My love\hate relationship with XCOM: Enemy Unkown
 

So I started up an abusive relationship with XCom after picking it up for $6 off Amazon.

The good: It's kinda brilliant and deep. New enemies continually force you to adopt new strategies and evolve. Huge emphasis on gaining high ground, flanking, efficient use of cover etc

The resource management part of the game is just as interesting, and often more important than the actual combat.

The bad: The line of sight issues drive me absolutely insane.

Alien behind two walls? If you're close enough, it'll let you take a shot at him, and even tell you that you have a high % chance of hitting. It's bullshit. You'll hit 10% of the time.

You "discover" a pack of aliens? They get to interrupt your turn. Oh, and they get two turns, just as an added "fuck you."


A typical session ends with me missing a vital 95% shot, my squad getting destroyed, and me throwing my controller through a window. Then I come back two days later and play again.

Do any of the later games (enemy within?) fix any of this shit? Or is that just "the way it is?"

cliffs: disregard extraterrestrials, acquire satellites

Haven't touched it in years, but I played the original PC game back in the day. Most frustrating game I ever played, but I kept coming back for more.

I tried reloading it once several years ago. No patience for it anymore.

I think Enemy Within makes the game a lot easier. the mech/bio mods for the soldiers really made it quite a bit easier, but it really puts additional value on your soldiers.

The double turn thing is only on classic or impossible I think. If you drop to normal, they don't attack on the turn you discover them.

I found the game frustrating, but extremely addictive.

I think that sums it up really well.
I had a similar experience with one of the Silent Hill games back in the day. Fucking thing scared the shit out of me every time I played. I'd have to wait a few days, but I'd always come back.