 0 out of 10 because the original is better and this sucks". That's not fair. I'm not bashing old school fans, but just because the remake/reboot isn't as good doesn't make it crap. Go play the original all you want!I'm afraid "old school" x-com fan boys are scaring away people from this game. I see so many old school fans complain about how "This game isn't as good as the original" and 0 out of 10 because the original is better and this sucks". That's not fair. I'm not bashing old school fans, but just because the remake/reboot isn't as good doesn't make it crap. Go play the original all you want! But don't drag this game down because of it. I am aware this game has some issues. Such as the bulls*it free move aliens get during your turn, and some crash to desktop bugs (which are extreamly rare.) But that doesn't make this game bad. Aside from those problems, i sit and play this game for hours at a time. Its fun and addicting. You also get attached to your soldiers, and get legitimately sad or pissed off when they die. All in all, its problems held it back from being the best game of last year, but it still one of my favorites.… Expand
  37. Dariune
    Oct 21, 2012
    4
    Just finished the game and my thoughts were ... it was ok.

    The tactical battles were pretty well handled and the skills generally well balanced but the camera was a nightmare. And although I didnt particularly miss the Time Units system, I dont think the run and gun system worked THAT well. A soldier standing still should be able to fire more than one taking a move. I did also miss the    Just finished the game and my thoughts were ... it was ok.

    The tactical battles were pretty well handled and the skills generally well balanced but the camera was a nightmare. And although I didnt particularly miss the Time Units system, I dont think the run and gun system worked THAT well. A soldier standing still should be able to fire more than one taking a move. I did also miss the different kinds of shot you could use (Rapid, free fire and aim). But for the most part they were generally engaging.

    Everything else though ... well it was just so cut down.

    The base was boring as sin. The only buildings (Other than quest buildings) I built were the satelites and power.

    There were only two kinds of ship, three types of gun per class (Excluding support), two types of grenades and the rocket launcher was a bit bland as well (Though it made a great tactical choice in battles)

    Having said that, the different classes were all really useful and different enough from each other that I fielded a fairly decent variety of soldiers on the battlefield. I still would have prefferred to choose what guns and equipment my soldiers had rather than having them forced onto me bya a class system.

    So IMO the research, although fairly accurately taken from the original, was very dull. The only surprises were when something wasnt in the research tree. I understand this is mainly due to the cut down inventory system but half way through the game I found myself not caring about what I researched anymore.

    Talking of the inventory system. I would say this was my least favourite part of it. 4 items (5 if a skill is unlocked for Support) of kit which i found noticably limiting throughout the whole game, right from the start.

    The other part i really didnt like was the complete opposites of quality between the tactical battles and the openworld map. I realise this is even more subjective than the rest of my thoughts but, it felt to me like there were few choices or meaningful paths to go. Your herded into a choice of three abduction missions and then, seeminly at random, other missions come to play. At certain points in the game you are told to do something to continue the plot. It kind of felt to me like there was no point to that part of the game at all. It wouldnt have played much different if they had just given you 100 similar missions and allowed you to level up your men inbetween each mission. Which, IMO, goes completely against what UFO: Enemy unknown was about.

    I only played on Classic, but the original felt like a far more personalised struggle.

    In UFO: Enemy Unknown, I felt like it was my game. My world under attack and my plans, that failed or succeeded. In XCOM, it really wasnt. There was just a very slim line of paint telling me it was, which was easily washed off after a few missions.

    Having said that there were some parts which were far better. The squaddie customization, although not great, was certainly far far better than any other game of its type. It was really refreshing to have all my soldiers looking different on the battlefield. The graphics were also pretty good and the battles did come alive. An impressive feat for a turn based game.

    I also didnt mind the cutscenes or hero cam which were quite subtly done.

    The pace was too fast, not really allowing me to enjoy any of the (Too few) research breakthroughs I had.

    Lastly I feel they should get an award for managing to make the worst part of UFO: Enemy Unknown EVEN worse. The interceptor fights were atrocious. Laughably so. With just two ships, and your bog standard weapons. There were no tactical choices, battle variety or anything else.

    So to finish. I will say the game was fun, I dont feel like I was ripped off for buying it at full price, and I had fun playing. The game was too short, too stream lined and the strategic battles were really the only part which I think had a lot of thought put into it. I dont think this game will ever win any awards but it certainly wasnt terrible either.    … Expand
  38. Newfr
    Oct 14, 2012
    6
    Let's face it - this is a good game by today standards. But this is also a terrible remake. And i can't blame all fellow **** here stomping this game into the ground because they feel cheated. That's true. New game has about 25% of everything old game has. Less techs to invent, less items to create, less abilities to use... There are lots of this "less". Some trying to say that it'sLet's face it - this is a good game by today standards. But this is also a terrible remake. And i can't blame all fellow **** here stomping this game into the ground because they feel cheated. That's true. New game has about 25% of everything old game has. Less techs to invent, less items to create, less abilities to use... There are lots of this "less". Some trying to say that it's simplified version of XCOM i will stay with "dumbed down" term. So i believe if Feraxis made it a new IP this game could be accepted a way better. So it's simple if you played old XCOM - avoid this game. You probably will be greatly disappointed. It's nowhere near the original and i recommend you to start looking in direction of indie game called Xenonauts (in beta stage atm). It's not XCOM by name, but it's XCOM by spirit. But if you like beating game in 2 days on normal without losing a single soldier and never heard of original IP - try this. It's not a bad game after all. And if you liked this new XCOM try the old one after (or Xenonauts i mentioned above).
    So about score. If that was a new IP i would give it a solid 9. But as i remake of original XCOM...let's see...25% of 10 is about 3. Arithmetic average is 6.    … Expand
  39. LoneDutyer
    Jun 9, 2013
    5
    Enjoyable experience and a solid purchase, but felt just a TAD too casualised to really be 'X-Com' to me. Late to the party, just logged onto MC for the first time in ages and thought I'd go through some of my purchases for posterity's sake.

    TACTICAL +Feels frantic and tense, at least in the early-mid game before your dudes get bulk health. +Looks nice. A good visual update to the    Enjoyable experience and a solid purchase, but felt just a TAD too casualised to really be 'X-Com' to me. Late to the party, just logged onto MC for the first time in ages and thought I'd go through some of my purchases for posterity's sake.

    TACTICAL
    +Feels frantic and tense, at least in the early-mid game before your dudes get bulk health.
    +Looks nice. A good visual update to the series.
    +Options you didn't have in the original, like suppressing enemy units and flanking. In some respects combat more tactical.
    -Heavy class becomes more or less useless except for suppression and rocket-launcher by the mid-late game.
    -Squads felt too small and made losing a unit even more crippling than the original.
    -Inventory dumbed down ridiculously: Why can't my soldier in powered jetpack armour carry more than one grenade or rocket?
    -Dumbed down targeting in the original, blowing open a wall with your plasma rifle was a viable tactical option, for example
    -Action system abstraction can sometimes be grating.
    -NO RANDOMISED MAPS. This was probably my biggest gripe. Cripples replayability, criminal lack of effort. This would've been a 7 for me otherwise.

    GLOBAL
    +Looks shiny, sounds cool. Very atmospheric, and the cutscenes/lore for everything is generally pretty good, even if they do recycle some templates.
    +Progression felt very rewarding, expanding options tactically by where you decide to expand and establish satellites.
    -Arbitrary dichotomy where you always have to choose one nation to ignore. Can we seriously not just buy a second skyranger?
    -Only one base no base defense? That was a vital part of the original game.
    -Randomised classes for recruits could mean highly unbalanced teams enjoy your four useless Heavies who will just take up space.

    That's all I can remember from playing this last year. Decent purchase, but nothing special and a lot of design decisions which seem highly questionable. It would've been nice to maybe have a more modular version of the game where you could get more strategic depth by enabling old-school options at the start of the campaign, to appeal to both audiences.    … Expand
  40. GoneTomrrow
    Nov 29, 2012
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A solid remake all-in-all. I played the original DOS games and most of the sequels, which are hard acts to follow. This newest incarnation manages to have the core of what made the original extremely fun: well crafted turn-by-turn combat, variety of weapons and equipment, resource management, researching and reverse engineering alien tech, etc. The graphics are very good; the temple ship is truly a masterpiece of a stage. There is a lot not to like as well, of course. Normal difficulty is too easy, taking 40 hours to beat for me. XCOMEU is far less complex than the original, in a bad way. Combat has been oversimplified, with the boring "move, shoot, repeat" scheme. The original with time units was much more fun; you could spend all your time units shooting, moving, swapping a weapon out oof your pack, or all three. I was displeased to discover that there was only one alien base in the game (several in the OG). The end stage, while very fun, was disappointing - no Mars? Really? Very anticlimactic ending. When you investigate a crash site, you are dropped practically on top of it in a tiny area. The enemies are now "aggro'd" WOW-style and just stand around until you approach. They don't move around otherwise. I miss the old crash site maps which were larger and required exploration. The maps in general become repetitive. I also think the overall atmosphere of the game is too tame; the eery stage music of the original is permanently etched in my brain. Oh, and lastly, where is the Snakeman? A lot of negative points said here, but as I said, the heart of the original is still there and I was glued to my PC for the few short days it took to beat it. Worth buying.… Expand
  41. BAPACop
    May 27, 2013
    7
    This is the first and only X-COM game I've ever played, so I'm not rating it down because it isn't the same. I'm rating it so low because it is not a strategy game as it is billed. There are several major reasons for this.

    First, the "random" aspects are not actually random. I'm not talking about how savescumming is prevented due to the random seed. I'm talking about how the computer is    This is the first and only X-COM game I've ever played, so I'm not rating it down because it isn't the same. I'm rating it so low because it is not a strategy game as it is billed. There are several major reasons for this.

    First, the "random" aspects are not actually random. I'm not talking about how savescumming is prevented due to the random seed. I'm talking about how the computer is a cheating bastard. I had a mission once where the first enemy to fire scored a critical hit every time. It didn't matter which enemy was shooting, where they were shooting from, who their target was, where their target was, the cover their target was in, or if the enemy that was shooting took their shot before or after another enemy moved. I tested this by retreating continually and forcing the enemy to follow me to take their shot. I crossed the entire map back to the start point, and without fail the first shot taken by the AI every turn resulted in a critical hit.

    Second, the cover system is absolutely horrendous. There are four levels of cover. 0 is no cover. 1 is "half" cover. 2 is "full" cover. 3 is "full" cover with the Hunkered Down ability active. These aren't the actual numerical values as the game uses them to calculate anything, they're just my observation. Okay, now that I've explained that, forget about it, because the game will. Enemies can and will shoot you through walls. The shots will visibly pass right through them. They will shoot you through floors. They will shoot you through bus stops. They will shoot you from fifty feet into the adjacent room behind a solid wall where the only way you can see them is from their red outline because even the camera can't see them. A car provides the exact same amount of cover when it's intact as it does when it is a smoldering wreck. It's very annoying to get hit by an enemy who is making a shot that is simply not physically possible.

    Third, the computer is a cheating bastard. Yes, again. They don't follow any movement rules, it seems. When you encounter enemies they immediately interrupt your turn to move into cover. Floaters can teleport onto your flanks at will. Berserkers can interrupt your turn to move. Thin Men will literally drop from the sky on your flanks. Sectopods can take three actions per turn. Enemies will spawn right in the middle of your squad. Groups of enemies will teleport around the map if you lose sight of them. In other words, there is no strategy involved in placing your units, you just need to hope the game decides to be nice.

