Xcom: Enemy Within.

At last! I get to talk about one of my favorite games of all time!

XCOM!

Years ago, when I had just moved to Maryland, and started making friends, I got hooked on Xcom for the computer. I’d go over to my friends house, and we’d just watch the insanity that was the game unfold. We never beat the game together. Eventually I bought it for the PlayStation and beat it after many grueling hours. It is one of my favorite, and defining, moments in my gaming hobby. I’d only beat one, maybe two other games at that point: Mega Man 3, and Rayman. The games I beat before God of War came out could be counted on one hand. Now I have a strict policy of not buying games before I beat the one I am currently playing. Right now, that means that I have to beat Heroes of Might and Magic VI before XCOM:Enemy Within comes out. That there is going to be an epic task.

the revitalization of the XCOM series is something that is incredible for me, as it brings me back to the days of yore when all I had to do was shoot aliens in my free time. I enjoyed, nearly universally, the game that came out last year. I bought both DLC’s and thoroughly enjoyed them both. Slingshot gave me a chance not to have to repeat the same missions on my C/I run-through, and it really ups the difficulty and pace of the missions.

Now, with the concept of Enemy Within on the horizon, I’m re-psyched to play the game. I never made it through an I/I run, and I’d really like to give that a shot.

Some of the concepts that the game has going for it are strange to me. I’m not sure where the gene therapy thing is going, and meld is a strange concept. It seems to be a forced way for the game designers to tackle the primary, safest route to mission victory: Heavy fire base. Really, and the new alien types are a little odd. But armored dudes with huge weapons? Count me in. Especially if they can punch Sectoids so hard that they both fly backward into cars so hard that the cars explode.

I’m really looking forward to the game, and though its seems, from everything I can find, do be a stand alone, I’m OK with that, as long as it ends closer to where the original game ended, I’ll be really pleased. Here is hoping for a great game come November!