XCOM: Enemy Unknown (2012)

[Art Blade]

Click here to follow me on my new playthrough with the DLC "Enemy Within" :)

Here three more pics about the end of this game. It's the temple ship that I blew up  :-D

Big bugger hovering over the sea
[smg id=6633 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM temple ship 1"]

Getting away from the surface..
[smg id=6634 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM temple ship 2"]

..and blowing that ship up  >:D That's how you sacrifice your "volunteer."  :-()
[smg id=6635 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM temple ship 3"]

[fragger]

Thanks for the pics and info Art :) :-X

[Art Blade]

very welcome  :)

I might add that this game definitely offers a great replay value.

Many of the things are randomised and only few remain the same. For instance, at the start of the game, you may choose to enable an option that grants randomised stats of your soldiers on promotion. That means, a) you'll never know which of the stats such as will, aim and health are going to be randomised (sometimes all three) and b) to which amount. If you like, you can "save-scum" (reload a savegame in which you are about to fire the last shot, can be one of three sequential autosaves the game keeps producing and overriding or a manual save or a quicksave which you keep overriding) and hope for a better result when you return to base. Like that, I got my green Heavy "Nero" with an absolute mega will of 143 (normal would be around 80-90) or my blue Sniper ("The Aim") with 132 aim. Even if you don't save-scum you'll get random values and some can be pretty nice. Then there is that skill tree how you specialise your soldiers, each class has different skills and usually you can choose between two options every time you rank up so you can create soldiers with attributes that best suit your gaming style. In other words, you can create one defensive Assault and another Assault that will be a crit monster (goes up close and personal and does a hell of a lot of critical hits) and so forth.

Excellent  :)

[fragger]

 :-X

[Binnatics]

Very nice indeed. I saw you had a pretty amazing score for a first playthrough; No countries and no men lost, no battles lost, actually a perfect playthrough :)
That deserves a pat on the back +1 :-X ;)

Now time for a higher difficulty level? :-D

[Art Blade]

Thank you, Binnatics :)

Considering that it was my absolute FIRST turn-based strategy game EVER, the result wasn't all too shabby indeed  :-D I was very careful and thoughtful and even afraid (of losing my "men") that I took my sweet time completing it although I did rush it in the end. I didn't wait for missions that would reward me with ethereal corpses so I could craft mind shields and I skipped building some weapons for battle robots called SHIVs because I didn't use those.

And yes, I can imagine playing it on a bit less easy difficulty level but not now.

Now I'm new to the DLC that has LOADS of new stuff to offer which I would really like to see as much of as I possibly can while playing. Which means, another easy playthrough, this time of Enemy Within. I already know that I want to play through Enemy Unknown again and it is highly probable that I'm going to want to do the same with Enemy Within..

Once I feel safe and secure enough -- experienced, that is -- and once I know the details of the game I might seek a different challenge and up the difficulty level. In the end it is me who wants to have fun with the game and if that means "easy" it will be easy even if you lot wanted to see me play on a suicidal Impossible Ironman difficulty  :-D It took more than a decade for me to play a game on harder let alone hardest difficulty level. I used to play single player on easy AND cheat (only SP) my way through games. A game has to be really cool and well-balanced to sucker me into higher difficulty levels and to prevent me from wanting to cheat. It was the case with FC3 coop, I keep playing it on "insane" -- a game that I have played many, many times and I evolved to playing at the highest difficulty level.

As to XCOM, I am not yet totally comfortable with it. I did some so called save-scumming just to see how far I could push the stats (like 143 will and 132 aim) and I did revert to a savegame a couple of times to prevent a complete disaster (I once stumbled into hidden enemies and activated like 8 of them simultaneously, like a blind man walking across a floor covered with mouse traps, I triggered them all -- at once. Stuff like that. It always happened when I started to feel overconfident and wham, no-no, oh god.. so I learned to play more careful but without the consequences of a real f@#k-up that would have occurred without savegames ;)

Anyway. I love this game, man  :) :-X

[Binnatics]

Sure thing :) :-X

[PZ]

Great report, AB!  :-X +1

[Art Blade]

Oh, thank you, PZ :)

[Art Blade]

Alright, back to basics.. second playthrough on EU in progress  :-()

This time I upped the difficulty from easy to normal and I've already noticed the difference. I also refrain from save-scumming which I had used to get maximum stats for my soldiers. This game is SO unforgiving that at times it was already difficult on easy. Now, on normal, I keep a steady supply of soldiers in my infirmary as they DO tend to return injured.