    Fourth, squad panic is simply awful. XCOM is supposed to be the world's most elite military force. So why do they act like they've never been in a firefight before? One of your units takes a hit, and your other members of the world's most elite military force turn all the way around, take aim on the person beside them, yell "HELP ME!" and shoot them in the face. Losing a squad member because they got shot through a wall is bad enough, now you're just rubbing it in for no good reason.

    Fifth, global panic. The first thing I want to point out is how incredibly stupid this sort of conversation must sound. "Hello, is this XCOM, the world's most elite military force focused on fighting the alien invasion? This is the President of the United States. We have decided we are being invaded by too many aliens to require the help of the world's most elite military force focused on fighting the alien invasion. Please stop saving our citizen's lives." The second thing is that the system is simply broken. Not taking a mission in a country increases the panic levels of all the countries on that continent for some reason, not just the one being attacked by aliens. This means that no matter how well you are playing the game, you will eventually lose. A game where you are guaranteed to lose is a very badly designed game.

    Sixth, I have an underground complex filled with advanced technology, soldiers who can practically blow things up with their minds, multiple satellites over every continent, multiple heavily armed interceptors stationed on every continent, but when three cities get attacked by aliens at once I can only send one group of six people while the other ninety-three soldiers twiddle their thumbs in the Barracks.

    To summarize, XCOM: Enemy Unknown is not a strategy game. It fails at the most important element of a strategy game: Rewarding strategy. It would get a 0 for that reason, but it's actually quite entertaining once you realize it's not a strategy game and start to play accordingly. That, and it changes the lights on my keyboard to coincide with the enemy turns and I think that's neat.    … Expand
  42. notchedbandit
    Aug 19, 2013
    3
    All hype and no substance. First of all, I never played the previous XCOM games, so I am unable to compare it to them. XCOM:Enemy Unknown has one of the most boring game-play I've unfortunately had to experience. The battle system is all about random luck. Absolutely no skill required. The game has a great presentation, nice cut scenes, great graphics etc. etc. I was expecting a deepAll hype and no substance. First of all, I never played the previous XCOM games, so I am unable to compare it to them. XCOM:Enemy Unknown has one of the most boring game-play I've unfortunately had to experience. The battle system is all about random luck. Absolutely no skill required. The game has a great presentation, nice cut scenes, great graphics etc. etc. I was expecting a deep experience of building a base and send my troops to areas to combat aliens, but it ended up being a mindless tactical game. Absolutely horrible game.… Expand
  43. Jenne
    Apr 2, 2013
    6
    A disappointment. Certainly the best XCOM game since Terror from the Deep and a ok game for what it is but that's about it. It's short, dumbed down, the production values are iffy, the RNG combat mechanics stupid and annoying, the art style terrible. Too bad Firaxis didn't want to make a truly great game. They just wanted to make an accessible game.
  44. Rabbidbone
    Oct 26, 2012
    5
    A decent game let down by a marketing strategy to parade it in on the shoulders of a colossal masterpiece. Though it does not, by any stretch of my experience, deserve the 0 scores it is getting, I do understand and share much of the old Xcom fans' gripes about this instalment. My take on the game's overall shortcoming is basically this - they critically misunderstood the very core essenceA decent game let down by a marketing strategy to parade it in on the shoulders of a colossal masterpiece. Though it does not, by any stretch of my experience, deserve the 0 scores it is getting, I do understand and share much of the old Xcom fans' gripes about this instalment. My take on the game's overall shortcoming is basically this - they critically misunderstood the very core essence of Xcom. Instead of pitting you up against an unforgiving and overwhelming invasion and then enabling you to rise above the challenge through various game mechanics; the game offers you static, mediocre invaders and a linear path to salvation and then sets up arbitrary handicaps through game mechanics as a means of creating a challenge. Although the resulting level of challenge is somewhat similar, the resulting level of satisfaction is devastatingly different. It felt more like I was fighting the game developers and trying to get around their in-game hurdles than actually fighting off a relentless alien invasion. A shame really.… Expand
  45. Ram911
    Nov 10, 2012
    6
    when I first started playing this game I thought it was fun. The graphics are really cool. It was not, to me at least, an easy game to beat. But, after a while it started to seem ridiculously difficult. In order to shoot at (and usually miss) an alien I would have to stand out and expose my self to their next shot. Which many times would kill my soldier. After finding that I could notwhen I first started playing this game I thought it was fun. The graphics are really cool. It was not, to me at least, an easy game to beat. But, after a while it started to seem ridiculously difficult. In order to shoot at (and usually miss) an alien I would have to stand out and expose my self to their next shot. Which many times would kill my soldier. After finding that I could not shoot at and hit an alien at a distance I would walk right up next to an alien and my chances of hitting him would still only be 1%. And sure enough I would miss the shot and bye bye soldier on the alien's next turn. The game started to feel very scripted. It seemed like the strategy component of the game was an illusion. Much like winning a game on a slot machine by luck is an illusion. To those who don't know, slot machines pay off at predetermined pulls of the handle. It can pay off at the 50th pull of the handle or the 500th pull of the handle etc. etc. The only luck involved is if you are the person pulling the handle at the 50th pull. It got to be boring to play after that. And I lost interest. I think this game is getting to high of a score for its playability level. I recognize all the hard work the game creators put into this game and I appreciate the effort. But I don't think they succeeded in making an Xcom worthy game.… Expand
  46. Turk
    Jul 1, 2013
    6
    This game is what Duplo is to the Lego brand. Simple, simplistic and lacking almost any depth beyond choosing A, B or C. That it did so well despite all its manifest shortcomings shows just how very hungry the market is for games like these that we will devour this half-baked swill like caviar. That being said, there are moments of fun to be had.

    It was also very, very buggy on    This game is what Duplo is to the Lego brand. Simple, simplistic and lacking almost any depth beyond choosing A, B or C. That it did so well despite all its manifest shortcomings shows just how very hungry the market is for games like these that we will devour this half-baked swill like caviar. That being said, there are moments of fun to be had.

    It was also very, very buggy on release and I've not seen much in the way of improvement. God bless Firaxis for having what passes as innovation in this market but they have the development skill of an indie studio.    … Expand
  47. nop
    Oct 22, 2012
    5
    This game is a marketing success but a creative failure. I loved original XCOM game and really wanted to enjoy playing this remake. But several hours into the game I started to feel that I've been cheated. Imagine a "reboot" of original Quake, where you can only carry two weapons, regenerate health while moving from one waist-high cover to another through linear levels, watchingThis game is a marketing success but a creative failure. I loved original XCOM game and really wanted to enjoy playing this remake. But several hours into the game I started to feel that I've been cheated. Imagine a "reboot" of original Quake, where you can only carry two weapons, regenerate health while moving from one waist-high cover to another through linear levels, watching unskippable cutscenes after every few minutes. This is what you feel if you played XCOM/UFO games before. Shallow and dumbed down kids-friendly piece of mass entertainment. Seriously, I'm surprised that after infinite ammo they didn't add regenerating health. Base building is a joke compared to the original. Geoscape is just a pretty animation. This is earth defense simulator minus the simulator part. This is a game where radio stations can work from underground caves, satellites can hover above arbitrary location on the globe and psionics only works if you break glass window first.… Expand
  48. glock30owner
    Oct 14, 2012
    6
    XCOM: Enemy Unknown should never had been included in the XCOM franchise, its lack of tactical and strategic options available in the original 3 games (X-COM: UFO Defense, X-COM: Terror from the Deep, and X-COM: Apocalypse) is highly disappointing to X-COM fans.
  49. FredMark
    Oct 15, 2012
    5
    After playing 40 hours, I can say that this game requires some serious mods to be interesting and/or remotely similar to original.

    From brainless base design/research to repetitive combat missions (although original had it too, to be fair) there are a lot to be desired. Most importantly, there is no option to turn movement animation OFF or speed it up, so the game will chew your time    After playing 40 hours, I can say that this game requires some serious mods to be interesting and/or remotely similar to original.

    From brainless base design/research to repetitive combat missions (although original had it too, to be fair) there are a lot to be desired.
    Most importantly, there is no option to turn movement animation OFF or speed it up, so the game will chew your time as you have nothing better to do.

    On other hand, I did play this game for 40 hours and its moment at first.    … Expand
  50. noxx
    Oct 15, 2012
    5
    For every thing this game does right there is a bad thing to even things out.
    Awesome to customize your soldiers, few customization options. Amazing atmosphere, terrible camera inside UFOs. Fighting around the world seems like fighting around the same place. Streets of japan are filled with american cop cars and yellow cabs. Absolutely no distinction between Brazil, London, India,    For every thing this game does right there is a bad thing to even things out.
    Awesome to customize your soldiers, few customization options. Amazing atmosphere, terrible camera inside UFOs. Fighting around the world seems like fighting around the same place. Streets of japan are filled with american cop cars and yellow cabs. Absolutely no distinction between Brazil, London, India, Australia, Etc.... It's Firaxis and it's Xcom, great company and great legacy, right now I'm 30 hours into the game and I'm very frustrated by the percentages. An Assault soldier with an alien shotgun beside a Muton has only 28% chance of hitting him? And my fully leveled sniper can't hit a target in clear sight? Very weird decisions were made in this game and I wanted so much to love it. Until some patches come along and an expansion to give it more diversity, stay away!    … Expand
  51. DrMutomofobo
    Nov 26, 2012
    5
    A decent game in it's own right, and it works well as a tribute to the 1993 original as it contained enough of the original themes to make me nostalgic. That being said, it's way too dumbed-down to be considered the same caliber as it's predecessors were.

    Almost everything is generic and automated, from how the organization itself is administered to how the soldiers interact with the    A decent game in it's own right, and it works well as a tribute to the 1993 original as it contained enough of the original themes to make me nostalgic. That being said, it's way too dumbed-down to be considered the same caliber as it's predecessors were.

    Almost everything is generic and automated, from how the organization itself is administered to how the soldiers interact with the environment when on tactical missions. It leaves you very little choice, and even less room for variation. The soldiers lack any distinguishable traits whatsoever, except for appearance and nationality at least; as they've removed evolvable stats in favor of a primitive class-system with very limited perks as they rank up. Inventory has also been standardized, and you can't even pick up equipment from fallen friends or foes on the field. The option to construct new bases is gone, as is the option to properly control air missions. The tactical missions lack interactivity, as you can no longer free-aim to destroy obstacles (or just for fun) and all bullets fly in a straight line only to disappear into thin air if they miss their target, effectively removing the joy of unintentional collateral damage and the unpredictability which follows it. Aliens just stand around in groups awaiting activation rather than roaming the field and positioning themselves favorably from start, and you can only deploy a maximum of six soldiers to a mission (four at the start - you have to research in order to reach the maximum six). Maps are small and very predictable too, usually you just move forward in one direction jumping from cover to cover massacring one alien group at the time until you're done.

