XCOM: Enemy Unknown Preview

Firaxis' XCOM: Enemy Unknown is the subject of another hands-off preview, and this time it comes to us via Hooked Gamers. The article focuses primarily on the alien opponents we'll be facing, though they do get into the mechanics for a couple of paragraphs:
While overseeing everything from a global view, however, the game will be in real time, similar to real time strategy games. The global view brings in a ton of strategy, specifically when it comes to researching alien technology, ordering engineers, interacting with other nations around the vast world, recruiting more soldiers and a number of other activities. These are only a few of the decisions you'll be making to mount your defence against a global invasion of aliens. If you enjoy Sid Meier's Civilization, or have enjoyed previous X-COM games, then you'll probably enjoy Enemy Unknown.

Don't start jumping to conclusions, however, as gameplay is still going to be largely turn-based, much as in previous games in the franchise. Firaxis and 2K have stated that all combat gameplay will be turn-based. While dealing with resource management and technological advances, there are going to be important battles in your way. These battles will test your intelligence and tactics against the enemy. When your aerial transport reaches an abduction site, your global view will change to a tactical view allowing you to command your soldiers. You'll then be put up to the task of destroying all aliens on site, dealing with fog of war, line of sight, cover, and of course permanent deaths. Lets just hope those will mostly be on the aliens' side.