CombatĬombat in X-Com is simultaneously the most cathartic and frustrating I have experienced. There are mission-critical operations that you have to perform or you will lose the game, and even in the operation zone there is usually a “path” that you will have to maneuver in order to reach your objective. There is a certain amount of choice given to each player on which mission they would like to perform, but the game is largely linear. You can also buy new and better guns, armor, and support items for your soldiers in the desperate hope of keeping them alive. You have to choose between two abilities and the choices are mutually exclusive. Characters level up after gaining experience and there is a skill tree to choose abilities from. In addition, you have a random chance of getting Psionic abilities with your characters which can greatly change their play style. The Assault class focuses on running and shooting, the Heavy Class uses big guns and bombs, the Support class heals, and the Sniper class snipes. Each character will have a class or specialization that they focus on.

In X-Com: Enemy Unknown you control a group of six soldiers (though you will want to have more in reserve) through grid-based maps. There was a chance to lose certain resources if those areas were destroyed by the aliens, but otherwise, no matter which path you take, you will mostly still end up with the same technologies and resources at the end of the game. You could perform certain missions before others to give you access to new technologies or resources that changed how your soldiers or base performed, but largely these decisions changed the chronology of events rather than the entire story. How you invest your limited resources generally changes your play style, but not to any extreme. There were no real concerns regarding the game’s writing aside from a somewhat generic alien invasion plot. There is a significant amount of solid voice acting and the writing is easy to follow. The dialogue and lore of X-Com have been well developed over the 20+ years of its existence. As the commander of an elite paramilitary organization, it is your job to develop your base, advance your technology, equip and train your soldiers, and then lose those soldiers when they miss a 99% chance to hit shot and promptly die during the enemy’s turn.Īs you advance through the story you will take on harder and more vital missions in order to prevent the loss of your precious world to the alien menace, with the ultimate goal of standing in front of a beleaguered group of humans and declaring that it is the world’s independence day… wait that might be the wrong series. X-Com: Enemy Unknown takes place in an alternate, light sci fi version of Earth where our lovely blue sphere is invaded by aliens. X-COM: Enemy Unknown, Image Source: Firaxis Games Story

Turn based games for mac