    Multiplayer could have been awesome, but it's way too unimaginative to even be considered "ok". Here too, they've stripped your options down to a minimum. Only mode is 1vs1 squad elimination, even though single-player mode offers various settings which could have been extremely fun in multiplayer; and you use a simple "buy-for-points" system when building your squad rather than something more sophisticated (and rewarding). Also there's no progression whatsoever besides a place on the very primitive win/loss ratio-based ladder. Perhaps a system like the one they've implemented in Shogun 2: Total War would be better? At least it gives the player a feeling of achievement, something the present system doesn't provide at all.

    All-in-all... This is a game that offers very little variation, very little choice and a downright backwards level of interactivity. It makes most the decisions for you by limiting your options to the extreme. It works well enough as turn-based action, but as a strategy-and-tactics-game it fails miserable. Especially considering how successful the originals were in that aspect.

    If you avoid comparing it to the original franchise, which is actually way more complex and rewarding than this game is despite the fact that it's been almost twenty years since their release; you'll enjoy playing through it once. The replay-value however, is almost non-existent due to the previously mentioned lack of choices, variation and interactivity.

    The only real strength to this game is the fact that it contains just enough of the original games to reimburse your enjoyment of those. At least that's what it did for me: Made me reinstall the oldies and play them instead.

    I'd advice anyone to do the same ;)    … Expand
  52. GolovA
    Aug 21, 2013
    7
    It is probably wise to formulate an opinion about a game after all the hype is gone, and mind is more or less free of enhanced commercialism and subjectively stereotypical advertisement which are hypocritically aimed at a “specific consumer group”. With this in mind, let me jump to my opinion of the game “XCOM Enemy Unknown”.
    THE BAD:
    1. I am playing Patch 3, and the game is very buggy    It is probably wise to formulate an opinion about a game after all the hype is gone, and mind is more or less free of enhanced commercialism and subjectively stereotypical advertisement which are hypocritically aimed at a “specific consumer group”. With this in mind, let me jump to my opinion of the game “XCOM Enemy Unknown”.
    THE BAD:
    1. I am playing Patch 3, and the game is very buggy still: sometimes the cinematic slow-motion slows down to such a crawling speed that a restart of the game is required (forced task end); when I change the Race of a soldier, the Hair style inevitably changes as well, and in a few clicks choses a Helmet, so the face of the soldier is not visible; when a Sniper is using a grappling hook, she can jump to unreachable places (going through the ceiling of the UFO, for example) and gets stock there; after reviving a critically wound soldier, my soldiers are unable to move (happens rarely, but still). I could go on listing minor bugs that plague this game, which at this point should really be a polished joy ride.
    2. The game is not polished (as stated above), and its sharp corners keep poking you while you are trying to dive into its atmosphere: the explanations of items (weapons, armor, vehicles, etc.) are very vague some of them being actually incorrect at all (for an example refer to Arc Weapon on XCOM WiKi); when selling items on Grey Market, you cannot input numbers and need to click (however many times) on the arrow, selling items one-by-one, which is a major turn down when you have 700 Elirium, and want to sell 300 (the math in clicks is obvious); when a Soldier levels up, his uniform color changes, resetting to some default; there is no random generator really (but mods do fix this nuance) which might or might not be a problem, but when you perform an action, and later Load a saved game that action will always-always-always yield the same result, even when approached with different strategy (so let’s say you want to capture an alien, and your Arc weapon misses if you Load a saved game, and try it with a different soldier, or both soldiers you will NOT subdue the Alien, because AI has decided that the Alien will not be paralyzed in this game); again, I can go on, but the point remains this is far from a polished game.
    3. Atmosphere and Mood of the XCOM Series: the atmosphere borders between a Serious Strategy and a Childish Hentai, and accomplished none in the end. Seems the game was designed in order to cover the widest playing group possible, and thus lacks essence, dedication, and a focused approached aimed at the unique quality of this series. There is no haunting mood, feeling of constant danger and glooming doom, smell of secret societies, spreading panic, mystery, and so on there is also an xBox-style button-presser, with soldiers in Pink Uniforms, cut scenes with energetic Anime aliens (Rated for Every one), and bulky, shapeless weapons. The game tries to make everyone happy (as, unfortunately, is the case with most titles today) and comes out a mediocre stereotypical improved clone of its own glorious original of the past.
    4. Random Soldier specialization: yeah. I think I know where the designers are coming from with this but I wish I could turn that feature off.
    THE GOOD:
    1. Strategy and Tactics: are ok but very predictable and repetitive. The strategic overview of the Base and Earth is nicely executed, and all decisions are somewhat balanced. I say somewhat because that is what they are (remember unpolished?), but with some Mods the game becomes a very well thought-through strategy. Tactics are also improved with mods, but I like them as they are: you move your squad (of up to 6 people) in a turned-based combat, shooting or capturing aliens, saving civilians, destroying trees! Special abilities of soldiers make the approach of each unit and the team overall pretty unique to your playing style.
    2. A very nice game to play still. Don’t get me wrong there a good sides and bad sides, and this game is a good game, but definitely not a 9/10 as I see everywhere. Fun to play, fun to research, fun to make money, sad to lose good soldiers (even though random specialists they were!). Fun mediocre gam which lacks atmosphere.
    3. MODABLE! And that is very important: there are many good mods to XCOM Enemy Unknown, which improve it, rebalance it, and make it even prettier.
    OVERALL: Good game. 7/10. Wish it was not aimed at the AVERAGE GROUP but at the dedicated XCOM Gamers and people who respect a good tactical turn-based and appreciate the depth of UFO conspiracies.    … Expand
  53. chevmech
    Feb 3, 2013
    5
    Thanks Firaxis, for forcing an operating system upgrade in order to to play it. We feel that probably should have been flagged in larger fonts. We also hope Steam will refund our money- guess we'll find out next week or whenever Steam support deigns to respond to our tickets. Regards, Your customers with XP.
  54. SlickNick
    Nov 28, 2012
    5
    A fun and addicting game on normal. Bugs and bad-AI-so-cheat-compensation kill classic or impossible modes. Because the developers didn't develop any worthwhile AI for the enemy in this game, they cheat for the computer on classic and impossible difficulties. You don't notice it in normal because you can actually go blow-for-blow and win. All you have to do is advance, stay in cover,A fun and addicting game on normal. Bugs and bad-AI-so-cheat-compensation kill classic or impossible modes. Because the developers didn't develop any worthwhile AI for the enemy in this game, they cheat for the computer on classic and impossible difficulties. You don't notice it in normal because you can actually go blow-for-blow and win. All you have to do is advance, stay in cover, and shoot, and you'll win on normal. What you don't notice (because there aren't that many patrolling alien squads in normal) is that alien packs don't walk around the map, they randomly teleport anywhere on it and then aggro when they see you. In the higher difficulties you can't go blow-for-blow, but instead have to use flanking and/or luring tactics. Except that enemies can teleport anywhere if they're not in your Line-of-Sight and attempting to perform any remotely tactical movement will result in another pack of aliens spawning in your LoS.

    This results in only one tactic that works, which is also extremely boring: creep forward with one scout, trigger a single alien group, run back to the rest of the squad sitting in cover and overwatch, and hope aliens follow you. Nothing as exciting as sitting in overwatch for 50 turns, right?

    The base-management is trivial as well. There are no research dead-ends, you can research everything fairly quickly so there isn't any strategy in researching. Satellite and panic management is the only remotely strategic part of the base-management.    … Expand
  55. SoManyGoblins
    Jun 20, 2013
    5
    Too dumbed down for my taste. I'm an X-Com fan, but not a hardcore one, I'm not one of those guys who're still replaying the game every other weekend after some 20ish years, I'm just an average (more or less) gamer, and this felt like a seriously watered down version of a strategy game. It's not bad, but it's not good either, just average at most. The UI is a joke, clearly designed forToo dumbed down for my taste. I'm an X-Com fan, but not a hardcore one, I'm not one of those guys who're still replaying the game every other weekend after some 20ish years, I'm just an average (more or less) gamer, and this felt like a seriously watered down version of a strategy game. It's not bad, but it's not good either, just average at most. The UI is a joke, clearly designed for consoles. The battlescape is clearly designed for consoles, there is no free aiming, everything is constrained so the game works ok on a gamepad, in fact, now that I think about it, having used a mouse made everything so much cumbersome! Going through menuses, selecting soldiers abilities on battle, everything was tedious thanks to using a mouse. This is not a bad strategy game, it's just a lousy PC strategy game. Oh, and the plot sucks big time and boring.… Expand
  56. delekhan
    Nov 27, 2012
    5
    At first i like it ... but only one base - squad is limited to 6 - why ? All countries finance 6 ! persons only sqad. You need for example weapon fragments to build somethig - what for alloys - ok , ellurium ok but weapon fragments ? I have for example undestroyed weapons but no ineed weapon fragments and i cannot destroy it myself. You are unable to move invetory of one soldier toAt first i like it ... but only one base - squad is limited to 6 - why ? All countries finance 6 ! persons only sqad. You need for example weapon fragments to build somethig - what for alloys - ok , ellurium ok but weapon fragments ? I have for example undestroyed weapons but no ineed weapon fragments and i cannot destroy it myself. You are unable to move invetory of one soldier to another. If you shot alien his weapon is always destroyed . Enemies waiting to find you but may appear from nowwhere. Its not like strategy but america comics lonely hero ( 6 heroes) versus weak horde of enemies. It shoud be tottaly diffrent - vast armies versus aliens not so many but with better technology and extremely hard to beat… Expand
  57. Truthserum
    Oct 7, 2013
    6
    This is my first review, and i'm going to promise all, when you see my tag, it'll likely be the only honest and critical review of a game around. I'm so tired of these fanboy responses, or hater responses.

    Anyway, here's the nuts of it. The new Xcom game is great in many areas (you'll read many of them in these lists: gfx, ambiance, sound, music, art, troop management, resource    This is my first review, and i'm going to promise all, when you see my tag, it'll likely be the only honest and critical review of a game around. I'm so tired of these fanboy responses, or hater responses.

    Anyway, here's the nuts of it. The new Xcom game is great in many areas (you'll read many of them in these lists: gfx, ambiance, sound, music, art, troop management, resource management, alien threat management, country management, etc all real nice). And it deserves play and praise (still overpriced tho, but all games are when they just come out :)

    Yes, it is a somewhat less depthful than the original (everyone who tells you "no it isn't" is a newbie fanboy who lacks objectivity. I promise). But its not so bad, as this new game brings a lot to the table, plus one its key "depth" failures is actually linked to its awful "enemy spawn gameplay design" which i'll detail next (and maybe its something they could improve on)

    Its "enemy gameplay spawn design" is awful because, essentially it works like an MMO grind. The enemies hang about in "spawns" of 3. Some "spawns" travel short patrol circuits which might cross paths without another spawn. Basically you inch forward, hook the "first spawn" in your way (which ALWAYS consists of 3). then pull back (so you don't trigger any other "spawns"). You kill them, then rinse and repeat. Sometimes a patrolling spawn maybe crosses the battle ground if you did not pull back enough and you might face upto 6 enemies, but this is rare. You also sortof HAVE to do this since the fights are pretty tough, and the percentages weirdly and repeatedly defy what they promise?

    After you realise this what the combat is about, after a couple of missions, it gets boring. Kill 3. move up a bit. kill next 3, move up a bit, etc. During a fire-fight sure some fun stuff can happen, but its always your squad versus 3 (or sometimes 6) enemies and you know more or less where they are. I can't give this game more than a 6 as a result, since the "on ground" conflict is key to the game. And as polished as the visuals are, it can't make up for the flaw of a poorly designed encounter mechanic.

