I'n still waiting for a true sequel... IMO, the last x-com game was Apocalypse... all the crap released after that is just... well, just crap. c'mon gallop!
XCOM Impressions - First Look
This new game's title may sound a lot like a classic turn-based strategy game, but it's actually an action-packed first-person shooter. We take our first look at E3 2010.
Back in the early 1990s, the now-defunct studio Microprose captured the imagination of nerds everywhere with a tactical PC strategy game called X-Com: UFO Defense. The game put you in control of a squad of human freedom fighters opposing an alien invasion by fighting harrowing tactical battles on randomly generated maps against unknown numbers and varieties of aliens. Then it had you take the spoils of war (namely, alien technology) and use them to research powerful experimental weapons to bring into combat. Years later, 2K Marin, the studio responsible for BioShock 2, is now working on XCOM, a first-person shooter that will attempt to include elements of that original game but will also focus on fast-paced shooting action and character-driven stories.
The new game takes place during an idealized version of the American 1950s--a time of innocence, white picket fences, and burgeoning conspiracy theories. Your character is special agent William Carter, the head of XCOM, a secret government agency specifically put together to combat what appears to be an alien invasion by researching every reported alien sighting, rescuing civilians whenever possible, and collecting intel on the aliens that can be converted to research. That research can then be used to gain access to those wonderful, wonderful experimental weapons.
Our hands-off demonstration started with a car ride into an ordinary-looking airplane hangar, where day workers lugged cargo boxes around boxy 1950s-era cars and up a central ramp. After getting out of our own car, we walked up that same ramp to find that it led to the secret headquarters of XCOM itself, an office with dozens of operators manning phone stations listening in on any and all reported alien incidents. On entering, we were accosted by Angela, our female assistant, who handed us the briefing for the most recent mission reported to HQ--a rescue mission to save a hysterical woman in the California suburbs who put in a terrified call about being attacked by "…things!"
However, this wasn't the only mission available to us at this time--while Angela was standing off to the side of the briefing room giving us the details, our character was actually staring full on at the giant, wall-mounted map of the USA, which pointed out two other potential missions with different purposes. In addition to rescue missions, Walker can take on anomaly missions, which may yield a few rare chunks of elerium, the energy-rich alien mineral used to power experimental weapons, or unknown missions, which may offer dangerous new alien life forms to battle (and also to research). We're told by 2K Marin staffers that these missions will not only offer different rewards; in some cases, they will be exclusive to each other--taking one mission now may mean that the others will no longer be available when you finish. The staffers also hinted that your choice of missions may have effects on the game later on.
We decided to take the rescue mission, which Angela reluctantly endorsed, after which, she reminded us to pay a visit to Mal, the compound's top scientist and researcher. We stopped by Mal's workbench to find that he had been hard at work creating a new kind of incendiary grenade specifically intended to target a class of aliens known as the blob. We stocked up on these handy toys and also made a run past XCOM HQ's gun rack, picking out a standard-issue shotgun and a not-so-standard-issue experimental lightning gun--a weapon that almost looked like it had classic TV set rabbit ears for a gun barrel. On our way out, we met with our away team, two smartly dressed G-men who would accompany us on the mission as computer-controlled squadmates.
We then skipped ahead to the mission proper, which took place in a quiet, sunny suburb full of nice houses, nice cars, and exactly zero people. While our buddies wondered allowed why it was so quiet, we started noticing subtle but telltale signs that the alien blob just might have been through the area, such as traces of black slime along the ground, a gigantic black smear underneath a child's baseball cap and baseball mitt, a dead dog covered in black slime, and a crashed car with a dead man in the driver's seat covered in black slime. Finally, there was a dying man crawling out of his home covered from head to toe in black slime and vomiting out even more of the stuff before collapsing in a heap and dying. While this last fatality was tragic, it gave us an opportunity to whip out our in-game camera and take a photo of the slime-covered corpse--a photo that, the 2K Marin staffers explained, could later be brought back to HQ and used to fund new research. And once we reached this house, we heard a woman screaming for help and took that as our cue to spring into action.
