E3 2012: XCOM: Enemy Unknown -- Turn-Based Alien Action

XCOM: Enemy Unknown finds a good balance between approachability and complexity, and is already a lot of fun to play. The E3 demo starts off with a lengthy tutorial, ensuring that whether this is your first or 100th turn-based strategy game you're eased into Firaxis Games' take on the beloved franchise. But what the demo also shows is just how much care has been put into making XCOM feel action-packed; to make this the most engaging and visually stimulating take on turn-based strategy I've ever seen.

When I try to talk to people about turn-based strategy games they tend to roll their eyes, fake a yawn or change the subject. But XCOM: Enemy Unknown is the type of game that can change their opinion on the genre. Rather than a static, over-head camera, XCOM mixes the typical view with dynamic camera shots. One second you're analyzing the battlefield, deciding whether or not it's worth the risk to have your soldier run to a distant piece of cover, the next the camera's sweeping down, bullets are flying and you're greeted to a close up on his body as its ripped limb from limb. Or maybe you've moved your soldiers up to a building where, after deciding to take the window route instead of the door, your soldier runs, hops up the ledge and then the camera sweeps in as he bursts through the glass like John McClane from Die Hard.

Yes, sometimes you'll have turns go by where nothing exciting will happen, but even during these times XCOM kept me engaged with its atmosphere. Not only does it look great (even when zoomed out), but the sound design makes every shot feel powerful, and the screams of citizens freaking out in the background grounds you in a world where alien invasions are all-too common place. The music also ramps up at the right moments, from rocking beats that accompany firefights, to dramatic hits on strings and strangely toned pianos that raise the hairs on my arms as aliens skitter off into the shadows.

It looks and sounds great, but what really matters is that XCOM is fun to play. Your soldiers can still be permanently killed by making one bad tactical decision, but the combat itself is easy to jump into. The removal of an "action points" system means that every soldier's turn is boiled down to the basics: move and shoot. Maybe the strategical element is diminished since you're not presented with situations where you sacrifice movement to put points into a better aimed shot, but on the flipside it means you're blazing through turns faster than ever. You still have to be tactical, it's just that the design makes it easy to tell how far you can move without using a grid, whether the terrain provides excellent cover -- you know, the type of things you might have had to mouse over and read a tool tip for in other games. Once you get into a groove with the controls you can quickly execute a battle plan, moving, shooting and adapting to enemy tactics rapidly without feeling like your making a mistake for not laboriously pondering over each decision. The pacing of XCOM just feels better; more frenetic than I've come to expect from the turn-based genre.

Intrigued by what you've heard so far? For more information about the various components that make up XCOM's campaign, you should check out our in-depth write up. XCOM releases this October on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.



Source : ign[dot]com