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jp's XCOM: Enemy Unknown (PS3)
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| [November 25, 2013 04:14:08 PM]
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Finished this over the weekend! Yay!
I was a bit surprised thought. Having researched some chamber thing or other, and having built it in my base I was ready to go. I hadn't realized that I had to "visit it" (send a psi-soldier into it). As soon as I realized this option existed , and I sent a soldier through, I saw a message that noted that once this happened everything else would stop (time wouldn't pass, so soldiers won't heal, research won't get researched, etc.). There was also a warning that this couldn't be taken back. Oh. That meant it got real, and signaled pretty strongly that the next mission was to be the final one.
It was late, but I was curious so I figured I'd try it just to see what it was like. I fully expected to get wiped out. But I didn't. I won. Woo!
In all, the final mission wasn't that interesting or exciting. It's basically a gauntlet of aliens - starting with the weak and easy ones, and ending with the toughest. I think the final room/area had 3 of the super psionic boss-type aliens (ethereals?). I'm not quite sure how I made it other than I still had some area-effect heavy weapons available and I was able to mind control some aliens with grenades (for additional area effect damage!).
So, final thoughts?
I really enjoyed how the end gives you a nice view of your stats and compares them to the worldwide ones. It seems that the system has been gamed though. Unless I'm mistaken you're supposed to see your stats compared with the world average, but some values are WAY off the charts (on the worldwide). So, these are either cumulative (total money spent, rather than average money spent) or they've been hacked/gamed.
How did my record compare?
a. In all I played a shorter game than most. Fewer days, fewer missions.
b. My "advancement" was about average in the sense that I didn't have more advanced things than most.
c. I had 9 soldiers die. That was average - which surprised me. I thought it was a bit high (assuming that most people would reload if a soldier died, like I was doing from roughly the middle of the game onwards).
And the game experience? Wow. I really enjoyed it, especially because I don't have the feeling that I've seen everything. I never really used the SHIV vehicles for example (only once), nor did I bother with the better interceptor ships and weapons and things. I feel that the game would go very differently if I started from a different place...and that's a good thing.
Will I go back and play? Probably not - but just because there's so many other games to play.
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| [November 19, 2013 07:35:12 PM]
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I was incredibly happy when I heard this game was great. I really loved the original XCOM games - having played both (in the wrong order). To be honest, I loved the one I played first (X-COM Terror from the Deep) and then went back to play the first one (UFO: Enemy Unknown) and was incredibly disappointed because it felt like exactly the same game - but with some names changed and some sprites swapped. Years later I think I read something about the development process of the sequel and it basically said as much (rushed to market, no time to make any substantive changes).
So, does this one work as well? Absolutely.
I've really enjoyed the decision-making (what should I spend my limited cash on) and I've been pleasantly surprised and how much impact some of my choices have had. I went with a research-centric start, so the engineering side has been really slow and challenging. As expected I've fallen back on some "old tricks" (like reloading when a soldier I'm particularly attached to dies). In some ways the game feels much harder than before - EVERYTHING seems to take a few days to complete (e.g. hiring new soldiers) and I can see how I could have really screwed myself over had I played less conservatively with my resources.
At this point I've made significant progress in the campaign having recently "unlocked" (discovered? developed?) the ability to see if my soldiers have psychic potential. I'm not entirely sure how psychic characters advance (is it just combat kills or should I also be using their powers?) and I'm really curious what the next big step will be.
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jp's XCOM: Enemy Unknown (PS3)
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Current Status: Finished playing
GameLog started on: Wednesday 19 June, 2013
GameLog closed on: Wednesday 27 November, 2013 |
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This is the only GameLog for XCOM: Enemy Unknown. |
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