XCOM: Enemy Unknown review

Tracing its roots back to 1994’s UFO: Enemy Unknown, this year’s XCOM reboots the long-running series with its blend of turn-based combat and strategic base building. Defending the earth from alien invaders is probably the most hackneyed game plot there is, but the Roswell-style greys and flying saucers are firmly tongue in cheek.

As commander of XCOM, a secret organisation set up to protect the planet from just such threats, you have control over a sprawling underground base, a handful of aircraft and a small, but effective, squad of soldiers. All of this is bankrolled by Earth’s major nations – who are surprisingly stingy given the xenomorph threat facing the planet.

INVASION EARTH

Alien attacks frequently occur simultaneously at multiple points, forcing you to decide where your lone squad will intervene. Defending the planet keeps your paymasters on side, gives your squad combat experience and unlocks alien technology which can be researched to provide better weapons and equipment for your team.

Your arsenal is limited at first, with just a few bog-standard rifles for your band of raw recruits. As they gain experience, they specialise into assault troopers, snipers and other classes which have access to special weapons. You’ll quickly have a pool of around 10 to choose from, with up to six able to participate in a mission at once.

Your squad can be specialised through their kit and abilities

MARS ATTACKS!

Combat is turn-based, but highly streamlined, so you can whizz through complex firefights at quite a pace. Basic soldiers can move and shoot, or move twice, though special abilities allow for greater strategy – assault troops can still shoot after moving twice and heavy weapon specialists can shoot multiple times. Movement is a one-click affair, with no fiddly action points to worry about.

Cover is incredibly important in keeping your troops alive. Thankfully it’s made clear whether you are moving into good, partial, or no cover. Less clear is whether you will have line-of-sight to your opponent from your destination, which can be frustrating at times.

When shooting you get a percentage chance to hit, a maximum damage and a critical hit possibility. These are based on your elevation compared to the target and its cover. You’re only guaranteed a hit at point-blank range, otherwise you’ll have to settle for tipping the odds in your favour. Alternatively you can go into overwatch and take a reaction shot against a moving enemy during its turn – handy for covering advancing troops.

Battles start simply enough, but with more advanced kit and tougher enemies they become pretty hectic. Ammo has to be managed, with a poorly-timed reload spelling doom, plus there are grenades and rocket launchers to play with too – these can quickly destroy cover, exposing the enemy or creating shortcuts across the map. Combine this with psionic abilities, a varied range of foes and multi-level battlefields and there’s plenty here to get you thinking. The missions themselves could use a little more variety though, with only three main types.

Our squad takes cover while assaulting an enemy ship

Although not up to the same high standards as most modern shooters, XCOM’s presentation is well ahead of most strategy games. Your squad and their foes all look the part, and move smoothly across the multi-layered and detailed battlefields. Key personnel are nicely characterised and voice acted, while beautifully animated cut scenes highlight key points in your campaign.

ALL YOUR BASE …

Once you’ve vanquished your alien foes, then it’s back to base with your bounty. Any new alien species slain will need to undergo autopsies, while captured equipment can help towards research. Your science team does research and your engineers build new goodies – both teams need to be strengthened with manpower donated by grateful countries.

The base itself has to be expanded as you progress. New areas must be excavated and power sources built to support your ever-growing needs. You also have a satellite grid that can be expanded to spot UFOs and let you go on the offensive. Your hangar contains interceptor craft that can be sent to shoot down approaching enemies, allowing your squad to raid the crash site. You don’t get to fly the interceptors, but they will need weapon upgrades to be successful.

The XCOM base must be physically expanded to increase your capabilities

It’s the interplay between what you do on the battlefield and what you do at your base that has always made the XCOM series. Use too many explosives and there will be nothing left to bring home, but risk getting close enough to Taser a weakened alien and you’ll be able to interrogate them later. Wounded squad members will be out of action for many days, missing subsequent missions, and the death of a veteran can seriously hamper future battles.

Although the individual encounters are randomly generated, there’s a definite narrative structure to the game – which is identical on further playthroughs. We don’t want to spoil the highlights of the plot, but there’s enough here to break up what could otherwise become routine.

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

On normal difficulty we found the initially-challenging combat became a tad too easy by the latter stages of the game – if you take the time to be cautious. That said, it’s still highly enjoyable throughout, and after our first playthrough there were lots of avenues we hadn’t explored and tactics we hadn’t tried, so another game on a higher difficulty looks to be rewarding. It’s the best turn-based combat game we’ve played in years, and one that should appeal to a far wider audience than more hardcore offerings.