A-Z Backlog challenge: XCom Enemy Unknown

This is another one that is so well known that I'm not going to write too much about it. In this Turn- based strategy game, you control The Xcom project which is trying to defend Earth from an alien invasion. You research technology, build new weapons and choose which missions to go on to gain various rewards and keep countries from losing faith in your leadership and withdrawing their support and funds. I had a save from another computer which I hadn't finished so I just needed to do the last mission. Set on an alien spacecraft, you come up against all the different types you'd face earlier and learn about why they are visiting Earth.


The end of the mission is pretty challenging , so you'll want to keep limited use items like grenades and rockets for the final battle. Hopefully you will have a experienced squad at this point who have high health and a lot of perks.


Once done you will be shown a pretty good cutscene of the result of your team's heroic actions and a stats screen showing how successful you are and comparing your efforts to global averages.




I really enjoyed the game. I think the decisions made which deviated from the original, such as not having enemies wandering around the map, and not having multiple bases don't detract from it. Although not very unique, it's definitely one of my top 10 games of the last decade or so. I haven't played the expansion much but I'm sure I'll get round to finishing it and the sequel in time.

Release Year: 2012
Rating: 86
Normal Price: $29.99
Best Sale Price: $7.49

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