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Question: When's the last time you sunk fourteen hours into a game, lost, and felt good about it? That's what just happened to me with XCOM: Enemy Unknown. In this day and age there seems to be a lot of bitter gamers who have various views of game-worth. I remember when my wife got me Lollipop Chainsaw as a gift the clerk told her to keep the receipt. "It's only a six hour game. He might be disappointed." But I've always been happy to take six solid hours of gameplay over twenty boring ones.
I was first introduced to the X-COM series via its second installment, Terror From The Deep. I was about fourteen or so, and my step-dad was working at a big-box electronics store and brought home a promo copy. I was obsessed with this game, but I was terrible at playing it. I doubt I ever made it past the second mission. Truth be told, I may have spent all my time on the first. But it was a blast. Many years later I'd discover a GBA spiritual successor developed by series creator Julian Gallop called Rebelstar: Tactical Command. It was great. But then out of the blue it was announced that X-COM proper would be making a comeback... as a First Person Shooter.
Well as you may know, that hasn't happened. And won't. Instead that game was shelved in favor of a proper Tactical game: Enemy Unknown with The Bureau turned into a Third Person Shooter (sigh) coming out later this year.
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Enemy Unknown turned out to be a tremendously brilliant game however. It's basically everything you could want from the series, in high-def, and with excellent controller support. But more than anything else, it brings the drama. Sure your barracks can hold up to 99 soldiers, but your squad can only consist of six. This means lots of leveling-up and growing attached. It's an emotional rollercoaster of a game that I've chronicled in bits as I've played...
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I had one of those four-legged bastards that turns dudes to zombies come slink out of a building and land ONE SPACE away from my "team captain." (I call this guy the team captain as he's one of the more leveled-up skill-wise, and probably has the most kills of anyone on my squad right now.) The team-captain had already moved, and so my next character's turn was enough that even if I dashed I still wasn't super close. Instead, I moved just as far as I could while still having the ability to take a shot. 29% guys. 29% that the shot would connect. And there was the decision. Do I take the shot, miss and hope I can get someone else over there before the four-legged bastard's next move? Do I dash as close as I can get to set up a good shot on next round and hope that I can get the team-captain out of harm's way in the meantime? Well dear friends, I took the shot. 29% and it was CRITICAL. Mission ended with that kill, and a sigh of relief.
Let me tell y'all about 'Coney.' For the last 5 hrs or so, Coney has been my star. Her real name is Charlotte, but the squad calls her Coney (presumably as she's from the Coney Island area, though I've never asked). She started out just as nondescript as any of my other soldiers, but quickly rose through the ranks in 5 hrs thanks to her sharp-shooting. Even as snipers go she seemed to have a can't-miss nature about her. A little extra luck that goes above mere statistics.
In the first mission where we encountered these grunt front-line soldier aliens she was caught off guard. She had set up post looking through an open train cargo cart when one of them surprised her and positioned himself a single space away. Apparently he had dashed to get there as he didn't take a shot at her, but she had nobody covering her. I got my closest guy over in her area and he took the best shot he could. It hit, but not hard and the grunt remained standing. Coney's turn was next and she could run, get safe and take the shot - risking that the grunt would go after the soldier who had just defended her. Nah, Coney point-blanked him. Grunt goes down. Mission over.
So imagine my horror when Coney was fragged by a Thin Man during a bomb-deactivation mission. She had been holding down behind a car when he surprised her. Hit her hard and she started bleeding out. Luckily - so luckily - I had a soldier with a medkit close by. I got her over to Coney on the next turn and healed her up, and followed that by parking a third soldier with them behind that car and put him on overwatch to protect them. A sigh of relief as my turn ended and I realized that a close call had happened, but Coney would continue running up her tally of kills.
And that's when the car they were behind blew up. All three of them KIA'd while exhibiting tremendous teamwork. They had done everything right - they just couldn't do it fast enough. The squad will miss Coney. She won't be an easy part of the team to replace.
So the above should stand as back-up to just how sucked-in you really get. Which is all the more reasoning that seeing this screen was so sobering:
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Yup. After putting it two or three hours a night for a week, I lost. Seriously, I lost a game. How often does that happen anymore in games? Usually you just start from your last check-point and continue on. And in fairness, I was playing on Normal which meant I could technically start from before my last mission. But it's a lost cause. My base-management skills were terrible. My troops were a joke at this point. Many countries had pulled out of the XCOM project. It was rough. It's reason to start over again. Which is definitely a rather difficult thing to fact, but it's true.
I probably won't do so immediately. Not tonight. But Enemy Unknown is one of the most addictive games in a long time, so I can totally see myself starting over again in the near future. And more importantly, even though I didn't "beat" the game - I have fourteen amazingly enjoyable hours. The journey outweighed the destination. No matter what your outcome may be, I highly recommend you log some hours into this one.
