X-Com: Enemy Unknown

[Al_The_Strange]

As luck would have it, the local store did have a copy, so I bought it. I like what I see. It's pretty much the same type/style/layout of gameplay as the original game. Graphics are kinda cartoony, but still provides a much-needed makeover.

I got the PS3 version, and I'm pretty happy with the control scheme. Seems very easy to use/manage, even with all the strategy and tactics.

I'm pretty insanely happy that my favorite features of the original game have returned: I still get to customize the soldiers as much as I want to, and I still get to control the research and manufacturing. I'm not certain how much of the base building and airpower you get to control, but I was never that fond of sending jets to chase down UFOs in the original game anyway.

Why, I'm even happy to see that they retained my favorite pastime: renaming soldiers! My roster looks pretty sharp so far:

[Show spoiler]

Originally Posted by R3P0

The original was XCOM: UFO Defense which came out in 1994, the sequel was XCOM: Terror from the Deep.

If I recall correctly, the first ever X-Com game went by two titles: UFO Defense and Enemy Unknown, depending on whether you got the US or European edition. Back in the day I had the Enemy Unknown version, and then got the X-Com collection which specifically says UFO Defense. Both are the same game though.

[RaijinUT]

I didn't even know that this game was coming out for the PS3. All of the adds that I have seen for X-Com stated PC and xbox.

[R3P0]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

As luck would have it, the local store did have a copy, so I bought it. I like what I see. It's pretty much the same type/style/layout of gameplay as the original game. Graphics are kinda cartoony, but still provides a much-needed makeover.

I got the PS3 version, and I'm pretty happy with the control scheme. Seems very easy to use/manage, even with all the strategy and tactics.

I'm pretty insanely happy that my favorite features of the original game have returned: I still get to customize the soldiers as much as I want to, and I still get to control the research and manufacturing. I'm not certain how much of the base building and airpower you get to control, but I was never that fond of sending jets to chase down UFOs in the original game anyway.

Why, I'm even happy to see that they retained my favorite pastime: renaming soldiers! My roster looks pretty sharp so far:

[Show spoiler]

If I recall correctly, the first ever X-Com game went by two titles: UFO Defense and Enemy Unknown, depending on whether you got the US or European edition. Back in the day I had the Enemy Unknown version, and then got the X-Com collection which specifically says UFO Defense. Both are the same game though.

Interesting lol I guess you learn something new every day I always thought the original was just UFO defense. Never occurred to me being I was like 10 at the time lol that it would be named anything else. I cannot get this on PS3 tho i have to have it on my PC

[Icemage]

So here we are several days later and I'm still playing X-Com.

Started off on Normal, and that was pretty challenging, even with the tutorial. Then decided I could hack it on Classic, and restarted after about 19 hours on Normal.

Then I got insane and switched to Impossible and now my life is an endless litany of frustration. I've made it to the middle of the 2nd month and "only" managed to lose 1 country from the Council (Mexico).

0 fatalities so far, but tons of reloads and mid-battle saves, and finally managed to capture an Outsider (yikes, is this ever scary).

[Al_The_Strange]

Played some more, and I've found that this game is bloody awesome! It's damn addictive, and I might even go so far to say that it's better than the original. Maybe not as open, but I'm loving the graphics, combat, cutscenes, controls, etc.

Originally Posted by Icemage

So here we are several days later and I'm still playing X-Com.

Started off on Normal, and that was pretty challenging, even with the tutorial. Then decided I could hack it on Classic, and restarted after about 19 hours on Normal.

Then I got insane and switched to Impossible and now my life is an endless litany of frustration. I've made it to the middle of the 2nd month and "only" managed to lose 1 country from the Council (Mexico).

0 fatalities so far, but tons of reloads and mid-battle saves, and finally managed to capture an Outsider (yikes, is this ever scary).

Yeah, were it not for the saves, this game (and the original) would have royally sucked!

I thought capturing the aliens would be hard, but last night, I managed to bag three of them. But, I am working on normal difficulty only. I'll have to give the classic/impossible difficulty a try later on (...and the iron man mode ).

[Icemage]

Iron man isn't so terrible, it's just 1 save slot (Impossible Iron Man, though... see below).

Impossible is brutal. Your troops start with 1 less life point, enemies have 1 extra life point and take less damage, and there are more enemies on every map. Enemies have very high critical hit rates (maybe even better than your guys), and they're super-smart.

I'm at the end of the second month (April 23), 0 fatalities, 5 satellites, with 2 countries in 5 dot red status. I have 2 satellites ready to go up and enough uplink capacity to launch them, but there's still 7 days left in the month and I'm not going to launch them until April 30 just in case a carnival of stupid happens... see below.

I just got to my first terror attack (France), and let me tell you, it's NOT FUN getting ambushed by two packs of enemies at the same time. I honestly don't know how many people I can save (18 total, but I doubt I'll be able to save even half of them). I don't know what effect this is going to have on my France panic levels (currently 2/5), but first I have to worry about surviving, as I just encountered a new enemy who can instant-kill troops in melee combat. This is, as they say, Not A Good Thing when time is of the essence since I'm trying to save civilians and am dashing across the map.

