Proper XCOM Sequel/Reboot in Works

[BeNZene]

Good news for XCOM fans - apparently the XCOM FPS isn't the only XCOM game being made at the moment, and they are redoing the turn-based original:
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/01/05/february-cover-revealed-xcom-enemy-unknown.aspx

Very keen on this.  It would be interesting to play it on a tablet if they made an Android or iOS version.

[Xsannz]

hell yes big fan of the originals.

[Lias]

Do want!

[Xsannz]

i want you lias..... and bacon lube...

edit you see the original xcom pack on steam sale today

[Lias]

Yeah I did.. already gots it.

[smegmacheese]

I love x-com, but like I said in another thread dislike how action points will be removed from this game as a dev considers it too much piddling around.

[BeNZene]

The reviews are coming in very good for this, should be fun:
http://www.bluesnews.com/s/135808/xcom-enemy-unknown-reviews

[Xsannz]

I did my preload last nite .

Can't wait

[Tiwaking!]

The reviews are coming in very good for this, should be fun:
http://www.bluesnews.com/s/135808/xcom-enemy-unknown-reviews

I've seen a few YouTube reviews of it and they've said it is quite a good game. Really captures the crushing loss or elated joy of having 'that' character slowly grow from a lowly Squaddie all the way to Captain.

The only problems with the game is that the combat can get abit tedious, which is something I find quite interesting. I cant remember any 'tedious' combats in XCom. They were always nail-biting daytime adventures (I was NOT stupid enough to take on missions at night unless absolutely forced to).

I guess if you are not emotionally invested in an hour long siege of a Floater Battleship the maybe combat would get tedious.

Maybe.

[BeNZene]

I'd bet that the combat would only be tedious if you are not genuinely attached to your soldiers (eg because you are cheating and/or using save games).  The fact you didn't want to lose even one guy made for tension even if the odds had stacked heavily in your favour.

[Xsannz]

Yep nothing more soul crushing than losing a captain or tank and having one of you nub soldier panick.

[smegmacheese]

What do you guys think about this game after playing it for a while now.  The last xcom I played was apocalypse...still have it on my computer and loved it.  This one seems a bit linear and simplistic to me in what you can do.  Interceptors bleh, equipment bleh, missions bleh.  In its defense I really like the graphics for the solders armor design.  Some of the aliens look fantastic..others notably the thin men look terrible.  The cutscenes are crap.  The graphics in them seem to lack any kind of definition in comparison to other game facets.  The faces and uniforms are terrible...I hope they get modded.  They use the same graphical crap for all the alien autopsies and interrogations...bleh.

I really enjoyed things like machine gun spray and pray with 20 something shots...no chance now.  Grenade spammer solider? nope.  Change to another kind of soldier?  nope.
I dont like the canned encounters either.  Namely, where you are walking along and due to it being a trigger point X amount of aliens suddenly spawn next to you and you die.

Mission variety?  again nothing like its predecessors.  In the past there were frequent base invasions, killing cults, raiding company hqs, UFOs to be swarmed by your inferior vehicles and ganked or retreated from while another swarm of jetbikes takes up the fight....the fights actually took some time.  The same UFOs to be stormed once they crash on the ground.  Lots of alien information seeking missions.

As a game I like it, but as a reiterated xcom I think it fails.  Again it seems to me that an idiot arrogant dev is mainly responsible for this, Jake something.  I watched one of his interviews and grimaced as I realised how much this twerp had imposed his vision on the franchise.  Not as bad a fark up as Jay Wilson and diablo tycoon 3, but still a simplistic step backwards.

Xenonauts looks more like what I am after, but I don't like how they removed psionic soldiers from it.

[Xsannz]

i have thoroughly enjoyed it so far

very true to the original

[PrinceTuiTeka]

I thought Sid Meier had involvement in this? It was done through Firaxis no? He usually weaves love and unicorn giggles into his code, hence producing some of the best strategy games ever made. Plus he did the original and he has never had a history of over simplifying games.

Also remember that only XCOM: UFO Defence and XCOM: Terror from the Deep are the true originals. All the other spin offs done through various other dev studios are never going to be a good basis for comparison.

Note: I haven't played this yet, just going off Sid's past efforts.

[smegmacheese]

Copy/paste from wiki:

Enemy Unknown was developed independently of 2K Marin's XCOM and the two games are set in entirely different universes, but the developers of both games have been in contact with one another.[1][2] It is also the first title developed by Firaxis Games not to feature Sid Meier's name, who served as the director of creative development but was not directly involved in its development day to day.[11][30] They also made an internal board game to help get the "feel" of the game right

The reference notes after Meier's name are interviews about the future of strategic gaming.  All the dev stuff I perused was by this guy:http://www.giantbomb.com/jake-solomon/72-102138/
When I first saw him he looked a bit young to me..I am an old nasty man like many others on forums.  Not sure on his age and at work, but I suspect he was in diapers when xcom was released.  The sceptic in me says he comes from the dumb it down, haste, haste, my way's better generation rather than ponderers around Sid's age.  I blame good consoles and decent console games on dumbing down pc games in general and influencing younger generations to dislike complexity.  Sounds like an ageist thesis waiting for study.

 I didn't know there was a board game ;>...I like board games!  Man, Battletech with its hex maps still one of my favourites.

[Tiwaking!]

These look pretty cool
The Best XCOM: Enemy Unknown Mods
1. Warspace Extension
2. Graphics Mod
3. Second Wave
4. Aetius Classic Rebalanced
5. XPERIENCE-Rational Warfare