XCOM: Enemy Within

New abilities, tough enemies and more maps make XCOM: Enemy Within a superb expansion, but the ending needs an upgrade.

XCOM: Enemy Within is a feature-packed expansion that makes a great game even greater.

Enemy Within is an improvement on an already excellent game. For every decision that must be made there are several factors to consider, rarely enough money to pay for everything, and uncomfortable consequences to be faced for failure. All of this is exacerbated still further when playing on Classic difficulty or with Ironman mode enabled, where you're constantly worrying about what to do next or second guessing the action that you've just taken. Much like the genetic modifications that it champions, XCOM: Enemy Within is an experience that gets under your skin.

The fantastic Exalt missions, gene mods, and MEC Troopers are an excellent reason to play more XCOM.

Enemy Within is a worthwhile expansion to both XCOM vets and newcomers. All of its new additions bring a great deal of extra challenge and strategy to one of 2012's best games.

Enemy Within isn't easy, but its complex strategy and clever enemy AI provide a highly rewarding experience

This time around, the repeat journey was absolutely worth it, and I'm glad if surprised to end 2013 finding that XCOM was my greatest timesink for a second year running. It won't, naturally, change the minds of anyone who felt XCOM was a betrayal of X-COM, but if like me you're contented by the Gollop and Firaxis efforts co-existing and doing their own thing rather than replacing each other, this really is an excellent add-on despite a few pulled punches.

If you haven't played the newest XCOM yet, now is a perfect time to do so with the Enemy Within package. For all the XCOM veterans out there, you'll find a solid amount of new activities to engage in, as well as an unprecedented amount of squad customization. In other words, this is now the definitive Enemy experience.

Enemy Within adds a ton of new maps, mission types, and soldier abilities without losing the balance and unrelenting tension that make it XCOM.

Like most expansion packs, Enemy Within is targeted towards the experienced. But Firaxis once again manages to balance XCOM's disparate elements, resulting in a challenging and satisfying experience.