New XCOM trailer

[Sgt. Strike]

You'll need a couple extra people, as well.

[The Veteran]

Bomb Bloke? Your thoughts please?

[Azrael Strife]

*mimics baby crying*

[Sgt. Strike]

That guy sounds like someone else I know. Whines and complains about something that may not even make it to the shelves at all. Jeez, why waste energy complaining about something when you should use that energy to make comments and try and help the people make it? It actually takes less energy to make positive comments than a negative, bitchy, complaint that won't get heard by the really important people.

[The Veteran]

Surely you understand why he's so wound up by it Sarge? Everyone here should be able to sympathise with this point of view, even if they don't share it themselves. Besides it's clear that he's somewhat of an exhibitionist by nature. After all, have you EVER watched a blog or video diary of someone being cool and collected about something? Only time I watch stuff like this is when it's OTT and funny or when it's a serious review from gamespot and the like. Both of these have valid positions and noone forces us to pay attention to either.

 

In this particular case, I mostly agree with the guy, though I'd never turn my musings into such an emotional display as he has. And sure he could use that energy to talk to 2k about how they could make it better but you know as well as the rest of us that it won't amount to anything. Since the first E3 demo last year there have probably been tens of thousands of very vocal disapprovals of the game and in response to this they've added hand signals and the ability to capture alien tech.

 

They're aware of the fact that so many people disapprove but they aren't really listening to what people want or they would have struck gold by now. What they should really do in my opinion is release this game under a different unrelated name then go on to produce the X-Com title that people really want. Something that will sell in absolutely phenomenal numbers because they will have listened to the hardcore fans and they already have so much publicity! Imagine how much more they would get if they made a u-turn and really did listen to what people want?

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again. This could be a great game but it'll make a lousy X-Com...

[AlanatXcomHQ]

Just putting in my own opinion out there about this game.

 

First off, I do have to agree with Spoony (https://spoonyexperiment.com/2011/06/16/e3-2011-xcom/), his opinion on the game that he has seen so far is totally right.

 

Now I've played my fair share of games, I have played Mass Effect as well as playing all of the X-COM games you can buy on Steam and I have a university degree on making games.

 

My honest opinion on this game, based on the trailer and what has been described by Spoony himself?

 

I am very disappointed and disinterested in this game.

 

These are the reasons I'd like to add as to what I think about this game.

 

Firstly, from a purely technical standpoint. My opinions on the animations and textures are that they are HORRIBLE. I mean, they are BAD.

You look at the new trailer, and you can clearly see that there is stuttering and missed body movements in the animations, they don't flow smoothly at all, you can clearly see an effect on the performance of this game as well in the somewhat less then average FPS (Frames Per Second).

And the textures look bad as well. I mean, they are BAD. This is pre-Fallout 3 kind of graphical quality and to be honest it doesn't look good at all, it looks outdated by about 3-4 years.

 

Another thing that urks me, quite strongly in fact, is the setting and location of this game. They are putting across that this game is meant to be 1950's-1960's era of America, which means that is has some inspiration from the incident at Roswell, New Mexico.

The problem comes from the fact that, X-COM, the unit you control in all of the previous games, usually is global organisation in those previous games and in this game, it seems to be strictly inside of America.

 

Now I have nothing against America itself, but on the bigger picture, that is a bit of MAJOR step-down from global victory against an alien menace. Plus, when you look at the games that the studio creating this game has done, its comprised of nothing BUT Bioshock and Bioshock 2, both of which have a similar time setting. My point being that this studio hardly seems to be diversifying in its art style or location and setting within its games.

 

Another thing that disinterests me is the fact that Spoony mentioned "tactical elements" which, in the most simplest of terms, means they are taking some HEAVY inspiration from Mass Effect, and not in a completely good way either.

 

When you look at the trailer, you can see in the running animations of the enemies that the stance and run animations seem to be "copied" from enemy movements in the Mass Effect games. If you know of the creatures called "Husks" in Mass Effect and how they run in that game, you know what I'm talking about.

 

Also, Spoony mentioned "Powers" that the team members can use at your command, essentially boiling the combat missions in this new game to be nothing more then a Mass Effect battle in the First Person perspective. Which I personally feel, does not work. Mostly because it doesn't offer something different that what I've already experienced in another game and doesn't offer anything new.

