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[Gainsworthy]

- Global/Macro strategy view (bases, research, recruiting, mission selection). Any combination of these mechanics.
- RPG mechanics (gain levels or get better at fighting things as you do it). They alreayd sorta have this in BioShock, so I'm hoping the team will move that over.

Previews (written) have already hinted at Character Progression (your assistants are not replaceable grunts, research will increase your capabilities against aliens) and Global Strategy (or at least, um, American strategy/mobilisation).

Goodness knows how much will actually transfer over. I'd love to see base building, but I don't really see it happening. The base seems to be a hub with characters to talk to and research to undertake. The Normandy in Mass Effect 2 seems to be the closest point of comparison.


Also, Valter, better chalk me down in the Supporter Camp. How's the percentage going?


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Cool beans.

[Renton]

I'd like it if it played a bit like SWAT4.

[Fegon]

If they didn´t call this XCOM i wouldn´t even know the game existed. To me there is only two x-com games, enemy unknown and terror from the deep and this bs is not going change that. My god it looks so incredibly dull though i do confess first person shooters being my least favorit genre by far.

[Christian Knudsen]

You know what, I've decided not to comment on this game or make up my mind until we see more stuff. There may be more X-COM game mechanics in the game, but they haven't just showed them yet for some reason.

But I reserve the right to rage with furious fan boy anger if they confirm my fears! You hear that 2K Marin! You hear me?! (We need a fist-shaking smiley...)

[dEnamed]

Kinda like this one?
 
(Captain Obvious came to the rescue!)

I don't know, the game doesn't look bad. In a way I actually had a Ghostbuster Vibe when I watched the trailer again. If it comes with a Coop mode, they can do whatever they want with it, I'd be hooked (exception: going "ubisoft-ing" on it).
Luckily, X-Com doesn't have such a solid and set Story as Fallout had before Bethesda had their way with it. And it is not like they (2k) went out of their way by changing the genre. They've previously done so in the series, although admittedly the outcome wasn't great.

[Vanguard]

Why does every bloody game these days have to be an FPS, RTS, or MMO?

[Christian Knudsen]

Kinda like this one?
 
(Captain Obvious came to the rescue!)

Just like that one. Now I need an embarrassed one. Like this one:

[Gnarf]

When I first heard of this I did not fully understand why the sequel to X-COM would be some FPS with a fifties setting. It kind of seemed like it was a sequel to X-COM because it had aliens in it and X-COM had aliens in it also, so both X-COM and the sequel to X-COM had aliens in them and so they belonged to the same series.

It appears that they have replaced the aliens with ink. It's an FPS, set in the fifties, about being invaded by ink. It's the sequel to X-COM.

[Mikademus]

There are some FPS games combining genres that turned out OK. Battlezone was playable and even enjoyable in spite of being both FPS and RTS - my two least preferred genres. And the SWAT games combined pre-execution planning and tactical operations with FPS presentation well. So I guess that there is a 30% chance that an FPS X-Com MIGHT turn out OK, but there's only a 10% chance of that.

What is really stupid is that the X-Com series is one of those most cherished and treasured by a relatively small set of gamers, and they will hate this "abomination" with a vengeance. So there must be other IP:s that would be more commercially viable than this one, where such significant deviances from the original mould will sound every klaxon in Gamerdom.

[MisterX]

There's a preview on Eurogamer.net and an interview on RockPaperShotgun.com, both of which were somewhat informative. Though, the former is rather an account of what playing the demo felt like, while there's more information in the interview.

Several parts I especially liked, mostly revealing how this is apparently still a proper X-Com game:

We’re forging a new mythology, but what we’re retaining is the core elements that made X-COM X-COM; the strategy, the base, the research, agents, all of those things being in charge, and dealing with this problem as you see fit.

There is a sort of dynamic level element. [...] The game is generally fairly unscripted. You’ll not be able to expect where these enemies are coming from or what you’ll encounter on any given scenario.

[...] You can leave a mission at any time, but the longer you stay, the more stuff you can obtain like research and other findings, but the stakes are also increasing so you’re faced with this filling one bucket with stuff and emptying the other bucket of health and ammo and everything else and the foes are getting stronger and eventually you have to evacuate.

Thanks to the evidence you collected on prior missions, your scientists have been able to research the Blobs and then come up with a counter-measure. With the blueprints passed to your engineers, you can now order up as many flame grenades as you need - and they scorch a Blob into so much flat tar in seconds. Use 'em sparingly, mind. You can only take so many with you on each mission, and they cost a ton to manufacture. Money doesn't grow on trees; money grows from government funding, and that's something you need to earn.

Keep moving, keeping fighting - all the while keeping an eye on your worryingly diminished reserves of ammunition. Once it's gone, it's gone, and you'll have no choice but to run. Don't go thinking you'll find a box of ammo lying helpfully in the street. This is the real world, sunshine.

XCOM isn't a strategy game, but it is a game about strategy. It's about preparing for a fight, dealing with a fight and then knowing when to cut your losses.

[Dragonmaw]

Okay now I am officially excited.

[Vanguard]

Several parts I especially liked, mostly revealing how this is apparently still a proper X-Com game:

That sounds good, but I have to wonder if it's not just developer-speak designed to sucker X-Com fans into buying the game.  Y'know, like how Bioshock and Fable were supposed to be full of "deep ethical conundrums!" but when they actually come out it ends up being stuff like "is it right to murder young children??"

Am I being overly pessimistic?  First person shooters have done nothing but get worse for years now, despite becoming much more prevalent.

[Fegon]

I don´t think you are being overly pessimistic. While 2K are throwing these balls to old fans and the game is drawing some kind of inspiration from the first two games, let´s face it. Ther is way to few people who have that history with ufo defence and terror to build any economy on making a game directed at that target audience.
The ones 2K are going to make money on are console fps players and that group are not going to like spending hours in a globe tactical interface. All that is going to be cut out of the game and left will be "deep" tactical elements like exit the map when your out of ammo and telling a hot chick what to reserch next.
"XCOM isn't a strategy game, but it is a game about strategy" What the hell does that mean anyway?

So the question for me still remains, if it´s a first person shooter with brown/greyish palette about aliens from space invading earth, why not call it Halo 4 or Gears of War first wave, why X-Com? A game it is struggling so hard not to have anything in common with.

[Christian Knudsen]

To be fair, about that brownish/greyish palette, it seems from the interview that they're consciously trying to avoid that and go for a more stylized aesthetic (Norman Rockwell and Team Fortress 2 gets mentioned).

[MisterX]

I've always been a fan of games that mix action with strategy. Even if the strategy elements are very light, they can change the whole feeling of the game a great lot. Giving you a feeling of being in control, in contrast to being controlled by the game, as in all the scripted cinematic action games. I don't think XCom will have too much in common with these, even though there also appear to be such scripted, cinematic missions in it.

As I said before, I think there is great potential for this to be a positively unique game despite naturally being developed for a mass market. And judging from the interview, they are at least very aware of that potential and trying to make use of it.


By the way, the interview was conducted back in march, when the game wasn't even announced, yet. And as the developers stated they were expecting a rather positive initial reaction from fans to the announcement. Thus, what they said is not a direct response to the negative reactions they actually got.