    The original had a better, more natural, encounter system. The enemies patrolled around the map, sometimes near each other, sometimes not, all random i guess, following whatever script was written for them. You had to fan out to find them (a motion detector kit was there to help you) and you NEVER knew when you'd run into them. you'd get surprised, A LOT, cover was vital, but it could get blown away (fun), and you never knew when more aliens would pitch up (attracted by the noise or whatever script dictated them). So you developed strategies to deal with that. More work than this new version of the game sure, but never boring. never predictable.

    I like the newly released Xcom expansion, it certainly looks to add more cool features, etc, I just wish they'd modify the "enemy spawn system" to make the enemies more autonomous and surprising.

    Good Gaming all.    … Expand
  58. TheDraguun
    Nov 14, 2012
    5
    Fun game that captures the spirit of the old XCOM. But bad usabillity (buttons jumping around, missing informations, navigation, ... ) and heaps of game breaking bugs. A game with a focus on character progression is worth nothing if the caracters get lost in bugs (stuck On-Mission, disappear from selection and levelup, ...)
  59. NOKIM
    Dec 3, 2012
    7
    Im an old fan of x-com and while this game is entertaining, its defenitely nothing to be compared to the original in terms of replay value. I could go into details but ill just point out some pros and cons.
    pros:
    updated graphics awesome character models great visuals cons: limited replay value lack of in battle option-cant pick up weapons, turns not based on energy poor tactical    Im an old fan of x-com and while this game is entertaining, its defenitely nothing to be compared to the original in terms of replay value. I could go into details but ill just point out some pros and cons.
    pros:
    updated graphics
    awesome character models
    great visuals
    cons:
    limited replay value
    lack of in battle option-cant pick up weapons, turns not based on energy
    poor tactical battle options(you can wipe everthing without doing much exploring)
    lack of stat growth options

    I could list a lot more things its lacking on, that the original did not that made it such an amazing replay value game. But all in all, if you have never played it, this is by far the best remake so far from all the fails that iv seen and tried. is it worth playing..yes, are you likely to still be playing it a year from now...probably not.If you have the original you will probably stil be playing that one 20 years from now.    … Expand
  60. The_Choad
    Feb 12, 2013
    6
    The original Xcom games were the epitome of the turn-based strategy genre. This latest offering sees it remade into 'strategy lite', with Firaxis doing away with what they thought was chaff. Unfortunately this has the effect of completely undoing the Xcom feel. The SP campaign is over far too quickly, half that of what it really should be, but what is there is well polished andThe original Xcom games were the epitome of the turn-based strategy genre. This latest offering sees it remade into 'strategy lite', with Firaxis doing away with what they thought was chaff. Unfortunately this has the effect of completely undoing the Xcom feel. The SP campaign is over far too quickly, half that of what it really should be, but what is there is well polished and obviously well thought out. I can understand the frustrations of the old school Xcom players (of which I am one, TFTD best game ever) but I can also see the new potential of what has been developed with X:EU 2013. The DLC is laughable, an obvious money grab that players were smart enough to see and subsequently ignore, prompting Firaxis to cancel what they had planned in favour of more worthy material. Gameplay is interesting, it will take you a while to see just how simple it is (particularly if you are an old hand), something which has divided opinion. There are now only two strategic aspects when on the battlescape. Using cover and line of sight. This sometimes leaves you frustrated in that the enemy can make seemingly incredible shots hit, when only a few hairs on your head are sticking out of cover. This is the new system. Partial cover gives you moderate defence, in turn making you slightly harder to hit. Full cover decrease that chance further still. Armor simply adds more blocks to your health (another strategic element removed) with better armor adding more blocks. I did finally get into the game, and overall I enjoyed it. That's not to say I approve of all the changes but there is room for perfection, if Firaxis have the wit to see it. The Ant farm homebase was a gimmick as far as I was concerned. I didn't use it, feel the need to use it or satisfy any vanity therein. The inability to rename your ships was an oversight and the fact that all soldiers have American accents regardless of their nationality was cheap and did nothing to impress the 'new look' Xcom, it was lazy. Nevertheless, X:EU was a decent effort and worthy of a look, though I would advise against buying it at full retail if you are a die--hard Xcom fan.… Expand
  61. s7anley
    Mar 31, 2013
    9
    It's been quite long time since some game made me get up early, so I could play before work. XCOM is really cool, too bad that I went through it for 3 days. Certainly I will try again on hardest difficulty and Ironman options.
  62. Thunderstorm
    Dec 3, 2013
    5
    Decent game, nothing special. The conceptually broken auto-save ruined the game for me after a day. Didn't feel like starting over or with all my main goons dead.
  63. Outlier
    Oct 11, 2013
    5
    Summary: a fun (aggravating), addictive tactical game with a lot of surprises, but half-baked. The half-baked stuff: your squad will take missions all over the world from Africa to Russia, yet every map has English street signs and pretty much looks the same. Be prepared for cover and line of sight to be utterly meaningless and for enemies to drop out of the sky in your flank and in theSummary: a fun (aggravating), addictive tactical game with a lot of surprises, but half-baked. The half-baked stuff: your squad will take missions all over the world from Africa to Russia, yet every map has English street signs and pretty much looks the same. Be prepared for cover and line of sight to be utterly meaningless and for enemies to drop out of the sky in your flank and in the rear. Might as well have the hand of God come out of the sky and squish a squad member. Enemies will fire through solid objects and even whole buildings to make a mile-long shot against an soldier they have had no contact with and crit. Buggy in a "QA missed that" sort of way: ex: the interface for training psy soldiers has three slots, but will only take two. I beat this thing, but I won't say it was a fun experience-more of a trial by fire with a lot of loaded saves.

    I really enjoyed the fact that each individual squad member can be customized with a full on char gen, so that when they are slaughtered you know them by name and can scream "Not Crawford!!!"

    There is a vertical dimension to the game, with lots of rooftop climbing and flying, but I found the interface difficult to use for vertical movement, you never really know if you can scale a wall until you rush it and get stuck at the base pounding on the grapple button.

    The 'flight' mini-game is really just plain dumb. Now if we had some control over the interceptors, that would be something. Otherwise it's just a little cutscene where we find out how much you have spent on your air coverage.

    Base building is the usual tree-type thing, I found this aspect of the game pretty easy to beat.

    I had fun, but I'm looking for a tactical game where there are some understandable and logical rules that both sides play by. The whole 'aliens dropping out of the sky" thing soured me on this game, as did the line of sight and cover issues. There's nothing like losing a squaddie who was about to make Colonel near the end of a mission when he is swatted by the AI. That's just aggravating. A "C" game.    … Expand
  64. ParGellen
    Oct 16, 2012
    2
    This game says XCOM on the cover art and the basic story is sort of there with a few new twists but it's missing a lot of what gave X-COM of the 90's depth. It's a fun game on its own merits but in terms of gameplay can't really be compared to the original. Don't be fooled by the Firaxis Youtube vids saying they want to stay true to the original because nothing could be further from theThis game says XCOM on the cover art and the basic story is sort of there with a few new twists but it's missing a lot of what gave X-COM of the 90's depth. It's a fun game on its own merits but in terms of gameplay can't really be compared to the original. Don't be fooled by the Firaxis Youtube vids saying they want to stay true to the original because nothing could be further from the truth. They took the original concepts and oversimplified them beyond what most original fans can tolerate (myself included). If you play it and pretend it's not XCOM then you might like it but it says XCOM and was hyped as XCOM so I have to take that into consideration as I write this review. Any other game company people that might be reading this need to remember that customers do not like being mislead so don't do it mmmkay?… Expand
  65. gas
    Oct 17, 2012
    7
    I have to lower my score , after the first playthrough i gave a 9, but actually im going to finish my second and sadly the game is loosing a lot of appeal.
    The problem primary is that what you can research and develop is not enough and various to make any difference between different games, basically you will end doing exactly the same things, researching the same things, and exectuing    I have to lower my score , after the first playthrough i gave a 9, but actually im going to finish my second and sadly the game is loosing a lot of appeal.
    The problem primary is that what you can research and develop is not enough and various to make any difference between different games, basically you will end doing exactly the same things, researching the same things, and exectuing all the same steps every game you will wanna play.
    Also, even if the maps are not few, its quite easy to predict enemy spawn.
    Anothe note not positive is that i think the game is really too short, and you are foced also to speed up cause the panic pressure.
    Basically i still think that this game is very good (on its own, even if different from the old xcoms), but its lacking longevity and relplay value to be really a masterpiece.
    -----------------------------------------------------
    To all the ppl GIVING LOW SCORES cause chance to hit / cover system bugs, READ THIS first. At start i was thinking too that the game had terrible bugs related LOS and targeting, but i was wrong, surely it doesnt help the fact the ruleset is not explained in the manual nor on firaxis site. Fact is this game is more similar to chess then to previous x-com games as idea. To be short about that, this game is based on a strict and working ruleset similar to a board game, hitting is absolutely not related to the point to point projectile trajectory " LOS" that is visible looking the position of the soliders Consider that what you see in 3D as idea is a fictional representation of the ruleset. The ruleset is very very simple and basic, and one understood its really a lot interesting and fun. In the game there is ACCURANCY which is set by default as 65, there are low covers (half shield icon) which gives +20% defence, hi covers (full shield icon) that gives +40% cover. There are modifiers which can be many things, specific traits, perks, elevation etc. The formula is CTH = accurancy - target defence +- modificators. So if there is shooter at a corner, target behind a 40 tons big truck with a half shiled icon position, the shooter can hit the target even if in 3D the bullet pass into the truck, as the rule means you can always hit soliders behind 20% or 40% covers. The only situation when when LOS is obstructed is, one full cover tile in between 2 other full cover tiles, or one single full cover tile strictly in line with the shooter. In the same manner is possible to flank one enemy, a covered enemy have a red alien icon as default, to avoid his cover having as result the yellow alien icon (which means target is out of cover) as ruleset you need to place your shooter past the imaginary orthogonal axis that is projected by the block giving the cover to the target. Im sorry if its not very clear maybe, im not english and im tryin the best i can. There are also specific rules to determine the cth and covers between shooter and target from different elevation zones (+20% hit being higher then target + modificators), and specific rules to determine how works the half covers and full covers in between, but not adjacent to the shooter and target we are considering. Basically this game is based on xcom as setting and basic mechanics, but its a lot different compared to most of the tbs as its absolutely not based to the LOS you can see on the screen to hit the targets, and guys this system works, its simple but very tactical. Told that this game imo is great, cause the target here i understood after some days of playing, its not to just adapt the old xcom with new graphics (which in case is something i expected too at start tbh), the target is its to have a new specific ruleset to possibly create a strategic E-sport. Hope that this one beside the review can help ppl to understand better the game as many bad scores are given cause a misunderstanding of how the game works. Collapse    … Expand
  66. Ninjastyle
    Oct 14, 2012
    3
    Whatever this game is it's not X-Com the tactical lvl of the entire game is lacking to say the least if you ever played any of the old X-Com game such as Ufo: Enemy Unkown, X-Com Terror from the Deep or even X-Com Apocalypse you'd realise just how terrible streamlined and dummed down this game is.

