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New XCOM trailer


Gimli

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I've finally got round to watching that German trailer. Honestly? This could be a really great game if they just changed the name. It looks pretty interesting (but nothing like X-Com) The FPS slant could potentially be fun I guess (but nothing like X-Com) It may be a stupid map of North America only but the brief glimpse of the campaign map seems to indicate a little choice in missions and locations (nothing like X-Com though) The 'capture turret tech' was just pure bullcrap though I have to say (AND nothing like X-Com) Looked like something from Enforcer in all but graphics. Like you're going to pick up a black ball of alien nano-bots which are fluctuating wildly and emanating some strange electro-magnetic anti-gravitational force... Hmm ok, leave that to the cleanup crews... The hadn signals are good for a FPS (but nothing like X-Com) and lets be honest you could be playing ANY FPS in the world with these characteristics...

 

End of the day it's starting to look like there may be basic elements of the old games which have been implemented outside of the action ( I WILL NOT call it a battlescape because it just isn't...) but that's not going to be enough... In the original franchise, the battlescape was only a small portion of a much larger game which required a lot of dexterity and global tactics on the players part. I believe the FPS part of this game will constitute between 75-90% of it's total worth however and that simply doesn't compare to X-Com. Add to that the fact that there simply IS NO less tactical kind of game than a FPS and you've basically taken all of the components from the old series, chopped them up, sexed them up and taken a massive dump on them before setting the whole lot on fire.

 

This could be a really good game but it will NEVER be an X-Com game...

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I've finally got round to watching that German trailer. Honestly? This could be a really great game if they just changed the name. It looks pretty interesting (but nothing like X-Com) The FPS slant could potentially be fun I guess (but nothing like X-Com) It may be a stupid map of North America only but the brief glimpse of the campaign map seems to indicate a little choice in missions and locations (nothing like X-Com though) The 'capture turret tech' was just pure bullcrap though I have to say (AND nothing like X-Com) Looked like something from Enforcer in all but graphics. Like you're going to pick up a black ball of alien nano-bots which are fluctuating wildly and emanating some strange electro-magnetic anti-gravitational force... Hmm ok, leave that to the cleanup crews... The hadn signals are good for a FPS (but nothing like X-Com) and lets be honest you could be playing ANY FPS in the world with these characteristics...

 

End of the day it's starting to look like there may be basic elements of the old games which have been implemented outside of the action ( I WILL NOT call it a battlescape because it just isn't...) but that's not going to be enough... In the original franchise, the battlescape was only a small portion of a much larger game which required a lot of dexterity and global tactics on the players part. I believe the FPS part of this game will constitute between 75-90% of it's total worth however and that simply doesn't compare to X-Com. Add to that the fact that there simply IS NO less tactical kind of game than a FPS and you've basically taken all of the components from the old series, chopped them up, sexed them up and taken a massive dump on them before setting the whole lot on fire.

 

This could be a really good game but it will NEVER be an X-Com game...

 

 

*Tips my hat and shouts hurrah*

 

honestly couldn`t have put it better myself :) x-com is and never shoud be a fps.. ever. enforcer doesnt count as an x-com game coz its pure shit, even intercepter was shit. Just shows you stray away from the roots of the game and you get a shitty game with the x-com label stuck to it.

 

This will be bargain binned within 2 months once the cod heads realise MW 12 is out just after it. :P

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I did in the last one! Sort of :P But yes I know I keep slipping back in an attempt to drag out people still not taking the hint. To be honest it's not been helped by that interview of the guy insisting that it's meant to be an origin story of X-Com... Idiot!

 

On it's own merits though... Campaign map looks interesting but it's a shame it isn't global. Seriously, aliens invade North America SO often, what about everywhere else? And when they start losing in North America why don't they try relocating to Australia or something? XCOM are clearly American and they get around in cars so my guess is it'll take them a while to catch up to these aliens if they teleport from country to country every few days whilst continually slaughtering inicents the world over... Like I say, campaign map is illogical but looks like it could be ok. We've only seen a tiny shot of it so it's impossible to say but it almost looks like the old school C&C map when enemy progress is shown with a sort of WW2 campaign map red arrow and friendly advances are in blue. While I didn't see any indication of friendly movement here, this is what I'd like to think is being shown.

 

Just found a still of this map and I think I have it pretty well pegged. Though of course there's a chance that the big black concentration is the good guys whereas I'm assuming it's the bad...

https://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/117/1174733/xcom_1307599243.jpg

 

There doesn't seem to be any base management and I'm expecting R&D to be very simplistic but we've been told a few times that we'll be able to walk around the base and talk to people who can fill us in on the background of particular missions and such. That'll be a nice touch, I hope it's not a sort of one-shot deal of 5 blokes in the briefing room who simply repeat the same line of text over and over when a conversation is initiated. I'd like to see a fully accessible base so we can walk into the labs and see what the eggheads are working on. Maybe stray into the boss's office and be told to get lost if our last mission went badly or commended if the opposite is true. They could really add depth to the game here but so far I haven't seen anything to suggest that they will.

