XCOM: Enemy Within is an expansion pack for
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
- not a sequel or a spin-off, despite arriving as a separate,
full-price app.So it's still the same taut strategy game about fighting
turn-based battles against aliens before returning to base to research
new weapons, launch satellites, build labourites, and sort out the
world's ET problem.
And it has the same story, same missions, same
mechanics, same alien enemies, and same cutscenes we described in our
2013 review. There's just more of it, and more to it.
Meld down
Take
Meld for example - a new resource that can be used to give your
soldiers cybernetic implants like super pupils that improve your aim,
chameleon-like skin that renders you invisible, and bionic legs that let
you leap onto rooftops.
You can also use it to craft mechanised
exosuits called MECs, which turn soldiers into walking tanks that can't
take cover (but can provide it), and can fire flamethrowers and rail
guns.
These new powers are introduced almost immediately and
change battles radically. Plus, the way you uncover this stuff
completely alters the way
XCOM is typically played.
Illegal alien
As
these precious few Meld canisters self destruct after a few turns, you
must rush into battle to collect them in time. This forces you to mix up
the old play style of slowly creeping from cover to cover, hammering on
overwatch and clearing out buildings room by room.
You need to
dash, use the assault class's run and gun ability, and throw caution to
the wind. It's risky, but more fun and a nice change of pace compared to
vanilla
XCOM.
Enemy Within also adds new
enemies. There's an invisible squid-like nightmare called the Seeker
which slowly strangles a soldier to death unless someone else shoots it
off, and human combatants who bring significantly different mission
types to the campaign.
Aside from that, there are lots of little
changes, including more maps for random battles and the asynchronous
multiplayer, a second item slot for each soldier, and medals that give
even more stat boosts to your favourite soldiers before they're cruelly
snatched away by the jaws of permadeath.
Port forward
This
iOS port is pretty similar to the last one, with the same
low-resolution textures and flat lighting, despite interim advances in
Android tech and iOS 8's Metal framework.
Then again, that only
affects the rare up-close scenes and the game still looks quite stunning
in the standard isometric view (flickering shadows not withstanding).
The
controls seem better so it's easier to spin or zoom the camera on
command, and while entering buildings or scampering up to a higher
elevation is still a little fiddly it's less of a hassle.
This
expansion annoyingly adds a new problem where sounds sometime come out
super loud from one ear of your stereo headphones in an annoying,
unnatural fashion - hopefully just a bug that's fixed in a patch.
Upgrade path
Enemy Within certainly makes
XCOM
feel fresh and exciting again, and the new additions will appeal to
diehard fans of the original who want something different for their next
ironman run
But as it's delivered as a separate app, rather than
an in-app purchase for the original game, it's tricky to recommend to
fans of the original game unless you absolutely
adored it and crave more innovation, variety, and depth to the career. In which case, fill your boots.
But if you've never played an
XCOM
game before? This is an ideal entry point - it might be a little less
accessible (and you can't turn off the complex new features like in
F
