8. XCOM: Enemy Unknown
They struck hard and without warning one night, taking all of humanity by surprise. Aliens... ruthless killing machines with an unknown agenda. It falls on your shoulders as the head of XCOM to exterminate this extra-terrestrial threat, and save the world... or at least, what's left of it.
And with that, you're thrown into the deep end of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, a reinvention of the classic strategy series. Developed by Firaxis, of Civilization fame, Enemy Unknown remains true to the decades-old originals while at the same time bringing the series into the modern world of gaming. At it's core, the title is a turn-based strategy game where you lead a squad of alien-hunting soldiers out into the unknown of one randomly-generated map after the next. On top of that, there's a resource managment aspect to the game in the form of your headquarters, where between missions you must perform autopsies, research new weapons, train soldiers, and maintain peace with your many diplomatic relations.
Keeping these many plates spinning is difficult throughout the entire game, but as least a few hours in you manage to get a better handle and understanding of how they each function and relate to each other. It's at this point you realize that even if you master all the different elements that comprise Enemy Unknown, it will still always present a tough challenge. This is because Enemy Unknown is an asshole of a game. The stakes are high, and it stays that way from start to finish. The aliens are cold-blooded and ruthless, taking out members of your squad with no remorse or hesitation.
That Firaxis manages to make you feel a connection to what are essentially disposable members of your squad, despite the fact that none of them have any spoken lines or individual characteristics, is a testament to how solid the leveling system is. These men and women literally go through the ringer at your command, and seeing them level up, progressively becoming stronger and more powerful, brings a sense of pride and satisfaction. That they can so easily be ripped away from you seems almost cruel on the part of the developers.
Despite it's several bugs, glitches, and frame-rate issues, XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a smart, user-friendly, modern day RTS. Even if you're not a fan of the genre, it is still very much worth your time.
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