XCOM: Enemy Unknown lead designer Jake Solomon sits at the far end of a table in Firaxis Games' conference room. He's about to let me get my hands on what's been his passion project for the last four years. But Solomon, a diehard fan of the classic PC strategy series, isn't about to turn his baby over before setting things up. The fact that “turn-based” is a taboo term for many gamers—especially dedicated console players—isn't lost on him, so he takes no chances in managing expectations.
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“XCOM is really two games,” he begins. “There's the combat game, where players are controlling an entire squad of soldiers going up against aliens...that's sort of a new experience [on consoles] in that it's a tactical, turn-based combat game where the players are making all these tense decisions about where to move their soldiers, how to use the items they've brought, what shots to take, etc. But that also feeds into the strategy layer, another full-fledged experience where the player is choosing, at a higher level, where to fight, what items, armor, and weapons to build for their soldiers, where to deploy their jets around the world, how best to fight off the alien invasion, what recovered items to research...plus they're building out their bases and leveling-up their soldiers.”
Feeling like a nervous squaddie just prior to battle, I pick up a gamepad and enter XCOM's tutorial. As my four-man squad lands in a small German town to inspect the aftermath of a recent alien attack, my index finger instinctively hovers over the controller's right trigger. It's my thumbs that are first engaged, though, as I'm immediately taught the basics of navigating cover; potential destination points are chosen with the left stick—identified by a highlighted path—while a press of the A button confirms the selection and sends soldiers hustling toward cover. Once in place, a shield icon represents how well they're protected; of course, XCOM's integration of highly destructible environments guarantees even a full shield won't stay that way for very long.
Round 1...FIGHT!
Over the next minute or so, I master the intuitive mechanics, carefully positioning my quartet of squaddies outside a warehouse. En route to the building, I'm reminded XCOM isn't another bland, grid-based strategy game; burning buildings, scarred pavement, and the sickening sight of a victim sitting in a pool of his own entrails support a visual style on par with anything delivered by a dedicated action game. The next few moves see my entire squad breaching the warehouse; occasional cuts of soldiers breaking down doors and crashing through windows further complement the game's cinematic-over-cerebral art style.
Now inside the structure, I spy an armed German operative. Taking advantage of the building's cover-conducive barrels, crates, and forklifts, I move my three men—and one female squaddie—in for a closer look. Sadly, the recon reveals that ally is under possession by a Sectoid—XCOM's signature little gray men. I order a squadmate to disarm him, but the zombie-like soldier fills my man's chest full of lead before dropping a live grenade at his feet. The surprise attack leaves my team down to two and me anxious for revenge.
Plot your moves carefully, especially in multiplayer.
Thankfully, the tutorial shifts to combat mode, where a squeeze of the right trigger calls up the tactical menu. A number of options, such as returning fire or tossing a grenade are available, but I first scan the battlefield—with the right stick—for more baddies. My surveillance shows two more alien threats hiding in the warehouse. Making the most of this intel, I position my remaining pair of soldiers for kill shots. Each hero can only perform a single action and one move (or one double-move) per turn, so I leverage the next few turns to close the distance between targets, then select my combat options. Using this strategy—with lots of help from the tutorial—I'm able to liberate one Sectoid of his brain and turn another inside out with a grenade. Before unleashing these attacks, I'm able to gauge their probable success by a percentage number in front of the bad guys. I easily extinguish the last big-eyed bastard, but not before it feeds one of my remaining soldiers a frag grenade. I successfully complete the mission on the next turn, but don't feel much like celebrating with three of my pals in body bags.