Guns drawn, we leapt into the house to find that several blobs--black puddles of goo that slithers along walls and floors and leaves a trail of slime behind--had infiltrated the house. We wasted no time and drew our trusty shotgun, blasting the first few at point-blank range after one nearly killed us by leaping in our face. When sufficiently injured, these creepy critters tend to sit still and begin bubbling up like boiling water in a pot. When killed, the bubbles all pop, leaving a crusty, dehydrated husk and a wisp of steam. We hunted them all throughout the house, switching off to the experimental grenades, which often killed the aliens with a single, well-aimed direct hit, as well as with the lightning gun, which fired several streams of crackling electric energy seemingly randomly within a certain radius in front of us. We then worked our way up to the second floor to find the lady of the house, covered in goop and struggling to fight off a blob from getting near her face. A few shotgun blasts later, and we had finished it off, but not before we had lost one of our computer companions--an event that 2K Marin staffers suggest is "very, very bad for you."
All that remained of the mission was to head back outside, jump in our car, and go home, except that that's when the giant alien spacecraft (if that's what it was) known as The Titan made its appearance in the sky. After leaving the house, we saw the sky begin to shimmer and then eventually warp until a small, localized black hole effectively caused a small hurricane in the neighborhood, tearing away at us and all the other objects in the environment. Through this shimmering aperture emerged a gold-colored column that briefly glowed white, showing what looked like a highly advanced technological skeleton. Our remaining partner drew his weapon and opened fire on the structure--a bad move on his part because the Titan responded by morphing from its original rectangular pillar shape to the strange, gold-colored concentric circles that appear in some early concept art for this game. After changing shape, the Titan zapped our remaining squadmate with a single energy blast that covered him in what appeared to be black soot up to his waist, immobilizing him, and then fired a second blast that completely vaporized him.
At this point, we decided to run--not walk--to our car, to which the Titan responded by apparently causing the weather storm to buffet us even harder, while more blobs appeared from out of nowhere, flitting up and down the streets. We made it to our car just as the Titan began charging up for a final blast that might have been the end of us.
While we've seen very little of the game so far, we're both comforted to hear that the 2K Marin team includes many loyal fans of the original X-Com, and we're also looking forward to seeing where the team takes the game from here. XCOM is scheduled for release on the Xbox 360 and PC next year.
163 comments
@ IceJester45 Did any of the PC games in your second post score a 9 or more on any of the main sites? Did any of the Gothic's or STALKER's or Drakensang's or Sacred's or Spellforce's or Space Ranger's or Metro 2033 get 9 or above on the main gaming sites? Did beyond Good and Evil or Romance of the Kingdoms XIII or Oni or Albion get a 9 or above on the main sites.... Did.....oh forget it, there are too many European titles to list!
@Humorguy_basic, One more thing, if we were to count non-U.S. games that scored 8 ("Great") or better, the list would grow to include Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason (Ukraine), Amnesia: The Dark Descent (Sweden), Dawn of Discovery (Germany), Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2 and its expansion pack (both are from Canada), The Witcher (Poland), Worms: Reloaded (U.K.), The Path (Belgium), and Empire: Total War (Sweden). Those are just the games from my collection. Non-U.S.-developed PC exclusives get excellent scores all the time on GameSpot.
@Humorguy_basic, When you said "non-U.S.-developed," I didn't think you meant "non-U.S.-published." By the way, Stardock, the publisher of Sins, is an American company (HQ is in Michigan). I suppose you'd have to take that one off the list, too. I don't think GameSpot has any bias specifically against non-U.S.-developed games. I haven't seen any evidence to support the contention that they do, at least. I mean, Japanese and European console games do well all the time (Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4 pulled in perfect scores). Besides, I don't think that a (perceived) lack of non-U.S. games with 9+ scores in and of itself leads automatically to the conclusion that GameSpot is biased against foreign games. I would need to see some more evidence (a motive would be nice, too). Further, the Call of Pripyat came out three years after the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and was reviewed by a different GameSpot staff member. That could, in my view, explain the scores. Besides, 8.0 and 8.5 are really good scores (That's about what I'd give the games.). I don't see what the problem is. As a former journalist, I wouldn't be surprised if GameSpot padded scores for advertisers. However, I don't think that GameSpot is going to ding an Ubi Soft title simply because the publisher is French and the game is developed in Canada, Sweden, or wherever. I think a company's size would have more to do with its products' scores than its home market would.
