I really, really love the new XCOM: Enemy Unknown. It's a fantastic game. It really is. I mean, it does look stunning, it is perfectly balanced, sports a huge campaign, swift and challenging multiplayer death matches, fantastic controls, some of the best turn-based mechanics ever that finally move TBS away from its boardgaming roots, and, to my obviously erring eyes, actually manages to surpass the original. To make my love for it crystal clear, let me simply admit to having already sunk 40 hours in the thing and be done.
Now, as you may have noticed yourself reader, loving something usually makes us want more of it. It's a silly attitude, I know, and one that smothers creativity, but that's how it is and that is also the reason why I decided to install both XCOM DLC packs and replay the game. And whereas the Elite Soldier Pack was an honest if underwhelming offering, what really irritated me was the Slingshot Pack.
And this was not for only adding a few extremely banal missions to the game and what amounted to little more than an hour of gameplay. It was for promising so much more, a new storyline to be precise, and completely and utterly failing to deliver. All this talk about the Triads and even the in-game promises of fighting gangsters that never materialized were simply disappointing. Having the option to play the DLC missions whenever I felt like it was downright alienating too. I mean, just like UFO, XCOM is all about choices that matter and taking that away felt wrong.
As did the fact that beating the last expansion led to exactly nothing; it was treated like any other mission... Impressively anti-climatic, that.
Then again, I do not usually write about stuff I don't like. Were it nor for my intense dissatisfaction with said DLCs and the overall DLC trend I wouldn't have mentioned this, but it's getting silly and out of hand; the trend, that is. From day one DLCs to stuff that's simply pointless or, as in this case, damages the feel of the game we are plagued with extra stuff that's mainly there to simply make something extra and hopefully cover those ridiculous budgets.
On the other hand, I could have a read a review or two.
Related @ Gnome's Lair:
I really, really love the new XCOM: Enemy Unknown. It's a fantastic game. It really is. I mean, it does look stunning, it is perfectly balanced, sports a huge campaign, swift and challenging multiplayer death matches, fantastic controls, some of the best turn-based mechanics ever that finally move TBS away from its boardgaming roots, and, to my obviously erring eyes, actually manages to surpass the original.
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, dear Gnome, I disagree with every word. I found it mildly enjoyable, but the mechanics seemed very shallow and simplistic to me, challenging in uninteresting ways, way too straightforward strategically (constant obvious "build/get more of X to get better" situations), pushing you hard into a very narrow path of possible play styles. A far cry from the flexibility, appropriate depth and lifelike believable logic with no made-up artificial limitations of the original. I've sunk around 60 hours into the game and beat it, and as I said I actually liked it to an extent, so I hope that gives some credibility to my opinion.
Having said that, though, I'm somewhat satisfied from hearing somebody properly oldschool-savvy to make that preference. Good to know it's actually a matter of taste.
Then again dear qptain Nemo my taste could just be utterly attrocious, you know...
DeleteSeriously though, I do believe you have a point, especially when it comes to the strategic mode of the game, which was indeed underdevelopped and simplistic, though, admittedly, I never cared much for this bit myself. Always felt it got in the way of the tactical bits.
Was mostly referring to the TBS mechanics, where I felt the 1 move action/1 other action was a very elegant substitute for time points.
Then again, I must still play Apocalypse before deciding on the best XCOM to date!