By Josh Foote
With the release of the expansion pack Enemy Within tomorrow, I thought it would be good to write up a retrospective of my experiences with last year’s hit XCOM: Enemy Unknown and look at the new features to be added to one of my favourite games of recent memory.
With the release of the expansion pack Enemy Within tomorrow, I thought it would be good to write up a retrospective of my experiences with last year’s hit XCOM: Enemy Unknown and look at the new features to be added to one of my favourite games of recent memory.
One fateful winter afternoon, I decided to check out XCOM for the Xbox 360 from my universities library (oh the perks of being a game student!). I hadn't heard a lot about the game, only that it was a remake of an old strategy game and that it was slowly becoming a cult hit. So I picked it up with the hope of just enjoying a great strategy game for the weekend. What I experienced in my short time playing the game was one of the most emotionally investing games I've ever played.
The game revolves around the player commanding an alien defence base, managing resources, researching new technologies, weapon production and training/ deploying troops to countries under attack. The game is very deep in its mechanics, forcing the player to balance between production of new weapons and armour and managing what troops learn what new skills. It’s also, notoriously difficult on its normal setting, meaning that you’ll have to get used to losing troops, a lot!
"R.I.P. Sean, you died an honorable death" *pours one out for the fallen homies*
Where the magic of this game really comes into play though is in the soldier customisation. You can change the appearance and names of each of the characters to make them all feel a little bit more individual. As a little bit of fun, I changed the names of my initial team to the names of my roommates and a few other select friends on my Facebook and made the soldiers look like avatars of my mates. Little did I know this little decision would change my gaming experience drastically. My flat decided to watch me play this seeing their names attached to soldiers and we all got invested with the avatars that I had created. Every time a soldier would get low on health or near death I would panic as if these avatars were my actual friends. My flat mates also joined in with my despair, where a lot of screaming and backseat gaming also reared its ugly head.
"HOW DARE YOU PUT ME ON THE FRONT LINES?? I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS!!"
When one of them inevitably died in battle, it put the room in a sombre mood. This unexpected emotional investment I felt, was something I hadn't bargained for when I first started playing. A game that is essentially a turn based strategy where you kill aliens made me and my flat mates feel remorse for any mistake that was made. It even goes as far as immortalising the fallen soldiers with a memorial section in the menus where funeral based bagpipe music plays as you
stare at the names of the soldiers that have died under your command. It’s interesting how such a basic form of customisation can make the player and viewers feel emotionally invested and one of the reasons why I hold the game so highly against some of the other more recent releases this year.
stare at the names of the soldiers that have died under your command. It’s interesting how such a basic form of customisation can make the player and viewers feel emotionally invested and one of the reasons why I hold the game so highly against some of the other more recent releases this year.
Enemy Within is looking to add a whole lot to the gaming experience. On a basic level it’s adding a few new locations and challenges, which is a welcome addition but nothing that excites me too much. Where the expansion gets really interesting is the addition of the new material to harvest and using it to create biologically enhanced troops or (wait for it) giant mechs.
Oh. My. GOD.
The idea of using super humans and giant terminator-esque warriors gives me chills and will mean additional upgrade paths to take with each soldier class you create. Another one of the more exciting add-ons is a bunch of new customisation options. One of my only complaints with XCOM: Enemy Unknown was that the customisation was a little limited. Because of this, characters I named after friends wouldn't always look like them. It may seem like a minor complaint but I feel the more I can customise my soldier to look like my mates, the more I’ll become attached to them making those losses extra hard to swallow.
Enemy Within comes out both as a digital expansion and as a disc release with the original game and all other DLC included so there’s no reason why old players and those just curious shouldn't pick it up. So grab your copy, select a few close friends and prepare for some of the most emotionally trying games out there. If you need me I’ll be the guy in the mech avenging the loss of my beloved Sean, I’ll see you on the battlefield soldier!
XCOM: Enemy Within is out tomorrow.
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