Enemy Within's new additions spice up the game in interesting ways, but some of the core complaints remain unaddressed.
BY JAMES PINNELL ON NOVEMBER 13, 2013 AT 1:17 PM
First off: Yes, I’m fully aware that MECs do not need to be behind cover. Call it a force of habit, or a lack of pre-game research (most writers don’t research games before previews or reviews, on purpose) but I actually received emails based on my initial playthrough (video below). But that’s just one of the caveats — XCOM: Enemy Within expects that you already know everything that there is to know about XCOM. It also expects that you quite enjoyXCOM, and Yes, Indeed Sir, you would like some more. A lot more.
But let’s be clear — regardless of how Enemy Within has been marketed, it is almost certainly a DLC in sequels clothing. There is no overhaul here, no real move to address the few niggles that frustrated in the original title. What there is, however, is a slight deviation into an alternate course.
Enemy Within starts like any new game — new base, a vanilla squad, and a few easy ETs — it’s so familiar you’d be wondering if you choose the correct version on boot. The only difference is the key resource to collect, Meld, and a gradual introduction to a dual set of soldier upgrades through robotics or genetics. Here’s the rub — the more Meld you find, the beefier your soldiers can become. If you take the robot route, “volunteers” (chosen by your good self) will find themselves losing limbs in return for shiny new platinum augmentations. Combined with exoskeletons built by your engineers, you’ll end up with brutish MECs, complete with flamethrowers and kinetic fists. You’ll very quickly find yourself dominating the early battlefields, as your default chaingun makes short work of anything in your path. MECs excel especially when it comes to overwatch — with no cover support, their extra health allows them to sit in the open and cover the backs of your fleshier compatriots.
It’s a shame, however, that the other route feels unbalanced in comparison. Genetics allow your soldiers to be upgraded with alien components after they have been researched. These range from Aim and Will improvements, to the ability to regenerate health after each turn. The problem is that each upgrade is fairly expensive and requires almost immaculate control of your soldiers. You need a fairly large stack of upgrades combined with new weapons and armour to make a gene soldier worthwhile, whereas an MEC is infinitely more powerful and durable straight away. Not that it matters — the game is fairly easy on Normal until you start rumbling with the EXALT, a human faction that feels that fighting the alien threat is not the correct course of action.
Story missions, like Enemy Unknown, wrap themselves in and around standard abductions and UFO crashes, giving your team enough time to level up, build a base and research some new tech before dropping you into progressively difficult encounters. Once you’ve had some time to get used to your new paradigm, the game starts practically dumping entire legions of men onto the map. If you thought going up against 12 aliens was difficult, try 30 humans. They swarm the map, constantly flanking, lobbing grenades and using all sorts of dirty tactics to poke you out of cover or exploit gaps in your squad abilities. There is no mercy for mistakes — not that there was originally, but the game has tweaked its difficulty to focus more on tactics, reloading and cooldowns than on simply amping up the damage and accuracy of your foes. Every square counts, and it was rare I lost soldiers based anything but my own lazy or mis-clicked actions.
Good fights are rewarded with Awards, which are permanent badges you can bestow on your troops that offer extra status attributes and bonuses, some with conditions that rely on the ethnic makeup of your squad or particular way in which they are placed on the ground. They’re handy too, especially when they are used to take advantage of natural class benefits, such as extra aim for snipers or defense bonuses for heavy or assault troops. Over time, as your squad begins to survive longer than a few missions, you’ll start stacking awards on top of your promotions and modifications. If anything, it keeps things fresh and gives you the ability to quickly provide incentives for new soldiers, especially if you have a pretty nasty squad wipe. There’s also an interesting new mode that allows you to “scout” a battlefield with a special unit before sending in your main cache of commandos.
If it seems like I’ve been relatively tame on criticising Enemy Within, it’s generally because the game doesn’t really have many open faults. At the same time, however, it doesn’t take a lot of risks — much of the original game has been recycled to supplement the new campaign, and there haven’t been any significant changes to UI, enemy behaviour (although they are a little more clever at exploiting terrain) or the rules. What makes it a little tough to swallow is the cost — Enemy Within is $50 for Australians, almost as much as a new title in the US and frankly, as much as the title has re-skinned and morphed itself into a different property, it’s still just DLC. The campaign is fun, and so are the various new upgrades to soldiers, but the price is too high for what’s on offer.
If you loved XCOM: Enemy Unknown, then it’s likely you’ll appreciate the new additions to combat and the (frankly, better) campaign in Enemy Within. It’s a solid, polished and entertaining extension that has just enough draw to provide a decent 12-hour long experience. But if you were expecting any drastic changes to anything outside new weapons, abilities and units, you’re likely to walk away disappointed. Aliens still get a free move on discovery, units still automatically assign themselves classes, and rookie solders are still entirely useless. But lets face it — this is a successful appeal to the games’ existing fan base, and on that distinction alone, Enemy Within is worth the money.
Good:
- MECs and Genetics offer an interesting twist on traditional combat
- The new campaign is fun and cleverly woven into standard play
- AI difficulty has been tweaked, likely to let you get away with mistakes
Bad:
- Expensive for Australians
- No changes to some of the more controversial original additions
- Difficulty can be borderline ridiculous in later missions
XCOM: Enemy Within launches tomorrow, Thursday November 14. You can grab it on Steam for $44.99 until launch.
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