XCOM: Enemy Unknown Review

I have been a long-time player of anything and everything X-COM/UFO-based. It all started with an unhealthy obsession with a demo back in 1994, UFO: Enemy Unknown - or X-COM: UFO Defense in the US. Merely a year later in 1995, Terror From the Deep came out, an underwater excursion using the same engine but with a new lick of paint and some shady 'science'. I still feel that Apocalypse was an underrated game, sure - you were tied to a single city for what was a global event - but the engine used was surprisingly complex (throwing a grenade into the corner of a building could set off a cascade of falling debris and a very unhappy landlord).

I have played the 'inspired by' series of 'After' games: UFO Aftermath, Aftershock and Afterlight. The latter was an exceptional game, one where you had to not only fend off the continued invasion of aliens, but also terraform Mars within time of the waking survivors of Earth who are currently in suspension.

I have continued with current game releases and spin-offs from other developers too, such as UFO: Extraterrestrials and the open source UFO: Alien Invasion. Hell, I've played and even completed X-COM: Interceptor; being a glutton for punishment, I even played and nearly completed... hold on a minute, this is just as painful as passing a kidney-stone... played... X-COM: Enforcer. Why? No really, why the hell did I play that?!?