 

One more thing I want to mention is the "rewards" given to you at the end of each mission you undertake. Spoony said that some would progress the story, others would give lots of XP and some would give you weapons or research.

The main problem with this is that it feels like the mission structures are gonna be based mostly around either Mass Effect or Starcraft 2. To the point where "Mission progression" type of missions are the only ones that do not have a "time limit" whilst the other two types may have that time limit and thus are open to an issue where you could finish all of the XP / research missions and plow through the "storyline" missions with ease because of what you have earned in the other missions.

This is not fact, this is what I personally think will happen within this game.

 

Another issue with these "rewards" is that it is clearly defined what we earn, and all of the X-COM games previously have not had that. In the previous games, it was up to the player to decide what awards they got from a mission based on what weapons and items they bring to said mission. Weapons to stun aliens and psi-amps are brought to bring in important live aliens whilst lethal weapons are brought to kill aliens, it was that simple.

 

In this game, it feels like you just shoot everything that moves and get a bunch of stuff regardless of any research paths you can take. Which certainly does not feel like you have as much of a contribution to the way you wish to take your research compared to the original games. Even Mass Effect 2 with its boring scanning and probing planets for resources give the player a much bigger contribution to what that player wants researched then what has so far been described about in this game.

 

On one final, final note about this game, I know its still a year off from now, but I would have to agree with Spoony on the non-appearance of the old Alien favorites from the previous X-COM games, I do want to see Sectoids and Snakemen and Mutoids and Cyberdiscs and all the old favorites from the old games. I mean, even DUKE NUKEM FOREVER did just that. It remade nearly ALL of the aliens from Duke Nukem 3D. And that's saying something.

 

My honest opinion. I myself will not buy this game. Unless they pull a miracle out of their rear within 10 months that will drastically turn things around. I'm not buying it. I'll buy something else.

That's my final say.

[The Veteran]

Wow, thanks Alan that was a really in-depth post! It's actually made me think about something I haven't considered before which is the lack if any discernible research options. As you rightly say it seems in order to acquire enemy technology in this game you just have to shoot everything to pieces then pick stuff up. We've already seen the 'disrupt alien technology' power so hopefully that'll be implemented in a way that it's a form of 'stun' for things like turrets and obelisks. If you can collect that tech just by destroying it then they've missed yet another trick...

 

I would warn you to be wary about referencing Spoony's rant rather than the actual official trailers mind you. In this case Spoony is being pretty accurate with his slating of the game but bear in mind he has an almost completely negative point of view regarding the game so it'd be much better to quote straight from the horses mouth if you will.

 

Out of interest, what would you think of this title if there had never been any mention made to XCOM? No comparisons made to the original franchise? It would immediately eliminate the problems of setting, aliens, weapons and the lack of major features and allow the game to be approached as 'just another FPS' (which is basically all it is anyway...)

 

We already know you're not a fan of the graphics or animation so that would persist regardless of title and origin but please humour me. If they'd never once tried to convince us that this was X-Com what would your opinion of it be?

[AlanatXcomHQ]

To be honest, I know I said alot and I know I quoted Spoony alot, but he and I have a very similar outlook on this game. Pretty much 90% of what he said is something I would have said as well. So I have alot of the same opinions as he does.

 

But I will humor you on what I think if this game wasn't named X-COM.

 

My honest opinion is that if they had made this a "Spiritual Successor" like Bioshock is to System Shock 2. Then yes, this game will gain a point in my favor.

BUT...

I would still have an issue with the setting of the game. This studio has only worked on that time period in their previous games. And it just doesn't show any variety at all.

If in the years to come, they KEPT taking on projects and giving them this 1950's/1960's setting, I would be VERY concerned about any project title they are producing. It doesn't inspire confidence in me that they are trying something new.

 

Overall however, this game doesn't feel like a full game as well. In fact it has a feeling of being a Mod of something, rather than a full game. Like a DLC for Fallout 3 (Fallout: New Vegas as an example) or Call of Duty: Black Ops. (The Zombie Mode) It just does not give the impression of a full title.

 

If this game didn't carry the X-COM title, I would possibly decide to pick this game up in about 2-4 years time. When I can get it cheap. But unfortunately, I won't.

