X-Com Enemy Unknown Gets a Facelift

[Trav Le Bleu]

Yes, the daddy of all tactical shooters is getting a refurb courtesy of Firaxis. This is one of my favourite games ever and if they can keep the original spirit and gameplay but update the visuals and UI then this is one I'll be looking forward to!

[MC Prussian]

Loved the original, it was also one of the hardest and most frustrating games I've ever played, but once you got into it, it was well and truly rewarding.

Researching alien technology was so much fun.

I've heard the new one's quite different, but I might get it too - provided it is as chilly and eerie as the original.

[Trav Le Bleu]

The feel of being hopelessly outgunned at the start, doing hit and run missions to grab any tiny bit of alien tech that could be researched to turn it against them, trying to protect your best agents (especially those that were Psi-resistant!), building a base that can withstand alien assualt was what it was all about. The point in the game where the scales start tipping in your favour... bliss!

And it all seems to be in this new version.

NB, it's not the FPS style game that was being developed a couple of years back using the X-Com name.

[MC Prussian]

Why can't it be October already?

[Trav Le Bleu]

This is out on Friday. I'll certainly be getting it - anyone else?

[MC Prussian]

I'm in - just watched the online versus mode demo with two of the Gamespot editors today:

http://uk.gamespot.com/xcom-enemy-unknown/videos/gamespot-battle-for-xcom-enemy-unknown-supremacy-6397801/

It looks like the developers have retained the original feel and enhanced it at just the right spots.

Round-based strategy games don't seem to appeal to the mass market and the younger generation, but I'll definitely get this one, if only for retro reasons.

X-Com: Enemy Unknown in itself is far more entertaining than getting a new FIFA each year, only to be let down by the lack of innovation by EA.

Suspenseful evenings and nights guaranteed! I just hope it won't be as hard as the 1994 version.

I've hardly ever been more on the verge of sheer frustration in my gaming career than back in the 90ies, playing the original X-Com on my PS.

[Manwell Pablo]

I'll be buying this along with Dishonured on Friday. Forza on 23rd, Halo and Assains Creed, aside from that I've bought FIFA and Tekken which I've sold already and that'll be it for me this year. Quite a quiet Q4 compared to some years,

Certainly have no interest in COD.

[One Arm Babba]

It looks cracking does this, last game for a while me thinks.

[Trav Le Bleu]

Got this yesterday - on PS3 - and had a light play through (basically all of the tutorial) and it seems to be a little X-com Lite.

Like most old games rebooted it's been simplified for increasingly short attention spans that demand INSTANT CARNAGE! Soldiers carry only 4 items (armour, primary weapon, secondary weapon, misc) and are thus much more restricted in their actions on the field. The base management (so far) seems much more simplified too, though you still have to build extensions to improve and hold extra facilities, but the range of equipment at the start is much more limied. Also there are no stats (at least, not visible) for your soldiers abilities - they are assigned roles as the progress (unlike the old games where you had to know each soldiers weaknesses and strengths)

Been in 4 missions, 1 of each type - terror mission, infiltration, ufo recovery, and hostage recovery (which is a new angle) and at no point did I feel out-gunned and out-teched, which is worrying. In the old game you'd be sending 6 guys in and be happy to get 2 back carrying a few recovered artifacts and getting the hell out of there before the aliens over ran them - much more nerve-jangling! At the moment, I'm not even sure that would be possible - there doesn't seem to be an option to pick up alien tech (which was always fun- once you researched it you could kill a guy with your weapons and then turn their own weapons on them!) so far, but we'll see. The battlescapes so far seem much smaller - meaning that so far I've never been outflanked, except when the game "cheated" by spwaning new aliens behind me after I'd completed an objective. Clever AI shouldn't need such tricks.

Having said there are some nice touches - the soldiers get more skills as they advance ranks and you can chose usually one of two abilities with each rank, so your soldiers still have differing abilities and it's importnant how you use them.

In short, I am enjoying it - I just don't feel challenged (maybe as a veteran of the originals I should have gone for hard instead of normal.)

[One Arm Babba]

Got this yesterday - on PS3 - and had a light play through (basically all of the tutorial) and it seems to be a little X-com Lite.

