XCOM: Enemy Within Reviews
Like most expansion packs, Enemy Within is targeted towards the experienced. But Firaxis once again manages to balance XCOM's disparate elements, resulting in a challenging and satisfying experience.
Those tired of Enemy Unknown's formula will not find compelling improvements or changes here, though fans will find enough new content to merit another go at vanquishing the Alien invasion.
The bottom line is you'll never play 'XCOM: Enemy Unknown' for the first time ever again. It's okay that 'Enemy Within' doesn't give you that feeling. It doesn't recreate the dread we all felt in those first couple playthroughs. That's where ironman mode comes in. 'Enemy Within' is all about piling on the goods, throwing in some new ideas with Exalt and buffing up the sense of personalization and customization with your squaddies. There's a lot more to do, and with a game as good as 'XCOM,' that's never a bad thing.
XCOM: Enemy Within should be an essential purchase for fans of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, or even those who have not experienced this brilliant remake. With its many additions and changes it provides fans with a revitalised campaign filled with clever nuances and potentially increasing the game's lifetime by several magnitudes. It is not without its blunders, however.
Enemy Within [is] not only an excellent expansion, but a more fully formed vision of the base game as well.
At the end of the day, it was the gameplay that made last year's XCOM: Enemy Unknown a standout title and that remains intact, but XCOM: Enemy Within is the dessert package to go with the main course you just ate, adding that sweet delight on top of an already pleasing and tasty meal.
Enemy Within is a solid expansion to an excellent game, with options like MECs, medals and gene mods that make you want to stomp aliens all over again in exciting new ways. The first two thirds of the campaign are definitely improved, but EW doesn't solve the problem of slogging through the endgame.
A worthy expansion that refreshes and improves XCOM: Enemy Unknown in just about every way that matters.
Enemy Within doesn't fundamentally change the XCOM experience, but it does add a number of new challenges and strategies for veterans of Enemy Unknown. This expansion may be a little too much to handle for newcomers, but the XCOM faithful will find a whole new series of important decisions to obsess over.
XCOM: Enemy Within is a feature-packed expansion that makes a great game even greater.
Even if you don't pick up the expansion right now you should definitely pick it up as soon as it goes on Steam sale. After all, who can put a price tag on giant robot soldiers punching aliens in the face? It worked for Pacific Rim and it works here too.
Like the soldiers in the game, XCOM: Enemy Within takes everything introduced in Enemy Unknown, polishes it, enhances it, and redeploys it into the field. It's stronger, it's meaner, and it's awesome. The new additions force your hand to make tactical decisions that can and will lead to the death of soldiers that you'll become attached to now more than ever.
The fantastic Exalt missions, gene mods, and MEC Troopers are an excellent reason to play more XCOM.
It would be hard to recommend a player try the expansion without playing the original first, but fortunately running the game on Steam requires ownership of Enemy Unknown and the console release will include both old and new versions. Enemy Within isn't the definitive version of XCOM, but it's a smart and satisfying extension of a game ideal for enticing players back for a second, third, or fourth playthrough.
This is what DLC should be. Masses of content. New options, new maps, new missions, new soldiers, new enemies, balances and optimisations; hours and hours of brand new gameplay. It's all here. It's all good. It's the best that XCOM has ever been.
Enemy Within is how XCOM was meant to be played. It takes all the great things from the original and refurbishes them with all sorts of cool new additions to the gameplay. If you haven't been introduced to the XCOM universe yet, this would be the right time to start.
Enemy Within is an improvement on an already outstanding game. It takes familiar systems, builds on top of them and challenges us in new ways, once again wearing our fingernails down to the bone and frazzling our nerves by making us second-guess each and every decision we make on and off the battlefield. It's bigger, deeper, and more challenging than ever before, forcing players to rethinktheir approaches, and expanding massively on replayability once more. Prepare to lose weeks to this game...AGAIN!
Enemy Within makes for an incredible, and fresh, journey as you fight to save the world one more time, and it's definitely worth picking up eventually. We would totally understand though, if you wanted to wait for a steam sale or something.
Over all I love the new flavor, am happy to be playing XCOM again, and love the challenge. Like I said, if you have any love for XCOM in your heart, pick this expansion up.
XCOM: Enemy Within takes an already excellent game and makes it bigger and better. The addition of Meld, Gene Mods, Cybersuits, and the EXALT faction creates a wholly new experience -- a must-have for fans of the core title.