    To even call it X-Com is quite insulting.
  67. Phasmatis
    Oct 17, 2012
    4
    XCom can be summed up with one word. Stupid. Each of the games mechanics is incredibly stupid, satellites relays only let you use 2 satellites (so Viking Era computers), you units despite being the best of the best could be out gunned by the average gun owner, the aliens tactics are practically none existent and the only challenge the game poses is when it blatantly cheats by having youXCom can be summed up with one word. Stupid. Each of the games mechanics is incredibly stupid, satellites relays only let you use 2 satellites (so Viking Era computers), you units despite being the best of the best could be out gunned by the average gun owner, the aliens tactics are practically none existent and the only challenge the game poses is when it blatantly cheats by having you soldiers miss or have aliens pull off shots that you could only hope to pull off at the end of the game with the best equipment and in your dreams.

    Some of the mechanics actually do work like research and engineering but both leave you with few options and the only real challenge you will run into is running out of alloy or money which won't be awarded to you unless you have a satellite over a country.

    Strangely though I don't hate the game and have garnered much enjoyment from the title but the game ultimately leaves you feeling underwhelmed and disappointing and left me wanting to play the 50s remake as that looked more intelligent and enjoyable.    … Expand
  68. psycros
    Oct 15, 2012
    6
    The fact this game could have easily been done on a PSX3 (maybe even the PSX2) says a lot for its lack of tactical depth or content. The fact that its got far too many bugs (I sure *hope* their bugs) for a turn-based game says even more. From what I know of the original, this is at most "XCOM Lite" with five-year old graphics. It feels rushed and I'm afraid that much of the game wasThe fact this game could have easily been done on a PSX3 (maybe even the PSX2) says a lot for its lack of tactical depth or content. The fact that its got far too many bugs (I sure *hope* their bugs) for a turn-based game says even more. From what I know of the original, this is at most "XCOM Lite" with five-year old graphics. It feels rushed and I'm afraid that much of the game was held back as DLC - the next few weeks will surely tell. But the single biggest problem is the AI. Even on "easy" its no cakewalk, because the bugs are present regardless of difficulty level. These flaws give the AI ridiculous advantages, such as being able to target you when you can't target it back. I've lost count of the times a squad member was hit by multiple foes and when my turn came to fire I was greeted with "no targets available" - and the enemy hadn't moved an inch. Sometimes enemy grenades come through closed doors, which you can't see or shoot through. I've watched aliens move a full turn, shoot and wound one of my guys, then move another full turn and finish him off. The Floaters are particularly awful with their ability to jet-jump across half the level. Take away it cheats and the AI is still reasonably smart, but that seems due mostly to its omniscient knowledge of the battlefield. All the enemies are pre-placed at mission start, and don't move until you stumble upon them. You won't see them before they see you because there's no "sneak" ability in this remake. Even "overwatch" is a tactically kind of pointless because enemies can see everything at all times. In fact, there's virtually no tactical abilities to speak of beyond minor defense and offense buffs that would be more at home in World of Warcraft than XCOM. Even certain gear has been rendered pointless, like frag grenades, which only rob you of valuable salvage and do no more damage to most enemies than a weapon crit. You can only carry one anyway. Your characters have an incredibly limited gear loadout..I didn't play the original XCOM but surely you could have more than one offensive grenade, or a grenade AND some extra armor? There are also various oddities that have an ironic comedy value, like the random audio warnings your troops bellow out. "Their moving to flank!" as the enemy digs in, or "their pulling back" as the enemy rushes towards you - you'll laugh, you'll sigh, you'll reload your game. A lot. And that's another sore point because each time you load a game it takes a little longer than the time before, maxing out for me at around 50 seconds on a fast AMD system with an SSD and 8gb of RAM. The camera in multi-level structures seems to fight you much of the time, constantly jumping between levels for no apparent reason. I've also heard about issues with armor being removed from troops who've just returned to active duty after recovering from wounds. Most of the character dialog is 80's cartoon quality, although sometimes is rises above. The descriptions of the technologies you're researching are actually fairly believable near-future jargon: geeks shouldn't feel compelled to nitpick. I was disappointed in the complete lack of air battle renders, however, since every mission shows them repeatedly. Its also funny to land in Africa and be surrounded by American-looking cars and sort-of-English writing. A bit more variety in models and levels would have been a major immersion builder: I've seen five different environments in two dozen missions. Its not all bad news, though. XCOM succeeds in atmosphere - you can cut the tension with a laser cannon (esp. when you know how easily your people can die). There's real potential in this game, but it needs bugs squashed, more set dressing and a little more depth and a AI rebalancing. I'd definitely wait for the first major patch, which could well fix a lot of what's wrong with this title.… Expand
  69. ArchangelX
    Oct 15, 2012
    5
    Quite literally, this is X-Com Lite. It basically has taken every portion of the OG X-Com and watered it down to a super simplified level. Compared to games like JA2, Silent Storm, Fallout Tactics, etc...the tactics portion is laughably simplified. Tactics consist primarily of move, shoot...or just shoot. Some special techniques allow for a bit more variety, but with only twoQuite literally, this is X-Com Lite. It basically has taken every portion of the OG X-Com and watered it down to a super simplified level. Compared to games like JA2, Silent Storm, Fallout Tactics, etc...the tactics portion is laughably simplified. Tactics consist primarily of move, shoot...or just shoot. Some special techniques allow for a bit more variety, but with only two movement options, the game is severely limited. The LoS is simply RNG all the way, and cover is pretty much a joke. There is no true cover, it's just numbers. Aliens repeatedly shoot through cover, as well as drop in on you (floaters) even through solid objects like the roof. Although the original game had RNG, this game simply pores it on heavily.

    Instead of being a game about skill and tactics, it's simply a dice-rolling game. Flanking is broken in many ways, as well, and the UI is absolutely horrid for the PC.

    As mentioned, every other portion of the OG, has been taken, and watered down. The inventory system is a joke, you can only sell alien components and bodies without the ability to sell your useless old inventory. Many items for your craft are simply one-time affairs that you will need to continually produce to use. The Archive Research is very sparse and the item graphics are tiny and inconsequential.

    In fact, compared to the OG, this is simply a scripted, choose-your-own adventure. UFOs in the original game actually had purpose, you could track them, watch them setup bases, watch them supply them, watch them stage terror attacks if you killed too many ships, and actually had to worry about being attacked at your base. This new iteration leads you on a scripted path through the game that is simply not going to be able to provide the unlimited replay value of the original.

    Truthfully, this is a beautiful, hopped up version of X-Com with every single complexity watered down for a simple audience. When the preferred way to play on the PC is with a controller, you know what you can expect. It's a fun game...but it's nowhere near to being as good as the original.

    Very, very disappointing.    … Expand
  70. Barxalot
    Oct 15, 2012
    0
    Graphics:Console ...Tactics:None ... Strategy:None ... Excess Blood/Gore:Plenty ... Swearing/Cursing:Some ...Gameplay:Meh ... FUN:Nope ... I listened to all you people praising this 'reimagining'; there is NO imagination here. Buy at your own risk. Pros:XCOM in the title ... Cons:Everything else.
  71. Grimprospect
    Oct 14, 2012
    3
    XCOM is a tactical turn based shooter that prides itself on customization. The only problem is that if you didn't pre-order the game before hand they dumb down the customization aspect majorly. Without pre-ordering the game you have no way to customize your character's armor nor can you equip his helmet. These two things seem huge to leave out and they have no right to put it into a DLC later on.
  72. Diswin
    Oct 18, 2012
    4
    It is good game (as good any game in almost forgotten genre), but... it is not a "true" XCom. Another failed remake. Its more like xcom themed tactical jrpg. Simplified and shallowed. Size of squad is too small for serious tactical decisions. Flanking is pure rubbish in end-game: you cann't 1-shot most of enemies and it is a great risk to loss your own man. Grenades, combat drugs areIt is good game (as good any game in almost forgotten genre), but... it is not a "true" XCom. Another failed remake. Its more like xcom themed tactical jrpg. Simplified and shallowed. Size of squad is too small for serious tactical decisions. Flanking is pure rubbish in end-game: you cann't 1-shot most of enemies and it is a great risk to loss your own man. Grenades, combat drugs are pretty useless in end-game too, its boost is not enough for wasting single slot. Multi leveled combat now in past: there is only 2 floor "earth" and 1 level above earth, between them is clear air. RIP, our last hope for resurrection of turn-based tactic games. It is was vain hope.… Expand
  73. Bantha-Fodder
    Oct 16, 2012
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I like this game.

    But I can't help feeling that it should have been so much more. Had it not been hyped as a re-imagining of the original, beloved UFO: Enemy Unknown I probably wouldn't feel quite as let-down. As it stands, while there is much that is good about this game (I actually found myself warming to the smaller squad sizes in combat, despite this being one of my greatest initial concerns) there are nonetheless, many things that smack of a lack of effort

    I really do not like the new engineering and research model, through which I can only build laser rifles (for example) if I have the requisite minimum number of engineers on staff. Huh? I should be able to research or build stuff regardless of how many scientists or engineers I have! - just make it take longer to achieve results - like it did in the original. This in an unnecessary mechanic and an annoyingly artificial way of stunting the player's advancement.

    At a strategic level, it all feels very 'linear'. One of the best things about UFO was the way that - at the very least one had an impression of freedom.

    Combat is a mixed bag - it retains some of the suspense of the original and eliminates those annoying hunts-for-the-last-alien by including a nifty little feature which has your team sometimes getting a clue as to the enemy's location by having them hear movement during the alien turn. Yet it cannot be denied that it is hugely simplified. No inventories, set classes, no choice on the type of shot (auto, snap or aimed replaced by 'fire') and perhaps most importantly the character statistics which were so vitally important in the original appear to have been discarded entirely. The 'overwatch' read - opportunity fire - ability no longer relies on the character's reaction stat to determine if and when they fire during an alien's movement - they simply open fire.

    Getting read of action points/time units makes for a more fluid, fast-paced tactical experience but it also diminishes a lot of the scope for freedom. I do not like the fact that someone can move and fire while a character who stays put the entire turn can still only fire once. Then there are the problems others have mentioned such as only being able to fire at aliens. You cannot activate the 'fire' command unless there is a visible bad guy to shoot. What's the point of having a destructible environment if you can't wantonly blow it to pieces?!?!?

    Despite all this, as I said as the start, I do actually like this game. Whether that is a sad indictment of the dearth and quality of strategy titles available today or because it's a good title in its own right only time will tell.

    I'd give this a 7 if taken as a one-off but only a 4 if viewed as part of the UFO/XCOM family (so, yeah, a 5 overall - go figure).    … Expand
  74. mymyst
    Oct 14, 2012
    8
    As a fan of turnbased games I really appreciate this game. A very solid game overall. After all I just think that they wasted a lot of potential in this game, in terms of character progression, different level styles and tactical possibilities.
  75. redeux
    Nov 28, 2012
    5
    To keep this short: It was an interesting game and caught my attention pretty quickly at the start. I enjoyed playing through it but It's not the type of game where I personally would keep coming back to.
  76. HARALD
    Oct 13, 2012
    6
    This is a ok action game but its a poor xcom game.I played the game for many hours and felt that i never got to enjoy the game play, most of the reason was the camera whiche was very poorly implemented. But my biggest problem with this game was that combat got boaring the more i played. The maps where not scary, and lacked soul. If you are a pereson who like action i can recomend thisThis is a ok action game but its a poor xcom game.I played the game for many hours and felt that i never got to enjoy the game play, most of the reason was the camera whiche was very poorly implemented. But my biggest problem with this game was that combat got boaring the more i played. The maps where not scary, and lacked soul. If you are a pereson who like action i can recomend this game. But if you are looking for a grate turened based game, you will be very disappointed in this game.

