The Bureau: XCOM Declassified Preview
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Heh, it's clearly one of those games that looks better and better with time. One of the points I loved in the original X-COM was the "future" design straight out of pulp scifi for most if not all the illustrations, which gave a really good feel. If they play the 60s vibe correctly and the make the gameplay enjoyable for a X-COM game, we could actually have a winner here.
Take note, publishers: this is how one manages to salvage an awful first impression.
Take note, publishers: this is how one manages to salvage an awful first impression.
As far as I could tell, they were a whole new breed. They seemed to be the ones in charge, as the Sectoids had collars that look like they're probably the mind control devices, but it was a small slice of the game, so I can't say for sure whether the Ethereals will make their presence known. The only familiar faces I saw were the Sectoids and Mutons. I'm still holding out hope for Cyberdisks and Chryssalids.Joshimodo said:
They seem to look alot like the Outsiders we saw in Enemy Unknown. But they're "Ethereal replacements", in the sense that the Outsiders are apparently the ones who are in charge of this invasion.Joshimodo said:
^At least that's what they said about them in the old build of the game. That might've changed.
Also, for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, here's a developer interview with some extra gameplay bits.
OT:
I find that... bothersome. But it might simply be a symptom of the game not being played at a harder difficulty.
Basically, I want the game to actually emphasize a necessity of using your squad. If you can still shoot your way through the game on harder difficulties without touching your squad, then... fuck that.
AI Partners behaving on their own is synonymous with "AI Partners getting themselves killed.", which in a game with perma-death could be a massive problem.
But I expect these devs to be able to work around this issue without much trouble. Such as giving us an option to disable the squad from acting independently.
I'm still skeptical about this game. But overall, I'd say my impressions of this reinvention are positive. I do want to see more of it.
Game is starting to look pretty good, but I agree that it looks so different from the original iterations that I can't help but to note how wasteful of a development process this is.
As for the "storyline doesn't work as a prequel" complaint, then yeah, it's almost impossible to do a game that's supposed to be a serious prequel for Enemy Unknown. I mean, it's kinda clear that both the original and the reboot is about a modern-ish Earth that's dealing with an Alien invasion for the very first time. At no point are people making any sort of a reference to the 60's invasion so we'd have to assume that the Bureau was so successful at fending of the aliens and keeping it a secret, at the same time, that not even the modern day covert organizations dealing with the second invasion is aware about the previous one; there are no surviving records about the enemy, their technology, weaknesses or the techniques that were used to defeat them. That's a pretty big suspension of disbelief required, right there.
Instead, you kinda have to think about this as an alternative timeline story, where Earth had to deal with an alternative invasion that takes place at an earlier time.
What I'm mostly curious about now is whether or not they've ditched the shape shifting cube skinned aliens from the original preview, because their existence seemed to heavily suggest that this was more of an invasion from another dimension, rather then a traditional extraterrestrial invasion. Introducing the traditional xcom enemies that we've all come to know and love seems to suggest that they've ditched that concept.
As for the "storyline doesn't work as a prequel" complaint, then yeah, it's almost impossible to do a game that's supposed to be a serious prequel for Enemy Unknown. I mean, it's kinda clear that both the original and the reboot is about a modern-ish Earth that's dealing with an Alien invasion for the very first time. At no point are people making any sort of a reference to the 60's invasion so we'd have to assume that the Bureau was so successful at fending of the aliens and keeping it a secret, at the same time, that not even the modern day covert organizations dealing with the second invasion is aware about the previous one; there are no surviving records about the enemy, their technology, weaknesses or the techniques that were used to defeat them. That's a pretty big suspension of disbelief required, right there.
Instead, you kinda have to think about this as an alternative timeline story, where Earth had to deal with an alternative invasion that takes place at an earlier time.
What I'm mostly curious about now is whether or not they've ditched the shape shifting cube skinned aliens from the original preview, because their existence seemed to heavily suggest that this was more of an invasion from another dimension, rather then a traditional extraterrestrial invasion. Introducing the traditional xcom enemies that we've all come to know and love seems to suggest that they've ditched that concept.
Well, it worked for Myst... (The constant revisions, not the franchise-grabbing.)Ultratwinkie said:
OT: It does look very interesting.I'll still wait for a full review set, though.
The 'pick up and go' idea for guns could be interesting. Every time you pick up a new alien gun for the first time you get a little animation of Carter turning it over in his hands trying to work out how it fires before cracking it and then you can start shooting. Then in the first mission you a) suck at shooting, the controls sway like when you look down the sniper scope in games like CoD, and b) you can't reload - once the gun runs out of ammo you have to ditch it because you just don't know how to reload.
After you return to base you can hand it off to the techs and they'll work it out, allowing you to reload in future missions and your ability with it would either improve immediately or be a skill set that gets better between missions as you'd be practising with it at HQ.
If you don't use any alien tech in the first missions you could have the techs research captured weapons so you don't have those issues but it would mean sacrificing a research slot (for every individual weapon) that means you lose out on advancing your own tech as quickly - the idea being that the scientists are too busy trying to learn how the damn thing works to learn anything useful from it.
Obviously at this late stage they probably won't be adding this if they haven't already but it could be an interesting mechanic for a game like this.
After you return to base you can hand it off to the techs and they'll work it out, allowing you to reload in future missions and your ability with it would either improve immediately or be a skill set that gets better between missions as you'd be practising with it at HQ.
If you don't use any alien tech in the first missions you could have the techs research captured weapons so you don't have those issues but it would mean sacrificing a research slot (for every individual weapon) that means you lose out on advancing your own tech as quickly - the idea being that the scientists are too busy trying to learn how the damn thing works to learn anything useful from it.