Like most old games rebooted it's been simplified for increasingly short attention spans that demand INSTANT CARNAGE! Soldiers carry only 4 items (armour, primary weapon, secondary weapon, misc) and are thus much more restricted in their actions on the field. The base management (so far) seems much more simplified too, though you still have to build extensions to improve and hold extra facilities, but the range of equipment at the start is much more limied. Also there are no stats (at least, not visible) for your soldiers abilities - they are assigned roles as the progress (unlike the old games where you had to know each soldiers weaknesses and strengths)

Been in 4 missions, 1 of each type - terror mission, infiltration, ufo recovery, and hostage recovery (which is a new angle) and at no point did I feel out-gunned and out-teched, which is worrying. In the old game you'd be sending 6 guys in and be happy to get 2 back carrying a few recovered artifacts and getting the hell out of there before the aliens over ran them - much more nerve-jangling! At the moment, I'm not even sure that would be possible - there doesn't seem to be an option to pick up alien tech (which was always fun- once you researched it you could kill a guy with your weapons and then turn their own weapons on them!) so far, but we'll see. The battlescapes so far seem much smaller - meaning that so far I've never been outflanked, except when the game "cheated" by spwaning new aliens behind me after I'd completed an objective. Clever AI shouldn't need such tricks.

Having said there are some nice touches - the soldiers get more skills as they advance ranks and you can chose usually one of two abilities with each rank, so your soldiers still have differing abilities and it's importnant how you use them.

In short, I am enjoying it - I just don't feel challenged (maybe as a veteran of the originals I should have gone for hard instead of normal.)

The reviews I read did say to play on classic difficulty. I'll pick this up tomorrow.

[Trav Le Bleu]

The reviews I read did say to play on classic difficulty. I'll pick this up tomorrow.

I think I will - I just noted that the tutorial is disabled on the harder levels and I wanted to familiarise myself with the controls and any new features and the manual in the case is extremely basic - it directs yopu to download the full manual from their website, which I think is quite cheeky.

[Manwell Pablo]

Got this yesterday - on PS3 - and had a light play through (basically all of the tutorial) and it seems to be a little X-com Lite.

Like most old games rebooted it's been simplified for increasingly short attention spans that demand INSTANT CARNAGE! Soldiers carry only 4 items (armour, primary weapon, secondary weapon, misc) and are thus much more restricted in their actions on the field. The base management (so far) seems much more simplified too, though you still have to build extensions to improve and hold extra facilities, but the range of equipment at the start is much more limied. Also there are no stats (at least, not visible) for your soldiers abilities - they are assigned roles as the progress (unlike the old games where you had to know each soldiers weaknesses and strengths)

Been in 4 missions, 1 of each type - terror mission, infiltration, ufo recovery, and hostage recovery (which is a new angle) and at no point did I feel out-gunned and out-teched, which is worrying. In the old game you'd be sending 6 guys in and be happy to get 2 back carrying a few recovered artifacts and getting the hell out of there before the aliens over ran them - much more nerve-jangling! At the moment, I'm not even sure that would be possible - there doesn't seem to be an option to pick up alien tech (which was always fun- once you researched it you could kill a guy with your weapons and then turn their own weapons on them!) so far, but we'll see. The battlescapes so far seem much smaller - meaning that so far I've never been outflanked, except when the game "cheated" by spwaning new aliens behind me after I'd completed an objective. Clever AI shouldn't need such tricks.

Having said there are some nice touches - the soldiers get more skills as they advance ranks and you can chose usually one of two abilities with each rank, so your soldiers still have differing abilities and it's importnant how you use them.

In short, I am enjoying it - I just don't feel challenged (maybe as a veteran of the originals I should have gone for hard instead of normal.)

Yeah it starts off easy and I thought the same.

About 5 hours in the difficulty level spirals dramatically which I was not prepared for and I now have to go back six weeks in time as I'm about dead!

[MrSpaM]

I think I will - I just noted that the tutorial is disabled on the harder levels and I wanted to familiarise myself with the controls and any new features and the manual in the case is extremely basic - it directs yopu to download the full manual from their website, which I think is quite cheeky.

You'll be lucky to find any game that comes out now that has a full manual included in the box

[Trav Le Bleu]

Yeah it starts off easy and I thought the same.