 

Other things that aren't particularly clear yet (to me at least) is what will happen between missions... We've been told that they don't want to make the game a linear experience but if that's the case then what's been put in place to prevent that? Personally as far as FPS go you can only do the same thing so many times before it gets a bit samey... I'm sure there are different enemies and techs we haven't seen yet but as it stands the black globby things and the nano people things are going to get pretty old pretty fast. We've also seen the alien turrets which can apparently be beaten by destroying their power supply (guess these massively superior aliens didn't think about a self contained unit) and the sub-orbital cannons which seem to be under human control more often than not... That doesn't make for great variety so we'll have to wait and see what other enemies are around.

 

Continuing along the theme of mission variety we can only imagine what this will entail. There's been discussing of defending territory in order to retain it but how this is done and what the repercussions are is unknown. Similarly we haven't been told whether or not counter-attacks are possible in which we can recapture lost ground. What IS the alien presence on earth exactly? Is it a growth like in the Aftermath series? It's clearly not a covert presence so we can pretty much guarantee that any humasn left behind are exterminated immediately and the surface world lost completely to these shiny black monsters.

 

The actual XCOM organisation itself is a bit of a let down for me personally. I get the impression that the team was only formed recently due due to suspicions of a nearby alien presence. That doesn't excuse their complete lack of military preparedness though which leaves the operatives looking like a cross between a private eye and the local farmer. If I was an advanced alien race with nano-mech weaponry and energy walls and such I would NOT be scared of some office clerk in a tie and braces wielding a puny shotgun and taking orders from a guy who until yesterday didn't even know there WERE aliens! They seem to travel in cars and helicopters (which somehow don't get shotdown en-route by the aliens superior weapons) and in a few shots they've been shown with utterly ridiculous looking weapons and equipment yet NO ARMOUR! The scenery and civilians are more than enough to create a fully convincing 1960's USA so quite why they felt it necessary to make the soldiers look like uptown postmen is beyond me.

 

Of course the thing that will make or break this game (though not for me) is the FPS element itself. It seems pretty sound from what we've seen so far and the graphics certainly suit the enemies we've already seen. Both the globular and bipedal aliens look pretty nasty as intended and the nano-technology is sweet. The way it alters and in the case of weapons, activates/deactivates are all done very well for a very intimidating result.

 

As far as actual gameplay goes it's impossible to judge while the only thing we've seen so far is the dev's playing a short demo. The squad commands could be a good touch if they work as intended. The only ones I've seen so far are 'Capture' and 'disable' both for use on enemy tech and 'create diversion' which could be hadny but seems fairly suicidal. The squad certainly puts a lot of faith in their leader if they'll willingly stand up in front of overwhelming odds and hurl insults at their foes while he sneaks round the back to switch off a tutrret... Can turrets even BE distracted? Anyway, seems promising but we really have to wait until they let us have a go for ourselves.

 

Personally I'd really love to get my hands on a copy of this as it does strike me as a combination of features that hasn't really been done before. It's success will depend on just how in control the player is, in my opinion, but also on how successful they've been in eliminating the linear advancement present in almost every FPS to date. Of course it's also down to gameplay, weapon and enemy variety, missions and of course the actual story which we currently know NOTHING about save the rescue of some doctor from an alien dimension... hmm...

 

Ultimately we'll have to wait and see what they show us next and in reality we can't know much more until we're gven a chance to get our own hadns on a copy but right now it has a lot of potential. What we have to hope is that it doesn't remain potential and as many of those features as possible are being included in the final product. They really need to add to this title outside of the action to prevent it from being 'just another FPS' Sure it's a pretty one but it's still a pretty generic 'kill all aliens' title at the end of the day.

 

Pete, seeing as you're reading this, do me a favour and track down someone from 2k in charge of publicity. I want whatever I can get from these guys as soon as possible. At the very least I'd like a chance to put my own questions to these guys as there's a lot of things I'd like to know which currently hasn't been divulged! I know you have the power man, get to it :)

 

Impartial observer - out.

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Other things that aren't particularly clear yet (to me at least) is what will happen between missions...

THIS. This is IMO an X-COM maker or breaker. I wouldn't think so for a usual FPS but for it to be X-COMish in nature, this is crucial info.

 

And we have no idea.

 

But the scientist testing a weapon did look COOL.

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They certainly have a great opportunity to do something a little different and make FPSs something more than just linear maps strung together. As long as it doesn't end up as a completely story driven interactive novel - which some of the classics like System Shock and Deus Ex were.

 

As with most games, the generic NPCs will most probably just be walking signboards with a set of dialogue they repeat over and over.

 

"Oh hey, Straker, sarge says he's got a present for you in the locker, better go check it out, hear it's a glock."

"Seems like the nanobugs got Shelton. Say he's turned zombie and running around in Dallas somewhere."

"Well get to it then, your coffee's going cold."

"Oh hey, Straker, sarge says..."

 

Three missions later, the same guy says the same things until the next big plot update where he starts talking about the weather.

