XCOM: Enemy Within Overview

Why we love the series XCOM? The answer is obvious: for the amazing integrity and interconnectedness of all elements of the gameplay, for the constant need to solve more and more new problems, for the variety of development opportunities and the combat system. Any technological "upgrade" made in the command center will immediately bear fruit on the tactical map, and new types of alien ships will force you to invest large sums in the development of your own aviation. The fatal lack of resources forces you to think about your every step, measure costs and profits, analyze the situation and make difficult decisions even in the simplest situation, like buying weapons. This state of constant scarcity, lagging progress, and the joy of accomplishing intermediate goals has an eerie power that makes you spend dozens of hours in the game.

Developers from Firaxis Games perfectly understand what the positive aspects of their project are. Therefore, when creating an add-on Enemy Within they did not exchange for plot additions, but concentrated on the development and improvement of those elements that make up the backbone of the gameplay.

Straight from the machine, still fresh.

Certainly one of the most important aspects of the gameplay XCOM is the "customization" of the characters. A strategically correct approach to "pumping" skills and distributing uniforms to fighters plays a decisive role in the fight with the aggressor. As we progressed through the original game, we got access to ever more advanced "guns" and armor types based on alien technology.

V Enemy Within slightly expanded the standard arsenal of heroes. There are new types of weapons and ammunition. In addition to this, we were given two additional ways to "pump" the personnel - genetic modifications and cybernetization of fighters.

Having studied the special substance that appeared in the add-on, we can build two new buildings - a gene laboratory and a cybernetic laboratory. In the first, our soldier will change the DNA structure, after which he will receive new abilities. You can teach children to restore health or jump on high-rise buildings - there are a dozen skills available, which we will have to discover in the laboratory. As a result of such experiments, the main class of the warrior will be preserved - the changed DNA will manifest itself only in the form of passive or active skills that can be used during combat.

Well, in the cybernetic center, scientists will erase the entire past of the hero: the limbs of the poor fellow will be amputated, and instead of them there will be iron MEC prostheses. Robots have their own skill tree, so we're basically getting a new class of fighters. Cyborgs can burn out alien living creatures with flamethrowers, bombard them with rockets, destroy shelters, and hit melee very painfully. In addition, they do not occupy health, which allows them to be used as "tanks".

Professor Dowell's head in action.

It will not be possible to make such evolutionary leaps for dollars alone. In addition, the developers have introduced a resource called Composition, through which we will grow superhumans. Yellow containers appear at the alien landing sites, which you can get hold of during operations. However, everything is not so simple: the cherished vaults are programmed for self-destruction and explode after a certain number of moves after the start of the mission. During this time, you need to have time to find them and take a nearby cell. The pursuit of profit certainly raises the degree of hardcore: in a hurry, you have to literally break through groups of enemies, without having time to move carefully and choose a good position for a fight.

For the shown heroism and unthinkable feats, our team will be rewarded not only in the form of experience. Sometimes, at the end of missions, we will receive medals that can be given to any operative. There are several insignia in total: “For urban battles”, “For protection”, and so on. We can attach some “perk” to each of them, such as an increase in accuracy, willpower, or other parameters.

New chips fit very organically into the gameplay. Thanks to them, the process of "pumping" the characters began to look much richer, and the possibilities for creating an all-powerful squad are almost endless. It would seem that our mechanized warriors should easily deal with the aliens. However, in practice things are different.

The rapid development of new technologies does not make the passage easy. Yes, at the end of the game, when each fighter is equipped and “pumped” to the maximum, destroying enemies is much easier than before. But the increased number of opportunities leads only to an increase in the number of items of expenditure. Resources are sorely lacking, countries are balancing on the verge of leaving the Council, there is no money even to buy an ordinary grenade. Here, as never before, the very deficit that we mentioned earlier is acutely felt. You often have to visit the "Grey Market" section in order to somehow delay the loss of a satellite and an explosion of panic in some country.

Posthumous awards cannot be given ...

In addition to these problems, evolutionary changes have affected not only the members of our project. Several new types of aliens have appeared, of which the most obnoxious are the tentacled flying droids. This enemy becomes invisible, in this mode he approaches our brave man and completely incapacitates him, taking away his health. If there is no colleague nearby who can repel the victim, you can say goodbye to the warrior.

But a more significant innovation is the emergence of Exalt, a mysterious organization that supports the alien invasion. Terrorists spoil humanity, producing sabotage in different countries and undermining our authority in the eyes of governments. Yes, finally, the “Ikskomovites” will have to temporarily forget about the main enemy and be distracted by a showdown with treacherous elements of the Homo sapiens species.

The war with the bastards is carried out in two stages: at the first stage, we send a scout from among our recruits in search of information about the location of the enemy base. After that, you need to get the spy from the hot spot by sending the main group to help.

Fighting terrorists looks somewhat unusual. Exalt members use the same gear as us. The artificial intelligence of humans is written very well: they use different types of weapons wisely and try to work together. Exalt, like XCOM, is gradually evolving, and the operatives of this organization also acquire new types of "guns".

A good terrorist is a dead terrorist.

Is it worth buying Enemy Within for a pretty high price to add? On the one hand, there are no radically game-changing changes to be found here. On the other hand, significant innovations in the "customization" of characters, as well as a new enemy with a human face, refreshed the perception of familiar gameplay. In our opinion, the presented add-on is an excellent reason to once again plunge headlong into one of the best strategies of the past year.

Pros: new ways of "pumping" characters; war against terrorists; increased complexity of the early stages of the game.
Minuses: rather high price of the add-on.