2K Reveals The Bureau: XCOM Declassified

[IamLEAM1983]

*takes a gander around them forums*

Whoa. People are generally reacting to this in a sedate manner! Looks like all that was needed was a perspective change, then. First-person XCOM is a travesty, but a third-person game that reuses the first attempt's assets and setting, though? That's fine.

I don't have much hope for it, though. 2K burned its sympathy capital with that E3 showing, a few years back. I don't think I need to link to Noah Antwiler's fairly expressive (and excessive) reaction to it. My guess is it'll be compared to Enemy Unknown, judged to be inferior by the general press, and quickly forgotten about. This is, unfortunately, the attempt of a publisher that's at least trying to make *some* bank out of the capital it invested in the failed FPS.

I don't know. My reaction is a bit torn up between this:
<youtube=1TtGQnyPZ6g>

And understanding why 2K operated under the assumption that the strategy genre needed to be revitalized. I mean, the last five years have pretty much been Reboot Central, with publishers and dev teams deluding themselves into thinking that there's no market left for "classic" genres.

 

[StashAugustine]

So this looks to be exactly like Bioshock 2: could be good in its own right, but unnecessarily tied to a previous franchise.

 

[lacktheknack]

Not interested in the least, this is the second time they are trying to market this game, just with a new title. Keep X-COM a non 3rd person shooter IP, thanks. There aren't enough X-Com style gameply as it is.

Too late.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-COM:_Enforcer

<youtube=3O0Z8Fv31l0>

I am utterly baffled by the sheer volume of people who are calling for "maintaining the status quo" and hating on experimental tangents of a series simply to maintain the "purity" of said series that it doesn't even freaking have.

Be ashamed of yourself, please.

OT: I'll need more than a live action trailer, but I see they're taking steps in an interesting direction.

 

[shrekfan246]

Not interested in the least, this is the second time they are trying to market this game, just with a new title. Keep X-COM a non 3rd person shooter IP, thanks. There aren't enough X-Com style gameply as it is.

Too late.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-COM:_Enforcer

<youtube=3O0Z8Fv31l0>

I am utterly baffled by the sheer volume of people who are calling for "maintaining the status quo" and hating on experimental tangents of a series simply to maintain the "purity" of said series that it doesn't even freaking have.

Be ashamed of yourself, please.

OT: I'll need more than a live action trailer, but I see they're taking steps in an interesting direction.

Agreed completely. This is why we get endless sequels and franchise tie-ins right here, because every time something that dares to change things around a little bit is announced, 'fans' of the series start bitching about how it isn't exactly the same as the last game. It's not exactly as though there's still a ton of uncharted waters for games to explore, and I for one welcome another shooter that finally dares to go back to having more depth than a point&click adventure.

 

[Tohuvabohu]

In case anyone's interested, IGN did a rewind video to point out the various easter eggs within the live action trailer. There's some pretty interesting stuff hidden in there.


OT: I'm accepting of this idea, but I need to wait and see more. Due to the development hell this game has been stuck in, it rightfully deserves skepticism as to whether or not it will actually be good.

Back when this game was first announced, I didn't want anything to do with it. From what I remember, there was no peep about EU even existing yet. And it seemed like the legacy, and memory of X-COM would be used to make another motherfucking FPS game.

Sure, X-COM: Enforcer would've probably remained the arguably 'worse' game with even less to do with X-COM. But the reason why XCOM (2010) was a far uglier game was because it was being used as an excuse to shit out another FPS game. Because: The Market, apparently.

Now that time has passed, EU came out and has been quite successful and the possibility for more proper TBS XCOM games to follow... I am okay with this game's existance. Because EU has taken that "torch", and will probably continue carrying it onward.

That doesn't mean that we shouldn't use XCOM's ideas to make spinoffs games in other genres. I mean, I absolutely loved Metal Gear Rising. A spinoff of a completely utterly different gameplay genre altogether, within one of my favorite game franchises. And I loved it.

Still, I need to see more of their new take on this game. It's bound to have changed significantly, and it seems like 2k Marin is taking this seriously now. I genuinely hope it will be interesting.

 

[grigjd3]

I think I'd be interested in seeing a more human story with the setting. I just wonder whether they are going to create that.

 

[Sean951]

I Have high hopes for it. It's a time period that is criminally underused in media and I think it could have real potential. Not something I buy day 1, but probably something I would buy over the holiday Steam sale.

