The reason I don't watch much TV at all is because for me, video games are my TV. Instead of knocking out a few episodes whenever I have some downtime, I like to spend an hour or two playing a video game. It feels more active and there are plenty of games structured in episode-esque chunks. When I get a new game though I tend to play through the whole thing over the course of a weekend or two. Partially this is because most single player narratives are still structured like a movie or book and are more continuous, but it's also due to simply enjoying the novelty of a new experience.
About a week ago I bought XCOM: Enemy Unknown off the Xbox Live Marketplace since it was on sale. Yesterday instead of continuing my (sixth) campaign to save Earth from the alien scourge, I opted to replay another game. A simpler game. A less soul-crushing game.
XCOM is a little bit like Independence Day except instead of playing as Will Smith, you're the commander who oversees the entire organization that supports Will Smith. Yes, one man punching an alien in the face is a fitting welcome to our fine blue orb, but in order to get to that point, you'll need to pony up the cash to research and equip that man with state of the art armor and weaponry, as well as managing the global panic that will inevitably ensue from the revelation that aliens not only exist but are very interested in the insides of our skulls. Also you'll be operating with at least 4 Will Smiths and they can all be shot in the head if you make just one bad call.
Okay so it isn't really like Independence Day. What it most feels like is an epic alien invasion tale told from a more grounded perspective as far as the actual impact of first contact is concerned, which is to say a very unique experience. This sense of being grounded also comes from the unforgiving nature of the game. While the core gameplay is turn-based tactical shooty shoots, these missions are broken up by managing XCOM, which involves directing research, constructing new facilities, recruiting new soldiers, managing your fleet of airborne interceptors, and managing the levels of panic that only rise as you respond to certain threats while neglecting others due to only having space in the hangar for one transport.
So why is this game so awesome? In a word: agency. The description for normal difficulty reads "Cruel but fair", which is a perfect summation of the game in general. One bad call can lead to the unraveling of the entire war effort, but it was only your call. The game didn't pull a total fastball and strip you of your best squad members via some contrived story occurrence. It could only have happened because you positioned them poorly or decided to talk that shot instead of using a medkit last turn. Frustrating as the game can be, that frustration never stems from being cheap.
This agency has two effects on gameplay that set XCOM apart. For one thing it allows for organically cool moments, stuff that the developers never scripted but which you'll always remember for how crazy they are. For instance, in one of my playthroughs I was forced to undertake a difficult mission with a squad of only rookies. I dealt with the first group of enemies quite well, but then I was flanked by a squad of particularly nasty aliens. They killed a member of my squad, which made another member way on the other side of the map panic. He fired at the soldier next to him, which made him panic and fire at the soldier next to him, which made her panic and take cover next to the car that was about to explode. The only people who survived that mission were the two soldiers who didn't freak out.
The agency lent by XCOM also has a more subtle effect that unfolds as the game progresses. It empowers you in a way not many other games can. So many games are about making the player feel like an unstoppable badass, but most of them accomplish that by giving you the ability to mow down waves and waves of enemies or take down dragon after dragon. In XCOM engagements are always small compared to other games, as you frequently are faced with a map full of six to ten enemies you'll have to eliminate. But they're tenacious enough (and your squad can be inaccurate enough) that they can pose a serious threat. This is on top of having to manage a huge organization which is always just short of money and resources, forcing you to reevaluate what's really important, that new lab or a fighter in Nigeria to ensure they don't drop out of the council?
So when you do manage to finally construct a powerful squad and the support structure to keep them that way it feels so much more meaningful. It was your decisions reacting to a randomly generated campaign that earned you success. Rather than participating correctly in a pre-determined story you helped to direct an unpredictable chain of events based on your abilities and tactical thinking.
Of course you're probably going to direct it towards failure. But it'll be your failure and no one else's. Well, also Nigeria's, but that's their fault for capitulating to those slimy, slimy aliens.
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