New XCOM walk through demo, damn this looks cool! :)

[Silverblade The Ench]

As a huge fan of the XCOM games, I was seriously loathing the appearance of what I thought would be a "made for morons" consoley piece of crap remake...
But, it seems my fears are unfounded, this new XCOM game actually looks pretty damn good!
The influence Mass Effect's had on tactical 1st person gaming is a huge boon for us all


XCOM - E3 2011 Demo Walkthrough - YouTube

 

[MarkB]

Hmm, so basically Mass Effect meets X-COM meets Cthulhu.

Looks like it has potential, but I'd have liked to be able to gun down flying saucers in a souped-up fighter jet.

 

[Croesus]

Hmm, so basically Mass Effect meets X-COM meets Cthulhu.

Looks like it has potential, but I'd have liked to be able to gun down flying saucers in a souped-up fighter jet.

Then check out this site:

Xenonauts - a strategic planetary defence simulation from Goldhawk Interactive

They are creating a clone of X-Com from scratch, with only a few changes (generally to the interface, but there will be some minor gameplay changes, such as what happens when UFO's are allowed to loiter over a country). They are targeting a release no later than end of 2012.

Anyone who preorders ($30) gets access to the beta, which has already implemented a number of features, such as ground combat and (IIRC) an early release of air combat.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

The influence Mass Effect's had on tactical 1st person gaming is a huge boon for us all

Well, it's way too much 1st person shooter-ish for my taste. I'll pass.

 

[jonesy]

Apart from the pause menu (and I don't get the Mass Effect influence you're talking about) the combat looks like C&C Renegade. And the aliens are throwing around blue Tiberium.

 

[MarkB]

The influence from Mass Effect - especially Mass Effect 2 - is all over the place. Battlefields consisting of lots of conveniently-placed waist-high cover, squadmates who can be ordered to tactically advantageous positions, a pause-mode interface that allows for more detailed squad-control and co-ordinated deployment of special abilities. Even the pacing is similar, with bursts of location-centric combat interspersed with brief periods of exploration and investigation on the way to the next combat area.

 

[Agamon]

I think it's more like Mass Effect was influenced by shooters like Gears of War (note the evolution between ME 1, 2 and what we know of 3). X-Com is a tactical shooter, not an RPG, so I'd compare it more to the latter.

 

[MarkB]

I think it's more like Mass Effect was influenced by shooters like Gears of War (note the evolution between ME 1, 2 and what we know of 3). X-Com is a tactical shooter, not an RPG, so I'd compare it more to the latter.

I don't have experience of Gears of War so I can't comment on them, but I will point out that this version of X-COM appears to incorporate just as great an RPG element as the Mass Effect games. In the initial part of the walkthrough, you can see the player levelling up his agents, who gain more experience points as they complete missions.

The command centre is also described as a social area in which the player can interact with the other characters, getting to know them and seeing the psychological effects the campaign is having on them. That's very similar to the Normandy in the Mass Effect games, where you can walk around the ship, socialise with your team-mates and crew, and even pursue romantic options if the mood takes you.

 

[Thunderfoot]

This has about as much in common with the original XCOM as GI Joe does to the actual US Military... *rollseyes*

The original was much more of an RTS (one of the first ones really and much more strategy than the modern ones) combined with short bursts of tactical battle sequences. You had a team, not just 2 guys and it was more about what you could come up with rather than I can shoot well.

Pass.

 

[Welverin]

The original was much more of an RTS (one of the first ones really and much more strategy than the modern ones) combined with short bursts of tactical battle sequences. You had a team, not just 2 guys and it was more about what you could come up with rather than I can shoot well.

It absolutely was not a Real Time Strategy game, it was a turn based tactical game. Big difference.

This is also not the first time someone has made an X-COM FPS.