[Sgt. Strike]

Veteran, I understand where Spoony is coming from, somewhat. Personally, I say be a little less emotional, a little more logical, about his complaint. That is my personal feelings on that part.

 

As to the game, I may wait until it is out fully, and try it out, before I say what it really really is. To me, it feels like more akin to the UFO series than X-Com, in someways. Also, I will agree that it seems more of a shooter as well.

 

2k probably has had far more people talking to them about this game than most others. Especially from the testers. Especially any testers that have played all the X-Com series.

 

I still say that aside from the coincidence of the name it's not X-Com.

[Azrael Strife]

OMFG, his reaction was hillarious, that was just the funniest overreaction I could have seen

[Space Voyager]

OMFG, his reaction was hillarious, that was just the funniest overreaction I could have seen

I hope you haven't listened that sad creature to the end, it would make it the most thrown away minutes of your life. Listening to his whining really ticked me off, I wasn't able to go two minutes into it.

[Gimli]

I couldn't decide if he was really angry or just being a massive troll.

[The Veteran]

SV if you only listened to 2 minutes of it you can't comment on it's content lmao

 

And Gimli I reckon it's both. Clearly he's annoyed by what's going on here but I don't think anyone would make that much of a scene about it without ulterior motives. Look at the publicity it's got him on this site alone? 2 seperate threads now contain links to that vid and we've spent the whole last page of posts discussing the guy... You do the maths

[Space Voyager]

SV if you only listened to 2 minutes of it you can't comment on it's content lmao

Frankly I almost made it till the end in the second go. And I could comment his laments quite competently even if I only listened for the first 10 seconds, the rest is all repetition. Unless he goes "I'm kidding, I love what I see so far" just before the video stops, which I doubt.

 

EDIT: But that is just my opinion, I'm wrong often enough.

[silencer_pl]

I have turned him off after 2 minutes of his whining.

 

Seriously does complaining gives you anything. Sure they screwed the title, but you have to live with it. You can't say bad things about something if you haven't experienced it. Who cares if has some Mass Effect in it. Plenty of games copy ideas from each other.

 

 

I realy wish to see more progress on the UFO:Cydonia Fall project... but no updates from more than a year.

[The Veteran]

Seriously does complaining gives you anything. Sure they screwed the title, but you have to live with it. You can't say bad things about something if you haven't experienced it.

 

What is wrong with everyone? Lay off the guy for crying out loud! So he's a nutty, overdramatic exhibitionist. That's the only thing you can say about him. Noone here has the right to bash him for complaining or being annoyed by this game because almost everyone here feels the same way! So we aren't jumping up and down about it or making videos, that's because we aren't Spoony. I bet if you were to sit down with the guy and ask him for the calm version of his rant he'd be more than capable of providing it, just like I could make a similarly OTT video from my views if I felt the need...

 

Fact of the matetr is, this entire thread has been engulfed by people discussing this game and NOONE has ever played it. At least half of those comments are made by people who are saying the exact same things as the crazy video blog guy so does that mean they're stupid too?

 

Seriously I would've thought everyone here is old enough and wise enough to be able to tell the difference between a self-promotional gimmick and a genuinely disturbed individual whose life revolves around this one game. For those of you who still don't get it, this guy is using the former to make people talk about him. And guess what, it's working because of all you 'haters'

[Space Voyager]

So he's a nutty, overdramatic exhibitionist.

Ha, so we DO agree!

[The Veteran]

Partly yes He is clearly an exhibitionist who is using his over the top reaction to 'market' himself and his blog. It's no different from how games and movies (and pretty much everything else for that matter) use sex to sell. If you strip away the sex you still have a game inside it, just like this guy is still making a valid point.

 

You just have to peel away the crazy to get to it...

[Azrael Strife]

I hope you haven't listened that sad creature to the end, it would make it the most thrown away minutes of your life. Listening to his whining really ticked me off, I wasn't able to go two minutes into it.

Sure I did, I like Spoony's videos, even though he's a massive nerd (I consider myself a nerd, no question about it, but not to the point to be so incredibly whiny about a stupid video game).