    The constant chattering of the units get boring fast. The units dont represent the contry they are from. My chinees sniper is american im think og sending him on a solo misson to get rid of him. And that is also som of the problem for this game. Its to muche like an american action movie, and not a realy good one at that. If you are ufo fan youll need to play this game only to find out you dont like it. If you dont know xcom this might be a very good game for you.

    I am a huge x xom fan so xcom:enemy unkown gets 6/10    … Expand
  77. dkaizer
    Oct 23, 2012
    8
    After more than a decade of waiting, I must say that XCOM: Enemy Unknown managed to satisfy my palate. The graphics and art style look good and the gameplay although simplified, still made it fun. Especially liked the ability to customize your soldier right down to the nicknames. The armour, weapons and the way your soldier(s) moved made them look really badass!
    On the downside, the    After more than a decade of waiting, I must say that XCOM: Enemy Unknown managed to satisfy my palate. The graphics and art style look good and the gameplay although simplified, still made it fun. Especially liked the ability to customize your soldier right down to the nicknames. The armour, weapons and the way your soldier(s) moved made them look really badass!
    On the downside, the lackluster storyline and no aliens attacking your base brought this game down a notch. After the final cutscene, all I could do was go " That's it...?" I sincerely think the storyline and ending could have been better. Overall a good game, worth playing and worth every penny.    … Expand
  78. Tsorevitch
    Oct 14, 2012
    1
    This is not an X-com game at all - It is some strange table top wargame poorly translated to a video game.
    PC version is awful. Looks like the devs never even launched it on PC with a mouse+keyboard as a controller.
  79. Jossis
    Nov 18, 2013
    0
    This is not Xcom. Period. The only thing this piece has with the xcom series is by name and that's were it ends. I wouldn't give this to anyone except the trash can. If you've never played the original Xcom you'll probably like this. If you have Go look for Xenonauts its the best Xcom version out there to date.
  80. bluejay3463
    Oct 13, 2012
    6
    The game is heavily story based, and the story is completely linear and very short. After a couple of playthroughs you get pretty sick of the exact same story points occurring at the exact same. I have only played a few days and I have already memorized the exact course of actions needed to complete the story, because there are just not that many steps.

    This is made even worse by the    The game is heavily story based, and the story is completely linear and very short. After a couple of playthroughs you get pretty sick of the exact same story points occurring at the exact same. I have only played a few days and I have already memorized the exact course of actions needed to complete the story, because there are just not that many steps.

    This is made even worse by the fact that the story is heavily dependent on a sense of mystery, which is completely gone after the first playthrough.

    To add insult to injury, the line of site mechanics are junk, the enemies are omniscient and get a free turn when you get within about a mile of them, and both the enemies and your team can often shoot through several feet thick walls of alien alloy. Even the tactical combat aspect is not great.

    This game doesn't have the variety of game play mechanics that the first XCOM did, or that games like Civilization have. And the main story is much shorter than many of the good tactical RPG's like Final Fantasy Tactics or Valkyria Chronicles (much less variety in gear and abilities as well). The meta game is completely dumbed down. The entire thing plays like a tablet game.

    If the game had great tactical combat, a deep tech tree, a greater variety of abilities and gear, and more sophisticated finance / base management mechanics, you could ignore the repetitive story from game to game. But without those components story is too much a part of what value this game delivers and that is burnt out in the first playthrough. Overall its was not a bad attempt, but this is a mediocre game and definitely not the successor to the original XCOM.    … Expand
  81. Mordobb
    Nov 21, 2012
    6
    Visual execution is good. But as an Xcom remake it fails at many points. Many eyecandy and too few results, its clear someone in a high seat did not know WTF Xcom mindset should be. Waste of money player side and producer. 6 char limits give No way to have any tactic at all, and doesn t stand at all. Too small maps sometimes even corridors
    Too short reshearch = limited wprkshop options    Visual execution is good. But as an Xcom remake it fails at many points. Many eyecandy and too few results, its clear someone in a high seat did not know WTF Xcom mindset should be. Waste of money player side and producer. 6 char limits give No way to have any tactic at all, and doesn t stand at all. Too small maps sometimes even corridors
    Too short reshearch = limited wprkshop options too = limited tactics
    air and land "cavalry" ain t there.
    No replay value.

    If you know what i m talking about go see Xenonauts...i downloaded the demo after JA:bia failure and this Xcom, and finaly, even being alfa, someone seems to be knowing whats its doing.
    Too bad they haven t the funds this Xcom Has.    … Expand
  82. agcsy
    Oct 14, 2012
    4
    The XCOM: Enemy Unknown devs must love them some Gears of War. The combat is a carbon copy of GoW expanded to squad level. Find cover, engage, do an acrobatic vault over the cover, and repeat. Thankfully the cut scenes accompanying some of these moves can be disabled through the options. It became annoying very quickly being forced to watch a mini movie of my squaddies doing somethingThe XCOM: Enemy Unknown devs must love them some Gears of War. The combat is a carbon copy of GoW expanded to squad level. Find cover, engage, do an acrobatic vault over the cover, and repeat. Thankfully the cut scenes accompanying some of these moves can be disabled through the options. It became annoying very quickly being forced to watch a mini movie of my squaddies doing something mundane. Oh hey look at me! My squaddie would shout as he back flipped through the window next to the door I told him to go through.
    The copying of GoW combat is not what ruined this game for me though. What ruined it is the linearity and lack of player control. All the events and encounters feel scripted. Despite having max satellite coverage alien vessel detection seems to only occur when the story requires it. On the control front nothing is more frustrating than having 20 soldiers and being able to only deploy 6 at any given time. 3 terror attacks! Don    … Expand
  83. Sycharth
    Oct 17, 2012
    5
    I have bought the game as I am/was a huge fan of the original series and because I am an old school gamer (36 year old). I have obviously finished the game after playing furiously and I have this sensation of emptiness...
    Opinion:
    Short, easy and somewhat poor AI, because as the difficulty increases basically the AI cheats by lowering your % of hit on enemies. Very dumbed down version of    I have bought the game as I am/was a huge fan of the original series and because I am an old school gamer (36 year old). I have obviously finished the game after playing furiously and I have this sensation of emptiness...
    Opinion:
    Short, easy and somewhat poor AI, because as the difficulty increases basically the AI cheats by lowering your % of hit on enemies. Very dumbed down version of the original , mainly to suit mainstream console gameplay and as long as you have 6 guys in squad, anything combination works as the games is fairly linear. Also poor graphics on PC version. This is not 1999 anymore and we deserve better texture packs and a lot better quality on cutscenes.
    As mentioned before by other users, there is a script decided before every mission starts (after you launch it) on which all the hits and miss of your team have already been setup. You can save and load 1001 times and the results will be exactly the same. This is not strategy this is watching an interactive slideshow. They have just removed all the char stats from affecting the game and they are just there for cosmetic value.
    Despite all this still a fun game to play through on a weekend on normal difficulty, a week on classic and 10 years on Impossible :P
    Buy at your own risk (you will be disappointed if you played the original)    … Expand
  84. foolx
    Oct 18, 2012
    6
    So i was about to buy this game for the xbox 360. Thanks to a friend of mine, he lend me his pc-version to first test the game. Thanks!
    I would never ever pay 60
  85. Blackcat7k
    Oct 14, 2012
    7
    XCOM: Enemy Unknown Review

    I came in thinking that Firaxis was just giving us the original XCOM with a slick graphics upgrade. I was pleased and saddened by some of the changes to the original formula of the game. After finishing XCOM:Enemy Unknown on Classic I can say that Firaxis did a commendable job, but it is very apparent that much of the old gameplay that gave the original a    XCOM: Enemy Unknown Review

    I came in thinking that Firaxis was just giving us the original XCOM with a slick graphics upgrade. I was pleased and saddened by some of the changes to the original formula of the game. After finishing XCOM:Enemy Unknown on Classic I can say that Firaxis did a commendable job, but it is very apparent that much of the old gameplay that gave the original a tense, tactical feel was taken away in favor of a more streamlined approach. Graphics and Sound:

    The graphics have a feel that seems to fit the original look of the game. The special effects and sounds for the weapons fit the game very well and definitely sell the game. The switching camera angles can also invoke a sense of achievement or trepidation depending on if you're seeing one your soldiers gunning down an alien or a new deadly group of aliens coming into view. Sometimes enemies will appear to stand on thin air and there seem to be clipping issues with some flying enemies becoming stuck in ceilings and being completely invisible unless you blow the roof away. These aren    … Expand
  86. Deepestblue
    Oct 18, 2012
    6
    As a fan of the X-COM franchise I was all eager to get my hands onto this game finally. Long story short: If the (3D-)graphics wouldn't be so nice, this would be a major disappointment. In the traditional X-COM games I loved the variety of options I have, and the simplicity yet power of the user interface. In XCOM:Enemy Unknown on the other hand I feel extremely limited, up to the point ofAs a fan of the X-COM franchise I was all eager to get my hands onto this game finally. Long story short: If the (3D-)graphics wouldn't be so nice, this would be a major disappointment. In the traditional X-COM games I loved the variety of options I have, and the simplicity yet power of the user interface. In XCOM:Enemy Unknown on the other hand I feel extremely limited, up to the point of having the feeling that most of steps I have to make to be successful are pretty pre-defined (and not hard to figure out), e.g. order of research. The above mentioned user interface is clearly inferior to the traditional X-COM games: things are well hidden, you click too often, mouse- and keyboard-input are somewhat not streamlined (aparently optimized for gamepads rather). A consequence of both shortcomings is that I feel less attached to "my crew", "my station" and "my mission".

    Another - for me personally - really big downside is that simply destroying stuff (buildings, etc.) is happening far less and has far less strategical meaning than in the original games. Yes, it looks nicer, but in the old days you could really blow up an UFO from afar with 4 guys using rocket launchers if you wanted to. No more today.

    Don't get me wrong, XCOM: Enemy Unknown is not a bad game, but that is a consequence of the timeless game concepts. Sadly, Firaxis failed to pick up on the huge opportunity to bring this to the next generation - despite the very nice 3D-graphics everything else seems to have been cut down, simplified/banalized and not thought through.