Additionally, I got the "Slingshot" DLC going which adds three new missions and additional customisations. I love this game  :)

Here is the new character Zhang, in the background..
[smg id=6734 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM 2ndPT slingshot 01"]
..who then joins my unit. Note some of the new customisations (the DLC contains quite a few new hats and armour changes)
[smg id=6735 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM 2ndPT slingshot 02"]

[Art Blade]

OK, finished the other two Slingshot missions. The first one took place in a graveyard somewhere in Chongqing, China, which was about exfiltrating Zhang from China. The second took place in a railway station in Beijing, China, and was about prepping a train in order to mislead, literally, an alien space battleship. The last mission was in Shanghai, China, on said battleship and you could see the city down below and slowly pass by while helicopters were buzzing around, great atmosphere.

The missions are great and the last one is rather difficult. The reward, however, is a very early ability to research and then access a fusion blaster rocket launcher for the Heavy class. Usually (erm, during my so far only two complete playthroughs including Enemy Within) I get those launchers towards the very end of the game.  :-X

Here a few impressions. :) Oh and check the comment in the last pic (top right corner)  :-()
[smg id=6736 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM 2ndPT slingshot 03"]
[smg id=6737 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM 2ndPT slingshot 04"]
[smg id=6738 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM 2ndPT slingshot 05"]
[smg id=6739 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM 2ndPT slingshot 06"]
[smg id=6740 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM 2ndPT slingshot 07"]

[Binnatics]

I like that sniper ray. Excellent  :-X 8)

[PZ]

I like that sniper ray. Excellent  :-X 8)

x2 - I wish I had something like that in B4  :-()

[Art Blade]

Done. :)

I played on "normal" this time and that was quite a bit harder than on easy. In a way that made me a bit wary of the aliens levelling up to a point that it might get a little tough fighting through hordes of those so I decided to take my chances and fight them very early and very decisively even though I hadn't yet reached my own full potential. So I went in and raided their base and fought their overseer UFO and even dealt the final blow to their templeship while I was either lacking fully upgraded weapons or, in the final battle, didn't have every soldier on my team levelled up to colonel. Also, I only had ONE psionic soldier and made her the volunteer. Sod testing everyone. Sod buying loads of new recruits. Take what you've got and go for it, just play carefully, that's what I thought and did. And here goes:

Proper base management.
[smg id=6742 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM 2ndPT final base management"]
See, there is one captain, two ranks below colonel. Yet he did great  :) And I had two soldiers named "Karlsen" in my unit and on my team, they were both Norwegians, so I considered them sisters. Which was nice, I usually had at least one of them on every mission :) The pink one was the gifted one and therefore the volunteer, too. ;)
[smg id=6743 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM 2ndPT final team"]
lol, almost three times as fast as during my first time and twice as fast as "the world" on average :-()
[smg id=6744 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM 2ndPT victory"]
Let's compare.

OK, finished it (without waiting for the mind shield) -- what a great game.

Some of the stats are compared with the world's total and some with the world's average, it seems.
[smg id=6629 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM victory"]

I think those strange world scores are not a total but cheated stats. There are stats that show that the "world" has got nearly a hundred thousand scientists while I had only 81 and so forth. Well.

However, I am pleased that I made it on a harder difficulty yet still without losing any soldier or country  :)

[Art Blade]

Continue reading here as I am now starting my fourth playthrough which is my second at Enemy Within, playing on Classic difficulty level.  ??? :-()

[PZ]

Impressive win/loss ratio  :-X

[Art Blade]

cheers :) That is likely to change with the new PT on Classic difficulty, though.

[Binnatics]

Interesting stats, and indeed something to be proud of. I was curious whether the amount of battles you play is determined by the way you wish to fight the enemy. Since you have 27 less battles won and 1 country less funding... That makes the game even more complex I guess. Will continue to read about the classic difficulty right away :)

[fragger]

Earlier this year Art very kindly made me a birthday present of XCOM: Enemy Unknown on Steam, and I've finally gotten around to downloading it. As you may recall I had all kinds of hassles around that time with w@&k and having to move, then I had probs getting my internet sorted out, all of which contributed to the delay in my getting into the game. It's worked out for the best though as I now have a very speedy connection and a generous monthly data allocation, and so...

