Ediros
Water Chip? Been There, Done That
Xcom Enemy Within is a tactical squad based strategy game, where you control a team of up to six members in order to combat alien threat.
The gameplay itself is divided into two turns – yours and aliens. Each soldier can do up to two actions in a single turn, including shooting, throwing a grenade, etc.
The difficulty especially on the higher levels like classic or impossible lives up to it’s name. My first two playthroughts were spent doing trial and error, having soldiers die and mistakes being made.
However, as I grew better and got more advanced tech the game became easier, but I could only play far more risky once I got into mid game with lasers and carapace armour. That does not mean a single mistake could not destroy everything you worked for.
The often criticized RNG is well deserved and I can see why. In one of the missions I have replayed a small part of it, by making similar choices and trying to see any difference. Once I had two of my four team members killed in a single turn due to rng, then in different result I killed all aliens, while suffering only some grave wounds. At the same time, I also had low percentage shoots that connected and saved my life, so it works both ways.
While, I deeply enjoyed almost everything about the game, including graphics, soundtrack, depth, etc there were some things that annoyed me.
Cons:
-Some visual glitches (civilians models staying on the map, after being rescued).
-The imbalance of certain skills making them either worthless or godlike. An example of that is a mec trooper. Under most circumstances you want to have as much hp as you can possibly can. I had a sniper with 10 hp (out of 11 max), while an assault had 6 at colonel rank. However, the mec has absorption fields that stops the damage from exceeding 33% of mec’s hp. As you have guessed it becomes less and less useful as the game goes on. However, if you manage to get a sniper with 4 hp on a colonel rank into mec, it becomes godlike with damage control (lowers damage by 2) and repair servomotors.
-A mec with 12 hp and absorption field and damage control takes 3 damage from the first opponent and 1 from everything else allowing him to punch enemy into a paste with a melee.
-The lack of control or any influence upon your soldiers and their stats. The soldiers only get more skills and hp by ranking up and you have got zero influence upon it. You can have a rookie with 75 aim become something like assault, while another rookie with 50 aim becomes a sniper. It is genuinely frustrating.
-It has got no real replayability – no different outcomes. The only thing you can do is try your skill on hardest difficulties and different settings. It might suffice many, but not RPG players I believe.
To sum up:
Overall the game is very solid, but not flawless and will not suit everyone’s taste.
The gameplay itself is divided into two turns – yours and aliens. Each soldier can do up to two actions in a single turn, including shooting, throwing a grenade, etc.
The difficulty especially on the higher levels like classic or impossible lives up to it’s name. My first two playthroughts were spent doing trial and error, having soldiers die and mistakes being made.
However, as I grew better and got more advanced tech the game became easier, but I could only play far more risky once I got into mid game with lasers and carapace armour. That does not mean a single mistake could not destroy everything you worked for.
The often criticized RNG is well deserved and I can see why. In one of the missions I have replayed a small part of it, by making similar choices and trying to see any difference. Once I had two of my four team members killed in a single turn due to rng, then in different result I killed all aliens, while suffering only some grave wounds. At the same time, I also had low percentage shoots that connected and saved my life, so it works both ways.
While, I deeply enjoyed almost everything about the game, including graphics, soundtrack, depth, etc there were some things that annoyed me.
Cons:
-Some visual glitches (civilians models staying on the map, after being rescued).
-The imbalance of certain skills making them either worthless or godlike. An example of that is a mec trooper. Under most circumstances you want to have as much hp as you can possibly can. I had a sniper with 10 hp (out of 11 max), while an assault had 6 at colonel rank. However, the mec has absorption fields that stops the damage from exceeding 33% of mec’s hp. As you have guessed it becomes less and less useful as the game goes on. However, if you manage to get a sniper with 4 hp on a colonel rank into mec, it becomes godlike with damage control (lowers damage by 2) and repair servomotors.
-A mec with 12 hp and absorption field and damage control takes 3 damage from the first opponent and 1 from everything else allowing him to punch enemy into a paste with a melee.
-The lack of control or any influence upon your soldiers and their stats. The soldiers only get more skills and hp by ranking up and you have got zero influence upon it. You can have a rookie with 75 aim become something like assault, while another rookie with 50 aim becomes a sniper. It is genuinely frustrating.
-It has got no real replayability – no different outcomes. The only thing you can do is try your skill on hardest difficulties and different settings. It might suffice many, but not RPG players I believe.
To sum up:
Overall the game is very solid, but not flawless and will not suit everyone’s taste.
