XCOM: Enemy Unknown is on Steam today as a demo. The official game will come out on October 9th but until then, you can get a full featured demo of the game.
The premise of XCOM: Enemy Unknown is simple. You are part of a secret paramilitary organization known as XCOM and have to investigate reports of extraterrestrials that have landed in Germany. The alien space crafts contain little martian looking aliens who have the ability to control humans.
Yes, the story has been done to hell, but XCOM: Enemy Unknown does feature some interesting gameplay elements.
Read on to find out what they are.
While XCOM: Enemy Unknown is classified as a strategy game, its gameplay combines elements of role playing games as well as shooters. Finding cover will be crucial to survival in the game. There are different environmental factors that must be taken into consideration as well.
If you seek cover behind a wooden crate, it can and will be destroyed by gun fire. These crates act as temporary cover but hiding behind more solid objects is recommended. Environments are destructible so buildings can be destroyed with gunfire as well.
You will have control over four soldiers in the beginning and have to keep all of them alive if you want to survive alien attacks.There are plenty of upgrades and different classes of soldiers that you can choose from. The leveling system is works well, but can become a bit boring as many of the upgrades don’t feel substantial.
One of the biggest surprises of XCOM: Enemy Unknown how it proposes moral dilemmas. In the short demo, you are given a choice to respond to a distress call from Houston, Texas or one in China. I can only assume that the full game will force you to make more of these types of decisions, which all affect relations between nations in the game and thus, changing the outcome.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a solid strategy game but its far from perfect. The story is cliché and the combat system can be tiring. You could spend more time planning out what you are going to do than actually taking action and shooting your enemies. Since it’s a turn based strategy game, there’s also no sense of urgency so you can take your time and be methodical.
For our full review of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, click here.
