XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Has anyone else played this game? I read about it on a gaming site last week and downloaded the XBOX demo - it looks great! And having seen it in action on Youtube, I can't wait until it arrives this week from Amazon

Who else has played it - what did you think? Any tips?

I was a huge huge fan of the original game developer Julian Gollop and loved all his games back on the Spectrum and Atari ST etc such as Rebelstar, Lords of Chaos, Laser Squad etc. I was totally unaware of this though so will have to check it out.

It's £18 from Amazon with a 3-5 week wait, or £20 from Zavvi via Play.com. I went for the next cheapest on Amazon because I had a voucher to use!

But XCOM appears to be a classic turn-based strategy game that forces you to use your noodle a LOT. I played the two demo levels and lost all but one man on each level, quite shocking really! Will take a while to get used to the different tactics and weaponry your squads can use.

I literally cannot wait for the game to arrive. There's a guy on YouTube who has put about 50 videos (25mins a pop) of him playing through the game, and I'm up to video 6 now. It's gripping stuff just watching it!

I recall on the old UFO and Laser Squad that you used to have to plan each movement precisely, work out the right steps etc and hope to dear god they didn't have a battle droid set on ambush when you went round a corner.

I think the premise remains the same. Use cover wisely, don't bunch your guys up in case of heavy weaponry, get high ground / flanking in place and make sure you don't throw your sniper to the wolves

Okay, so the game arrived at work today. Will be off home to get my 4 year old dined, bathed, pyjama-ed and semi-bedded before whacking this bad boy in

I played this for two hours last night, it's brilliant. I'm already attached to Zoltan 'Ghost' Gera, my sniper, and to Atrei 'The Tank' Des, my heavy gunner. I lost Lady Godiva to a Thin Man, but I've got Ellen 'Silent Assassin' Macarthur as her replacement...

Basically, it's a turn-based strategy game that you have to be patient with. I lost Lady Godiva to a foolish move, I placed her far ahead of the rest of the squad and she got flanked by the aliens. Poor girl dies alone, first poisoned, then headshot

Best game I've played since I first put Skyrim in my XBOX.

I'm going to get a copy this afternoon after I've finished work thanks to you!

Amazon now have it on stock for £17

To get it direct through Xbox as a download its £49.99!

Haha I saw that, and they think downloads are the future

So you have no physical purchase, no printing costs, nothing to resell if you wish, no physical booklet or maps etc yet it costs 3x what it would if you went into a shop.
Yeah Microsoft I'm loving your vision.

After a weekend of playing it, I can say this: it's my favourite XBOX game of all time, and probably makes my top 3 on ANY platform, behind only Sensible Soccer on the Mega Drive and Darklands on PC.

After being unale to find a physical copy in the nearby shops I took the plunge and bought the iPad version that's just come out.
Dear God the loading screen is annoying, you have to watch a minute of the opening trailer before you can start and it crashes A LOT so you have to go back through the loading screen again. Apart from that it's meant to be the full game, just hope they fix the bugs soon!

I never play games through apps, they're always terrible. And I hate Angry Birds.

Nothing I've come across beats XCOM. I named a character after my stepdad, sent him into combat on his own, then watched as the aliens tore him apart

I'd read a host of reviews prior and they were all hugely favourable towards it as an app, if the glitch is sorted it'll be fine and it allows me to have an hour on it at lunch or sat on the sofa whilst Mrs Hero watches the goings on in Albert Square etc.

Hey hero, I noticed you were playing this the other night. Did you get the full game in the end? I still can't put it down!

Its free ( ish ) or was free ( ish ) on through Playstation plus, unfortunately its in a queue, your write ups may have bumped it up that queue.

Azzy Mahmood wrote:Hey hero, I noticed you were playing this the other night. Did you get the full game in the end? I still can't put it down!

 Yeah I saw it had reduced in price to £14.99 so I thought sodit after becoming fed up of trying to play it on my iPhone and bought it.

So what do you reckon?

I lost my most experienced soldier last night, my heavy soldier Colonel Mrs 'Boom Boom' Hoefkens. 26 missions, 43 kills. Gone to one shot from an elite armoured muton. Luckily for me I have another Heavy soldier ranked at Colonel! But my next one is still at Corporal level, so I need to do some quick levelling up there.

I have one guy who's unstoppable, my sniper Jean-Pierre 'Sureshot' Papin. 23 missions, 70ish kills. He only needs one shot on anything with 12 or less health, and a headshot can take out those with up to 18. Lethal.

I'm only 2 months in and I'm just trying to get some satellites up as I heard that was vital to do so, upgraded as quick as I can to a 6 man team though lost my original guy 'Disco' last night to a one shot which narked me off as I was trying to round up the last alien left to ARC him.

Haha, see how much fun it is?

I've only lost four soldiers so far and I now have satellites above all the remaining countries (2 pulled out). I won't tell you what I'm up to right now as it could spoil the plot for you, but the technology upgrades are ace. And whatever you do, don't ever sell stuff on the gray market. You get quick money, but you need your inventory full of stuff later on, I promise you.

Ah good as I haven't as yet sold anything. Just upgrading to laser weapons for the squad at present, got carapace armour kitted out  so still quite a newb. Fought some of the spider like critters that turn guys into zombies as well as the big muthas that go into a blood rage?

The spiderish ones are buggers, they turn people into zombies really quickly and can kill your guys super quick too. The mutons, the blood rage ones, are rubbish, two guys on overwatch and a heavy solider with the perk that allows a reaction shot if they come into range will take even the biggest ones down.

I've got Carapace armour on all my guys, the next armour up I have researched but don't have the parts I need to make it

I've not done many upgrades to ships of yet as I'm loathe to when I see they're oneshot stuff, is it worthwhile?

I've not upgraded my ships at all, I have two on every continent but I just don't have the components to make the weapons. Plus as you say, what's the point in using up valuable resources on stuff you can only use once?

I've researched a new type of ship, but I can't afford to make it yet