One more term that really should be included in the classification section to encompass games like these...FRUSTRATING!!
User Rating: 6.5 | XCOM: Enemy Unknown X360
I walked into a GameStop/EB Games one afternoon, missing out on all the games I haven't been playing throughout the spring/summer. I picked up two overrated games one being an action adventure and the other being a shooter, felt like a turn based strategy/shooter and I spotted XCOM : EU on the shelves. I remembered playing XCOM : Apocalypse as a kid and the original (as crude as it may seem now) was simply amazing. So I asked the sales associate about his experience with it and if he'd heard of. His eyes lit up like the fourth of July and wouldn't stop, raving about how "awesome" the game was (even closed me in on a few spoilers). I was sold, and without further delay I grabbed the games paid the bill and ran out the door thinking about how I would enjoy my XCOM experience. Got home popped in the dvd, 2 minutes into the introduction annnndddd frozen. Hmmm, should've read the signs but I thought whatever. Played the first few missions, liking it so far I'm doing well, built up my squad got em all promoted, no ones dead; A little hard, few real close calls but nothing I couldn't handle. Then it starts getting harder when you least expect, and it all goes to hell. The more you expand, research, improve on, build up you would think you'd get rewarded but you don't. New enemies will emerge that move like the wachowski brothers in the matrix reloaded (bullets just go right through them even if the shot %'s are 99 f$#^ing %) and a slew of other issues like glitches, bugs, random spawns and enemies popping out the walls will make you rip the hair off your head. Most of your strategies (however well planned) go to the dogs majority of the time for example taking cover is as good as standing up having a bulls eye painted on your chest plate after which you have no choice but to watch as your squad gets picked off one by one, praying that at least one of them survives and manages to wreak havoc on the 6 other ET's present. Decreasing the difficulty to easy just makes it a cakewalk and patching it doesn't help any of the issues.
However there is a silver lining, if you so choose to buy this game. It is long, a bit immersive and if you overlook the fact that you have no real chance to build up your squad, actually have fun and stick it to ET every chance you get then this games for you (you also have to be a glutton for punishment). I so far have only seen 2 scenarios, where I win the game playing it on easy and where I lost playing it twice on impossible and then on normal. I wish I could turn back time, save my 28 bucks and say no to the associate.
