XCOM is a superb game.

While I never played the original, or any of it's spinoffs, I was totally excited for this remake because it seemed like a unique premise; and honestly who doesn't want a new Firaxsis RTS game? I honestly never had much issue with the difficulty level throughout my first play, which was on Normal. I only failed one mission, which was the last one and only because I stupidly moved one of my squad members too far forward without backing her up with the rest of the unit, which quickly got her killed. I don't want to spoil anything, but this particular person had to stay alive during the last mission, so that is why this one death caused me to fail it.

Anyways, I'm sure people have had enough of reading praise about XCOM by now, so I won't gush on anymore. Suffice to say that this is an excellent game that anyone with a passing interest in RTS's should try. That being said, there are a few issues that bothered me...some of which haven't really been mentioned by the GB guys yet.

Firstly, I don't like the autopsy animations. I actually think the original XCOM did it better with the static image of whichever alien species you were examining at the time displayed along with a short summary. The recycled animation with the short voice-over by the scientist lady used in this game isn't as good in my opinion. And speaking of voice-overs, that is another weak area of this game. Actually, just the whole story in general isn't really all that great. The only thing that was really well done in terms of writing was the little write-ups that accompany research and tech upgrades.

My third issue, which has been mentioned a few times by Ryan and others is the whole problem of items staying equipped on people who aren't in your active squad, and not having any idea who has whatever item you're looking for. The only way to find it is to cycle through each of your guys until you find it, which--with a cap of 99 total soldiers you can have--can take a long time. And it happens often enough that it can become quite frustrating.

Lastly, another problem mentioned by Ryan is the fact that enemies get a free movement whenever they are discovered. This is stupid, unfair, and quite annoying. I don't get a free move when I'm discovered, why do they? Granted, most of the time they just run to cover, but when I roll up on a group of Mutons or those mother-fucking Chrysalids all clumped up together, I want them to stay that way so I can launch a rocket up in there and blast those fuckers to oblivion. But noooo, they get to run away and hide somewhere or go off out of my line of sight only to return with five zombies in tow, which will eventually turn into five more Chrysalids which will repeat this whole process until my squad is wasted. So, yeah. Not fair, not fun. Also, I just fucking hate Chrysalids. They are easily the worst enemy in the game.

But despite these issues, I still love this game. It's easily a contender for GOTY 2012.