Publisher Fantasy Flight Games and designer Eric Lang have figured out how to put pain in a box and it’s glorious! This last week I picked up XCOM The Board Game and had the opportunity to make TechRaptor’s first board game review video! In this video, I talk about how difficult this game is and why that’s a great thing. I drone on about the app and how it takes the co-op gaming experience to the next level. The way I see it this game can be great for board game enthusiasts and video gamers alike, with or without prior XCOM experience.

Leading in to writing this review I gathered up three of my friends for an evening of global defense. Of the four of us, three had played the video games, and one had only heard of them before. The tutorial playthrough taught us two things: one, this would be a very difficult game. And two, a computer is a terrible way to control the app.

We finally got into the groove of things when we switched to a tablet and plugged it into some speakers. Several intense and exciting rounds later we faced a dwindling XCOM budget and at least 4 UFO’s on each continent. As the game over screen came up we steeled ourselves and dove back in for another round.

Our most recent playthrough of XCOM The Board Game ended with the hail-mary final mission. It was down to one last roll of the dice that could have ended with 2 dead soldiers. We knew that if we didn’t win, we wouldn’t last through the next round. Our squad leader pulled through with a clutch roll and we claimed victory over the Aliens.

Check out the full XCOM The Board Game review below. Subscribe to our youtube channel for more. And let us know what you thought of the game and/or the video itself, we’re always looking to improve and make things better for our viewers!

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMWmuR8lKxc[/embed]

The app for XCOM The Board Game, which also contains the full rule book can be downloaded for free from Fantasy Flight, iTunes, Amazon, and the Google Play store.

XCOM The Board game can be purchased via Amazon here.

The copy of XCOM The Board game used for the review was purchased by the reviewer.