E3 2010: XCOM Is a "Strategic Shooter" in Name Only

Freyar

Solar Empire General
May 9, 2008
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I'm just disappointed that with such a rapid shift from what was already established, they effectively try and re-write what Microprose has already done. X-Com started in 1999, I suppose a few small investigations could have had an impact, but 40 or 50 years earlier is a bit far-fetched.

This just doesn't seem to be the level that it should be. They're too busy trying to extend Bioshock it seems.
 

Calbeck

Bearer of Pointed Commentary
Jul 13, 2008
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Wow.

Way to NOT BE AN XCOM GAME.

And seriously...911? In the '50s you dialed 0 for the operator and screamed for a connect to the police department, if you didn't actually have the number written on the phone (a lot of phones came with labels you were expected to write your local PD/FD numbers on).
 
Jun 16, 2010
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I just hope it has the awesome music. (Ba-da ba da-da da baaa da ba)
And UFO dogfights. And tense night-time missions. And the ability to order rocket tanks off the internet.
But not psychic powers. Those psi-amps made the game waaay too easy.
 

Diligent

New member
Dec 20, 2009
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I never really played the old xcom games (unfortunately) and I can understand the fans hating the idea of such a radical departure.
For me it would be like if they took fallout, and transposed its name onto a shooter with really pathetically light RPG elements and...oh wait...
Still, objectively it still looks like it could be decent, but it may as well have been called Alien-shock or something.
 

Unrulyhandbag

New member
Oct 21, 2009
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CD-R said:
ZephrC said:
Kandon Arc said:
TsunamiWombat said:
Look, everybody here knows a TBS game wouldn't sell particularly well. Nobody's asking why 2K isn't making a sequels that the fans would actually like. We just want to know why they're making an XCom game at all.

I would personally love to get a new PSN/XBLA sort of game or something else like that. It's just... They must have payed good money for the right to slap the XCom name on their random 50s era alien shooter. Why would they do that? Not one single person on the face of the Earth will buy this because of the XCom name, (I exaggerate of course, but XCom is pretty obscure and this is not popular with its fans. Fans of XCom will not contribute anything meaningful to sales of this game.) and it has absolutely nothing to do with XCom. (That is not an exaggeration.) Why? Just... Why?
That is weird why they would even bother with that. Nobody under the age of 25 is even going to know what X-Com is. Hell the only reason I know about it is because I used to have a subscription to Computer Gaming World and they sent a disk with X-Com and a bunch of other classic titles on it.

If they were going to make this game related to X-Com they should have kept the X-Com parts a secret. Picture this. You beat the game and the last scene of the ending is 40 years later in the Oval Office. The president is looking over a document. Signs it. Camera zooms in on the document. The title. "X-Com Initiative" Make the X-Com part a twist ending and the entire game a setup for a sequel, which is a proper X-Com game. A proper X-Com game with, base management, finance management, international politics, shooting down alien ships,randomly generated destructible environments, and of course FLYING POWER ARMOR!!! But sticking X-Com in the title is just going to piss people off.


I have no problem making the combat sections of the X-Com franchise a first person squad based tactical shooter. Using the FLYING POWER ARMOR in that type of setting would kick all sorts of ass. You could even support coop play with it. But I just don't know if we have the technology to really pull it off at this time.

This article is just all bad news :(


you know I could live without the geoscape and all the management goodness I so enjoy if I was given a solid tactical shooter themed on x-com. I imagine it to be a lot like the original rainbow six game on PC, You get a map of the area and use it to plan ahead setting up squad sweeps patterns and telling troops where to deploy before running into the mission (Hell, maybe there could be a basic deployment pattern for those who just want action.)

The AI squad-mates assume their positions during play reacting to fire as necessary, shouting down their radios to let you know where the problems are, and you get to play the hero commander. Technology you capture could be available a couple of missions down the line and special missions open up based on the amount of live captures you make. It's not x-com but it could be made to feel like it, and it's not a huge stretch concept wise.

Asking for randomly generated environments based on geoscape location that could also satisfy graphics whores would be an ideal but that is a stretch.
 

Giftmacher

New member
Jul 22, 2008
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GothmogII said:
L...let's just wait and se...s....see? Oh god, it's no use, this is just terrible news. D:
I hate to prejudge a game... but I agree. I can cope with a genre departure if it's interesting enough, but this just sounds like a weak game full-stop. Damn it. Hope I'm wrong.

Gift.
 

Warnolo

New member
Apr 30, 2010
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Seriously, why there are so many shooters? Now everything comes back as a shooter.

Seriously, whats the big deal? i want to look at my character.
 

Xennon

New member
Apr 24, 2004
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I actually don't get why people are so annoyed about this.

Remaking the first game would never work... ever. If you want the first game so bad, just go and play it! Thats what I do and it is still awesome.

TFTD was also awesome.

Apocalypse was also awesome.

Interceptor? You guessed it.. AWESOME. In fact, Apocalypse (because of the real time) and Interceptor (being able to fly the ships and use the weapons you researched and created) were my favourites.

When they announced Genesis I wasn't too fussed (would have been a 3d remake of the first) but when they announced Alliance where you would be able to use those weapons in a first person environment, I almost messed my pants! And then it got canceled and I damn near cried.

I never bothered with Enforcer because that was just an FPS

The last real XCom's (Genesis and Alliance) were going to be the same old great XCom with strategy and FPS combat respectivly and it is my hope that this is what 2k Marins version will be. If it turns out that they really dumb down the strategy part, so there is no research, base building, finance management etc, then it will be a real shame, but until then I will give them the benefit of the doubt that they will produce the XCom FPS that I always wanted, where I can take an alien weapon, reasearch it, and then go and blow an aliens head off with it! If it becomes too linear, that will spoil it. One of the great things about XCom is the fact that things constantly happen around you, whether you keep up with them or not.

It would be a shame if it just goes 'Do mission A - Get Weapon A - Do Mission B - Get Weapon B and Item A' etc. CHoice and discovery and research etc have to be there.

If they remade the first game, all that would happen is you would all play it and then cry that it wasn't as good as the original. Remakes of games (especially ones we all have fond memories of as children) do not and will never work! They never live up to our expectations.
 

spookydom

New member
Aug 31, 2009
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Sounds to me like they just admited to dumbing down base building and the other strategy elements. I still play the original (thx Steam)but a lot of people have wanted to see an updated version of the classic X-Com system for a long time. Not making one seems as sensible to me as cutting off your private parts to help your sex life, and a kick in the face for the fans who have been keeping the spirit of the game alive for all these years.

How many decent first person shooters are there on the market at the moment? = Shed loads.
How many decent turn based strategy games? = Ummmmmmm?
question for me is, is there still a market for the classic format? I think very much so.
 

stickmangrit

New member
May 30, 2008
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since Zephr and Atmos already covered the "rational, intelligent dissection of why this sucks" angle, i'll just join everyone else in the "parade the heads of 2K Marin's employees through the street on a pike" crowd.
 

Borntolose

New member
Aug 18, 2008
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Well, I checked Google Images and it appears that XCom is indeed the game I thought it was, though I think I knew it as UFO. It really is strange that they turned it into a shooter. It was a great game.