@oneofthefall, you are right, the original xcom was not a rts game, sorry about that, but I still don't like this new one.
@ IceJester45. Picking holes if you ask me. Crysis was publishes by EA and EA is a massive North American publisher. When I said U.S I mean North America as many sub-offices are based in Canada for tax reasons with the HQ in the U.S. Look at 2K for example. I'll give you Sins of the Solar Empire, but really, your comment is like when someone can point out 3 people that are over 90 and have smoked 20 a day all their life. It wasn't meaningful when looking at my overall point. STALKER, for example was mostly given around 8.5 because the game had bugs. Then they released Pripyat with no bugs; the reviews said it had no bugs and yet it still scored around 8.5!
@samucaninja, i doubt you even remember the 1st one buddy so its probably best if you go away and play and stick with your COD and cough cough avatar! personally i think that this looks frighteningly awesome! cant wait to give this a blast! and a hell of alot better than a sucky avatar movie game!
nhaann ... don't like it ... if you want to reborn a classic don't change the subject ... xcom was rts so reborn like ... so many new games focusing on destruction and death ... how about a xcom that covers creation of life, togheter with other life forms trying to co-exist in somewhere in universe ? we don't need to fight against other life form because we are the threat for our planet, so let's fight against ourselfs ... call of duty and avatar rocks !
@vbplaya That sums it up, but I don't agree with there not being a halfway decent game in XCOM style in 13 years. UFO Afterlight was very entertaining and picked up on some of the elements that made the XCOM games so brilliant.
If not an FPS then what else would it be? No one wants a new RPG,no one wants a new RTS etc. As long as the game is good then i dont care if its an FPS an RTS or whatever. You can only wave your arms around so much with kinect that eventually it will become boring. Just like the wii and all of the other wavy arms things.
hopefully this will generate modern interest in the title and get a X-COM Ufo: Defense sequel or remake
(not mine, borrowed from another site ... but perfectly explains problem with game) "The frustration older gamers feel over X-COM stems from the fact that it's essentially a dead license, it's not like the name has a lot of stock with gamers EXCEPT those of us who have fond memories of the original. There have been some open-source projects, and several developers without the proper funding... but it's been 13 years since we've had a halfway decent game in the style of x-com. It's probably hard to understand if you're not familiar with the game, but the x-com series has pretty unique gameplay, and a pretty generic plot. Everyone who loves the original loves it for the gameplay. All that said, the gameplay in the original game was such that there isn't really room to add FPS into it and keep the rest of the gameplay intact. The fact that you're playing a single person (instead of an organization which eventually employs hundreds) suggests that there has been a fundamental change in the gameplay. Here's the deal: Chances are the game, whatever it is, will be good. But it won't be X-COM. Let me ask you, what is the purpose of dusting off a franchise that is all but dead, well known for it's gameplay and not it's story, and tossing the gameplay out the window? Or another way to put it, why couldn't 2K Marin develop this game and hang another name on it? The only people who care about the X-COM name or get excited from name alone are the very people this new game offends. "
Looks like a decent game, but it seem rediculous to reinvent a strategy game into FPS, especially in this day in age where FPS are very,very,very,very much abundant.
