Info (EU2012)
Game Description
XCOM: Enemy Unknown (aka XCOM: EU or simply EU), released 9th Oct 2012 in the USA and 12th Oct2012 in Europe, is a video game (PC, XBox360 and PS3) wherein the player is in charge of an elite paramilitary organization called XCOM. XCOM: EU is a restart of the 'XCOM' series of games that started in 1994 with UFO: Enemy Unknown (aka XCOM: UFO Defense). Extraterrestrials are attacking Earth and it is your job to defend the planet. "Good luck Commander."
Like its predecessors, EU is a unique game because it blends a strategy layer with a turn-based tactical combat layer. In terms of overall strategy, you are tasked with building a base, researching technology, translating that into gear, equipping soldiers & aircraft, managing global politics to secure funding, choosing & planning missions, managing soldiers' abilities & 'perks', and more. In terms of tactical combat, you choose every move and action of each of your soldiers.
Having total control over every aspect of the XCOM agency is meaningfull; every success bolsters a sense of accomplishment, while every veteran's 'perma-death' and subsequent replacement by a minimally-skilled rookie feels like a gut punch from a Muton Berserker. Choose wisely, and you just might lay waste to the alien baddies. Choose poorly, and may not be able to protect the Funding Council nations or even survive a combat mission.
Lead Designer Jake Solomon is known for describing the 'one thing that is XCOM' as being consequences: no shot can be taken for granted and every choice you make in the game could have a significant impact. This speaks to XCOM's inherent replayability as well as it's infamous difficulty.
Difficulty Levels
- Easy - new to XCOM or tactical games
- Normal - for familiar players
- Classic - very challenging; for experience players (No Officer Training School at start)
- Impossible - "For players who find joy in suffering." (Tutorial disabled)
Advanced Options
- Ironman Mode: While not a dedicated difficulty 'level', choosing Ironman Mode upon starting a campaign increases difficulty by allowing only one save slot that is determined by auto-save. Clicked on the wrong square and got your Colonel killed out of cover? Countries permanently left the Funding Council because you botched that mission? "That's XCOM."
- Tutorial: Provides a tutorial via practice combat(s) and some basic base management. Essentially the same as the Demo. Without the tutorial, you start on a 4-Rookie combat mission rather than starting with a lone surviving Squaddie.
Game Options
Audio
There are a couple audio options to customize how the game is experienced.
Option | Description |
---|---|
Master volume | Changes the overall volume of the game. (This seems to have the most relevance to cut-scene volume.) |
Voice volume | Adjusts volume of soldiers' battlefield comments, incoming communication from Central, Dr. Shen, & Dr. Vahlen, as well as enemy vocals. |
Sound effect volume | Adjusts volume of sound effects for gun-fire, explosions, doors & windows, footsteps, etc. |
Music volume | Adjusts music volume, though some music is inherently soft (exploring) while some is loud (mid-battle). |
Enable Soldier Speech | Toggles whether soldiers speak in combat (e.g., "I'm on it", panic cries, psionic smack talk). |
Gameplay
There are a number of UI & gameplay options to customize how the game is experienced.
Option | Description |
---|---|
Show action cam | (?) |
Enable 3rd-person cam | Toggles whether you see over-the-shoulder & 3rd-person (e.g., kicking in a door) animations. |
Enable autosave | Allows the game to autosave for you, generally right before a combat mission or after an important event or objective. Ironman mode forces this. |
Show enemy health | Toggles display of enemy health bars on and off. |
Interface
There are a number of interface options to customize how the game is experienced.
Option | Description |
---|---|
Input device | Choose input (e.g., mouse, XBOX 360 controller) |
Edit Keyboard Bindings | Edit which buttons correspond to combat actions & menus. |
Show subtitles | Shows text subtitles during cut-scenes and mission briefings. |
Edge scroll speed | Adjusts how quickly the screen scrolls across the map when moving the mouse to the edge. |
Video
There are a number of video options to customize how the game is experienced.
Option | Description |
---|---|
Mode | Choose between fullscreen, window, or borderless window. |
Lock mouse to window | Toggles whether the mouse is bound to the window, requiring alt+tab to free the mouse. |
Resolution | |
Gamma | Adjusts gamma with the aid of an icon guide. Note that according to the icon, the game will be quite dark and create some viewing grumbles, especially in well-lit areas or on glossy screens. |
Enable v-sync | (?) |
Enable framerate smoothing | (?) |
Graphics
There are a number of graphics options to customize how the game is experienced.
Option | Description |
---|---|
Shadows | Lo/Med/Hi - determines shadow detail |
Texture Filtering | Lo/Med/Hi - (?) |
Fog of War | Lo/Med/Hi - determines the detail of the fog bordering your soldiers' sight limit |
Anti-Aliasing | Lo/Med/Hi - (?) |
Texture Detail | Lo/Hi - determines the general detail of objects. |
Effects | Lo/Hi - detail level of weapon fire, explosions, psionics, etc. |
PC System Requirements
Minimum:
- OS: Windows Vista
- Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT / ATI Radeon HD 2600XT or greater
- DirectX®: 9.0
- Hard Drive: 20 GB HD space
- Sound: DirectX Compatible
Recommended:
- OS: Windows 7
- Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or Athlon X2 2.7 GHz)
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9000 series / ATI Radeon HD 3000 series or greater
- DirectX®: 9.0
- Hard Drive: 20 GB HD space
- Sound: DirectX Compatible