History Awesome / XCOMEnemyUnknown

* Meta-Example: While praised on the internet, {{X-COM}} has been a dead game series for the better part of two decades. The majority of gamers in 2012 wouldn't even know it existed, and [[AudienceAlienatingPremise wouldn't readily embrace it if the game came out today.]] Add to the mix that [[RunningTheAsylum the developers constantly praised the original game]], and there was a '''high''' chance that Enemy Unknown would be the counterpoint to VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}} and VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}, making the die-hard original fans ''love'' it and alienating everyone else. And it '''didn't happen''', for the most part. Firaxis managed to take a dead game series, burn off everything that didn't belong, replace it with modern technology and mentalities, and make new people feel what the die-hard fans felt so long ago.

* What can be more awesome than killing a Sectoid ? Killing a Sectoïd that was buffing one alien, thus making the second alien's brain seemingly explose and kill it too.

* Not a moment you'd probably appreciate, but seeing a mission's last [[{{Mook}} sectoid]] fire from across the map, landing a critical hit on an escort target, killing them right in front of the extraction zone? Badass. Especially if the job had been going perfectly beforehand.

** Another LP example: From [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0aJoILmg3Y TheStalinator's XCOM playthrough,]] we had the MemeticBadass [[AwesomeMcCoolName William "''Viking''" Wilson]] of the UK. He started as something of a ButtMonkey, as he always took a lot of hits. But he would simply ''refuse to die.'' Poisoned by Thin Men? He would walk it off. Trapped behind an exploding car? Pshaw. Plasma to the face? He would stay up and kill a few aliens for good measure. He would often limp back tot he Skyranger, hanging on by one HP. By the time he got his nickname, his badassery had caught Stalinator's notice, and he started growing a massive fandom in the comments section, along with the Argentine Heavy "''Tank''", and Russian Sniper "''Hex''" Ivanov. He usually wasn't the first in everything; "''Hex''" got a lot of the first kills (including the Sectoid Commander, the first Ethereal, and the Uber-Ethereal), and the "''Italian Stallion''" Riccardo Marino was the first psyker, but Will Wilson made up for it by being MadeOfIron and being an awesomely powerful psionic trooper. His CrowningMomentOfAwesome, however, was when he, of course, became the Volunteer, and made his HeroicSacrifice to save the Earth. Stalinator himself responded with a BigNo himself, followed by [[FunnyMoments clips of the "''WILSON''!" scene]] from ''Film/CastAway''. And after all that, fans of the XCOM LP posted memorials and shed ManlyTears to Will Wilson, the greatest hero humanity had ever known (at least in this playthrough). It shows you how good of a game this is, that an essentially randomly-generated soldier can become so beloved by the player and those watching.

## Ensure their nefarious insurgency doesn't disrupt the world too much while hunting them down [[labelnote:explanation]]They are capable of stealing funds and technology as well as raising panic in the countries of the world with terror attacks and misinformation, and ultimately turn out to be the ones who leaked your location to the Aliens, cumulating in the Base Defense mission[[/labelnote]].

* The randomly generated names for your soldiers can sometimes come up with a name that may or may not be a ShoutOut, like an American sniper by the name of [[StarCraft Sarah "Blades" Kerrigan]] (who went on to become The Volunteer, to add even more awesome) or a German assault trooper by the name of [[Series/TwentyFour Jack Freaking Bauer]]. And yes, both of them were insanely good.

** Another LP example: From [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0aJoILmg3Y TheStalinator's XCOM playthrough,]] we had the MemeticBadass [[AwesomeMcCoolName William "''Viking''" Wilson]] of the UK. He started as something of a ButtMonkey, as he always took a lot of hits. But he would simply ''refuse to die.'' Poisoned by Thin Men? He would walk it off. Trapped behind an exploding car? Pshaw. Plasma to the face? He would stay up and kill a few aliens for good measure. He would often limp back tot he Skyranger, hanging on by one HP. By the time he got his nickname, his badassery had caught Stalinator's notice, and he started growing a massive fandom in the comments section, along with the Argentine Heavy "''Tank''", and Russian Sniper "''Hex''" Ivanov. He usually wasn't the first in everything; "''Hex''" got a lot of the first kills (including the Sectoid Commander, the first Ethereal, and the Uber-Ethereal), and the "''Italian Stallion''" Riccardo Marino was the first psyker, but Will Wilson made up for it by being MadeOfIron and being an awesomely powerful psionic trooper. His CrowningMomentOfAwesome, however, was when he, of course, became the Volunteer, and made his HeroicSacrifice to save the Earth. Stalinator himself responded with a BigNo himself, followed by [[FunnyMoments clips of the "''WILSON''!" scene]] from CastAway. And after all that, fans of the XCOM LP posted memorials and shed ManlyTears to Will Wilson, the greatest hero humanity had ever known (at least in this playthrough). It shows you how good of a game this is, that an essentially randomly-generated soldier can become so beloved by the player and those watching.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[CoolVsAwesome This]] is probably the ''[[UpToEleven least]]'' coolest moment in the game.]]

