First Person X-COM

[Paragon Fury]

So we just had an article about 8 series that would be nice in different Genres. And while I do think some of them would be nice, one stuck out at me;

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/art...that-Could-Change-Genres-and-Still-Be-Great.8

X-COM as an FPS? While that would certainly be interesting, one has to ask; since we're actual human players, who wouldn't panic at the sight of an alien, can actually hit the broad side of a barn, know how to get 100% Critical Hits and don't freak out and start shooting teammates just because someone got wounded...wouldn't FPS X-COM be a little easy?

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

Didn't we already have a first person xcom that everyone shouted down so much that.. something something... It could be neat to have a xcom FPs, but it would have to be different more like the original idea they showed.

 

[MeatMachine]

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified was initially supposed to be a first-person shooter, but later became third-person.

I heard the main reason for the change was because of the backlash from people who said XCOM should never be an FPS.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Yes there already was an X-Com FPS it was called The Bureau: XCOM Declassified. It was so hated that it was redesigned as a Third person shooter with a tactical pause, before it was released. Which still only earned it average reviews.

In reality, you kind of can't make X-COM a FPS. Because it's a complex strategy and management game. Any X-COM FPS will be a game that is trying to be X-COM with out being X-COM, i.e. just a shallow tie in. I had the original X-COM and both original Fallout games, one of these can translate to FPS, and it's not the strategy/management game.

 

[Recusant]

You people make me feel so old. No, The Bureau wasn't first-person X-Com; arguably, it wasn't even first-person Xcom. First-person X-Com was Enforcer, and it was awful. X-Com also tried crossing genre boundaries with Interceptor; that was better, but still not good.

Sometimes genre-crossing works. Occasionally, it works very well. Most of the time, it fails miserably. Remember: if it was easy, Fallout 3 would've been good.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

You people make me feel so old. No, The Bureau wasn't first-person X-Com; arguably, it wasn't even first-person Xcom. First-person X-Com was Enforcer, and it was awful. X-Com also tried crossing genre boundaries with Interceptor; that was better, but still not good.

Sometimes genre-crossing works. Occasionally, it works very well. Most of the time, it fails miserably. Remember: if it was easy, Fallout 3 would've been good.

Oh I remember Enforcer and Interceptor, god were those awful.

Also, what you talkin' 'bout Recusant? Fallout 3 was damn good, it just kind of missed the point and didn't feel like Fallout. New Vegas remedied this, but took away the random encounter elements from Fallout's overworld.

 

[Pseudonym]

X-COM as an FPS? While that would certainly be interesting, one has to ask; since we're actual human players, who wouldn't panic at the sight of an alien, can actually hit the broad side of a barn, know how to get 100% Critical Hits and don't freak out and start shooting teammates just because someone got wounded...wouldn't FPS X-COM be a little easy?

These are all good questions. I'd like to ask in general: what mechanics in x-com would work well in an FPS? Anything that is reliant on the soldiers being scared, demoralized or having poor aim won't work if the player is an experienced gamer. (like people who play x-com ussually are) Mind control seems off the table as well, both for the enemy as it would enable them to one-shoot the player with little to no defense against it and for the player as you can't control two charactars in an FPS in real time. (or maybe you could convert the AI to your side after which it will help you on its own) Finding enemy weapons is a lot less interesting if there is only one charactar whose weapons really matter. Immersing yourself in the world, like the article says, of x-com sounds nice untill you realise that 'alien invasion' isn't much of a world to immerse yourself in so you might as well create your own world if you want to do that well.

Maybe it could work but I'm not seeing it. If you want to play an FPS with aliens I don't see why you don't just go play halo.

 

[Zhukov]

Wouldn't that just be an FPS where you shoot aliens who are invading earth?

Because I'm pretty sure that's been done.

 

[Doom972]

As a CoD/Halo kind of FPS, it would suck. But as a tactical FPS like SWAT 4, it could be awesome. I made a thread about it a few months ago.

It's too bad that the genre has gone downhill so much that people forget how challenging and complex an FPS can be.

