X-COM: Enemy Unknown

Games haven’t been around long enough for there to be a real gulf between old classics and new remakes so it often feels like no time at all has gone by between the two. In the case of X-COM, however, the original stretches back all the way to 1994, when some current gamers hadn’t even been born. And part of the charm of the original was the hallmark of games back then – being horrifically, brutally cruel. UFO: Enemy Unknown, AKA several different titles, was famous for killing off your best squad members and then continuing the game without them – making you pay for every lost soldier.

The remake, with a new studio, tries to recapture all the alien-killing tactics, and especially some of the things that made the original great. As the CO in charge of the secret unit X-COM, you have to fend off an alien invasion, keep the nations of the world happy and contributing resources, trade for resources to advance your squad’s technology, and in general, not just fight the battles, but manage the war like a football team owner.

The remake looks pretty solid, but there are still quite a few bugs left in the game, and play balance issues galore, especially in multiplayer. It’s a fun enough campaign for master tacticians, and it shows a huge amount of potential for the return of turn-based strategy, but ultimately, needs a lot of work to take it from ‘fun’ to ‘brilliant.’ [Alex Cole]