New X-Com strategy game for this Fall

Gunmonkey

So Febuarys Game informer cover is up....and its a new X-com game being made by Firaxis for PC, 360 and PS3.

Game Informer

And its not the already announced FPS game, this is a turn based game in the style of the original games.

Some info from Eurogamer:

"Unlike 2K Marin's previously announced XCOM shooter, which sparked tempers among longtime fans for turning its back on the series' cerebral roots, this title is a full-on strategy game that puts players in command of a global anti-alien defense force," Game Informer said.

"XCOM's leader needs a worldwide perspective where threats are identified, populations reassured, and national leaders mollified - but a tactical mind is just as critical considering every shot XCOM's soldiers fire on the battlefield is under the player's turn-based control."

Firaxis boss Steve Martin added: "It's been a dream of ours to recreate X-COM with our unique creative vision. We're huge fans of the original game and it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to re-envision a game that is as beloved as X-COM.

"We were careful to keep XCOM: Enemy Unknown true to the elements that made X-COM such a revered game while delivering an entirely new story and gameplay experience for both die-hard X-COM fans and newcomers to the franchise."

Firaxis' XCOM has destructible tactical environments, and fuses a real-time strategic view with turn-based combat.

Retr0gamer

Betrayal! Betray.... oh a strategy game! Yay!

CrazyRabbit

I still play the original sometimes. Great game.

RolandIRL

And as if by magic, the X-COM Complete Pack appears on sale on Steam for €5.09...

gizmo

ShadowHearth

i dont want to sound disrespectful, but when i hear proper turned based pc game and made for pc + consoles, i really get worried...

Retr0gamer

RolandIRL wrote: »

And as if by magic, the X-COM Complete Pack appears on sale on Steam for €5.09...

Balls, I've been waiting for it to go on sale for ages and then folded during the christmas sale when it was 50% off

Kazuma

gizmo wrote: »

Perfect post, sums it up for me.

Retr0gamer

gizmo wrote: »

One of the comments in eurogamer was 'I've X-Come!'

Kernel

ShadowHearth wrote: »

i dont want to sound disrespectful, but when i hear proper turned based pc game and made for pc + consoles, i really get worried...

First thing I thought too! Don't get your hopes up yet lads.....

Maximilian

The fact that it's Firaxis gives some cause for optimism though (let's ignore Civ Revolution) and I really got addicted to Advance Wars on the DS, so there's no reason X-Com or any TBS shouldn't work as "intended" on a console. Civilisation was released on the Playstation IIRC.

So, a big yay from me.

Sephiroth_dude

Never played the series but look forward to hearing more about it

Skerries

I bought that X-Com complete pack years ago but sold it off as I just couldn't get into it
I was more happy and still am playing Laser Squad

Retr0gamer

Skerries wrote: »

I bought that X-Com complete pack years ago but sold it off as I just couldn't get into it
I was more happy and still am playing Laser Squad

Pfft, Rebelstar is where it's at

abelard

Don't really know anything about the original series.....does it in any way resemble Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri?

blatantrereg

I will be genuinely stunned if the game is not far more forgiving than the previous two, and the difficulty is not dialled down a great deal. I'll go out on a limb and even say that they'll replace permadeath of squad members with injuries.

Or maybe they'll observe the success of games like the binding of isaac where the significant challenge is a large part of the game's appeal, and keep it in line with the previous games... Personally I really hope they do.

abelard wrote: »

Don't really know anything about the original series.....does it in any way resemble Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri?

Nope

Skerries

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Pfft, Rebelstar is where it's at

I was more of a fan of Rebelstar II
I still have the Rebelstar collection on tape somewhere

blatantrereg

Skerries wrote: »

I was more of a fan of Rebelstar II
I still have the Rebelstar collection on tape somewhere

Special Operations (1985) for Amstrad CPC was good too. Select a squad of five specialists to carry out a mission on a WW2 Nazi base. separate map for navigation and for battles. Your squad members were just represented by their numbers in the battle screen. So retro I can't even find a link with any info or screenshots.

Gunmonkey

First pics and info is up on GI's website

Stuff we know from it:

-keeps same styles of gameplay (real time for map view, turn based for the combat sections)
-soldiers will die, no injuries or such BS
-fog of war is back (one of my biggest gripes with other X-com clones is you see the whole map, not just your vision range)
-the base screen looks AWESOME, your actually in a hollowed out mountain
-main transport is called the Skyranger again, nothing else need be said

Also interesting to see how the 2K Marin developed FPS is tying in:

The shooter takes place earlier in the fiction, chronicling the aliens' first attacks in the United States. The strategy game we're talking about here deals with the global response to the later full-blown alien invasion of Earth.