 

[Smooth Operator]

They already did that... and it was horrible, and then they went back to make it third person XCOM... still horrible.
And yes you get exactly zero game element compatibility, you just take the name and plaster it on something unrelated.

With that approach you can just as well make it RPG, RTS, platformer, dating sim, city builder, kart racer, dancing shit,...

 

[Dalisclock]

The only ideas I have would be to implement some kind of squad system like in Republic Commando(Brothers in Arms?) where you give orders to those around you while also engaging in combat. However, you'd need a really good system or really good AI to pull it off without screwing over the pace or the making the squad controls useless.

As for the morale/mind control effects, perhaps have the aliens start messing with your perception when you're being mind controlled? You see aliens that aren't actually there and it's nearly impossible to tell which ones are real when you're being mind control, or you get an interface screw AKA Amnesia/Eternal Darkenss. Have your and your sqauddies weapons skills be inherently inaccurate until they get higher in rank.

I'm not saying a first person XCOM would be a good idea, but if I were to attempt to make one, that's the approach I would go with.

 

[jedisensei]

...a tactical FPS like SWAT 4...

Thanks for the mention...gonna have to give that one a try

 

[Zetatrain]

To quote Smooth Operator...

They already did that... and it was horrible, and then they went back to make it third person XCOM... still horrible.
And yes you get exactly zero game element compatibility, you just take the name and plaster it on something unrelated.

With that approach you can just as well make it RPG, RTS, platformer, dating sim, city builder, kart racer, dancing shit,...

Quite simply, the problem is that no it wouldn't work. XCom's draws are the turn based strategy and wide scope that give the feeling an alien invasion and making hard decisions both on and off the battlefield. Not painting the various foreigners in Call of Duty blue and calling them the wha'grok empire. Even SWAT 4 style gameplay wouldn't work, you can't really arrest alien invaders whose language is abargewargle and who are either much bigger and stronger then you or have the ability to flatten you into the ground like a squished bug with their brains, and they wouldn't inclined to take hostages or other tactics that guys with less resources then you would, since their whole mission an open invasion of earth and they're a fucking spacefaring empire rather than a small terrorist group and they can just openly kidnap people to experiment on. People underestimate how fucked we would be in an alien invasion, if the military with all their nukes can't stop it (and they sure as hell can't because the aliens likely have stronger metals and shield technology), then the pea shooters civilians have won't do shit.

There are tactical shooters similar to SWAT 4 that don't revolve around hostage rescuing, like the original Ghost Recon. The problem however is that those games require you to rely heavily on stealth and tactics to take out the enemy before things turn into a massive firefight. In XCOM most of your fights revolve around the enemy being well aware of your presence which results in one big gun battle between both sides. These kinds of fights wouldn't work so well in games like Ghost recon, Rainbow six, or SWAT 4, because it would be way to easy to die unless you had some very smart AI partners.

That being said I think something closer to the Brother in Arms series would be better. Sure it wouldn't be as tactical as XCOM's turn based system or the tactical FPSs I mention earlier, but you still wouldn't be able to run n gun it and would still have to utilize basic suppression and flanking tactics at the very least.

 

[Fox12]

We had that. It was The Bureau. It did nothing original or interesting, and everything that was done had been done in better games. Its like Mass Effect 2 without what made Mass Effect 2 good.

The best way to incorporate action elements into XCOM would be to have the overworld strategizing like normal and then having the action be combat sequences where you use what you managed to scrounge in the strategy mode. Battlefront 2 kind of did something like this. Honestly, as long as both game modes were satisfying it wouldn't matter what IP it was. Empire at War meets Battlefront would be one example.

I wouldn't mind a Ghost Recon 2 style game. There's third person action, but the strategy element is more important. It would keep the important elements of the original, since you would have to place and direct your soldiers, while having a good action mechanic. Especially if you're soldiers had unique classes, forcing you to utilize them to do things you couldn't, such as take out a heavy.

Add in an active research and resource management system, like in Enemy Unknown, and you'd actually have a pretty innovative action game.

 

[Erttheking]

Wouldn't that just be an FPS where you shoot aliens who are invading earth?

Because I'm pretty sure that's been done.