I was actually more entertained by his whining than ticked off, what does tick me off is the repetitive complaining in every single thread we have about this game I mean, it's just a game, I was incredibly annoyed at what they did in Deus Ex Invisible War, Alien vs Predator (2010), at what they made in the AvP movies, Alien 3, Alien 4, whatever, it's full of stuff that pisses us nerds off, but there's little to be gained from constant complaining.

[silencer_pl]

Seriously I would've thought everyone here is old enough and wise enough to be able to tell the difference between a self-promotional gimmick and a genuinely disturbed individual whose life revolves around this one game. For those of you who still don't get it, this guy is using the former to make people talk about him.

 

 

Well then consider me different because I would put it in the latter one

[Greywalker Zero]

I used to work for 2K. I was part of the UK based tech support and covered pretty much everything they could throw on to the market, including the much broken GTA, the feeble and server-failing 2K Sports series of games and, of course, Bioshock.

Everything you have all said is ironically closer to the truth than you might realise, but there's a simple overwhelming fact in regards to the 2K franchise - they don't care about you. They picked up the XCOM name for 'next to nothing' because, and I hate this more than words can describe, the majority of gamers either don't know XCOM or don't like the isometric game play and 2K, as the giant gum-ball machine of marketting orientated drivvel is about to prove once again, will 're-imagine' (incredibly badly) whatever the Hell it wants because it bought the name in order to release something concentrically with the upcoming releases of CoD and MoH.

I assure you, the XCOM title you will be recieving will not only be rushed, it will be buggy, unimaginitive and entirely unrelated to any of the previous games. Along with this, it will turn up in the market as a poor filler between games you may be more inclined to acquire but will cost the thick end of

[Space Voyager]

I was actually more entertained by his whining than ticked off, what does tick me off is the repetitive complaining in every single thread we have about this game

 

A much healthier approach. And I agree about the repetitive complaining.

[AlanatXcomHQ]

https://spoonyexperiment.com/2011/06/23/e3-...nterviews-xcom/

 

Another video concerning the new X-COM, this time Angry Joe interviews a member of the team.

 

Here are a few bullet points from the interview questions:

 

1:) You have Power and Squad Management like in Mass Effect, however, one of your "team" may now have a steal tech ability

 

2:) Psi-control or MC. They haven't implemented such a mechanic yet, though apparently the team member said it will be under consideration. (My guess is No)

 

3:) No Interceptors. You no longer have any input as to when a UFO crashes, you have no interceptors to shoot them down, the crashes come up on the board every so often.

 

4:) Mission progression. It is now as I feared in a previous post. Main story missions are ALWAYS present on the board and you are "allowed" to do the exp/research missions as and when they are available. Basically a variation on the Mass Effect mission structure.

 

5:) Aliens. At the moment they are "considering" other alien types in their game for more variety, though they will be new alien types, though the team member, when asked about the old aliens, said that the old aliens weren't alien anymore, its an Origin story "PRE-DATING X-COM 1" and that its all new aliens and that no appearance has been planned for the old aliens to return.

 

6:) Alien containment units. It was stated that in an early build they had the aliens in containment units for you to look into at your base. Though now they are still deciding whether or not to put those in the final game.

[Space Voyager]

Best, most informative interview so far. Thank you for posting! I like Angry Joe, he likes the same games I do. Mostly.

 

I don't buy the "we're still thinking about this and that" statements, like the interceptions. It is still a long way till the release but that means a lot of additional features to create. Would love it, naturally.

[NKF]

I don't mind the bulletin board system as it works great in level grinder RPGs where you have to soup up your characters before taking the next story event (on account of the deliberately amped enemy levels) to progress the plot. It's just doesn't seem right for X-Com.

 

Sounds like it means diverging too much from Mass Effect that they can't be bothered adding the interception layer to it. Probably means work. Of course, not all games have to mimic every aspect of the original material to be entertaining, so they'll have to make up for it by making all other areas much better to compensate.

 

Also what's this silliness about not wanting old aliens? This is a self declared prequel. The old enemies are technically going to be 'new' enemies in the timeline. So they're going to make the new old blobs the ancestor of old new aliens?

 

Even with amorphous blobs, they should at least include the Sectoid as it would be quite a disservice to the series to not have some Sectoid influence.

 

- NKF