XCOM: Enemy Within Previews

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Written by WorstUsernameEver on August 27th, 2013

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"What we've been working on is a expansion pack for Enemy Unknown in the style of big Firaxis expansions like Gods and Kings," explains Ananda Gupta, who's been leading the XCOM team on the creation on Enemy Within - a project he's finally able to talk about. "So Enemy Unknown tells the story of the alien invasion and the Earth's defence. Enemy Within is the same invasion. You're starting from day one and then proceeding through the same arc. It's an overlay on the original. It's not the next episode, and it doesn't take place after the ending of the first game. It's the same storyline - but with lots, lots more stuff."

It's an expansion in terms of mechanics rather than narrative, in other words, which sounds like the perfect route to take for a game that keeps its players as close to its mechanical heart as XCOM does. Anyway, if you're still a bit disappointed that you won't get to see off an entirely new extra-terrestrial armada, Gupta and company have a pretty surefire way of making it up to you. Or - ha ha! - meching it up to you. Trust me: a few paragraphs from now, that line is going to be really witty.

...

"What's cool is that once you do those mech augmentations, they become a new class," he explains. "Your sniper or whoever will become a mech trooper, which is a new class with a new training tree straight from squaddie down to colonel. In addition, every time you upgrade a cybersuit, the suit itself has tactical systems that you can select. The mechs really have two families of abilities, then: the kind that the soldier has trained and then the kind that are on the mech. The mech has stuff like a flame thrower, it has a kinetic strike module, which is tech speak for a big fist that you use to pound things, and it has stuff like a proximity mine launcher, for the more subtle touch."

Just take a moment to savour the fact that Gupta leads such a fun-saturated life at Firaxis that he feels the need to clarify exactly why mechs are cool. While you're doing that, he can explain how mechs fit into the established game.

Pretty snugly, apparently. "These guys are not oversized units," Gupta adds. "They're definitely very big compared to regular soldiers, but they're still one-tile guys, kind of like the bigger aliens. They're definitely going to be a nice imposing presence on the battlefield, though. They have a whole new set of weapons like the giant mini-gun thing, and a rail gun."

I didn't have to go through as much of the work as a first-time player might as 2K had a map set up from farther in the game, complete with a soldiers that had already gone through modification. But even with that I still had quite a time getting to this required resource, called meld. This technical marvel lets you build up the ability for modification -- after you collect it, that is.

My demo session had a glowing canister outpost of meld highlighted, sitting dead in the middle of the hot area of the map. All I had to do was run up and take it. But there were a couple of problems. First, aliens and their new MEC counterparts, Mectoids [we love that name, as you can imagine], lay in wait in the distance. And the meld pod itself has a countdown timer that lets you know that it's only going to available for a short time before it goes kaboom. This puts the pressure on players like me, giving me a lot more to think about than the enemies on the map.

So what does this normally careful, highly strategic player do? I run right out there. And yes, as you'd guess, the solider that was sent to retrieve that meld died. And so did a supporter I sent out after him. The ones I sent to flank and one MEC held out for a bit when surrounded, but I eventually paid the price for being the rabbit that dashed out blindly for the carrot. I used some new tricks, like using the MEC to blow up cover, but I didn't last long.

I kept looking over my shoulder to see if anyone was watching how badly I was getting smashed. Someone was. I winced.

Notable Abilities

Collateral Damage: This skill costs an entire ammo clip and destroys several sections of cover while damaging the units within. This was great for exposing groups of enemies who were clustered together, or creating new line-of-sight opportunities for my squadmates.

Kinetic Strike: This secondary melee weapon deals a ridiculous amount of damage to units directly in front of the MEC. This weapon complements the unit wonderfully since it doesn't run out of ammo, and plays to the unit's strength of being a frontline fighter.

Proximity Mines: These land mines are great for dealing damage and protecting your flank. A well-placed mine can tell you if a sneak attack is headed your way--just listen for the explosion--and they're also smart enough not to be triggered by teammates.

Inherited Perks: Each MEC unit remembers fragments of its previous life as a sniper or support or whoever, and gains a special perk based on those memories. A sniper-turned-MEC, for instance, gains the platform stability perk, which grants it additional damage for a turn if it doesn't move.

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