About 5 hours in the difficulty level spirals dramatically which I was not prepared for and I now have to go back six weeks in time as I'm about dead!

that used to happen all the time in the old games - the balance would tip subtly and you wouldn't notice you were losing ground until it was too late! Having played further, I'm enjoying it more. I said earlier that it had been simplified, but now I'm thinking streamlined.

[Manwell Pablo]

that used to happen all the time in the old games - the balance would tip subtly and you wouldn't notice you were losing ground until it was too late! Having played further, I'm enjoying it more. I said earlier that it had been simplified, but now I'm thinking streamlined.

It's funny really it was something as simple as losing a whole squad of elite soilders, basically as three of them missed 65-70% chance to hit shots back to back, not great but I know but didn't really expect it to be end game as a result!!

[MC Prussian]

Had my first try at this yesterday and it's a cracking game. Not as hard as the original, but still tough to beat if you're not careful enough.

It's advised to do research as early on as possible, so you're always up-to-date when it comes to equipment.

The game introduces more and more powerful enemies maybe a little to fast and if you're not careful enough, you might find it overpowering and frustrating.

But most of the time, the round-based aspect works well. If you feel like you've been treated unfairly, it's mostly because you weren't cautious enough whilst making a move or haven't spent enough thought on equipping your team with Medikits or Grenades.

The AI, on the other hand, is pretty smart in the new X-BOX: Enemy Unknown - even on Normal.

The only downside I can think of right now is that the maps tend to be rather small, but that's about it.

It's a pleasure playing it because it offers a challenge I haven't had for quite some time and the developers have managed to retain the feel of the original, without butchering the concept too much.

The reward system - seeing your soldiers moving up the ranks, getting promoted and gaining more skill in the process - is motivation enough.

[Trav Le Bleu]

Having played this a good few hours now, I'm loving it. I've scrapped my initial run - as I lost too many nations. It's a shame you can't fly on from one site to another and risk taking wounded soldiers with depleted resources (or enhanced, if you've nicked stuff off the aliens!) to a second battle on the same day, or indeed, having more than one skyranger, but it adds to the difficulty of juggling where they are needed.

My only disappoint is that you can't employ the tactic (if low on resources) of going into battle with simple weapons, killing the first few aliens and picking up their weapons to use on your alien foe.

[Trav Le Bleu]

You'll be lucky to find any game that comes out now that has a full manual included in the box

Went to the site that says in the in-box manual "to get the FULL list of controls, features and much more, visit:" and it's exactly the same as the in-box one.

What is the point?

So, if anyone DOES actually want a little more background into the game, can I recommend this 3rd party fan-site of all the X-Com games http://www.ufopaedia.org/, but please be aware of the potential for spoilers if you're not careful browsing there.

[Trav Le Bleu]

Had a look on the shelves in Tesco today and this game wasn't in the Top 30 any more - just lots of generic FPS, driving games and platformers

[Manwell Pablo]

Had a look on the shelves in Tesco today and this game wasn't in the Top 30 any more - just lots of generic FPS, driving games and platformers

Was never going to sell well.

[MC Prussian]

Kids nowadays just don't have the patience nor the understanding for this gem.

(I'm addicted )

[Gav_LCFC]

Really liking this. nearly completed it. Just classic iron man to do now....

[Trav Le Bleu]

Also completed. I also think a classic ironman play through is now needed.

Wish the maps were more multi-layered though. Yes, every map is 4 levels high, but it's rarely used - plus UFOs seemed extremely rare, especially once I had all the countries left covered by satellite (in the original, once you've got good tracking in place you'll realise the skies are crawling with the lil beggars!)

[Haydos]

Cracking game. my mate visited this weekend and showed me it. Pretty addicted now, really good concept and makes a change from the plethora of samey games that a churned out.

Running XCOM is almost as enjoyable as the actual mission gameplay, really nice concept. The gameplay levels and types of mission could vary a bit more but in all the best game I've played in a long time.

[Trav Le Bleu]

Started a 2nd game and realised that the tutorial sets you up terribly for the start of the game! The first mission teaches you all kinds of bad moves (dashing every move - I don't think so!) leaving you with one agent alive from your first mission and then it won't let you build uplinks until about the 24-25th of the month, so you won't get them operational until the next!

Anyone starting new, play the tutorial and then start again without it!