X-COM: Enemy Unknown

[Brando70]

I wound up starting one mission over a few times, just to try different tactics and get a feel for the game. The level of strategy and tension is fantastic. The environmental damage is awesome, too. I tossed a grenade at an alien hiding behind a truck. Didn't kill him, but the truck blew at the start of his turn and finished the job.

[webdanzer]

Some of the situations that you can work yourself out of can be fantastic.

Last night I was exploring a warehouse level and I got a little careless with my Colonel level (max ability) Assault trooper. I advanced a little too far inside the warehouse and ran into a group of 4 Mutons. Was able to slightly injure one, but couldn't get anyone else to get into position to a shot off before the aliens turn. Figured this guy was toast, which was a shame because he is currently one of my top guys and one of my personal favorites. (Also an elite alien capturer )

End my turn, and get ready to place a new plaque and light a candle at the memorial. He gets blasted hard by two of the enemy to bring him from full health down to 2. Thankfully, two Mutons just go into overwatch, but I'm still screwed for next turn. The assault can only down one, and I only have one other troop who can get a shot off this turn, a heavy weapons specialist. At best I can kill two if I'm lucky, but the others will finish my guy off. Overwatch makes running away probably lethal as well.

I finally see a chance, though!

Instead of firing at an enemy, my heavy uses a rocket from the outside to blow a gaping hole in the warehouse, exposing the conflict area to the rest of my squad outside. Didn't kill anyone, but suddenly my other Colonel level guy, my team leader sniper, now has line of sight to both Mutons on overwatch. He has Double Tap (two shots), so I raise my rifle and pray:

First shot finishes off the one Muton the Assault injured last turn. (One of the two in overwatch)
Second shot criticals the other one in overwatch, headshotting him dead in one!

Now the assault is free to move, so he charges at the one Muton deeper in the warehouse, as he is the only one who can hit that guy. Scatter laser double shot drops him down, and I'm now at least in some cover from the last remaining Muton. Can't get the rest of my squad in position to fire, though, so I may be in trouble...

...but I could get them into Overwatch!

Aliens turn, the remaining Muton charges deeper into the warehouse after the Assault Colonel. From this close and with so few hp left, I'm a goner...

...if he had not moved past the hole to outside, where my Support troops were scanning the space with laser rifles. Three ruby-red laser beams stream into the darkness of the warehouse from the dawn outside, dropping the final Muton dead one space away from my wounded Colonel.

He lives, mission won.

(And Australia is saved)

[TCrouch]

I never thought to blow walls up to create line of sight for the rest of my squad. I'll have to use that next time the sh*t is hitting the fan, thanks.

[TheGamer]

That was a great story Web! As I was reading it I could picture everything that was going on. Love this game.

[GameSeven]

Great story Web....

I'm having a similarly great and addictive time with this one. Just when I think I've seen most everything they can do with a mission, they throw an unexpected wrinkle into the mix... One mission attacking a downed freighter seemed to go on forever and provided a nice haul. Bomb defusal in a graveyard with my 'B' team as my big guys were recovering from a pretty nasty fight provided some young guns an opportunity to make a name for themselves.

I had 'Pitbull' and 'Boomer', a pair of Colonel level Assault guys with scatter lasers who were a great tandem until they got separated for several missions due to alternating recovery from injury. Finally, got them back in synch on a mission at a railyard, with Boomer sporting a shiny new toy, the next shotgun in the development tree. They dispatched two of three Heavy Floater types, before the third tried to fly from area. Both had reaction fire which played out in a nicely synchronized dual shotgun takedown and reload. Sadly, just a few turns later, due to some misdirection by the CPU, and the reveal of a trio of (newly discovered) Elite Mutons, Boomer was isolated and killed. Now Pitbull carries Boomer's gun in his memory

I also parted ways with my longest tenured squadmate who had become a liability due to too many injuries/panics having dropped his Willpower to like a 34. A Heavy with a tendency to fire at random at the slightest provocation is *not* a good teammate. I toyed with the idea of Dismissing him, but thought I'd lose his statistics, so I tried to tuck him away. However, the game took care of the decision for me when I didn't see him slip into a team on a Very Difficult mission until it was too late. He did fell a pair with a rocket before he was gunned down by return fire.

