14 DAY TRIAL // 
Video game developer Firaxis has already shown that it can deliver solid expansions with Brave New World and Gods & Kings for Civilization V, but neither of them comes close to changing the core game experience as Enemy Within does for XCOM: Enemy Unknown.
The team has made at least three major modifications to the core game formula while keeping its core elements intact, creating an experience that feels new and engaging but uses memories and nostalgia, as well, to create extra incentive to play.
XCOM: Enemy Within delivers heartbreak as agents die left and right in search for the resources required to power the war, some exquisite high-tension moments when the fate of entire engagements is linked to a sniper shot and plenty of victory celebrations when seemingly impossible situations are safely navigated.
Story
The core idea of XCOM: Enemy Unknown is unchanged: we are not alone in the universe and the aliens are a loose confederation of species that seem to focus all their energy on eliminating the human population of Earth so that they can mine it for resources.
The player leads XCOM, a vast but initially underpowered organization that aims to use alien tech to reverse the tide of battle.
From this position, a gamer needs to deal with funding, recruitment, upgrades, base building, missions selection and can then actually lead his troops in the field.
The biggest new narrative element in Enemy Within is EXALT, a new organization that also seeks to get access to alien technology but wants to use it to evolve a small portion of humanity.
Firaxis does a good job of quickly characterizing the new faction via the look of its agents and the actual missions design, but I would have liked to get more background information about them, their goals and how they related to the rest of the world.
In addition, the game missed an opportunity to launch a wider conversation about the effects that mechs and gene augmentation has on operatives and on the preservation of their own humanity, even as they fight to save their race.
Gameplay
The imagination of many players will be attracted to the possibilities that new mechanical and genetic soldier upgrades introduce to XCOM: Enemy Within, but the biggest game changer in the expansion is the two canisters of MELD that are dropped into missions.
Their characteristics are: easily destroyed by bullets, hidden until visual range is established, linked to a countdown timer that’s randomly assigned, crucial to the development of a solid combat force.
Their presence totally changes the rhythm of a typical mission because gamers now actively need to move forward in an adventurous manner, exposing troops to potential enemy ambushes, in order to get access to MELD.
Enemy Within feels more exciting, more alive because there’s more danger to deal with, but there are more rewards for those who make the right gambles and win.
Once MELD is acquired players can spend it, alongside regular money, to create mechs and to implement alien genes into their soldiers, creating a much more efficient alien killing force.
The mechanized soldiers instantly attracted my attention and two of them with flamethrowers became a center of my battle group.
They are not invincible and cannot use cover, yet they feel like a good way of taking the fight to the enemy, although I soon further discovered that gene upgrades coupled with the right equipment make more sense in the long run.
Enemy Within also introduces more maps to XCOM, which make the entire experience more enjoyable, and there are two unique missions that long-time fans of the franchise will love to play through because they involve bases and some unique situations.
And the team is adding a few other scripted missions, including a great one that has the player squad basically fighting for their lives, with apparently no hope for survival, and involving the best use of fish in strategy games.
All the new mechanics and resources are perfectly integrated into the core XCOM: Enemy Unknown core, and the extra variety in the first two thirds of the campaign means that most fans will gladly spend another hundred hours battling aliens and humans.
However, Firaxis fails to solve one big problem with the turn-based game: the huge importance of quickly setting up satellite coverage at the start of the campaign in order to avoid an early death spiral and get the resources needed to expand.
The game also suffers in the last third when the final assault against the aliens is set up and executed and the new tools make those final missions easier, losing much of their emotional punch.
But the mechs, genes, MELD and new tactical options they introduce are so interesting that it’s easy to forget that the campaign is basically the same and Enemy Within feels like the definitive version of the XCOM experience.
Graphics and audio
XCOM: Enemy Within is not the best-looking game on the market, but for the turn-based strategy genre, it creates a world that’s filled with bright colors, a clear science fiction theme and a user interface that always delivers the information players need.
This is clearly the same engine as in Enemy Unknown, with a few tweaks to take advantage of modern hardware, and some players might be disappointed with the lack of improvement.
The even bigger achievement is the fact that Enemy Within manages to cram even more information into the soldier and the base screens, allowing players to easily manage their new resources and decide how to use them to upgrade their squad.
Enemy Within also adds a few effects associated with the new weapons and enemies, but the fundamental sound design for the game remains pretty much unchanged, doing a good job of underlining the important moments of the game without distracting the player from the action.
Multiplayer
The multiplayer of XCOM: Enemy Within makes good use of the new maps and fresh gameplay options but, as in the original version of the game, what sounds like a good idea ends up feeling like a perfunctory mode where that never manages to capture the imagination such as the single-player campaign does.
The MELD and its use for mechs and gene improvements both make the tactics gameplay more interesting and more engaging and the increase in the number of maps means that there’s less grind towards the later stages of the campaign. The presence of EXALT is also welcomed because it forces players to alter their approach, although I would have loved for the game to offer more details on their philosophy. Enemy Unknown was a great video game, one of the best of last year, and XCOM: Enemy Within manages to make it relevant once again.
The Good
The Bad
Conclusion