    It will make you play it once with a lot of joy, but it will not make you love it for months and play it over and over again as the good old XCOM from 1983.    … Expand
  87. Spgsamuel
    Oct 7, 2013
    5
    at first i played it and it really sucked. its not x-com or aftershock or aftermath,

    once i came to terms with this i gave it a fair go, none expectationally like before. I started to have a really good time, soldier development is great. i really wanted them to live and they get really cool nicknames depending on their heroic encounters, kinda awesome. its full of awesomeness really.    at first i played it and it really sucked. its not x-com or aftershock or aftermath,

    once i came to terms with this i gave it a fair go, none expectationally like before. I started to have a really good time, soldier development is great. i really wanted them to live and they get really cool nicknames depending on their heroic encounters, kinda awesome. its full of awesomeness really.

    i did not notice the 'sucky AI' i never get gamers who demand perfection, like xcom had perfect AI it was easy to outsmart a grey with bug exploits etctec. its a freakin game you guys need to learn to use you imagination a little. i mean in a movie when captain fantastic goes all rubbery and wraps around dr doom you say wow that is so unrealistic that would never happen in real life, no you use a thing called initiative and try to accept that while a movie it has limitations and they rest is your problem.

    anyway like i said it was good. for mabey six hours... then i chuffing finished it.

    Ill never play it again theres nothing there... tooo play. i wish i hadnt bought it its kinda like a waste of time, dont get me wrong its good and fun when you commit. but them its over, poooof no replay value its more like a piece of junk, not xcom, good, but shorter than a fat guys appendage.

    Disapointing.    … Expand
  88. garlor
    Oct 11, 2012
    4
    the original xcom had MANY icons on screen when it was launched on pc, have you ever played a game with many icons on a console? prolly not

    that's the reason why this game is really weak compared to the original, they have simplified it for the mainstream player, and the beauty of the original was it's complexity and all the decisions you could take on combat, which now you can't
  89. NullReason
    Oct 18, 2012
    10
    Playing XCOM: Enemy Unknown is like sitting down for dinner with an old friend who appears to be doing very well for themselves, after all these years. You recognize them, and while you both have enough memories of the "good old days" for you to fall back on, there's enough new and interesting things going on in your friend's life to make for a memorable conversation. And then, when it'sPlaying XCOM: Enemy Unknown is like sitting down for dinner with an old friend who appears to be doing very well for themselves, after all these years. You recognize them, and while you both have enough memories of the "good old days" for you to fall back on, there's enough new and interesting things going on in your friend's life to make for a memorable conversation. And then, when it's all over, you begin to wonder why you ever lost touch all these years to begin with. 9.5/10 -- Solid execution, atmosphere, mechanics, and enough twists that this title isn't just a retread, it stands on its own two feet.… Expand
  90. Skulb
    Oct 28, 2012
    5
    Reworking a classic like X-Com is obviously gonna be a challenge. But the continuous failure of gaming companies to get the feeling of the two original games right is just amazing. Once more almost everything that made the original such a great game has been removed, and meaningless fluff has been added.
    The worst part is the incessant hand holding the game forces on you. Two hours into    Reworking a classic like X-Com is obviously gonna be a challenge. But the continuous failure of gaming companies to get the feeling of the two original games right is just amazing. Once more almost everything that made the original such a great game has been removed, and meaningless fluff has been added.
    The worst part is the incessant hand holding the game forces on you. Two hours into the game I`m still waiting to be allowed to choose for myself what to do in my base, but am being guided around as if I`m completely brain dead. In between all this insulting babysitting there are endless cut scenes with pointless dialogue, so that whenever you do try to explore your base you risk one of the uninteresting inhabitants giving you a dull explanation for why you can`t be where you clicked, complete with panning cameras. The whole experience in the base makes you wish there was some option to turn the entire guided experience off. It`s not as if you need to hear a single word being said by anybody anyway.

    The actual tactical game is so simplified it doesn`t even compare to the original game. No inventories, not enough space to really be tactical, poor camera controls and the endless loss of game controls as the camera pans around to give you that utterly meaningless "movie" feel. The first NPC encountered even insists on talking for about 5 seconds every turn while you sit and wait for her like a moron.

    Compared to this the original dropped you in at the deep end let you explore the game yourself. There were no cut scenes and endless droning dialogue to waste your time, and you had detailed base and tactical control. Why is it so impossible these days to just let players play the game on their own?
    Whatever merits this game has is totally lost in all this, at least for me. I`m sure members of the fluoride generation used to being treated as imbeciles will enjoy it, but for seasoned gamers it is unbearable.    … Expand
  91. Judge_Ice
    Oct 16, 2012
    7
    Cool game, but there is no way this deserves a 10. Way too little content in this game, with graphics relative simple it's seems a waste that there are so few locations. Overall the game feels rushed and buggy... On normal difficulty the game is also quite quick to complete even with everything researched and all environments played though several times. Fun but hardly AAA material.
  92. v1ctor
    Oct 18, 2012
    10
    Despite some minor issues like the consolized interface, XCOM Enemy Unknown is a worthy successor to the original XCOM game and one of the best strategy games I have played in a long time.
  93. Mudget
    Oct 17, 2012
    8
    Please consider my rating an 8.5 (I'm a big fan of the idea of adding .5's to this system, and am still a bit confused how an overall user score of 8.1 can come about with everyone forced to give x.0 ratings. But that's neither here nor there.)

    XCom: Enemy Unknown is a truly addicting gaming experience. Luckily (?) for this experience at least, I had not thoroughly played the original    Please consider my rating an 8.5 (I'm a big fan of the idea of adding .5's to this system, and am still a bit confused how an overall user score of 8.1 can come about with everyone forced to give x.0 ratings. But that's neither here nor there.)

    XCom: Enemy Unknown is a truly addicting gaming experience. Luckily (?) for this experience at least, I had not thoroughly played the original XCom back in the early 90's, so the lore of the game was new to me. Most of the negative reviews I've read are from people contrasting this game to the original. The game isn't without it's faults. There are some unusual bugs that pop up from time-to-time. A few have been very nearly game-killers (the inability to go through a door when the level has only one door you need to get your soldiers through, etc.) - but with so many firefight options (including later abilities to psionically control enemies) you can even get through the buggy levels. The other major negative I'd like to point out is the tedium that sets in after so many battles. One of the first things I'd like to see developed are new, more creative maps, because you do start seeing the same maps repeat over and over. While the levels are semi-random (you never really know where enemies or objectives are going to be located), the game play for any level is just the same. Locate the objective (usually a UFO to infiltrate, pedestrians to save, etc.), strategically place your soldiers in the most tactical positions, hunker down and shoot. What really makes this game for me is the building phase of the game. You are tasked with building facilities which allow you to construct new and varied weapons, armor, aircraft, satellites, and so forth. Your soldiers are constantly gaining experience with each fight, and although their skill trees aren't large (would love to see expansion here, too), it is ridiculously satisfying to level your crew up. With the ability to name and outfit them to your choosing, you really do feel like the CEO of a fighting machine. As such, you also become very invested with your troops, and when one drops in combat, it can be an emotional experience, because there are no reincarnations here. If a soldier dies, he dies for good. With that everlurking fear, how you strategically place troops on the battlefield becomes that much more important. You really do want to keep them alive. Watching a soldier fall who you've spent 20+ missions building up and training is excruciating, and can leave a serious hole in your roster. But crunch all you want, you'll build more! The graphics are really quite superb, I'm most impressed with the HQ build screen, a cut-away view of your facilities that is bustling with activity.

    Even as I became a bit bored with the gameplay, I just couldn't quit, and still haven't, the game is definitely replayable thanks to a lot of random factors built-in. It's been a while since I'd purchased a game that became a MUST play after a day of work. And it's been a while since I've been so enchanted by the way a game works that I'm already hungering for additional content. If you can play this without thinking "Oh, this is dumbed-down version of the original", then you're in for a real treat. Buy this game, it's one of the good ones.    … Expand
  94. AlphaRebel
    Oct 17, 2012
    8
    So here is a flawed gem.
    In so many ways true to the "spirit of the original" there *has* been dumbing down to streamline the gameplay (partly to cut down on 40 mins turns on the tactical map and massive complex infrastructure on the geoscape but clearly this has mostly been to fit the game on consoles) Gone are the big teams as sky ranger now only fits 6 (4 at start of the game) however    So here is a flawed gem.
    In so many ways true to the "spirit of the original" there *has* been dumbing down to streamline the gameplay (partly to cut down on 40 mins turns on the tactical map and massive complex infrastructure on the geoscape but clearly this has mostly been to fit the game on consoles) Gone are the big teams as sky ranger now only fits 6 (4 at start of the game) however the shiv tank is one slot now not 4, gone are having multiple bases worldwide although there are hangers for interceptors on each continent but only 1 skyranger at main base. Most of the soldiers stats are gone and AP's have been reduced to 2 (move and shoot, move and move or big move, there are some exceptions with the skill unlocks) And most of the toys have been locked into a soldier "class" speaking of which, the troops now are not general purpose grunts that have stats on every weapon type they are given classes early on which locks them into a weapon type (again less stats to worry about) and the inventory is locked in pre mission so if one of your guy drops (say your sniper) then no one else can pick up the sniper rifle.

    And then there are the bugs.... OH so many bugs, this game could have done with at least a couple of months of QA and bug squashing. There's bugs with nearly every aspect of the game, some are just cosmetic amusements like xbox control highlights showing up on base GUI when you are running in mouse only mode, some impact gameplay such as making it difficult to accurately select the right tile to order a soldier to inside a UFO with multiple levels (they have a tendency to jump over the wall I want them to hide about and stand in the open on the other side on the lower level) and the UFO roofs tend to come in and obscure stuff forcing a camera rotate to see what you are doing and then there are bugs that can break the game outright such as the first time I played multiplayer my mate started to chat to me in my turn and then I killed one of his guys and his chat box broke stopping him from doing ANYTHING thus ending what was turning out to be a great little match, oh dear.

    So why the high score? - Well the truth is the game is actually REALLY REALLY GOOD FUN!
    Yep, sure this game kind of makes the hardcore xcom fan in me rage a little that AP's are gone, the tactical was previously a "frightening foray into the unknown" and is now a chest high wall cover simulator (like playing a turn based gears of war) which sort of reduces it to a move here and cover creeping ambush style where as in the first xcom you would end up with a cluster**** of grunts all over the place trying to stay alive. So why is it so great? Difficult to pin down really, I mean on the technical side pacing is better, there is now genuine interaction with the environment (guys jump over walls, lean out around corners etc) and oddly enough the class based squad thing actually works (having spent so long with a mixed class team game like TF2 etc) and surprisingly enough although the inventory and multi role sides are gone out of the tactical side of the game it's actually LESS frustrating to play then the first (not sure at this point if that's just the 30 something me who is approaching it then the teenage me of the first game) as you get down to working with guys skills and abilities you have in the field.