Coriolanus

I liked the subtlety of having an injury system. Obv people should still die but someone taken to 2% health shouldn't be running around with an aurocannon the next day.s

robcon

Having spent a crazy amount of time playing Pirates! on the c64 back in the day i felt they did a great job with the Pirates! remake so am pretty optimistic about this one. Ufo enemy unknown on the Amiga 1200 is still my favourite game of all time! The soundtrack added so much to the atmosphere in the game. Outstanding!

Auvers

please don't be watered down bullsh1t

BlitzKrieg

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Betrayal! Betray.... oh a strategy game! Yay!

I'm refreshing spoony's page constantly to see if he does something for this

humanji

I have a few reservaions about the line "Firaxis is undeniably streamlining aspects of the game and removing no small amount of micromanagement". I'm wondering what micromanagement they're talking about. Personally, I'd like even more control over everything than was in the original game, so hopefully they're talking about incidental stuff.

Manic Moran

Necrothreading.

Had a couple of cracks at it at PAX, it's now in a playable state. (Until recently, it was only in 'we will play, you watch' mode.) (You can watch me get utterly demolished in a head-to-head multiplayer match against a Firaxis chap on their Twitch stream)

Bottom line, I'm spending my money on it.

Things which are simplified:

-Action points are gone. You now have two moves per turn, or move and shoot. There are some exceptions, you can train some soldiers to move twice and shoot, for example.
-No more base defence. The way the base is configured, it would be a nightmare to defend against anyway.
-Base selection: You get one base. Period. Wherever you build (pick a continent) will have an effect on a base value (eg if you build in North America, your aircraft costs and maintenance will be lower) as well as reaction time to various events.

Things which are improved:
Multiplayer mode: (Select your team from a points catalogue)
Base creation: How you plan out your base will have an effect on its effectiveness (eg put two science labs next to each other, and they have a synergistic bonus to reflect the ability of the scientists to communicate with each other)
Aliens: There are a lot more of them, and they are seriously cool. (And Cyberdisks are seriously worrisome). Even the humble sectoid has some nasty little tricks.
Aliens: Their AI seems to be a bit better, and they won't let little things like walls stay in their way.
Cover: cover is now conducted in a better, more survivable (and sensible) manner.
Graphics (duh)

Things which I noticed are different but I don't know if they're better or not:
Personnel training.
Research.
Individual equipment loadouts (Possibly simplified)

Shiminay

I was watching some of it on the Twitch Stream over the weekend, it looks like a pretty solid game, real shame they didn't get to make it cross platform, when asked the question, the guy from Fireaxis was quite clearly disappointed that the companies involved vetoed it cause he seems to have thought it was the perfect game for it (and being turn-based, it really is).

hal9000

God damn it! get the pre-order page on steam up so I can throw money at this!

ShadowHearth

Any links of it somewhere?

Manic Moran

Shiminay wrote: »

I was watching some of it on the Twitch Stream over the weekend, it looks like a pretty solid game, real shame they didn't get to make it cross platform, when asked the question, the guy from Fireaxis was quite clearly disappointed that the companies involved vetoed it cause he seems to have thought it was the perfect game for it (and being turn-based, it really is).

What's your definition of cross platform? It's coming out for PC, X box and something else. Or do you mean that they won't talk with each other?

Pre order on the X Com Enemy Unknown website.

Sarky

I was watching some of the gameplay videos recently. Based on that, I'm worried about the size of the maps, which looked ridiculously small. I'm hoping that was deliberate so people could show a level being completed quickly, with the leaps in computer power since the first UFO there's no excuse not to have some decent sprawling maps every now and then.

There are some bits I like. Soldiers earning nicknames and getting defined roles should make team management much easier. The aliens have been seriously beefed up with some clever abilities (and holy balls the cyberdiscs are actually sort of terrifying, never mind the Chrysalids).

I'll miss things like base defence and managing more than one base. It provided a lot in the way of options for keeping the funding nations happy with a presence and having dedicated research/manufacture/radar facilities. I'm really hoping they haven't streamlined the world map part of the game into insignificance, it was every bit as enjoyable and necessary as the missions themselves.

I'm pleased enough with the way things look so far to part with money for it when it comes out. I may well try to get the special edition. Artbooks and soundtracks ftw.