XCOM: Enemy Unknown for PlayStation 3 Reviews by Gamers

This is not a RTS, it's not a shooter, it's DEFINITELY not a follow the leader game. The tutorial is about 5 missions long for good reason. This is a complicated game, with lots of different strategies.

You are the commander of the XCOM force, you decide how your base is built, in many cases which missions you take, what you research, how you train and equip your soldiers, and finally you command the squad in combat. This provides a game with a lot of depth.

It also provides replayability. Many missions are not static, and you can focus on different technologies, different combat strategies and different difficulty levels.

Overall this game is a nice change-up from the Gears of War/Killzone/Call of Duty violence, that gives you a decent story, lots of customization, a firm challenge, and a good bit of replayability.

This game is hard there's no two way around that fact. Don't let the settings options fool you this game is Difficult even when set on Easy. Its also slow and methodical. Its a thinking game and it punishes errors more harshly then modern games generally do. You will fail, you have to fail because you can only coast on luck so long. The upside is that you can truly learn from failure, and when you do there is a sense of accomplishment.
This is not a game for everyone, it probably not for most players but to those who have the patience there is a lot to learn and enjoy about this game.
Maybe Im giving the game too much credit because there hasn't been a good tactical RTS style game in years.
Maybe the difficulty setting will scare players away, maybe the fact that the game is "boring" will cause the ratings to drop. But in the era of Borderlands and Modern Warfare I think a game which rewards thoughtful consideration and tactics is a breath of fresh air.