How often do games get proper full-on expansion packs nowadays. Sure, DLC is practically a dime a dozen, though publishers sure don’t price them like that. Lengthy expansion packs that eat up hours upon hours of your time rather than hour (singular) of your time seem few and far between, especially outside of the strategy genre. So when one of last year’s best games based on an old-school cult favourite gets an old-school expansion pack, it’s hard not to take notice.

Whether you will like XCOM: Enemy Within and think that it’s worth the $30 asking price will be largely dependent on how much you liked last year’s XCOM: Enemy Unknown. If you loved it, there’ll be more here for you to love. If you weren’t a fan of EU, well, it doesn’t sound like there’s much here to change your mind.

Game Informer (93%): The game was so finely balanced that I thought adding to it would disrupt its strategic flow, but Firaxis has released an expansion that slides between Enemy Unknown’s cracks, filling in some gaps I didn’t even realize existed, further diversifying the tactics without disrupting XCOM’s delicate balance… Enemy Within’s minor flaws shouldn’t be enough to distract anyone from diving back into Firaxis’ well-tuned expansion.

Strategy Informer (90%): Ultimately it’ll come down to two factors: The fact that the ending hasn’t changed a bit, and the fact that, ultimately, you’re still playing the same game. The former is perhaps the most disappointing, and as for the latter, it’s easier for something like Civilization to get away with, as XCOM is more narrative focused. If you feel you can’t get over these facts, then there’s nothing I can really say that’ll convince you otherwise. Enemy Within makes for an incredible, and fresh, journey as you fight to save the world one more time, and it’s definitely worth picking up eventually. We would totally understand though, if you wanted to wait for a steam sale or something.

VideoGamer (90%): This is an XCOM refresh – resetting the rules of the game you once knew, and encouraging you to play it in ways you’d never tried to. In my mind I’ve merely dabbled with these changes, and still have so many ideas I’d like to try. I’ve played it for 27 hours. The best game of 2012 is back, and it might be the best game of 2013.

Inside Gaming Daily (80%): It’s hard to bottom-line Enemy Within as a value proposition… it really boils down to what you want out of more XCOM. I loved the huge variety of new maps but felt the meld upgrades sapped some of Enemy Unknown’s bite. The other half of that sentiment is that I now feel empowered to pick up my Hard / Ironman run again. The neatest summary I can give is this: if you want an excuse to play more XCOM, you’ve got it.

ShackNews (70%): Equal parts frustration and elation, XCOM: Enemy Within is a bonafide fist-pump producer, taking players through the same emotional peaks and valleys of the original. Like most expansion packs, Enemy Within is targeted towards the experienced. But Firaxis once again manages to balance XCOM’s disparate elements, resulting in a challenging and satisfying experience.