My squad touches down in a wooded area, somewhere in the continental United States. The Skyranger's ramp lowers and my soldiers shuffle out. Dead animals litter the ground under the tree cover. I inch my squad members forward, toward the crashed UFO. I'm the one who shot it down, and I expect its occupants are none too happy about it. As my squad slowly creeps forward, wary of ambush, I notice strange pods scattered about the terrain. I have just enough time to wonder what they are before my point man, Cameron "Shield" Robertson, discovers three Muton soldiers - ugly, hulking brutes with equally nasty plasma rifles.

The Mutons scramble into cover, positioning themselves to fire. Before they have a chance, my heavy trooper readies a rocket launcher, sending its payload directly into the aliens, scorching their hides and blasting their cover to smithereens. Now fully exposed, the beasts make easy targets for my sniper, Sheng "Xeno" Lin. Thanks to some special training, he quickly settles into "the zone," taking out all three Mutons with three perfect shots in rapid succession.

The entire exchange is exhilarating, and I pat myself on the back for a job well done. Little do I know that I have just wasted my only rocket, and that I'll really regret it later on. It's choices like these, and their repercussions, that define XCOM: Enemy Unknown.