I have 3 games installed in my computer one is the old x-com. X-com was a really diferent game, diferent concept, nice story attached. Making of an original game, another FPS is a complete joke. This trailer was a complete waste of 2mns of my life. Hope the game itself is more then a FPS but from the trailer i dont see it
I have 3 games installed in my computer one is the old x-com. X-com was a really diferent game, diferent concept, nice story attached. Making of an original game, another FPS is a complete joke. This trailer was a complete waste of 2mns of my life. Hope the game itself is more then a FPS but from the trailer i dont see it
@Groowagon Indeed. The market was flooded with shoddy X-Com clones and MOST of them suck, badly. I've been following Xenonauts since the announcement and actually talking to the Devs on their site. This game will actually have a Lot of details most of the other remakes have left out. Actually it has a lot of things that I think would have made the Original X-Com better. Don't be put off by all the bad clones out there. Just go take a look at the Xenonauts site and browse the forums or Game Features. As a X-Com fan you won't be sorry, I promise.
One taketh the succes that is Bioshock, one taketh the name of a successful (although unrelated) franchise, mix it all together, et voila. Yawn....
FPS Xcom looks like a good idea. i hope it has enough depht. and loads of more aliens than just blobs... @RavenXavier after seeing a dozen of failed remake attempts, i've lost my hope. Xenonauts doesn't look like it's gonna do difference in that. then again, why fix it, if it ain't broken? i still enjoy the original.
For those of you, like me, who miss the ORIGINAL X-COM, check out This Game called Xenonauts. http://xenonauts.com/ Now THAT is going to be a Real Remake of the Original, only updated for todays strategy player. Turn based squad combat as it was meant to be. Not some hybrid bastardization of what we all knew and loved.
I like this new art style and genre of gaming its more original than most games these days..... (referring to apocalypse and modern fps)
@IceJester45 I think every console gamer in the world would spontaneously explode from rage from not being able to punch out aliens with their fists in real time
@Walking_STD, Heh...I didn't say it would be bad. But, I bet it would piss off a lot of Crysis fans.. I wonder what would happen if Crytek were to announce that the new Crysis game would be an old-school, X-COM-style strategy game.
@IceJester45 Crysis on mario karts...THAT SOUNDS AWESOME (and yes i know ur being sarcastic)im not
@IceJester45 but you do need taste to appreciate FPS don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out of the lan party
@wavelength121 Good luck fighting your fake war. Psst...games aren't real. There's nothing to be scared of. You don't exactly need "balls" to sit in front of your monitor.
@IceJester45 Not so much "stupid gamers" as "gamers who have balls and want to get up close and personal with alien encounters rather than hovering over the planet like a coward" good luck with that armchair commanding though
I'm going to miss the old style XCOM ... I hope this Bio-Clone can fill the shoes of the old XCOM, not really that excited to see these 'random' aliens they seem more like demons from hell then creatures from another planet... I hope this game includes some likes of the OLD XCOM, because I saw NONE in the video.... ;(
YUK!!! It has Bioshock clone all over it IMO.. I bought X-com Enemy Unknown, Terry Pratchett's Discworld and Loaded with my very first PS1 on the Playstation Launch. costing me then a little over $1100. When just recently I heard that X-Com was coming out in some form of another I was well... anxious as I have to say X-Com was one of the best games I have played. It soaked up as much as my life as only the best games do, Now I pray like f**k that I'm wrong but instead of going with the original Microprose games whole idea and premise that not only worked it was brilliant but done with massive attention to detail improve what needs improving or what is not working but never because its "to hard" or "easier" or even worse "not commercial" a perfect recipe for the perfect game is what is needed, what I have seen thus far worries the hell out of me. I pray I'm not speaking to soon by saying this. But , Why do company's release underdeveloped games? It kills a brand. I understand the premise of sequels! but they wouldn't need to suck if you paid more attention to the last point that I made. Hence making it more feasible to produce better games, less and far improved quality in the sequels. However I ramble If nothing else I hope its at lease a tolerable shooter or maybe - more? RZ
Should've stuck to the original style of gameplay, not everything is better when your turn it from a strategy to an fps.
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Game Info
- Release Date: Aug 20, 2013 (US)
The Bureau: XCOM Navigation