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by Icemage

Iron man isn't so terrible, it's just 1 save slot (Impossible Iron Man, though... see below).

Impossible is brutal. Your troops start with 1 less life point, enemies have 1 extra life point and take less damage, and there are more enemies on every map. Enemies have very high critical hit rates (maybe even better than your guys), and they're super-smart.

lol, there are days when it seems like I can't hit anything and the computer always hits me, and I start to wonder if it's cheating. Looks like I haven't even taken the full brunt of this game's challenge at all.

Originally Posted by Icemage

I'm at the end of the second month (April 23), 0 fatalities, 5 satellites, with 2 countries in 5 dot red status. I have 2 satellites ready to go up and enough uplink capacity to launch them, but there's still 7 days left in the month and I'm not going to launch them until April 30 just in case a carnival of stupid happens... see below.

Very nice. I honestly didn't catch on that satellites increase funding, so I only have two up right now. Fortunately, I've managed to scrape up some cash by selling unwanted alien stuff, so my team's well-equipped (all decked out in carapace armor, skeleton armor, and laser weapons; plasma weapons are still being researched). I've done a bunch of missions, but the biggest thing was taking out an alien base, which kept the panic levels down worldwide.

I must be in my fourth or fifth month now, and I'm finally working on getting more satellites up. I have just one fatality (he was a rookie, he won't be missed ), and my highest soldier is a Colonel now.

Originally Posted by Icemage

I just got to my first terror attack (France), and let me tell you, it's NOT FUN getting ambushed by two packs of enemies at the same time. I honestly don't know how many people I can save (18 total, but I doubt I'll be able to save even half of them). I don't know what effect this is going to have on my France panic levels (currently 2/5), but first I have to worry about surviving, as I just encountered a new enemy who can instant-kill troops in melee combat. This is, as they say, Not A Good Thing when time is of the essence since I'm trying to save civilians and am dashing across the map.

I just had one terror mission so far, and yeah they always were a pain. I wasn't certain what impact the civilian death count would have either, but I couldn't really do much to stop all the aliens in time. I wound up losing four civilians (out of 18) before I killed all the aliens and completed the mission. It came out with an "Excellent" rating across the board regardless, so some casualties are acceptable in the game.

Yeah, the Cryssalids were mean and nasty buggers in the original game too. They're shaped different in this version, but they're still hard to kill and they kill hard (...and I hate it when they make zombies ). I've managed to do okay around them by keeping my distance and using whatever rockets or grenades I have.

[Icemage]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

lol, there are days when it seems like I can't hit anything and the computer always hits me, and I start to wonder if it's cheating. Looks like I haven't even taken the full brunt of this game's challenge at all.

Yeah, Normal is challenging but fair. Classic turns up the screws by making enemies more dangerous and giving you fewer hitpoints, but the combat damage is still more or less still equal at the beginning of the game. Impossible is something else altogether. You can 1-shot a lot of things on Normal and Classic. On Impossible, basic Sectoids have 4HP, which means you often won't one-hit-kill them without a critical. Thin Men have 6HP, which means if you don't headshot them with a sniper you're in deep trouble because they can poison you at any time. The other enemies are progressively worse. Outsiders have 5HP but take reduced damage from a lot of weapons, Chryssalids have a disgusting 7HP, and zombies have 10(!).

Very nice. I honestly didn't catch on that satellites increase funding, so I only have two up right now. Fortunately, I've managed to scrape up some cash by selling unwanted alien stuff, so my team's well-equipped (all decked out in carapace armor, skeleton armor, and laser weapons; plasma weapons are still being researched). I've done a bunch of missions, but the biggest thing was taking out an alien base, which kept the panic levels down worldwide.

On Impossible you need the satellites for panic control. Launching a satellite reduces the panic in that country by 2 and keeps it from randomly rising (unless you do something bad like ignore a request for help or fail to take down a UFO).

I must be in my fourth or fifth month now, and I'm finally working on getting more satellites up. I have just one fatality (he was a rookie, he won't be missed ), and my highest soldier is a Colonel now.

I just finished month 2, with 8 satellites. I had to launch 3 satellites on April 30 in-game to save Canada, USA, and Germany from withdrawing from the alliance. On the plus side, I now have a monthly income of 975 (chose Africa as my starting continent, so +30% income).

I just had one terror mission so far, and yeah they always were a pain. I wasn't certain what impact the civilian death count would have either, but I couldn't really do much to stop all the aliens in time. I wound up losing four civilians (out of 18) before I killed all the aliens and completed the mission. It came out with an "Excellent" rating across the board regardless, so some casualties are acceptable in the game.

I managed to save 11/18. Taking down enemies takes a lot of shots on Impossible, even with 2 Heavy troops launching rockets all over the place.

The biggest danger on Impossible is panic levels. Every abduction event gives THREE panic points to the two countries you don't respond to. If you don't start building satellites and uplinks immediately from day 1, you can easily lose 3-4 countries in the first month, followed by a few more in April (and maybe an instant game over).