* Zhang is a BadAss in general, but it really shines through if he becomes the Volunteer. This is a man who has spent much of his life living outside the law, putting himself first and living through his guile and ruthlessness; when the aliens invaded, however, [[spoiler: and his boss was planning to sell away an artifact which could lead to the loss of thousands of human lives,]] he risked himself not only against his former allies but against a much more dangerous threat, the aliens themselves, to get it into XCOM's hands, and then kept up that fight by joining XCOM. Not only did he excel through the ranks, he attained incredible psychic powers beyond the scope of most humans - [[spoiler: and rather than abuse them, as many who lived a life like his would have been likely to do, he chose to sacrifice himself, saving humanity.]]

* MEC Troopers are all-round {{Badass}}, but [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8H-FDOLxz0 here]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z5Oknhon4U here]] we have footage of them beating aliens to death with their fists.

** You can invoke this with the name, nickname, and customization options for your troops. Got a female Sniper from Russia? Give her red hair, name her [[Franchise/MarvelComics Natalia "Black Widow" Romanova]], give her Mimetic Skin and level her up to Major for Low Profile, and send her on all your Covert Ops. EXALT won't know what hit them. Got a female Heavy from a Hispanic nation? Name her [[{{Aliens}} Vasquez.]]

** Or [[TheDresdenFiles Karen Murphy.]] Doubly awesome, given that the game already contains a shoutout to TDF. Triply so if she's both badass and blonde.

** A MEC with a [[KillItWithFire flamethrower]] invokes some deliciously grim satisfaction when you cut down Chryssalids, Mutons, or EXALT terrorists with a wave of fiery death, causing any survivors ([[OneHitKO if there are any]]) to ''panic'' and scramble away. On top of that, it's a ''special'' panic state that also precludes them firing randomly or hunkering down. Turns out that despite all the advanced armor, plasma weaponry, psionic might, and genetic tinkering, lighting them on fire will still yield panicked screams of their analogue for "OH FUCK! OH ''FUCK''!"
** Possibly even better on EXALT terrorists, who actually have things to say. Usually along the lines of "I'M LOSING CONTROL OF THE '''SITUATION!!!'''" or "'''I didn't sign up for THIS!'''" Before running away.

** Another on the LP front, but for the player himself: [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvqxe4XbcSiEzrZm28NjsLXmHkffCJmBY Zemalf]] beat Enemy Within on [[{{Unwinnable}} Impossible]]-[[FinalDeathMode Ironman]], with the Not Created Equal and Hidden Potential Second Wave options on, and had both Operation Slingshot and Operation Progeny active. Made it through Site Recon blind. Beating the game in Impossible-Ironman is hard enough. And what did he do? He beat the game with '''''zero soldier KIA's[[labelnote:*]]Well, apart from exactly one base defense blueshirt, who was downed by a cyberdisk [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill and blown up four times over]][[/labelnote]] and no lost nations. He finished the game with a perfect run.'''''

* Sure, it sucks that the sequel takes place in a universe where XCOM failed, but think of what that means for the original universe. There was never a second war.

* Meet Anette Durand, a woman with absolutely no military training whatsoever who joins XCOM when you free her. And is the most poweful psionics this troper had.

** Another on the LP front, but for the player himself: [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvqxe4XbcSiEzrZm28NjsLXmHkffCJmBY Zemalf]] beat Enemy Within on [[{{Unwinnable}} Impossible]]-[[FinalDeathMode Ironman]], with the Not Created Equal and Hidden Potential Second Wave options on, and had both Operation Slingshot and Operation Progeny active. Made it through Site Recon blind. Beating the game in Impossible-Ironman is hard enough. And what did he do? He beat the game with '''''zero soldier KIA's[[labelnote:*]]Well, apart from exactly one base defense redshirt, who was downed by a cyberdisk [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill and blown up several times over[[/labelnote]] and no lost nations. He finished the game with a perfect run.'''''

* Not a moment you'd probably appreciate, but seeing a mission's last [[{{Mook}} sectoid]] fire from across the map, landing a critical hit on an escort target, killing them right in front of the extraction zone? Badass. Especially if the job had been going perfectly beforehand.

* Meet Anette Durand, a woman with absolutely no military training whatsoever who joins XCOM when you free her. And is the most poweful psionics this troper had.

Throughout his/her countless missions, (s)he has racked up more kills than anyone in the entire organisation, cleared countless UFO's, defended countless civies, protected numberless VIP's and - aside from the odd grip of panic - has never even gotten close to quitting in spite of the dire odds. \\