As Solomon reminds with a sadistic smile, “Death is permanent in XCOM”, meaning my lost brothers in arms won't be coming back. That said, a lovely memorial—complete with candles and sentimental notes—pays tribute to fallen comrades in a section of the aforementioned “strategy layer.” My grieving is cut short, however, by a number of duties requiring immediate attention at XCOM HQ. Scanning the ant farm-like view of the facilities, I peer into science labs, hangars, barracks, and medical facilities, where action figure-like avatars go about their business. Zooming into the barracks reveals my lone hero awaiting promotion; I up his rank from squaddie to heavy and equip him with a shiny new rocket launcher. Next, over at the science labs, my lead white-coat presents options to research alien materials or weapon fragments; distributing resources to the latter seems like the best bet, as it'll eventually reverse engineer some advanced, alien ass-whooping tech.
It's about to get criz-azy in here!
While the (optional) tutorial keeps me on a pretty tight leash, I suspect I'll be sinking as much time into this part of the game as I will on the battlefield blasting little green men. In addition to building an army, tweaking individual soldiers, and keeping scientists and engineers busy, players can launch satellites to monitor alien activity, chart their Earth-saving path at mission control, and even excavate deeper into their subterranean stronghold to construct new facilities. Juggling these responsibilities is an entire game in itself, and a highly addictive one at that; resources are scarce, so deciding where and when to allocate them back at base ultimately affects your soldiers on the battlefield.
Before exiting HQ, I head to mission control for my next task. A quick briefing reveals both China and the United States are reporting alien abductions. I can only help one. I choose the homeland but am warned that doing so may lead to the Chinese pulling resources and funding. As my demo continues and the tutorial loosens its grasp, I find myself faced with similarly stressful situations; every decision and move, from carefully customizing each soldier's load-out to managing my squad during an especially delicate rescue mission, has an impact not only on my individual units but also on a world on the brink of becoming an alien appetizer.
Mini-cutscenes accompany each unit battle (if you want).
Before pissing off too many foreign countries with my red-white-and-blue bias, Solomon strips me of my commander stripes so he can reveal XCOM's much-rumored multiplayer mode. Solomon explains his team's take on competitive online play: “Multiplayer is very straightforward. There's one mode and it's basically team deathmatch, so all you have to do is kill the other person's units. But the subtlety and endless fun of multiplayer comes from the fact that we have a unique way of creating squads. Players are given a point budget and they can spend that any way they want...they can buy any unit, any inventory item. Of course, players will also have access to every alien in the game.”
That last detail is a major one, as XCOM's varied extraterrestrial species each possess different abilities. Layer that with the fact their point costs vary as much as their powers, and you're looking at endless squad combinations. Players can build teams of several cheap units, a few very expensive units, or a mix of both. Soldiers—which actually join forces with their alien foes online—represent a well-rounded choice, where the very affordable Sectoids fill out armies but drop like stones during battle. The spidery Chryssalids are fast and can transform enemies into more Chryssalids, but plan on breaking the bank if you want more than one in your squad. While private matches can be customized, ranked melees give players 10, 000 points to spend on up to six units; points are allocated not just on unit types, but also on their weapons, gear, and powers.Meanwhile, multiple categories within each class sport lengthy drop-down menus, ensuring tons of time will be sunk into picking the perfect load-out.
Not your average bar brawl...
It’s a blast experimenting with different squad set-ups and tweaking each unit’s gear, but in the interest of time—and my very patient competitor—I keep the tinkering to a minimum. The map, which includes a parking lot full of cars, a large building—as well as its accessible interior areas and rooftop—provides ample opportunity to apply all the knowledge I've learned in the single-player demo. While controls and mechanics work exactly the same, the presence of a turn timer significantly ups the intensity. Each player has 90 seconds per turn to position their units and select combat options; a minute and a half isn't long considering I spent more than twice that per turn playing solo. Despite featuring just a single mode, XCOM's multiplayer is dangerously addictive. Combining the depth-fueled fun of building a squad with the deliberate yet tense pacing of the turn-based strategic combat, it offers something fresh on the crowded online battlefield.
Matt Cabral is a veteran games writer who's never met an emoticon he didn't like :-). Follow him on Twitter.
Source : ign[dot]com
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