 

[themilo504]

It seemed really interesting until I read the part about having to keep the existence of aliens secret to the public.

I really hate those kinds of stories for their stupidity because guess what even in the sixties you can?t keep something that big a secret.

I?m not saying that I won?t pick up the game if its good just because of that one thing but I do think less of the game thanks to it.

 

[MopBox]

From the Makers of BioShock 2.

Not something you guys really want to advertise.

 

[SacremPyrobolum]

I wonder why they couldn't have just called it The Bureau.I mean a 50s Men in Black shooter with aliens that at least look on the surface to be completely different from the X-Com games proper should be enough to warrant its own brand.

I guess they felt they needed brand recognition but honestly, did they really think that people who were fans of the strategy games would just go out, look at the title on box, (which presumably has pictures of the not in any way turn based combat on the back) and do anything but rage?

 

[elilupe]

If this ends up being an actual tactical shooter, a la Ghost Recon, SWAT, or Rainbow Six, I'd be happy about it, I think. However, we all know, in the current AAA game environment, that will most likely not happen. It'll be a boring third person chest-high cover game where every once in a while you have to tell your sniper AI buddy to shoot a certain far-away guy. I'm not writing this game off already, but my hopes are deep in a well right now.

 

[Mark D. Stroyer]

Okay, so guys? This game didn't actually get re-revealed. We saw this already, they just put it on the back burner for a couple years, because the last time it popped up, it was still "Mass Effect: 1962". Same gameplay, setup, enemy...

To be fair, it was kinda forgettable then, too.

 

[Jaeger_CDN]

Staying true to the "classic XCOM formula," The Bureau will be a strictly single-player affair. I wasn't terribly impressed with the multiplayer component of Enemy Unknown, and XCOM has been a traditionally single player experience, so I'm not terribly distraught by the fact that the development time was spent focusing on the single player portion, rather than the requisite balancing act of multiplayer.

I'm not going to say yay or nay on this until more comes out but 1 thing I noticed was the lack of tacking on a crappy multiplayer mode just because some business exec thinks every game has to have one (ie. spec ops: the line). I'm the type that enjoys a good single player game and may not if ever touch the MP side of it.

 

[Mahoshonen]

You know, now that we have Enemy Unknown and the title suggests a spin-off instead of a complete reboot, I'm willing to give this game a chance. Of course XCOM games that strayed too far from its roots haven't done that well, but it's still possible this game could break the pattern.

 

[Squidbulb]

I didn't really like the idea of having an XCOM shooter at first, but this actually looks pretty interesting.

 

[Karlaxx]

I know there was no gameplay, but I thought the almost-total live action reinforced what I hope will bea big part of the game, fighting aliens with Cold War technology and ideas instead of 21st century-contemporary or near future technology. I also like the apparent emphasis that this agency is a repurposed intelligence organization, what with all tose censored letters, Top Secret stamps, and tape recorders.

 

[Soak]

This isn't even a trailer, more of a teaser.
And that's my problem here, that, after they fucked up their first presentations in so many ways - not only their "connection" to XCOM, but also horrible in game footage, so it was said - they do nothing but tease another attempt.
For me, this is worth nothing until they dare to show actual ingame footage again.

 

[Farther than stars]

Well, that was a fantastic trailer.

...

Please don't be a Dead Island, please don't be a Dead Island, please don't be a Dead Island. The words "third-person tactical squad-based shooter"* and "makers of Bioshock 2" don't bode well. Also, that bracelet looks like it's been ripped off from Cowboys vs. Aliens (and I'm sure they ripped it off from somewhere else).
But I don't think the covert operations will have something to do with the gameplay, not if the third screen-shot is anything to go by.

*The original phrase in the article is missing two hyphens. Right now it's a "third shooter", which happens to be a "person shooter", and a "squad shooter", which happens to be a "based shooter".

 

[Atomic Spy Crab]

Man I am excited!

 

[Saxnot]

This has been a very sensible move. before enemy unknown came out, this would have bombed admist a chorus of angry xcom fans proclaiming their rage and undying hate for the publisher. by bringing that out first and then waiting a while before publishing this one they made it stand on its own, without the stigma of the game that repraced a strategy xcom, and without having to ducktape pointless basebuilding elemnts to it.

good business sense and an understanding of the market in a publisher? what?