There’s a lot to talk about this week, so I’m going to dive right in. Past hitting level 50 and finishing up “True Vault Hunter” mode in Borderlands 2, the early part of my week was spent playing Tokyo Jungle. Needless to say, that game is completely ridiculous. I happen to be a fan of the ridiculous though, especially the Japanese kind, and I've been having fun with Tokyo Jungle as a result. There’s just something about seeing a cute Pomeranian viciously take down a deer, or seeing a cow stomp a rabbit to death that’s immediately compelling in a weird way. It’s the video game reenactment of all those wildlife showdowns you might have pondered as a kid, and it ends up being a pretty imaginative idea. A lot of the appeal is definitely in seeing all of these animals interact with each other; it still freaks me out every time I turn a corner and see a giant crocodile staring at me. What’s especially great is that the game takes it all so seriously, while clearly knowing that it’s a totally silly idea. Also, for the record, Tokyo Jungle’s box art is amazing.

The premise and tone of the game are easily the best parts about it, but Tokyo Jungle holds up perfectly fine as an actual game too, even if it wears thin a little quickly. The main survival mode is really the only mode of interest to me (I find the story to be dull and tedious, and don’t care about multiplayer), and there are a number of fairly neat mechanics in place. The basic premise of trying to survive as long as you can is well served by a nice balancing act of having to avoid strong predators and find appropriate food. The way your hunger meter is always depleting means you can never sit around too long, which makes the entire thing super tense. You always need to be moving in search of food, but you also need to tread carefully, as any number of deadly creatures could be waiting around the corner. There’s also a lot of other things for you to deal with, such as toxicity, age and mating, and random challenges that you can complete for extra points or gear. Some of these ideas almost give the game a slight roguelike feel in some ways, as they can come together a little differently each time you play. The map is always the same though, which seems like a wasted opportunity.

Tokyo Jungle has a lot of systems in play, most of which I’ve mentioned above, but all of them are pretty simple when you get down to it. That’s especially true with the combat and “stealth”, which are as bare bones as it gets. As such, Tokyo Jungle can get kind of old after playing it a handful of times. Each run ends up following a similar pattern, so I kind of felt like I was just going through the motions after a while. There’s certainly a somewhat addictive quality to unlocking new animals (which there are a lot of), and seeing the subtle differences between each one is interesting at times. But the base game doesn’t evolve much, and I’ve gotten a little bored with it. It was definitely worth the $15 download though, and I may still play it here and there down the road. For now I’ve had my fill.

Tokyo Jungle did its job, however, which was to fill in the tiny gap between Borderlands 2 and XCOM: Enemy Unknown. I spent the majority of this past week playing XCOM, and if I put it bluntly, that game is fucking awesome. More generally speaking, my previous experience with the XCOM franchise involved loading up the original about a year ago (acquired via Steam sale), staring at a world map for about ten minutes, and realizing I had no idea what to do and quit. I’m all for games being hands off as much as anyone, but this was pretty extreme. I’m not one to go read a small novel to learn how to play a game as complicated as this; that’s about where I draw the line. Fortunately, Enemy Unknown has what I consider to be a great tutorial. Not only is it completely optional (old school purists can have it their way too), but it hit each topic once in a timely manner, and then left me to my own devices afterwards. Concise and effective. Anyway, I feel like the tutorial is worth a shout out because XCOM is such a busy game with a lot of moving parts. Tutorials in such games are always a tricky thing, but I think XCOM pulls it off incredibly well.

The main gameplay dynamic in XCOM is the balance it pulls off between the tactical turn based missions (think along the lines of Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics style games) and the more big picture strategy game that takes place between the missions. This strategy portion bears some resemblance to Firaxis’ own Civilization series, as you can queue up various research and facilities, all of which takes a certain number of days (very much like turns) to complete. I find this back and forth to be completely mesmerizing. I could personally spend inordinate amounts of time in the base fiddling with stuff, but the way various alien attacks continue popping up all the time really keeps you on your toes, and serves as a great counterbalance to the relaxed nature of base management. Make no mistake; these missions are super intense. Things can potentially go south real fast if you don’t pay proper attention, so the missions demand a consistently high level of focus if you want to get through unscathed. They aren’t necessarily the toughest things ever, but you do have to constantly be very attentive to all sorts of details, which can be a little draining.

That’s what makes the back and forth so great; the high intensity of the missions combines nicely with the more somber base management to give the game a really nice flow. Even better is that each of the two parts are equally fantastic. The missions offer enough tactical variety to be interesting without being overwhelming. One of my personal favorite features is that soldiers can die permanently. It’s something I’ve always loved about Fire Emblem, and while soldiers in XCOM aren’t exactly developed characters with personalities, I still really like that permanence. I get attached to these guys as I see them level up over the course of dozens of missions, making it hit that much harder when a long standing favorite bites the dust (not to mention the strategic repercussions). Past all of that, the variety of abilities at your disposal and the large array of enemy types you can encounter lead to all sorts of interesting scenarios. A single game of XCOM is pretty long and I’ve played dozens of missions, but I’m still constantly running into new situations, which is fantastic. Those chrysalids man... those things are seriously messed up.

Directly in service of the missions, a big part of your time spent in the base is focused on making sure you have enough soldiers, that they have strong enough weapons and armor, etc. You need to be ready for just about anything when you hit the field. Otherwise there’s a wide array of facilities and upgrades you can invest in, all of which cost a whole lot of money and offer drastically different benefits. In the base it’s a constant case of “I want these ten things, but can only afford one or two of them”. I really like this dynamic, as it makes me actively think about what I’m getting; if I drop cash on something it damn well better be worth it. Fortunately most things are, but I learned the hard way that some things are more worth it than others. Namely, you really want engineers and satellites early on. Engineers are needed for virtually everything, including those all important satellites. Satellites serve two important functions: they help keep panic levels down, and provide extra funding, both of which are super important to establish ASAP. That’s by far the biggest mistake I’ve made in my game (I’ve since corrected the ship), and would be my one big tip for any other first time players (like myself) out there. Getting that stuff early can save you a lot of headaches later.

Anyway, I could keep talking about XCOM all day if I wanted, but those are the broad strokes. I’ve been completely absorbed by the game over the past week, and feel pretty safe in saying that it’s sucked me in more than a game has in a long, long time. I’ll definitely keep playing it this week, and talk about it a lot more next week (I think I’ve gone on long enough for now). I also have Dishonored that I’d like to get to at some point, along with Episode 4 of The Walking Dead and Borderlands 2 DLC. Yep, it’s that time of year again. That’s going to do it for now though, until next time!

Currently playing: XCOM: Enemy Unknown