"Wait, humans will pay for this?"Ha, nice.
*Checks the Internet. Googles XCOM VIPER*
"Fuck. Why I am wasting my time in the military?"
Battle of the strategy games, Gears vs Xcom.
- Thread starter Worgen
- Start date
*Checks the Internet. Googles XCOM VIPER*
"Fuck. Why I am wasting my time in the military?"
So I caved and bought Chimera Squad.
It's.. pretty good. I find the setting really original and interesting, although I feel like it could have been more interesting. Xcom aliens are pretty weird, and it would be interesting to see a bit more how they've adapted to life on earth. It's not really necessary, but it would have been nice. Generally the presentation and art design is really good, and the environments I've seen are all really well thought out and fit in with the overall aesthetic of City 31. If you're booting it up, watch how the title screen transitions into the opening cutscene, for example. It's completely uncessary, but it shows how much care went into the visuals. The sound is pretty solid, and the dialogue and voice acting is okay. It's a bit Whedonesque for my liking, but for video game writing it's pretty good.
The gameplay is broadly similar to previous xcom games, but in practice the small arenas make it quite different. Initially, I felt like the small maps hurt the tactical gameplay by making positioning less important, but while that's true I think the strategy is more in the use of tools and abilities, which are generally more available and more powerful than in previous games. I initially didn't like the initiative system, as it feels like you're just reacting all the time, but I think it's just something you need to wrap your head around, and I like that it forces you to think about which enemies are most dangerous (i.e. are going next) rather than just taking whatever shot is most convenient or likely to hit. I also wasn't a fan of breach mode initially, as it felt kind of tacked on, but as you unlock more items and abilities which can be used it becomes more tactical and feels more like a core part of the game.
I haven't got too far into it, so this is just my initial thoughts, but I think if you like xcom give it a chance. You might initially feel that it's quite simplified compared to previous games, but there's more to it than you might initially assume.
It's.. pretty good. I find the setting really original and interesting, although I feel like it could have been more interesting. Xcom aliens are pretty weird, and it would be interesting to see a bit more how they've adapted to life on earth. It's not really necessary, but it would have been nice. Generally the presentation and art design is really good, and the environments I've seen are all really well thought out and fit in with the overall aesthetic of City 31. If you're booting it up, watch how the title screen transitions into the opening cutscene, for example. It's completely uncessary, but it shows how much care went into the visuals. The sound is pretty solid, and the dialogue and voice acting is okay. It's a bit Whedonesque for my liking, but for video game writing it's pretty good.
The gameplay is broadly similar to previous xcom games, but in practice the small arenas make it quite different. Initially, I felt like the small maps hurt the tactical gameplay by making positioning less important, but while that's true I think the strategy is more in the use of tools and abilities, which are generally more available and more powerful than in previous games. I initially didn't like the initiative system, as it feels like you're just reacting all the time, but I think it's just something you need to wrap your head around, and I like that it forces you to think about which enemies are most dangerous (i.e. are going next) rather than just taking whatever shot is most convenient or likely to hit. I also wasn't a fan of breach mode initially, as it felt kind of tacked on, but as you unlock more items and abilities which can be used it becomes more tactical and feels more like a core part of the game.
I haven't got too far into it, so this is just my initial thoughts, but I think if you like xcom give it a chance. You might initially feel that it's quite simplified compared to previous games, but there's more to it than you might initially assume.
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It sounds like fun, and the $20 price tag(half price on Steam right now) and the fact it's a fair bit shorter then XCOM 2 is a nice change. One the reasons I haven't played XCOM 2 yet despite owning it for several years now is knowing I'll be dumping quite a bit of time into it(the harsh difficulty is the other part) so a shorter, tighter game is a plus in my eyes.
You sure that's any different? Any 40K fan can look at any sci-fi setting with humans and aliens living in peace and declare "heresy" or something like that. It's not really indicative of seriously held beliefs.
I was perhaps a little more interested in Phoenix Point, which was released around the end of last year on the Epic Games store. I say "released", but it was underdeveloped and they clearly needed to get it out to earn $$$ with the intent of tightening the screws and putting a lick of paint on it through patches and updates (just in time for the Steam release, what with Epic signing 12-month priority access deals). It was designed by Julian Gollop, who invented the original XCOM - or UFO: Enemy Unknown as it was first released - in 1992. He's been on these types of games since the 80s with the Rebelstar series and Laser Squad and knows his stuff. 
Rebelstar (1986).
I much prefer the granular style over the two phase move / fire system of Firaxis XCOM, but Firaxis have far more resources to throw at a polished product.
There's also Xenonauts, which is a blatant re-tread of UFO: Enemy Unknown to the point they could almost have been sued. Xenonauts 2 is apparently on the way, albeit much delayed.
Rebelstar (1986).I much prefer the granular style over the two phase move / fire system of Firaxis XCOM, but Firaxis have far more resources to throw at a polished product.
There's also Xenonauts, which is a blatant re-tread of UFO: Enemy Unknown to the point they could almost have been sued. Xenonauts 2 is apparently on the way, albeit much delayed.
Bought chimera squad but am somehow not really impressed. You can't specialize and evolve your characters nearly as well as before und are pretty much stuck with prebuilds. You also have only one soldier of each type which makes playing around with squad compositions less interesting. The breach sequence (where you can't know yet what is inside the room) feels not like a lot of interesting choices and more like a gamble. The limited room and turn order malso mean you can make far fewer decisions each time and the game feels less tactical overall. And for characters/story, i still somehow connected more with the few named characters of the earlier installments. Especcially the aliens behaving basically like humans is stressing immersion though it could be somewhat excused for the hybrids. And i had crashs.
Overall disappointed.
As forr similar games, had more fun with Phantom Doctrine recently.
Overall disappointed.
As forr similar games, had more fun with Phantom Doctrine recently.