I'm only a little ways into the game, playing on Easy while I get the hang. I think that this will be quite an engrossing game to play. I've only done a few missions so far. I didn't realise that this game was produced by Firaxis, Sid Meier's company which also produces Civilization V. These folks are pretty good at creating interesting turn-based strategy games (er - we'll conveniently forget about Civ: Beyond Earth and pretend that never happened, OK? :-())

XCOM is a fun game with lots of strategy options, excellent graphics and an imaginative approach to play-area design. Despite coming from the same company that made Civ it's an utterly different kind of game - the only thing they have in common is turn-based gameplay. XCOM plays on several different strategic levels, it's not simply about sending a squad of soldiers in to do missions. There are also choices to be made about how you develop your technology, set up your base and so on. Thought too needs to go into how you equip your soldiers, and how you use them in missions. It appears that you really do need to w@&k them as a team to get the best results.

I can't say too much yet as I'm only a tiny fraction of the way in, but I really like what I've seen so far :-X

[PZ]

Nice  :-X

Enjoy, fragger  ^-^

[Art Blade]

fragger me old China..I'd say it's about bloody time now, isn't it?  :-D Looking forward to your upcoming reports :)

(er - we'll conveniently forget about Civ: Beyond Earth and pretend that never happened, OK? :-())

LOL

[fragger]

OK, impressions thus far:

I'm finding this to be a very cool game and I'm enjoying it more and more (it's also another Firaxis time-dilator - I can't believe I just played for four hours). There's a possibility I may start over again before I get through the current game as I could have done things better, but that's what first-time plays are for :-() I've lost a couple of good soldiers and Brazil has dropped out of the program, with Argentina well getting ready to follow (don't cry for me, because I ain't crying for you >:D) If too many funding countries turn their backs on the XCOM project and drop out (i.e. you don't do enough to protect them from the alien threat), you lose the game. I should have concentrated on getting more satellites up earlier - this seems to be a key element to success as far as I can tell. I'll have to see if I can recover the situation, if I haven't stuffed things up too much to save poor old Earth...

I know Art has already covered a lot in this topic, but I'll add my two bob's worth anyway (actually it's late at night here and I don't feel like going through all the preceding posts right now :-() I will though as Art has posted lots and lots of helpful stuff here). The game works on many strategic levels: building up and maintaining your base of operations (which is like a whole game in itself), directing research and production, getting sufficient satellite coverage into orbit, managing your aerial defences, and of course taking a squad in to carry out missions in the field. This is my favourite part of the game, and I'm getting better at it now that I have more of an understanding of how things w@&k. There is a good range of tactical options and you can customize your soldiers to quite an extent. Learning how to utilize your soldiers' various skills to best benefit the squad's overall performance takes some time and practice. But this is the beauty of a turn-based tactical game - having the time to think things through and plan. Rushing in helter-skelter with guns a-blazing will likely win you nothing more than a cemetery full of dead soldiers. Sound tactics and planning will pay off.

I find myself getting quite attached to my squad members and it's actually a bit of a wrench when you lose one. I somehow managed to lose my one and only sniper, who had made it all the way up to Captain - bummer. Another squad member got herself bumped up to sniper class later on though. Snipers make a big difference in combat, especially if you can get them into a good vantage point.

The graphics are excellent, and for once I can run a game at 1920x1080px with everything maxed out. There's a nice "fog of war" system in the field mission game and the soldier animations are well done, as are environment effects like smoke, fire and running water. Artwork and level design is really nice to look at, and is a bit reminiscent of games like Syndicate and Crusader: No Remorse. I like the isometric-style view of the battle area, which can be zoomed and rotated in 1/4 increments, so you can view the area from four different angles, plus you can move the view "up and down" which will allow you to switch between say the roof of a building and its interior. This is all useful for getting the hang of the mission area layout. Some of the levels can be complex, yet the display never looks cluttered or gets confusing. Whenever a soldier fires, the view automatically zooms in and around to give you an "over-the-shoulder" view of the soldier shooting at the target. Very nice technique. The user interface is excellent and intuitive. Sounds and ambience are great, although the voice acting (what there is of it) is of the usual "read your lines" videogame quality. But this isn't exactly a character-driven game so it's not like it matters. It's good enough for this.

