What's your final verdict on Firaxis' X-com: Enemy Unknown?

[the_third_curry]

Personally, I'd say good, though I haven't ran the expanded version yet. The traditional turn-based strategy genre has been rather barren over the past few years (especially on consoles), so it was nice to see Firaxis step up and deliver a solid experience.

[wsmithjr]

Haven't voted yet because I can't really decide how I feel about it.  I've played through once completely for both Enemy Unknown and then Enemy Within.  It was certainly fun and worth playing the once.  I played on Normal.  Problem with subsequent playthroughs is that normal is too easy and boring as a result.  However, I have tried numerous times to play on Classic difficulty and it simply kicks my butt repeatedly and brutally, which is not much fun to be honest.  I really think it needs a difficulty in between Normal and Classic and then I'd probably be happy and rate it at least Good.  Every once in a while I give Classic another shot and give up again in frustration a few days thereafter.

[Gifty]

I really liked it. In all their games, Firaxis are excellent at condensing deep strategy mechanics into forms that anyone can understand and enjoy, without compromising overall complexity or replayability. That's a difficult and often thankless job.

This thread is going to heat up, though. Be warned.

[Hobbes]

This thread is going to heat up, though. Be warned.

There's a high probability but I choose to think it is possible to have a gentlemen's discussion about it

Here's my opinion, for what it is worth. I've been playing the X-Com/XCOM/X-COM/XCom series since 1997 and I didn't thought it possible for a remake to come out that was as nearly as good as the the original game. When I first heard of the remake I ignored it and kept my  skepticism until I tried the demo of EU2012 then afterwards I decided to get the game.

Now, after two years of playing it, I consider it to be nearly as good as the original, but there are significant differences between both:
* Storywise, they are two different experiences. The 1994 version has the climax of the Cydonia assault, which is superior to the EU2012 Temple Ship. But the 2012 version's starting mission is much more darker and leaves the end open to the player's interpretation of what were really the aliens motives.
* On Geoscape, the 1994 version is better, with multiple bases and the air combat/dynamics. You need to find alien bases, you need to patrol for UFOs, to use the graphs for intelligence and to plan aerial fights. The 2012 version, on the other hand, has the panic system which makes things simpler but adds more pressure since it's easier to lose.
* On Battlescape, the 2012 version wins. The 1994 has random terrain, which to me isn't that big of a deal concerning map design and has the dreaded 'leaving the Skyranger without losing half your squad' moments. But the 2012 does one helluva job regarding attachment to your soldiers due to the class system and only bringing a max of 6 soldiers. I also prefer the 2 actions and the cover systems to the original, although the LOF mechanics are better on the 1994 version.

There's a ton of other differences, but I'll leave that for others to discuss.

[SupSuper]

We already had this discussion before and it got heated. Overall I'd say it was good, some pros, some cons, but an XCOM game in the end.

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Meh.   As an Xcom remake it was better than most.  In it's own right it was entertaining and challenging enough but I really chafed at the idea that if I want a trooper to carry even ONE grenade they can't also carry a medkit.  It was like the 80-item limit on steroids.  A few other things rankled as well, such as the game not being able to correctly and consistently apply cover rules, and the game resorting to designing constrained maps to intentionally deny the player any cover advantages in their advance.  But I played it all the way through at least once which is better than most games get me to accomplish.

[Muukalainen]

Only tried it, not played too much.

Final verdict?

Well, another game I wish was not X-Com game. I am quite fanatic that X-com game should be a simulation where all kinds of things can happen. Firaxis ideology has been heavily against this and they instead want to limit the possibilities and make the games very simple. Something like card games that must be simple in order to be playable and they fail to see that computers allows us to use very complex simulations.

As a light weight tactical game it could be ok, but the final thing that killed it for me was the 3d animations and loading times. It is nice to see them once, but after seeing them you want to play the game instead of watching animations where dudes walk.

Civ 5 suffered from the same problems. I still like Civ 2 most.

So yeah, not a game for me.

Gollop made something great. Destructible generated terrain, clips and ammo, equipping your soldiers, morale, panic, berserk, soldiers losing consciousness, deciding if you want to send some units back to the alien base and try to save that unconscious team mate or leaving him because you already have suffered heavy casualties, with good simulation like that you don't need scripts, the game writes itself.

[Qpoter]

I think it's a great game, but it's just a different type of game than the original. I feel that the game places too many unnecessary limits to promote strategy, to the point where it seems ridiculous. There are a lot of other major and minor things I didn't like, but it's a solid game overall. Engaging gameplay, if occasionally frustrating, great visuals and soundtrack, a different breed of story than the original game, which is more open to speculation and interpretation.

[MKSheppard]

"Okay, worth playing but nothing all that special" -- too many niggles with the game that I can't seriously play it over and over the way I did UFO.

[LouisdeFuines]

I loved the game. Not that much as OXC, but too.

It has a lousy support, though.

[54x]

It's a solid re-imagining of XCOM that follows modern conventions rather than trying to be a 100% faithful remake. If you go in expecting it to be old XCOM you'll probably be disappointed, but it's a great game if judged on its own merits.

Agree that the support is not the best and the DLC is meh. The expansion is worthwhile though, and they've fixed a lot of stuff with it.

[Mr. Quiet]

That poll is giving me the finger!

[Piotr Karol Żółtowski (Piter432)]

I think it's okay. There's no classic TU's which should be a standard in this game (without TU's, this game is easier, which is nonsense for me). Also Interception is quite nice. There's no need to upgrade weapons for interceptors from beginning, there are nice earth weapons already, also there's a timer during battle which show how long the UFO will outrun the interceptor and there's no buttons like Aggressive attack and others, but player can do a small improvement, but only for one battle. Oh, by the way: if the small EARTH interceptor will attack a big UFO ship, this interceptor can win this battle, which is completely stupid, just wtf :/

Also story, especially ending, is a bit different, so maybe will be not a sequel, which will remake X-COM: Terror from the Deep, ehh :/ But fortunately, they release a nice DLC, which adds some nice things, fix bugs and improve other features.


So, true fans of old X-COM: if you deal with that changes, buy this remake. You will again spend time nice on playing it

[ex0]

Personally I think it's really bad for an X-COM game if you compare it with the original. I played though it once and just didn't feel like X-COM at all, and found it very bland and streamlined without any real challenge or a need to think about anything in the battlescape or geoscape.

In essence it's just a really dumbed down game in comparison with the original. The only real things they really took out of the original is the geoscape and the game being turn based - but even that in a very different way. There is no real micro management or randomness such as I would expect to see in an X-COM game, nor is it as immersive in it's atmosphere or give the player any real freedom to choose the way he wants to play.

Also I really dislike the art style as I find it is more monster-like then alien-like and all those cutscenes are really annoying. The Thin Man made me feel like I'm playing a kids game every time I saw him - like the aliens couldn't make hybrids that would actually look human.

If it wasn't an X-COM game then it would be an OK game in it's own right I guess. But for me personally it would need to be much more similar to the original game. So in conclusion I don't like it at all as what it is supposed to be - a game with roots in X-COM.

[kharille]

It was ok, I enjoyed the death animations but it was too hard.  I can play xcom on superhuman but this game was difficult on classic.  Also had to rely on grenades to do anything.  Wish it wasn't so.  I'm sure its headed in a nice direction with more customization and other features.  But I got bored of it after 2 years.  94' Xcom on the other hand is immortal.