    You don't spend so long micromanaging your base(s) and the geoscape which was once the nerve centre of the game where you moved it round to select bases ufo's and missions is now a "click here for next event" button, that said there's still a robust tech tree to research, the usual autopsies and interrogations are present and correct and you still have to balance your finances between costs, expansion and getting new toys for your guys.
    Base building is quite interesting with adjacency bonuses forcing you to plan your base layout instead of just plonking anything anywhere and you have quite a lot of choice even if it's just a single base. Overall I can see where the die hard fans of the original game might be a little upset the changes that have been made make the game much more accessible to a larger demographic and by and large it actually pays off.
    I'm a real fan of the original but I for one am not disappointed in the game (apart from the bugs which I hope get patched out) - those that want to retread the original game with fancy graphics are served with the open source UFO AI game (also built on the unreal engine) which is also a great game and the contrasts are interesting to see as that game in a lot of ways is truer to the original XCOM then this is.    … Expand
  95. zeninsight
    Oct 14, 2012
    7
    playing this game is like drinking whiskey with too much ice cube... you know it is whiskey, its smell like whiskey, but the taste is dilluted by water.. played in classic difficulty and finish it in 2 days (around 20 game play) i've played original x-com back in the 90's..and of course i got high expectation on this version.. while graphic is good, the gameplay somewhat roughly similiar..playing this game is like drinking whiskey with too much ice cube... you know it is whiskey, its smell like whiskey, but the taste is dilluted by water.. played in classic difficulty and finish it in 2 days (around 20 game play) i've played original x-com back in the 90's..and of course i got high expectation on this version.. while graphic is good, the gameplay somewhat roughly similiar.. it less some of the features that make xcom is uniquely xcom such as : limited role for all item, aliens research material, no artwork for the alien image which i think they should have because its cool, ground combat became so linear basically just run ahead and shot whatever alien you encounter (compared the exploration of the old game), no research material regarding alien motive and purpose (the old xcom you will research UFO type, capture several alien commanders, to slowly reveal their movites and purpose of the atacks,) pace of game is to fast (dont think its logically possible to research all alien technology, reverse engineerd and kill the alien boss mereley under 1 year, human is not that genious!!).. to sum it up.. although the game still fun to play.. but its a simpler version of UFO and wouldnt be able to capture the original game greatness.. good effort but too bad.. they could make it much more better… Expand
  96. Cris
    Oct 16, 2012
    7
    Lost points for:
    1. Excessive bugs
    2. Over-simplification of key features 3. Purely arbitrary nonsense Unfortunately the game released with a slew of graphics bugs, and more importantly game altering/affecting bugs like randomly appearing aliens. The occasional glitch on release is fine, but in this case playing a mission without noticing a graphics glitch is almost impossible. The    Lost points for:
    1. Excessive bugs
    2. Over-simplification of key features 3. Purely arbitrary nonsense

    Unfortunately the game released with a slew of graphics bugs, and more importantly game altering/affecting bugs like randomly appearing aliens. The occasional glitch on release is fine, but in this case playing a mission without noticing a graphics glitch is almost impossible.

    The biggest problem for me comes from the over simplification of key aspects that made the original XCOM games interesting. Let me start off by saying that I fully agree that managing 20 soldiers per squad was tedious, and the game benefited from streamlining in that sense, BUT, and this a big but, they ended up taking way too much off the top. You're hard limited to a squad of 6 members and one squad only, these soldiers have zero inventory, they just simply have the items they can equip and nothing else.

    Ammo doesn't need to be managed, grenades and other usable items are an "X uses per combat" deal and skills are simply cooldown based. Pointless weapon restrictions also exist and for some reason my Sniper cannot equip an assault rifle even though they had no problem using one before they became a sniper, the heavy weapons class also has this pointless restriction but for some reason the other two classes do not. While you can swap people in and out of your squad before the start of a mission, you cannot create pre-set squads either. All soldiers can be fully customized and the only unique thing about them is the flag on their backs, all males share the same body type and females have the exact same problem, no variations exist in height and for that matter the voices all sound the same as well.

    Another big problem that ties into this is that it's not possible to have more than one squad or respond to more than one event at the same time, to me this is a huge issue, especially since the rewards are the exact same every single time, even near the end of the game, 200 currency, 4 scientists, or 4 engineers and sometimes a squad member. This results in being almost forced pick the region that's in most panic as the mission you handle because the rewards basically suck and there's no incentive to take 200 currency over the loss of a country's support on the council. So this begs the question of why the game was dumbed down so much that you can't build multiple dropships, have multiple squads and respond to multiple attack/abduction sites at once?

    This, coupled with stupid and often times arbitrary things like the previously mentioned weapon restrictions, really hurt the games sense of freedom and depth of strategy. For example, if I am going to assault a landed UFO I know that most of the fighting will be close range, high mobility fighting with limited field of vision. I have two options, take a sniper who will be pretty useless, or swap the sniper out for another character. Neither of these is particularly appealing to me, instead I'd like to be able to just equip my sniper with an assault rifle or a shotgun and use them that way but I can't. Or better yet, why can't I have both? If I give up enough inventory space and other things there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to carry a sniper rifle with 10 bullets and an assault rifle with 90. Sure I wouldn't have grenades, a medkit, a pistol, a rocket launcher or infinite ammo, but I could customize the soldier to be what I want them to be. Unfortunately this extends further into combat, hit %s are very random and you honestly shouldn't base your decision to shoot on it, I've hit plenty of 25% shots and missed plenty of 90%s. The only way to be sure that you don't miss is to get 100% hit chance and this isn't realistically possible in most scenarios so missions boil down to finding cover and abusing the hell out of Overwatch which is essentially a guard/interrupt feature. On the same topic, cover itself is random in effectiveness and ranges from grossly overpowered to completely useless, I've had characters killed through full cover before and I'm not convinced that this was due to a bug but rather just how cover is intended to work, so the only surefire way to survive is to load up on hitpoints/medkits and kill the aliens before they kill you. That being said you WILL die in long drawn out battles regardless of how smart you play, the computer simply has higher damage/accuracy values than you can ever hope to see, moreso they're almost impossible to flank thanks to a stupid "introduction" mechanic that happens every single time an alien comes into view for the first time. This gives the aliens instant control of the game and lets them move to cover which is a complete joke.

    Overall not a bad game, but if you're looking for an authentic XCOM or TBS feel, it might be better to skip it, there is no way this game 10/10 like the fanboy reviews claim but it's certainly not 4/10 either.    … Expand
  97. ChoicestGames
    Jul 14, 2013
    8
    While there have been quite a few changes made to the original game UFO: Enemy Unknown (besides the obvious such as graphics and audio) they aren't so severe as to distance the game from its core mechanics which involves building a base, intercepting UFOs, training up your team and turning alien technology against them. Veterans of the series should still find this game fun and theWhile there have been quite a few changes made to the original game UFO: Enemy Unknown (besides the obvious such as graphics and audio) they aren't so severe as to distance the game from its core mechanics which involves building a base, intercepting UFOs, training up your team and turning alien technology against them. Veterans of the series should still find this game fun and the streamlined gameplay will attract younger strategy gamers to the turn-based tactics genre.… Expand
  98. MustisTheCat
    May 10, 2013
    9
    A clever game for gamers that seek a challenge. It has a mediocre tutorial that does not fulfill its role, so the learning curve is steep and at the first walthrough you will be learning by mistakes unfortunately. If you are new to XCOM series you will like it more than the veterans, because this game is a much dumbed cousin of its elders. The game is quite addicting thanks to someA clever game for gamers that seek a challenge. It has a mediocre tutorial that does not fulfill its role, so the learning curve is steep and at the first walthrough you will be learning by mistakes unfortunately. If you are new to XCOM series you will like it more than the veterans, because this game is a much dumbed cousin of its elders. The game is quite addicting thanks to some RPG/RTS elements. The deeper you go the more new stuff you discover and new weapons. Other times the missions are nearly impossible to accomplish because you for example get thrown with little to no cover into a swarm of bazooka wielding giants. The natural part of the frustration is losing your men (and women heh) other times you will have to sacrifice newbies to get a clear shot for the captain. The game can be really hard even at normal difficulty setting so much so that if you`re new to this I highly recommend not selecting a higher setting than normal. The maps are fairly varied, not too much but just enough to keep going forward. There are also a few mission types, honestly here I was dissapointed. Overall the campaign is good, it proceeds just when it is about to get stale. Some strategy and thinking is required. I played 33hours to get through the whole thing, which is a huge number for a game nowadays. Moreso, the game is built the way that makes you want to beat it at least twice, because the first time you did not know the whole set of rules. Gaphics and music is okay. Overall lots of gameplay for this price so a 8.6 out of 10.… Expand
  99. EddyHan
    Oct 30, 2012
    7
    Back in the day, I was a huge XCOM fan! I played UFO, Terror from the Deep, Apocalypse and even Interceptor. And now I've played XCOM: Enemy Unknown which I must say, was what I hoped for, but what I really wanted was for this game to blow me out of the water! First off, the graphics are sweet and the level of destruction in this game is immense. The music and sound effects works with theBack in the day, I was a huge XCOM fan! I played UFO, Terror from the Deep, Apocalypse and even Interceptor. And now I've played XCOM: Enemy Unknown which I must say, was what I hoped for, but what I really wanted was for this game to blow me out of the water! First off, the graphics are sweet and the level of destruction in this game is immense. The music and sound effects works with the eerie environment and visually hearing alien movement can help a lot especially when breaching a room. The only downfall in this game is that being a turn based strategy game, there isn't a lot of strategy! XCOM: EU has been dubbed down a lot. It's all move to cover, move to higher ground and even then your rookies get hit even in full cover! The major problem I find is that the shooting is all predicted whether it hits or misses when it clearly hits it's target. Another problem is that the overall accuracy is not improved if you move closer to your target, in fact snipers on high ground can still miss a lot which seems wrong. A tactical advantage SHOULD be an advantage. This game is still quite fun to play, but it is nowhere near as good as the original games. If this game was made with PC gamers in mind, then we would be looking at a 9/10 or even a 10/10. Let's pray that there will be mods that will turn XCOM: EU into a real strategy game rather than a watered down roulette game.… Expand
  100. drSpockwa
    Jun 7, 2013
    9
    It brings back a lot of memories from the original XCOM, but so much better. Turn based strategy has always been my favorite type of game. They did a wonderful job updating the game play with an easy to understand and use interface. The graphics look good, not the greatest but sufficient. I had two occurrences of crash to desktop in my 40 hour play through. I'd suggest turning on autoIt brings back a lot of memories from the original XCOM, but so much better. Turn based strategy has always been my favorite type of game. They did a wonderful job updating the game play with an easy to understand and use interface. The graphics look good, not the greatest but sufficient. I had two occurrences of crash to desktop in my 40 hour play through. I'd suggest turning on auto saves, but you'll want that anyway for when you make a poor decision and send a soldier too far ahead and he gets killed. The ending was good, the cut scenes were well done. The only thing I missed from the original was that you can't pick up equipment from fallen/incapped soldiers. So if your guy with the health kit goes down, he's gonna die unless you finish the mission quick. Well done Firaxis! I enjoyed this a lot.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

7
#7 Best PC Game of 2012
11
#11 Most Discussed PC Game of 2012
8
#8 Most Shared PC Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
89

Generally favorable reviews - based on 57 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 56 out of 57
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 57
  3. Negative: 0 out of 57
  1. PC Master (Greece)
    Feb 6, 2013
    88
    Is it better than the original? No. One can’t imagine X-Com 2012 being an all-time-classic and people still playing with it, months from now (let alone, years). Is it a ‘true’ X-Com game, however? Definitely. Remorseless geeks are in for shivers and swoons when they meet their beloved foes: mind-controlling sectoids, zombifying Chrysalids, Cyberdisks, Ethereals… [December 2012]
  2. Armchair Empire
    Dec 18, 2012
    95
    XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a worthy tribute to its progenitor and hopefully the start of something brand new for players who've been dying to get a good squad-based strategy game that lets them not only think, but feel as well.
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  3. Hyper Magazine
    Nov 14, 2012
    90
    Amazing tactical complexity, satisfying strategic depth; slightly dodgy ending, but your own stories are more important anyway. A modern classic.
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