XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Due out for release on October 9, 2012, the hotly-debated XCOM: Enemy Unknown is another title that made CNBC’s 10 hottest games of 2012 list. When the game was initially introduced as an action/FPS game, fans were not particularly impressed with this direction. After all, XCOM comes from a beloved line of strategy roots. However, Enemy Unknown will supposedly be taking the game back to its original form. Confusing much? I think so.

The game is being developed by Firaxis Games for publisher 2K Games. It is slated for release in Europe and Australia in October 2012. XCOM: Enemy Unknown will be released for Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

The release draws near! Have you pre-ordered your copy yet?

Update: XCOM: Enemy Unknown was released on-schedule on October 9, 2012 in North America and three days later (on October 12, 2012) in Europe and Australia. Ultimately, it saw a release on the Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Mac OS X and iOS platforms.

Remember the controversy surrounding the release of this game? Well, Spoony’s “betrayal” rant about XCOM: Enemy Unknown has become rather infamous. All this talk about FPS and strategy and what form the finished product would take stirred up a bit of a debate among loyal followers of the series. On the upside, Firaxis was open and receptive to fan feedback, and they ultimately remained faithful to the strategy genre.

When all was said and done, critical reception for XCOM: Enemy Unknown was pretty good. GameSpot gave it a “great” rating at 8.5 out of 10. The only qualms they had with the game were the repetitive maps, bad camera angles and other miscellaneous visual glitches. Pretty minor stuff when you really think about it. IGN also offered up a “great” rating at 8.2 out of 10, citing its atmosphere, pacing, and solider progression system as its chief strengths. They did note, however, that the learning curve was rather steep, and the scale of the game was a little on the small side. Eurogamer.net gave it a more optimistic score at 9 out of 10.

I didn’t really know anything about XCOM before Spoony’s aforementioned rant, so I guess you could say I wasn’t too emotionally invested in how the game would turn out. However, if I were to put a little bit of time into this game, I’m sure I would enjoy it. Even though the strategy genre isn’t my favorite, whenever I start playing a game in the genre, I somehow end up liking it. Maybe strategy and I do get along after all.

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