Obviously at this late stage they probably won't be adding this if they haven't already but it could be an interesting mechanic for a game like this.
I've always wanted to actually be one of the XCOM soldiers, or at least see what it's like from their perspective up against this unknown entity. I've always felt that a turn based game doesn't do the franchise the right 'credit' from an immersion perspective as the games become more mechanics based than actual tactics based.
This is going to be a game I will buy. It looks like Brothers in Arms but with XCOM instead of World War II - and I loved Brothers in Arms.
This is going to be a game I will buy. It looks like Brothers in Arms but with XCOM instead of World War II - and I loved Brothers in Arms.
I always imagined it would play out like "aliens", but then the aliens have plasma guns and mind control abilities.Abomination said:
in a not-sucky game. >.>
Have you played Aliens vs. Predator 2? Best Aliens game ever. It's a shame nobody plays the multiplayer anymore either.Combustion Kevin said:
You know, I was -really- excited for the original idea. A game where you could go on a mission, not find anything, and learn that you slipped up -- that's a genuine XCOM game. A game where your choices matter and you have to work against all odds to keep yourself and your allies alive -- that's a genuine XCOM game. Yes, it was an FPS too, but frankly XCOM "hardcore fans" who couldn't stand it not playing like some half-logical chess game: http://i.imgur.com/3ChS9Cx.gif
Oh, and by the way, just another thing. That supposedly "FANTASTIC" strategy game by Firaxis? Buggiest. PC port. I've. Ever. Played.
Not that I'm the slightest bit bitter that because of fans complaints I don't get my management sim/squad tactical/adventure game hybrid that literally had me nearly jump out of my seat with excitement. But no, we couldn't dare allow that or consider what other people might want, so we got XCOM:EU, a questionably designed game with horrible bugs even post launch (it even stopped letting me save my progress -- on two different computers!) and immersion breaking game logic.
Oh, and by the way, just another thing. That supposedly "FANTASTIC" strategy game by Firaxis? Buggiest. PC port. I've. Ever. Played.
Not that I'm the slightest bit bitter that because of fans complaints I don't get my management sim/squad tactical/adventure game hybrid that literally had me nearly jump out of my seat with excitement. But no, we couldn't dare allow that or consider what other people might want, so we got XCOM:EU, a questionably designed game with horrible bugs even post launch (it even stopped letting me save my progress -- on two different computers!) and immersion breaking game logic.
Thanks for giving me a perfect example of what I'm referring to.WarpZone said:
May I point you to a game called "Syndicate" which was "FPS-reboot of an old Strategy-game"? Guess what that did? It bombed. BADLY.Parakeettheprawn said:
That is pretty much one of the reasons why they shouldn't just make any game an FPS now, especially XCOM.
The other is that XCOM is NOT "just run around and shoot aliens". That is more Halo, not XCOM. Yes, being a turn-based strategy game where you manage a small squad is ALSO part of XCOM you can't just take out - yet that was exactly what they originally planned.
Oh, Syndicate. Yes, what perfect example of fans overreacting and missing what it actually does different in the new genre its in. It was my bloody FPS GOTY in 2012 http://www.gameinformer.com/blogs/members/b/paradigmthefallen_blog/archive/2012/12/07/why-starbreeze-39-s-syndicate-is-my-fps-goty.aspx and I'm not alone in this sentiment. There is a cult following that bloody well loved the game. You know most of the people who didn't? People upset because it wasn't isometric perspective. I'm sorry if the change in camera perspective and only managing one agent was so hard for you, now excuse me while I enjoy the closest hybrid available of Bioshock and Mirror's Edge. In fact, there's an even better summary of what made the game work than I wrote way back in 2012: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6LgIr1gqnkBindal said:
Also, when did the XCOM FPS just become "run around and shoot aliens" let alone the fact that there'd even be investigation missions where you might not even find any aliens? If anything, -this- version is more like that than the original concept 2K Marin had. And no, they did a demo in 2011 (if memory serves right) that featured squad commands, investigation, base management, -and- shooting all combined. These cases of selective memory are starting to get a little ridiculous.
I'm not asking for XCOM to be made Halo, but it's pretty clear you're assuming I am. And you know what, no, turn-based was one of the modes. XCOM is technically both management sim and turn-based, and most of the mechanics would work in real time, FPS, RPG, hell a JRPG version would only cut out the middle man. This idea that every game must remain in the genre it started in is just downright idiotic. I'm actually looking forward to the Dead Space flight sim because that's a universe with a really great set up for all sorts of space-based operations -- we could finally explore that older war that was hinted to in Dead Space 3 -- maybe add some ship boarding combat/planet exploration with early Tau Volantis necromorphs.
Everyone is so afraid and upset the second any game franchise tries something outside the norm, yet complain when a sequel is exactly the same. You can't have it both ways. Either you end up with Halo 3 or Halo Wars. Both are options worth investigating, but most studios/publishers can't do both. Hell Arkham City is being transformed into a board game and it apparently actually is quite fun and works well.
And how exactly was XCOM:EU less Halo-like? I seem to remember the game rewarding me for playing it more or less like a generic TPS just simply done in turns and by grinding. Even when my PC copy wasn't refusing to save my game or crashing mid-mission for no reason across two PCs, nothing about it genuinely felt that rewarding, engaging, or even unique. As far as turn-based strategy goes, even older games like Civilization 3 are far better offerings than what Firaxis had, and I think 2K saw that, but fans clamoring for a turn-based title made them jump for the sure thing. Ironically enough, that basically that means this is the exact same scenario as XCOM fans tried to make the shooter game to be, but it's actually a full 180 degree flip. Now instead of trying to do its own thing, XCOM is just chasing the coattails of a questionable game.
