Watch an Hour of XCOM: Enemy Unknown Gameplay

Cognimancer

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Jun 13, 2012
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Watch an Hour of XCOM: Enemy Unknown Gameplay



Developers from Firaxis have made first contact with a full hour of gameplay footage.

The X-COM series was infamous for its brutally high stakes and tactical combat. Firaxis Games' current project, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, looks to revive the 18-year-old franchise with some modern updates. Don't take their word for it, though - lead designer Jake Solomon and lead programmer Casey O'Toole streamed a playthrough of two full missions from the campaign [http://www.twitch.tv/2k/b/330155062] so you can see their handiwork for yourself.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown (not to be confused with the other XCOM currently in production [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/trailers/4077-XCOM-Gameplay-Trailer]) follows the same basic structure as its predecessors. Players control an international organization made up of the world's finest soldiers, scientists, and engineers, fighting an uphill battle against a bizarre alien menace. The gameplay footage consists mainly of two tactical combat missions pitting a small squad of troops against a fittingly unknown enemy.

Many elements of the classic games make a return in the Firaxis reboot, including the cruel combination of individual soldier customization and perma-death. Players will still be carefully positioning troops and comparing accuracy percentages, but don't be fooled - this isn't your daddy's XCOM. Many soldiers in the gameplay demo had leveled up, acquiring perks and custom armor as they increased in rank. The team's designated sniper was equipped with a grappling hook allowing him to zip around the battlefield to ideal vantage points, while a heavy gunner suppressed some hostiles to protect his squadmates. A brief look at the character customization screen revealed a multitude of other options through which to grow attached to your loyal men and women (at least until they inevitably and heartbreakingly take a laser to the face). One thing that certainly hasn't changed is the game's lethality: even the developers were unable to complete either mission without taking casualties, and that was just the game's normal difficulty level.

Armchair generals will be able to assume command when the game launches on October 9 in North America, October 12 in Europe and Australia. Pre-ordering the game will unlock the Elite Soldier Pack as well as the much-adored flat-top hairstyle from the original X-COM. Personally, I'm not sure I could handle watching the death of another trooper sporting that hilarious hair-do - the flashbacks might be too much.

Source: Twitch.tv [http://www.twitch.tv/2k/b/330155062]

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Joabbuac

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Feb 23, 2010
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Ive never been a fan of strategy games, never bought one on release anyway...played the likes of Civ4 and Age of Empires years after there release. But this is one im really looking forward too, day 1 buy for sure.
 

Terrible Opinions

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Sep 11, 2011
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Looks damn good. Love the ninja chrysalid. I'll definitely miss having big squads, though. My biggest fear is how the lack of TUs will play out. There were many times in the original where I had to dick around an opening to get line-of-sight on a target, and it doesn't look like the new game will be very forgiving in that regard.
 

octafish

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The Crotch said:
Looks damn good. Love the ninja chrysalid. I'll definitely miss having big squads, though. My biggest fear is how the lack of TUs will play out. There were many times in the original where I had to dick around an opening to get line-of-sight on a target, and it doesn't look like the new game will be very forgiving in that regard.
The lines of sight should be more refined than the original. I'll miss the large squads too, they don't seem to accommodate my favorite squad role either. The pistol packing highly mobile grenadier. That said, I think I'm going to pre-order this and Dishonored to make sure I get some quality new games post my redundancy.
 

scotth266

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Jan 10, 2009
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With both of the XCOM games, Dishonored, and Borderlands 2, it looks like I'll be spending even more time with my computer than usual. That is, of course, assuming that the other XCOM game is still coming out.
 

Karadalis

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Apr 26, 2011
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This game looks very nice and shows how modern turn based strategy games can look
 

Bernzz

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Well, I most definitely want this. The premise of the old X-Com games intrigued me, but they never really looked like something I could properly get into. This, however, looks really good.
 

Daft Ghosty

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Sep 25, 2010
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I usually hate strategy games, but I'll be buying this. It looks like allot of fun. I am happy to see old school games like this still being put out.
 

Canadish

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Jul 15, 2010
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This looks pretty great, I've been itching for this kind of small scale strategy game for ages.

I'll probably give this one a go.

Always glad to support a studio that's at least trying to do a franchise justice.
 

Kekkonen1

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Nov 8, 2010
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This looks wonderful. Just wished it would have come out during the summer when I at least have some free time.
 

infinity_turtles

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Apr 17, 2010
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This... looks a lot like X-Com. Kinda surprised. This is now on my radar and I'm probably going to get it. Still kinda shocked that the game looks that good what with the other X-Com game; so I don't have much more to say.
 

Jandau

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Dec 19, 2008
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That looks better than I expected, and I expected it to not suck. Granted, it still remains to be seen how the whole thing plays and how the various elements work together, but so far so good. I'm NOT going to miss the big squads since I preffer smaller teams of more competent units to zerg tactics. Also, while there will be fewer soldiers, they seem to have more options. I love the various special abilities, especially the sniper grapple. All in all, can't wait!

EDIT: Also, I like how the controller setup seems to work quite well. Sure, I'll be playing it with a mouse, but it's still nice to see someone manage a decent setup for a strategy/tactics game (the biggest hurdle for that genre on consoles)...
 

Dogstile

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Jan 17, 2009
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Does this mean people are going to stop bitching about every tiny little feature now that they've shown its basically just an updated X-Com?

Heh, same thing happened with Hitman until they showed chinatown, who'd have thought it'd happen twice in one year.
 

tmande2nd

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Oct 20, 2010
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FINALLY!

A developer who understands that not everyone wants: Call of Mass Modern Gearful Warfare: Grimdark Brown edition.
 

lancar

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Aug 11, 2009
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I was hyped for this game before, and now it's a done deal. I'm pre-ordering this game even if I'm flat broke. I'll get the money from somewhere. Maybe sell a kidney? :p

Seriously, though. I could not be more pleased with how this game is turning out. There's still some details we don't yet know much about, but as Greg said they'll reveal more this friday. Unless these new details completely botch everything up, this'll be my nr 1 most anticipated game of the year.

October 12 can't arrive quickly enough.
 

Tiamat666

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If someone releases a mod that increases the squad size and nerfs the effectiveness of low level troops in compensation, it might be ok.
 

Uliana

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Jandau said:
EDIT: Also, I like how the controller setup seems to work quite well. Sure, I'll be playing it with a mouse, but it's still nice to see someone manage a decent setup for a strategy/tactics game (the biggest hurdle for that genre on consoles)...
I'm a PC player first and foremost, yet I know consoles never have a problem with Turn-Based games. In fact, many Turn-Based Strategy and Role-Playing Games are console-based: ex. Advanced Wars, Super Robot Wars, Final Fantasy Tactics, and my personal favorite Valkyria Chronicles. Console-based Strategy has been around for years.

The Strategy genre that gets problems on consoles are Real-Time Strategy games, due to the number of required input options and precision that said games need, which limits their implementation with gamepads compared to mouse + keyboard. Turn-Based Strategy doesn't have said problem though: since you can take all the time in the world to do something, you can have an entirely menu-based system allowing you to use only a few buttons for input.

Finally, the original X-COM (aka UFO) Enemy Unknown was ported to Playstation back in 1995, so there's a precedent to this type of strategy game being on consoles.
 

Nimzabaat

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Feb 1, 2010
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So why is the FPS X-Com still coming out? Everything i've seen of that title looks like it will bomb hard and it deserves to.

This, on the other hand, will be a pre-order :)