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XCOM: iOS Success

XCOM: iOS
Success

I

t was a bold move for Firaxis and 2K Games to
release their innovative port of XCOM: Enemy
Unknown on iOS at a premium price point
of £13.99 / $20.00. One only had to look at the
comments in the reviews section of the iOS Store,
and at the online community as a whole, to see
that a lot of iOS gamers felt that in an environment
of freemium titles and 69p purchases, XCOM was
asking for too much.
However, what a lot of people seemingly failed to
note was that this is no Angry Birds or Tiny Tower,
but a mostly-intact, fully-converted version of a
complete PC/console gaming experience; and one
that was a serious contender for Game of the Year
2012.
The caveat ‘mostly-intact’ is used, as there
have been some small changes and omissions,
designed primarily to reduce file size and optimise
performance. Most noticeable is a loss of graphical
power, although this is still perhaps the best looking
game on iOS and the substantially smaller screen
size certainly offsets this somewhat.
Also, several of the cinematic cut scenes have
been removed, the Slingshot DLC is absent and it
is unlikely that the upcoming DLC, Enemy Within,
will be added anytime soon.
However, the full single player XCOM experience
remains intact and as good as ever, and multiplayer

XCOM: Enemy Within Special Edition 2013

28 • GameOn Magazine