2K Dates XCom With a Brand-New Gameplay Trailer

[Andy Chalk]

2K Dates XCom With a Brand-New Gameplay Trailer

2K's sci-fi shooter XCom [http://www.amazon.com/XCOM-Pc/dp/B002I0JGQO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1307118339&sr=8-2] finally has a release date along with a brand-new trailer that shows off a little more of what the game is all about.

Things sure have changed. For me, and for a lot of other old-timers out there, X-Com [http://www.amazon.com/X-Com-UFO-Defense-Jewel-Case-pc/dp/B0009EMMZ8/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1307118339&sr=8-5] is a top-down, turn-based tactical combat game in which the objective is to get everyone off the damn plane before some alien scumbag mind-controls a guy in the back row and uses a couple of grenades to turn it into a jet-powered Slap-Chop. But the new XCom title looks to be entirely different: it's a flashy, fast-paced shooter set in the panicky 50s, when the only thing worse than the Red Menace were the aliens with their flying saucers and an altogether-too-prurient interest in our livestock.

[video=3367]

The new game will tell a "bold new origin story" based around Special Agent William Carter - that'd be you - and his elite team, who stand as humanity's last line of defense against an alien incursion. Much like the original X-Com games, XCom [yes, the old games were hyphenated, the new one isn't] will require players to capture alien technology, research it and ultimately put it to use against the enemy. But instead of dealing with movement rates, line of sight and opportunity fire, this game is all about "deep, visceral gunplay" and "powerful sci-fi abilities."

But while the new Prey 2 trailer [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110622-Live-Action-Prey-2-Trailer-Will-Change-Your-Mind] gives me serious hope for that game, this one just leaves me cold. It's possible that I'm too hung up on the original X-Com, although I never had much use for the sequels and I'm hardly what you'd call a tactical wargaming fan. I think the real problem is simply that this trailer looks far too generic and unremarkable for its own good. It's not fair to judge a game based on one video but this is the E3 trailer [what's the deal with all these E3 trailers coming out a week before E3 anyway?] and our first glimpse at gameplay, and as first impressions go I wouldn't call this a particular strong one.

And now, as promised, the release date: XCom is scheduled for launch in North America on March 6, 2012, and March 9 everywhere else for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Source: Joystiq [http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=BW&Date=20110603&ID=13726014]


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[The_root_of_all_evil]

So it's Crysis 2 in the 1950s?

Pass.

 

[Zhukov]

*shrug*

I never had anything to do with the old games, so the name means little to me.

However, that trailer was visually uninteresting. I remain unsold.

 

[Quiet Stranger]

I wish people would stop bitching about this game, it's getting old.


I can't wait for it.

 

[Irridium]

This isn't X-Com. This is a shooter set in the 50's.

Maybe if they were doing something interesting with it, I'd be fine with the radical change. But all it looks like is just another shooter.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Eh.

I'll get it down the line during a lull period of releases. Like, say...next summer. A few months after launch.

 

[GoddyofAus]

Gaming purists on the Escapist coming out to play again.

 

[Vibhor]

Its not really X-Com anymore, is it?

Yes its XCom now. You know, "streamlined for the audience" thing?

 

[Andronicus]

As uninterested in the actual game as I am, I like the whole 50's plus advanced technology vibe. Must be playing into the Fallout part of my brain, the devious sods.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Eh. Somehow I fail to see much of relation between this and the old strategy games.

Make no mistake, the old X-com games were among the most difficult games imaginable, and strategy both in a battlefield, and on the world map were very important.

I used to play X-com 2 on the easiest available difficulty setting, and still routinely got wiped out really early in the game.

I mean, it's one thing to make a series that's so insanely difficult a bit less intimidating, but after the second game, the whole series just fell into a black hole somehow.

And this? This doesn't even look like it has anything at all to do with the original games anymore...

 

[NekoDaimyo]

This franchise was dead in the water. This game looks great, it's a must have for me.

I'm glad they actually have people who care behind the wheel now. The last X-Com games were so god awful, fans should be rejoicing. They aren't, but who cares? This looks to be a slice of awesome.

The fans of the first two games care. To the die hard X-COM fans this simply is not the game they want. The basic play genre aside, where's the freedom to defend the world as you see fit? Will there be freedom to research alien weapons, then sell the mass produced to the world? The original games were a sandbox TRPG, and the fans of it want more of that, which is why they keep playing it. This, simply does not appear to be that.
If they had called this anything else, anything, even Sonny Jim's Alien Fighting Extravaganza, there wouldn't be this conflict with an existing fan base that gas caused such negative feedback.

 

[OManoghue]

Actually looks pretty neat

 

[Yal]

I really want to see what happens between missions, personally. I enjoyed the strategic part of X-Com more than the tactical (would have loved an "auto-resolve" button on those mid-game missions, they could turn into real slogs). If they've stuck an FPS in there but kept the resource management, team building and research tree around it... Not getting my hopes up, but I could get into that.

If it's just another scripted shooter, man, who cares?

 

[SIXVI06-M]

So it's Crysis 2 in the 1950s?

Pass.

If you've played previous XCom series, you probably won't make nearly as crass an assumption just based on what you saw.

 

[DrScoobs]

still looks a bit poo to me.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

So it's Crysis 2 in the 1950s?

Pass.

If you've played previous XCom series, you probably won't make nearly as crass an assumption just based on what you saw.

No, I don't think I ever heard of this "Xcom" thingummy before. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/5379-Review-X-Com-Revival-Package]

Watch those assumptions. They'll be the death of you.

 

[Worgen]

could it be fun? I guess but Im still pissed about them using the xcom name with something that is totally unrelated to the original, it would be one thing if it was a strat game or at least had the same enemies or something but no, this is an xcom game that doesnt look anything like xcom