Xcom - Enemy Within

 

I got a chance to tryout the new Xcom - Enemy Within.  I got it on steam a while ago and was a little puzzled that it didn't appear in the library list of games.  I was more puzzled that the main game Xcom Enemy Unknown had a 4.2(ish) GB "update". But I guessed it was combining the two games into one, and was correct. When I clicked to play it game a choice between the old or new game.

The visual seem a little more crisp and detailed than before, and the sounds seem to have been enhanced as well. The sounds seem to be more gratifying than they were before... maybe its just me :)

The intro and main menu screen are all standard and the music is as good as always.

There are plenty of options just like the main game and for the first attempt at the new expansion I kept the tutorial mission on....

I'm not sure if it was my mind playing trick on me but I seemed to be playing the main game again... What had looked like the expansion was running me through the same old tutorial....

Survivor!

You still get a survivor from the initial tutorial combat as well as the usual 3 dead soldiers to mourn in the barracks.

On top of that, the same old faces where there to get the story telling off to a start... just the same as the main game... 

 So off I went to start the game....

... The only differences I can see with the starter mission and the old game is the "MELD" stuff you can collect.  I can only presume that as the game goes on it will allow new additions to be made in gearing up. There are new maps that look detailed and some new inter scene character cinematics, like them jumping onto ropes to get to ground level instead of landing.

There is a new option for medals in the barracks, as you play you acquire medals, these can be granted special bonus's. So when you grant a medal to a soldier they get the added bonus.  This is a nice touch.

As I played through some of the missions the art does seem to have been tweaked well. I've only come across one new type of alien that is fixated on single soldiers and has a fetish for chocking them.

All in all I look forward to see how this plays out. Knowing the old game and facing this I know I will bide my time to gear up and get as much as I can researched and built before moving on with any story lines.

The one minor fault I can see so far, is that I've grown to natural stick my soldiers in to a defencive stance.
The AI seems a little less active then before. they do not seem to flank like they used too.
So far my mission have played out the same. My team takes cover in overwatch, the team has mutually defencive arcs of fire. I send out a scout to poke the hornets nest. Once the aliens are found and come after the scout I then wipe them out. Either by having them follow the scout to the main group for an ambush. Or they go after the scout and are killed by overwatch. A strategy that I hope will change when multiple alien types are in mission.

And a tip to start with... always tag the MELD, it gets damaged very easily, especially when the rookies and starter aliens can't hit each other and destroy all the scenery.