Love the game and the stories it generates.

[Danimal]

I never thought to blow walls up to create line of sight for the rest of my squad. I'll have to use that next time the sh*t is hitting the fan, thanks.

Be careful with this tactic. I found out the hard way that exploding walls can cause fires. Fires tend to cause things to explode or worse yet cut off exits from a building. Nothing is more stressful than having you squad trapped ina burning, exploding building.

[Macca00]

Anyone editing the names of your squad to real-life people? I have a DSP squad rolling along with my rotation of friends and relatives, also Australia gave me 'Paul Kelly' so I didn't even have to bother editing that one!

I also had a 'red-shirt' I named after my father-in-law I once used to draw enemies out of cover (put everyone else on Overwatch and then send him right up ahead to lure aliens out). He lasted 3 turns. He will be missed....at Thanksgiving....

[TCrouch]

I named my squad after MMA fighters. Rampage has been a beast, while Josh Barnett is a fantastic heavy. I got Takanori Gomi and Jens Pulver wasted the last mission, though

[RobVarak]

I went with a DSP squad as well. I don't rename until they survive a few missions, which also lets me sort of tie the name to the play style. Still waiting to generate a sniper who hides in corners to name after Teal.

[Brando70]

Ha, that is hilarious.

I got my whole squad killed last night and felt like Gorman in Aliens. "I told them to fall back. Goddammit, I TOLD THEM TO FALL BACK!"

[Brando70]

The more I play, the more it moves beyond Game of the Year consideration and into one of the best games on this generation of consoles.

[Danimal]

Lt. John "Dead Eye" Smith ran his 18th and last mission tonight. As the x-Com team was called to Nigeria to quell a terror attack. Smith took to high ground to cover the team, his impressive 31 kill total a legend back at base. As he was covering the teams assault suddenly a trio of Muts advanced on the them "Dead Eye" took aim and dropped the lead Muts before the others could scatter to cover.

A fire fight exploded below him, 3 thin men had come from the right flank joining the fight and attempting to keep him suppressed. Suddenly their was an explosion below and Smith knew he had to get off this semi-truck and fast. He made a quick dash down the far side heading for cover but he didn't see the insectoid waiting on the far side of the warehouse in front of him. It was too late, his dash would cost him as the alien moved in and in one swift motion ran him through.

While the team was able to finish the mission and restore some order there was no saving "Dead Eye". He will be missed.

Man I love this game.

[Pete1210]

Reading these stories is making me want this game now.

Any major disadvantages in the console version?

[RobVarak]

The boys in the barracks had to pour one out for the valiant Sgt. Zeppo tonight, the linchpin of our unit who was always there to patch up a wounded comrade. Zep was doing his usual yeoman's work of fire support and corpsman duty when a particularly aggressive cyberdisc let lose a barrage with his name on it.

Colonel Kelly avenged his fallen colleague immediately with a pinpoint accurate hip shot from his heavy laser (surely bought on discount from his pals on the gray market), but the damage was done. The Commander is now grooming a new recruit to take Zeppo's place as medic and squad straight man.



Sgt. Zeppo in happier times, before the hissing of Thin Men replaced the sound of his brother Harpo's horn.

[pk500]

Anyone editing the names of your squad to real-life people? I have a DSP squad rolling along with my rotation of friends and relatives, also Australia gave me 'Paul Kelly' so I didn't even have to bother editing that one!

How many times have I been roasted by a flamethrower or been the victim of fratricide?

I'll need to look for this game in a few months, when the discounts arrive.

[Zeppo]

I'll need to look for this game in a few months, when the discounts arrive.

