Crafting a Dekonstruer #1 XCOM: Enemy Unknown

This weekend I found some time that I could take to sit down and bash my keyboard, in hopes of making that XP number rise. Let the face rolling begin!

To kick start this blog we are going to be looking at the strategy game XCOM: Enemy Unknown and breaking it down to its bits and pieces. These game atoms are the core of the game and make it one of my personal favorite strategy games.

Players:

XCOM is primarily a single player game but it still has a separate multiplayer mode where players can try to out play and out think their opponents. Players start off a multiplayer game by first creating a squad that can consist up to six members. With a pool of points use them to create a squad by spending them on soldiers and gear. Once they have created a squad then players take turns commanding their individual squads to defeat their opponents. This type of player interaction pattern would fall under “player vs player”.

XCOM has multiplayer but it is overshadowed by its great single player experience. The single player mode is just that, single player where the player plays against the game system, in order progress though the story and complete the game.

Objectives and Goals:

XCOM is set in the near future during man’s first contact with alien life forms. The player is put in charge of an elite military organization with no tires to any countries. The Goal of XCOM is to protect humanity from its first encounter with aliens while advancing humanity. The main goal of XCOM is outwit and find a solution to humanity’s crises. There are other side goals in XCOM such as research and advance human technology, create and construct new technology with the new research, capture and take back control of aliens landing site and so on.

Rules and Mechanics:

XCOM is a turn based tactical strategy game that focuses of positioning of your soldiers and tactics to defeat your enemy. Since it is a turn based game the structure of a turn is critical in making sure that the game is fun and balanced. In a standard turn each solder is given two actions that it can take. Actions mainly consist of moving, shooting and using skills. Soldiers have a set range that they can move with one action but you can also use two actions and move it twice the distance. You have to balance positioning and shooting while you are playing XCOM. Two actions per soldier per turn is the perfect number of turns and makes managing them important. There is also a cover system, that lets your soldier take cover to decrees the enemy’s chances of hitting you. There are two types of cover, partial and full cover. The two types of cover will affect the penalty to the enemy’s accuracy. These mechanics create the interesting gameplay that I have come to expect from an XCOM game.

Resources:

Besides XCOM being a great turn based strategy game it has its own organizational management where players have to manage the money, materials and human resources.  Players must manage the incoming money from supporting nations, to best equip your soldiers to fight the aliens. While you are getting money from supporting nations each month you must also manage relationships with each one of them. If a supporting nation is neglected in this regard then they will pull their support. With managing money and relations, you also have to manage resources that you find during missions such as enemy weapon fragments, Elerium, and the courses of dead aliens. You can use these resources with research or manufacturing to improve your fighting strength. The soldiers that you send off on missions are one of your most valuable resources. The more combat your soldiers have the more skilled and versatile they become. The difference between a recruit and a veteran is significant. Different soldiers different strengths while fighting. If you manage their strengths well then you will have a better squad as a result. The way you manage your resources greatly impacts your solder’s performance in the field and with that the way the game is played.

Game States:

There are a couple of game states that XCOM can be in. There are two main states base management and field combat. The combat state is where you have sent your soldiers off to a mission. While this state is going on you cannot manage your base until you finish the mission, retreat from the mission, or lose all of your solders. While you are in the combat state the game plays out like a turn based strategy game with each unit having two actions. This has been talked about above so it will not be covered again. If you are not in the combat state then you are in the base management state. While you are in this state you are at the XCOM HQ and will stay in this state until you pick a mission to undertake. In the managing state you can manage all of your resources as talked about in the resources section.

Sequencing:

In XCOM the combat state is handled in a turn based style. While you are in the combat state it will not change from a turn based style. When you have completed the combat state and change to the managing state the turn based style stays mostly the same. Instead of turns it is replaced with days and you can make as many actions as you want. As for order player actions there are order of events that must be completed inorder to unlock the next event. For example you must research something before you can start researching upgrades to it. Another example would be that you must research the technology in order to manufacture the technology.

Player Interaction:

XCOM is primarily a single player game and as such there is not a lot of player interaction. The most interaction that the player has is with the game system.

Theme and Setting:

XCOM is a humanity struggle game with everyone’s favorite… aliens! But with all seriousness it is one of thoughts first contact with aliens as they try to invade earth kind of games. This might not appeal to all players as the formula has been done countless number of times. To make the game successful it would have to do something to make it different from the standard formula. XCOM accomplished this with its detailed and in-depth combat system coupled with one of the best management system that I have seen in a long time. This is what draws the players in and then makes them interested in the story of the game.