The game is set in the modern-day Earth, and deals with an international response to a global alien invasion. The player assumes the role of the commander of the top secret XCOM: Enemy Unknown Project, the most elite military and scientific organization in the history of mankind, activated to engage in a seemingly hopeless war against an unknown extraterrestrial enemy with far better technology and capabilities.
The game’s real-time strategy element is confined to the global view called “Geoscape”, where the player keeps track of the situation around the world and conducts resource and personnel management on strategic layer, directing research of alien technology and production, interacting with the governments of the organization’s funding nations, ordering their aircraft to intercept UFOs (interception has now more gameplay elements as compared to the original game) and dispatching their soldiers to engage aliens on the ground.
A new view dubbed the “ant farm”, doubling as the game’s menu, shows the fully customizable XCOM headquarters (there is only one XCOM: Enemy Unknown Xbox base this time, with different bonuses associated to its location as chosen by the player) where the player can order the research and engineering, equip the troops and such, and is also able to observe the various activities of XCOM personnel.
