XCOM: Enemy Within Previews

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Written by WorstUsernameEver on October 10th, 2013

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By launching intel scans, you can track down EXALT cells trying to drain XCOM resources. In order to stop them, you'll have to dispatch a soldier for a mission. Here, a lone soldier gets dispatched with only a jacket, jeans and a pistol for a few days. You don't control the mission, but you do control the aftermath.

There are two potential follow-up missions: Covert Data Recovery, where your main squad joins the dispatched operative to defend strategic points, and Extraction, where your main squad must get your operative out of the warzone alive.

For the demo, we took a look at a Covert Data Recovery mission. If you've played "Enemy Unknown," you'll find that the setup is more or less the same: Outfit and assemble a squad, which may include heavy-hitting commandos, long-range snipers and healing medics. Move your squad around the battlefield, picking off enemies and completing mission objectives as you go.

Fighting EXALT members turned out to be somewhat different than fighting aliens. Human opponents have abilities that mirror your own. Just as your commando can run-and-gun and hide behind cover, so can EXALT's. They will use items, exploit the level layout, pursue mission objectives and improve their equipment over time. If you're familiar with the multiplayer mode from "Enemy Unknown," which pits two human teams against each other, then you'll have some idea what to expect.

At a recent preview event we were able to see an additional wrinkle that this add-on provides to the original game. It adds human forces hostile to XCOM and working to aid the aliens. These groups act as splinter cells, each functioning individually in countries across the world. Their skills and equipment don't quite outmatch XCOM, but their numbers are far above that of the organisation.

In order to combat their presence in a country, you initially need to send in an infiltrator unit who will be removed from active service until they're ready to call in a mission. This operative can be almost anyone in your active roster of soldiers. It's beneficial to pick someone highly skilled because they'll have more health and abilities, but you'll have to do without them in other missions for the time being. They're unable to bring a weapon larger than a pistol, nor any armour, just a piece of tech. This makes them highly vulnerable to attack when the mission begins, yet they're also the most important person there.

After time passes and you're alerted by your spy, one of two possible modes will begin. Your XCOM squad will have to prevent a terminal in an area from being hacked, or they have to hack terminals themselves to collect data and run back to transport without being killed.

The first mode is extremely difficult, with your characters unable to stand around and cover each other near the starting area because they need to reach a terminal and defend it. In our play session we turtled up for too long dipping into overwatch after each move and didn't make it to the terminal in time. Fortunately this doesn't necessarily mean Game Over, it just means that reinforcements are called to attack you as you fall back to defend a second point in the map.

Once exposed, an Exalt cell can't operate, but if it isn't infiltrated and destroyed quickly, it will relocate and go back into hiding somewhere else. The first step is to deploy a counter operative, which can can be any soldier except a Heavy, and can only be armed with a pistol. After implanting the agent and letting some time pass, I'm prompted to complete a covert data recovery mission. I could decline and abandon my agent, but I'm not a monster. I'm also not very covert I'm about to very loudly kill 17 Exalt soldiers.

I put two snipers on my team, because I love snipers, but it feels like a mistake at first. Exalt attacks in big waves, and more grenades and rockets would have created opportunities to splash some damage into groups. Instead, I've got two guys who are good at aiming. But precision is helpful during data recovery missions. It begins with the Encoder, a device across the map which can be hacked by Exalt if they stand within its capture radius for three uncontested turns. Once hacked, the Encoder leads Exalt to the Transmitter. If the Transmitter is captured or destroyed, the mission is over, which means missed shots and irresponsible use of explosives are dangerous.

I'm too timid to save the Encoder I should have known I'd have a few turns to move across the map before the enemy appeared but I do manage to wipe out a pack of Exalt soldiers standing in its capture zone, expending one of my two rockets. I fall back to defend the Transmitter, and it looks like I'm in good shape until I'm surrounded by a wave of reinforcements.

I'm terribly outnumbered, but I have two advantages. The first is my operative: In addition to my hand-picked assault team, I can command the counter operative I sent previously. He only has a pistol, but he gets the special ability to hack Exalt comm arrays (if he can get to them), which prevents all Exalt troops from firing during the next turn. When my medic is stuck in the open for a turn while I'm re-positioning her to heal an injured unit, the ability is crucial.

Exalt are tough opponents. They have access to the same equipment as XCOM, and grenades and rocket launchers can be seen strapped to their belts and backpacks. I replayed the same map twice, attempting to improve after losing four agents on the first pass. Exalt are smart, using cover intelligently and waiting for XCOM to cluster together before launching area effect attacks. They adapted well to my altered approach on the second run-through. Instead of attacking through the congested centre of the map, I split my forces and sent them creeping around the periphery.

Instead of hunting for my troops, Exalt vanished into the shadows. I thought they were stationary, the game allowing me breathing room that I hadn't necessarily earned. As I blundered onward, moving from cover to cover and attempting to set up a killzone, I realised my mistake. Exalt had used my apparent hesitancy to concentrate their attentions on my covert operative. As he approached the first terminal, four enemies came into view, converging on his position. With only a pistol to defend himself, he was forced to retreat, increasing the gap between my various units and eventually leading to complete and abject failure.

Whether it's the setup of the map, with the squad split and objectives scattered, or the improvements to AI, the brief hands-on with the Exalt missions marked them out as highlights. They should become more interesting as the campaign progresses as well. Exalt believe that the aliens' technology and biology can be harnessed to fulfil their transhumanist dreams. They will begin to use alien weaponry, just as XCOM do, and they will follow XCOM in altering the bodies of their operatives. However, they will tread where XCOM fear to go, pushing their modifications to extremes.

The new enemy can be destroyed, although the aliens continue to be the game's focus and are the heart of the war. Exalt have a base and by capturing intelligence during covert operations, XCOM gather clues as to where it is located. Through a process of elimination, the player can '˜accuse' a region of harbouring the base, but if the accusation is false, the results are grave. Should the headquarters be discovered, XCOM have a base invasion to deal with, but as the aggressors rather than the defenders.

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