I'm right there with you PK. I'm dying to play this as this thread is making me believe there is no way I will not fall in love with this game, but I just don't know when I am going to play it right now. I'm really loving the online season stuff I'm doing in Madden and NHL and of course want to play OTP in NHL or FIFA any chance I get, and with this job I just started on I don't have a ton of time.

But this and Dishonored and killing me. I'm super thankful Bioshock 3 got delayed.

[Gurantsu]

After reading the posts here, I downloaded the demo on Steam. After I finished it I purchased it immediately. It's a great example of many parts coming together to create a cohesive whole. No one section really seems to overshadow another, and everything you do in one area will affect all the others. The fact that it still moves at a nice pace and tells a great story is a credit to the designers.

The Steam forums are full of whiners who are nit-picking about how it doesn't play just like the original, but for my money the designers got the spirit of the game spot on, and it can proudly wear the X-Com name.

[Danimal]

The Steam forums are full of whiners who are nit-picking about how it doesn't play just like the original, but for my money the designers got the spirit of the game spot on, and it can proudly wear the X-Com name.

If it played exactly like the original I wouldn't be playing it. I loved X-Com in the day but man there was some back ass country design in that game. IMO they perfected everything in this game, I mean everything. The only thing I could ask for is a way to slow the pace of the game down a bit.

I still haven't even tried multiplayer, anyone know what it does?

[TCrouch]

No, but I bought it on Steam also so we can give it a whirl if you want.

[MizzouRah]

Seems like it might play better on pc due to having a mouse?

[Danimal]

No, but I bought it on Steam also so we can give it a whirl if you want.

For sure some night this week I would be willing to give it a shot.

[Macca00]

Seems like it might play better on pc due to having a mouse?

I'm using a mouse but on the GWJ podcast the consensus was that it works just as good, if not better, with a gamepad.

[webdanzer]

I've run into a few of the bugs/glitches I've read about for a while now, unfortunately:

Being unable to select/use some abilities in battle
Units (friendly and enemy) teleporting into walls for no reason, unable to move or target anyone
Newly built SHIV becoming invisible and unselectable
Newly built shiv weapon-less (I wasted cash on these last two, frustrating)
Explosive items on the battlefield detonating for no reason (No fire, not hit by weaponry)

A couple of these made me very thankful my first run is not ironman, because these things have all cost me lives and/or resources.

I went through a large chunk of the game without issue, but now I'm running into these things more on occasion.

[RobVarak]

I've run into a few of the bugs/glitches I've read about for a while now, unfortunately:

Being unable to select/use some abilities in battle
Units (friendly and enemy) teleporting into walls for no reason, unable to move or target anyone
Newly built SHIV becoming invisible and unselectable
Newly built shiv weapon-less (I wasted cash on these last two, frustrating)
Explosive items on the battlefield detonating for no reason (No fire, not hit by weaponry)

A couple of these made me very thankful my first run is not ironman, because these things have all cost me lives and/or resources.

I went through a large chunk of the game without issue, but now I'm running into these things more on occasion.

The only bug I've seen (and I've seen it twice) was my SHIV unit being deployed as a soldier. The stats when selected and actions available are the SHIV, but the unit itself is just a random grunt. Reloaded a save game and it disappeared both times.

Regarding mouse/keyboard vs controller, I can't imagine playing without a controller. The interface was clearly designed with that in mind and the interface is one of the most utterly brilliant parts of the game.

[Pete1210]

I've run into a few of the bugs/glitches I've read about for a while now, unfortunately:

Being unable to select/use some abilities in battle
Units (friendly and enemy) teleporting into walls for no reason, unable to move or target anyone
Newly built SHIV becoming invisible and unselectable
Newly built shiv weapon-less (I wasted cash on these last two, frustrating)
Explosive items on the battlefield detonating for no reason (No fire, not hit by weaponry)

A couple of these made me very thankful my first run is not ironman, because these things have all cost me lives and/or resources.

I went through a large chunk of the game without issue, but now I'm running into these things more on occasion.

Are you playing on console or PC?