Video game developer Firaxis has already shown that it can
deliver solid expansions with Brave New World and Gods & Kings for
Civilization V, but neither of them comes close to changing the core
game experience as Enemy Within does for XCOM: Enemy Unknown.
The team has made at least three major modifications to the core game
formula while keeping its core elements intact, creating an experience
that feels new and engaging but uses memories and nostalgia, as well, to
create extra incentive to play.
XCOM: Enemy Within delivers heartbreak as agents die left and
right in search for the resources required to power the war, some
exquisite high-tension moments when the fate of entire engagements is
linked to a sniper shot and plenty of victory celebrations when
seemingly impossible situations are safely navigated.
Story
The core idea of XCOM: Enemy Unknown is unchanged: we are not alone in
the universe and the aliens are a loose confederation of species that
seem to focus all their energy on eliminating the human population of
Earth so that they can mine it for resources.
The player leads
XCOM, a vast but initially underpowered organization that aims to use
alien tech to reverse the tide of battle.
From this position, a
gamer needs to deal with funding, recruitment, upgrades, base building,
missions selection and can then actually lead his troops in the field.
The biggest new narrative element in Enemy Within is EXALT, a new
organization that also seeks to get access to alien technology but wants
to use it to evolve a small portion of humanity.
Firaxis does a
good job of quickly characterizing the new faction via the look of its
agents and the actual missions design, but I would have liked to get
more background information about them, their goals and how they related
to the rest of the world.
In addition, the game missed an
opportunity to launch a wider conversation about the effects that mechs
and gene augmentation has on operatives and on the preservation of their
own humanity, even as they fight to save their race.
Gameplay
The imagination of many players will be attracted to the possibilities
that new mechanical and genetic soldier upgrades introduce to XCOM:
Enemy Within, but the biggest game changer in the expansion is the two
canisters of MELD that are dropped into missions.
Their
characteristics are: easily destroyed by bullets, hidden until visual
range is established, linked to a countdown timer that’s randomly
assigned, crucial to the development of a solid combat force.
Their presence totally changes the rhythm of a typical mission because
gamers now actively need to move forward in an adventurous manner,
exposing troops to potential enemy ambushes, in order to get access to
MELD.
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Gene change
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Robot move
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Sure, one can keep playing as one did in Enemy Unknown, but that means
less new toys to play around with and an increased level of challenge
because the aliens come complete with their own new units, including
mechtoids, and EXALT also needs to be dealt with in order to keep donor
countries satisfied.
Enemy Within feels more exciting, more
alive because there’s more danger to deal with, but there are more
rewards for those who make the right gambles and win.
Once MELD
is acquired players can spend it, alongside regular money, to create
mechs and to implement alien genes into their soldiers, creating a much
more efficient alien killing force.
The mechanized soldiers instantly attracted my attention and two of them with flamethrowers became a center of my battle group.
They are not invincible and cannot use cover, yet they feel like a good
way of taking the fight to the enemy, although I soon further
discovered that gene upgrades coupled with the right equipment make more
sense in the long run.
Enemy Within also introduces more maps
to XCOM, which make the entire experience more enjoyable, and there are
two unique missions that long-time fans of the franchise will love to
play through because they involve bases and some unique situations.
And the team is adding a few other scripted missions, including a great
one that has the player squad basically fighting for their lives, with
apparently no hope for survival, and involving the best use of fish in
strategy games.
All the new mechanics and resources are perfectly integrated into the
core XCOM: Enemy Unknown core, and the extra variety in the first two
thirds of the campaign means that most fans will gladly spend another
hundred hours battling aliens and humans.
However, Firaxis
fails to solve one big problem with the turn-based game: the huge
importance of quickly setting up satellite coverage at the start of the
campaign in order to avoid an early death spiral and get the resources
needed to expand.
The game also suffers in the last third when
the final assault against the aliens is set up and executed and the new
tools make those final missions easier, losing much of their emotional
punch.
But the mechs, genes, MELD and new tactical options they
introduce are so interesting that it’s easy to forget that the campaign
is basically the same and Enemy Within feels like the definitive
version of the XCOM experience.
Graphics and audio
XCOM: Enemy Within is not the best-looking game on the market, but for
the turn-based strategy genre, it creates a world that’s filled with
bright colors, a clear science fiction theme and a user interface that
always delivers the information players need.
This is clearly
the same engine as in Enemy Unknown, with a few tweaks to take advantage
of modern hardware, and some players might be disappointed with the
lack of improvement.
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New enemies
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Battle time
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But Firaxis has clearly done a lot of work in order to make sure that
all the new mechanics and content is seamlessly integrated into the
game.
The even bigger achievement is the fact that Enemy Within
manages to cram even more information into the soldier and the base
screens, allowing players to easily manage their new resources and
decide how to use them to upgrade their squad.
Enemy Within
also adds a few effects associated with the new weapons and enemies, but
the fundamental sound design for the game remains pretty much
unchanged, doing a good job of underlining the important moments of the
game without distracting the player from the action.
Multiplayer
The multiplayer of XCOM: Enemy Within makes good use of the new maps
and fresh gameplay options but, as in the original version of the game,
what sounds like a good idea ends up feeling like a perfunctory mode
where that never manages to capture the imagination such as the
single-player campaign does.
Conclusion
XCOM: Enemy Within is a rare beast in the modern gaming world, a
classic expansion that manages to improve the quality of the core game
without disturbing the balance of the overall experience.
The
MELD and its use for mechs and gene improvements both make the tactics
gameplay more interesting and more engaging and the increase in the
number of maps means that there’s less grind towards the later stages of
the campaign.
The presence of EXALT is also welcomed because
it forces players to alter their approach, although I would have loved
for the game to offer more details on their philosophy.
Enemy
Unknown was a great video game, one of the best of last year, and XCOM:
Enemy Within manages to make it relevant once again.
The good:
The bad:
Final score: 8 / 10
Controller support: No 
System requirements:
Eclipse Standard 4.3.1 
