

Whatever operatives you kill, more are going to be on their way, and if you can’t keep their numbers down, you’ll be overwhelmed. Playing defensively might work against aliens, but against your fellow man, you need to be aggressive. A mission can involve wave after wave of EXALT operatives doing their burst to murder your squad, and if you fight them like they’re aliens, they’re going to succeed. EXALT, on the other hand, is out to get you. In most situations, you only fight aliens in small groups, and aliens wander the map or stay in just a few places. After a few days, you’ll get a mission to help that soldier escape with a clue about the location to EXALT’s home base.ĭuring these missions, you often have to fight wave after wave of EXALT operatives, and this is where things get really different. When they do this, the cell becomes exposed, and you can send one of your soldiers after them to get intelligence on the location of the main EXALT base. Occasionally, a cell of EXALT operatives will steal your money, destroy days of research, or broadcast propaganda to raise a country’s panic level. Unlike the aliens, who target humanity in general, EXALT is dedicated specifically to ruining XCOM’s day.

This new faster and more aggressive approach to play is especially helpful when dealing with EXALT, a new group of human antagonists. The slow and careful approach is, of course, still open, but now it has actual downsides. For XCOM veterans who were starting to get bored with the optimal approach, Meld encourages riskier plays. In Enemy Within, that strategy won’t cut it if you want to grab all the Meld you can get. The best approach in Enemy Unknown is usually extremely cautious advancement, crawling around the map at a slow pace, and taking your time to fight on your own terms. This simple new mini-objective on each map changes play in XCOM enormously. If you don’t reach it in time, you lose it. Each map contains two canisters of Meld, but the Meld is on a self-destruct timer. This substance is found in canisters in every abduction and UFO crash site map. These are powerful options, but you’re going to need a supply of Meld. They wear enormous suits of powered armor that transform them into walking tanks that wield huge guns that destroy cover. Cybernetically augmented soldiers have their class replaced with a new one, the MEC trooper.
#Xcom ew long war meld per canister skin#
Genetically enhanced soldiers gain superhuman traits like the ability to camouflage their skin to match the environment or leap onto rooftops. The biggest change to the game is the addition of Meld, a new resource that lets you genetically enhance your soldiers or augment them with cybernetics. Enemy Unknown is known for being a tough game, so if you’re just buying the game, start playing that. Enemy Within is a fantastic expansion, but it does add a lot of complexity. If you’re already comfortable with Enemy Unknown, buy Enemy Within. If you’re interested in buying the Enemy Within expansion pack, I recommend playing Enemy Unknown until you’re comfortable with it, then buying Enemy Within. I’d like to start this off with this note: This review is written primarily for people familiar with XCOM: Enemy Unknown.
