** I rate games based off of many aspects, so I'll split up each category and address them individually for an easy read **
** This rating is (in a sense) for Enemy Within and Enemy Unknown for comparison purposes, just something to note **
Summary:
XCOM Enemy Unknown is one of those rare gems, not only does it have intricate gameplay/tech-tree but is also painfully difficult (in a good way) if you want it to be. Ironman Impossible is a setting that hurts to play on many occassions... but feel's that much more amazingly awesome when you finally conquer it! Games this difficult are usually those free to play/download rage inducing plat-formers, not a game like XCOM. Enemy Within takes the previous game and adds on to the story elements and gameplay to make it a perfect 5!!
XCOM:EU Score XCOM:EW Score
Story/Believable 3/5 --> 5/5
Game play 5/5 --> 5/5
Graphics/Map Design 4/5 --> 5/5
Sound/Music 5/5 --> 5/5
Replay ability 4/5 --> 5/5
Overall 4.2 / 5 --> !!Perfect 5!!
Story / Believable:
For XCOM:EU, this is the part of the game that was lacking. The general story of the game is an Alien invasion of Earth (humans vs. aliens) which is already quite cliche... However I do not give a bad score for a story that has been done many times, what I do criticize on XCOM:EU is the story delivery. There was very few points in the game where XCOM:EU made me feel like humanity was in any danger, or that the Earth was in total chaos (yes, even on Ironman Impossible). There was a little bit at the beginning when you have all the abductions happening and UFO's appearing + Council Missions, but it didn't feel like enough... I never felt overwhelmed (other than on the battlefield sometimes) during the base activity/scanning parts. Also XCOM HQ Never get's attack'd in anyway... you think with all the technologies at the aliens disposal they'd be able to find it at least once!!
XCOM:EW changes this by adding in the new threat that can be damaging if Ignored. Now I know some people do not like the edition of the faction Exalt due to the idea of fighting humans. But in my opinion from a story stand-point, Exalt's edition makes total sense to me and although they're not much of a threat on the battlefield (more detail later), they fill a story gap that needed to be filled. In a alien invasion situation, I feel there would totally be a clandestine human attempt to exploit the aliens technology to control the world, so I love the edition. And the fact that they sort of attack XCOM Indirectly (slow down research, steal money etc.) makes you paranoid about this while you're in base!! I love it, Plus XCOM:EW has a base defense from aliens now! Need I say more... =D
XCOM:EU Also had this moral dilemma issue come up between Dr. Shen & Dr. Vahlen (totally should be spelled Wahlen if she's meant to be German) about proceeding with the XCOM project, for fear of "treading the same path as the aliens." However, the only questionable (morally speaking) scientific advance in Enemy Unknown is the advances made through the Psionics Lab. But that doesn't happen til the last quarter of the game. The rest of the research is either weapons, armor and items, I don't see any issue there. XCOM:EW changes this moral dilemma question drastically with its most highly anticipated additions being the Genetics and Cybernetics Laboratories. Now I don't know about you, but I certainly feel that there is some moral issues with genetically modifying humans + the severing of limbs and replacing them with mechanical ones to make soldiers the perfect killing machines (literally). This aspect of the story was greatly enhanced
Game play:
XCOM:EU already had fantastic gameplay. the turn-based squad maneuvering style is simple yet effective. The cover system of the game is also simple, low and hard cover with flanking angles being adjacent is easy to learn, yet the movement in the game and the carefully designed maps make flanking an endeavor of its own, and having the RPG leveling style for soldiers unlocking abilities that can slightly alter the way these "turns" can be used is brilliantly utilized with the mechanics of the game.
XCOM:EW doesn't change a whole lot to the battlefield gameplay, the obvious differences are the use of MEC's and Gene soldiers and the buff's they can utilize. Luckily, each of these additions does ruin the game but keeps it as fun and engaging as it ever was.
Graphics / Map Design
The graphics in this game aren't what I'd called realistic or even astonishing, but it works well for this style of game, the graphics are somewhat "comicy" looking but with some very nice shaders, and the effects look amazing!! I feel like the graphics resemble great games like gears of wars, same sort of cartoon like characters (people / aliens) and with some nice coloriing and amazing looking effects. The customization options for soldiers is far greater in XCOM:EW than in EU but that doesn't break the first game.
The minus 1 point here for XCOM:EU is in the map design, not so much in design as in quantity but there are certainly some issues here. XCOM:EU UFO missions in particular didn't have very exciting maps, all forest / rural areas. Not only that but the quantity of maps on XCOM:EU are too few even for the other missions like abductions / Terror. This effected the replay ability of the game for you'd start to know all the maps pretty easily. XCOM:EW addresses this issue, adding in farms UFO crash sites as well as Urban crash sites as well as adding in more maps for all map types in general. Another wonderful thing about the map design is the addition of the Meld canisters!! This aspect takes away from the benefits of memorizing maps and using that to carefully maneuver, which to me is a good cause that keeps the difficulty from dropping to much and thus allows the game to be replayed multiple times. Enemy Within is a terrific expansion with map variety.
Sound / Music:
Love the music in this game, the starting a mission music always get's me pumped every time, I don't know why =D
The in battle music helps intensify situations and the pre-battle music is ominous enough to remind you to stay cautious, but music is typically a matter of opinion, so I won't spend too much time here.
The sounds are brilliant in this game, I love the use of sounds to identify enemies on the battlefield before you see them (during the alien activity turn, when you can't see any aliens), it can make you dread certain missions when you hear the hissing of the "ever so loved" (*cough*... so OP *cough*) thin man in the first few abduction missions or the moment when you hear the first "clanking sound" and realize you're about to fight your first sectopod of the campaign, which is even more terrifying in Enemy Within due to the buff! The Weapon sound effects are great, the aliens taunts are all right where it should be!
Replay ability:
XCOM:EU had a lot of multiple play-through's due to the difficulty of the game, that's the wonderful thing about games as punishing as XCOM is; that they're a challenge no matter how many times you play it due to the dice rolling play style. But even with this the limited maps did make this game slightly dull to go through it many times. XCOM:EW addresses this issue quite well with the maps and the addition of Meld. One of the reason why EU could seem repetitive is that there was no reason to rush yourself, but EW with the Meld mechanic makes the level's a little more tricky. Which in turn makes playing the game multiple times more interesting.
Conclusion:
Enemy Within surpasses its predecessor, making XCOM a perfect game with hours of replay ability. The most incredible thing is how just the simple joy of out strategizing Aliens followed by brutally murdering them can make for such a terrific game. Recommended for any strategy gamer/hardcore gamer looking for a challenge.
Add a debit or credit card to save time when you check out
Convenient and secure with 2 clicks. Add your card