I meant to take some screenies but forgot to, so I grabbed this one just before I quit for the night. This shows part of my underground base, in a kind of cross-section view:

[smg id=8186 align=center width=600]

This view scrolls left/right and up/down and reflects the way you've configured your base facilities in relation to one another. The scrolling is very smooth, and the view perspective changes three-dimensionally as you scroll. It's a very nice effect.

Where the base facilities are built in relation to one another is important. Some, like power plants and satellite uplinks, will yield additional benefits if they're built adjacent to each other. There are limited "slots" available for new facilities (28 in total - seven across and four deep, with the central column of four spaces reserved for your access lifts, which also need to be built as you expand your base downwards) so some thought has to go into where facilities are, or will be, positioned. Major structures like the Hanger, Mission Control, Barracks, Engineering, Research Lab and the Situation Room are already in place when you start - these don't take up any of the vacant facility slots, which are all located further down. All other facilities must be built by you and this of course costs money (and takes time), so you have to carefully manage not only your finances and facility locations but also your game time. You also need to ensure your base is sufficiently staffed with scientists and engineers for research and manufacturing, and of course you'll need to make sure you have enough soldiers enlisted.

One strategic aspect I like is choosing a squad for a mission. Do I send in my top-shelf troops, or do I mix them up with some rookies in order for the newbies to get some experience, which counts toward promotions and the subsequent special abilities? Who will I load up with which weapons/equipment? If a mission isn't too difficult (they're rated in terms of difficulty) it might pay to send in a complete rookie team to get their experience level up. Sending in the best guys gives a better chance of mission success, but then there's the risk of losing them when I might really need their experience later on. Decisions, decisions...

OK, enough for now. I'm enjoying the game quite a lot. Nice w@&k, Firaxis :-X I don't know whether it will come to have the same long-term hold over me as Civ V, but I can see that there will definitely be replay value since certain game aspects are randomized with each new playthrough. I will definitely be playing more than once.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, there was a joke in the game at one point. While I was looking over my base, I heard a PA-type voice announce that reports had reached XCOM from overseas about someone named "Straker" and an associated secretive cadre of people called "Shado operatives". This is a reference to the British TV series UFO of the late sixties/early seventies, which I talked about elsewhere a couple of years ago. That gave me a bit of a chuckle :-()

[Art Blade]

nice post, fragger +1 :-X :)

I am glad that you enjoy this game and you know that I was already sure of it way back when I played it. Now you see why I really, really wanted you to give it a go and when you didn't, why I had to come up with an "in your face" idea to get you going -- a gift.  :-D

I can relate and agree to all what you observed so far. I remember two important things and one little trick about how to play this game.

1) It's not about what you want. It's about what you need.

which logically leads to

2) bloody get those satellites up. :-D

The trick:

Don't plant the last satellite if you want to keep those missions coming. Be aware that you cannot get the continent bonus if one satellite is missing so plan ahead and decide which bonus you need the least.

Indeed, I posted away happily when I still played the game and I left loads of useful tips so I strongly recommend reading them if you want a good start but hey.. you can find out the hard way, too.  :-D

I am definitely looking forward to reading more of your upcoming posts (please keep them coming) and maybe you can pop a screenie or three for an icing on the cake kind of treat when going through your posts :-()

So far, so good, enjoy, keep 'em coming :-X ;)

[PZ]

Nice mini-review, fragger, +1  :-X

[fragger]

Thank you kindly chaps :)

...I had to come up with an "in your face" idea to get you going -- a gift.  :-D

Ah, yes - the classic Portal persuasion technique ;) :-D

I've gone back and read the rest of this topic Art, and indeed you've provided lots of nuggets of handy info here - cheers mate :) Some of it is still a bit over my head as I haven't reached the relevant parts of the game yet, but this topic will be a great source of info when I get there.

Right then, I'm off to kick some more alien butt 8)