How about a FPS where you invade Earth? Have fun little variations on all the aliens. Be stealthy as a Thin Man, quick and versatile as a Floater, and as a Berserker charge forward and fuck everyone up.

 

[pookie101]

i was thinking the same a system like swat 4, ghost recon or even the original rainbow 6 style game would work

 

[RedRockRun]

I liked the idea of the XCOM FPS. As cool as the future sci-fi genre is I'd love to see something from the original age of UFO's and government cover-ups like the late 40's through the 60's.

 

[Bat Vader]

I think the best way to make it work would make it optional. Give players the ability to to either control the soldiers like a normal RTS view or they can take control of a single soldier FPS style, move them however many spaces they can, and then when to attack aim and shoot all while in FPS mode. That way it's the best of both worlds and people can play how they want without anything getting sacrificed.

 

[Fdzzaigl]

Wasn't Enforcer a TPS too?

Either way, what about no, no and NO.

Next to strategic planning XCOM is also about the characters that you design and guide through various hardships. Why would you ever want to put that into the most impersonal genre out there: FPS?

There's been enough messing around with the franchise in the form of The Bureau and previous spin-offs. To the point where it almost killed itself if not for massive fan feedback to get it back on track.

Lets hope that XCOM2 hits home first, perhaps then they can think about some genuinely interesting spin-offs. Like an RTS component to fill in the airgame or a future spacegame? Or a type of RPG.

 

[Lil_Rimmy]

You know, it could work. They would have to put a LOOOOOT of effort into it for it to work, but they could.

The first step would to have it be a completely normal overworld and command set-up, keep the unique part of X-COM going. But then, aliens strike! You go into the set-up, fly out, whatever, and get a sort of Ghost Recon/ArmA 3 esque overview of the area you will be fighting in. Choose a landing spot (preferably a LOT further out, so you have to actually advance into the AO) and send your team in.

From there, you can control them in real-time from the above screen, but if you select one you jump down into FPS mode. This would be a very realistic, very ArmA 2/3 or SWAT 4 style gunplay and gameplay. Moving carefully, calling people up to advance and cover. When contact is made with the aliens, panic sets in. Most units should have some sort of panic meter that affects their aiming and eventually causes them to duck and cry in terror. The same system could be applied for suppression, on both you and the aliens.

The key point of all this is if you get hit once, maybe twice (at least at the start with basic armour), your soldier suddenly bites the dirt and you are thrown back to the overview or into another soldiers eyes. Ambushes would be terrifying as you are wrenched into another soldier's eyes to see your headless corpse flop dead in-front of you.

More elements would have to be put in to really make it shine, like heavier helmets restricting your view, but maybe upgrades giving you in-helmet displays like radar and squad status. So sure, you can all go in heavy armour, but expect to panic when you are tunnel-visioned and Chrysalids are rushing out of the darkness at you. VR would be very cool to see in something like that, but they would have to include a head-turn system at least.

Very important would be a restriction of ammo so you can't just blast everything, as a dead mans trigger in a combat like that is not want you want to hear. Having very, very tight controls for the AI when they are not under your control is important, so telling them to fall back and find cover or to push and advance in different situations is essential to not have players rage when everyone is gunned down because they took cover against the sectiod, not the twenty-good-thin-men.

Lastly, and I'm unsure of this, maybe you could have a pause mode when you jump back to overall command. The only reason I say maybe is because I feel it might detract from sudden ambushes and such where your reaction time is key to surviving.

So yeah. It could work. I may have given it too much thought. But the key part is that they would have to go the full way, whole hog, etc., because any half-hearted attempt will result in the biggest shit-storm since the announcement for the X-Com Pachinko machine (note: this does not exist. I hope.)

EDIT: As someone mentioned, the Brothers-in-Arms games would be a good guide as well. Squad based suppression and flanking was fucking awesome in those games, it would be pretty cool to see that in this. EDIT: Also, I could see this being a MAJOR hit with the ArmA 3 clans, and other realism gamers or just general hardcore mil-sim fans. Imagine if each battle could have soldiers controlled by other players with someone running commander. That would be intense as all hell, and I would pay faaaaar too much to play that.