 

Onto the 'origins' aspects. I can't think of this game as a definitive origin story. To me it will always have its roots as an international collaboration, but I can see how they could make it work. They start Not-X-COM in the 50's. After the alien fuss is quashed, Not-X-COM is whited out of existence. Basically forgotten, even by the US bigwigs. Then the aliens show up again, the Kiryu-Kai fail and finally the world powers form X-Com proper "for the first time" again.

 

This way, who knows how many origin stories they can crank out if they wanted to and not interfere with the original storyline. They could even have a game covering a secret AI tank development facility in Sweden telling the origins of the various prototype HWPs that came before they started the mass production tanks X-Com bought and used during ... no hang, I want to claim this origins story for myself. :P

 

- NKF

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Is it just me or does the American accent on both these guys make it sound like they don't have a clue what the frig they're talking about? Uhhh... Like, yeah, it's sort of uhhh....

 

And apparently 'they're invading and terraforming the world in realtime' in America... Idiots!

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Is it just me or does the American accent on both these guys make it sound like they don't have a clue what the frig they're talking about? Uhhh... Like, yeah, it's sort of uhhh....

 

And apparently 'they're invading and terraforming the world in realtime' in America... Idiots!

 

 

Oh, so THAT's why you don't like my point of view. 'cause I'm American? :P

 

Silly Brits.

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Quiet ya daft yank lol Just calling a language 'American' English and changing a few of the spellings, doesn't make it yours you know! One day we're going to take it back and finally silence the lot of you :P

 

EDIT : Just to clarify, I don't mean the American eccent always sounds stupid (though in some states? Sheesh...) I'm simply suggesting that these two guys have particularly stupid sounding accents :)

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And apparently 'they're invading and terraforming the world in realtime' in America... Idiots!

 

Right - realtime. Is this just a fancy 2011 interpretation of a 1950's way of saying the aliens are terraforming the world right then, there, and now. Basically as they're speaking? Or as opposed to terraforming in turn based or only on weekends? 'tis a silly thing to say either way. :P

 

- NKF

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Just to clarify, I don't mean the American eccent always sounds stupid (though in some states? Sheesh...)

When comes to funny accent - fingers are mostly pointing at Rednecks :)

Also I am always wondering whats with this "You know what I mean" thing in one group of american people ?

But not to be onesided - you must admit Vet that some Brits are also using this mumbling accent too + the words that you will never learn from book - well normall book at least.

 

haha too true. I'm so angry about the 'in America only' thing that I'm not even paying attention to the otehr discepancies :) My guess is that they mean it's speed is controlled by the missions you do and do not choose to play. Not realtime...

 

What do you expect of from US developer :)

 

US = King of the world

Rest of the world = stone age :)

 

Same goes with hollywood :) - "Hey lets make alien invasion film. Ok where will they invade? Of course the glorious US of A."

 

P.S. We should stop making jokes about countries :P

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After Black Hawk Down, I'm constantly getting the impression that US writers do have a tendency to take fun things and insert Americans in as the protagonists or set the story in America. Somewhat annoying at times, but to be fair the same is true for many writers in various countries making their home country the setting for their work, or using their own countrymen as the protagonists. They know their home soil and people better and it would probably appeal to a large portion of their local audience as well. (not saying I agree it has to be this way with X-Com - as it goes against the grain of its roots)

 

Speaking of language, there's a certain English musical that goes "Why can't the English learn to speak English?". It's so true - though today I extend it to English-speaking countries where English is their first language. Slang and heavy accents obfuscate speech even more.

 

- NKF

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"Slang and heavy accents obfuscate speech even more"

 

 

 

Ha`way and why-aye like

 

Nah seriously should have a newspaper headline like "ALIENS INVADE NEWCASTLE - UK" then i could turn round and say nah thats just the local populace. ^^

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Man... watching you like this really makes me depressed.

I mean seriously. The rage is something we all know and love, but when The SpoonyOne is SO affected by a game that he goes past the angry into a sort of sad trance towards the end... Don't recall any game doing that before.

 

It goes without saying that I agree though. This thing has no right to exist under the XCOM name. At this stage, I'm pretty sure 2K does this more or less just to rub it into the face of the nostalgic gamers for laughs.

 

 

Comment from the spooney vid ^^

 

 

but the last paragraph hits it spot on for me

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Just a thought but I'm guessing all the data for this game will probably be situated in one dev studio somewhere. If we find out where maybe we can still get rid of it before it's finished? Nice electrical surge might do it but why risk a maybe. We could torch the place... Destroy everything... After making just enough prank calls to the fire service to keep the engines busy of course...
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Just a thought but I'm guessing all the data for this game will probably be situated in one dev studio somewhere. If we find out where maybe we can still get rid of it before it's finished? Nice electrical surge might do it but why risk a maybe. We could torch the place... Destroy everything... After making just enough prank calls to the fire service to keep the engines busy of course...

 

Seems like 2 places Novato, CA and Canberra (aus)

 

so yeah maybe a dual strike is needed.

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