First new XCOM images revealed!

[Hobbes]

As already reported by Thorondor at our local XCOM: Enemy Unknown dedicated board... there's a new article at Gameinformer where screenshots and some further info about what to expect from the game are made available.

 

There's a TON of detail on each screenshot, so have fun checking it all out!

[Hobbes]

Mission Control Image

* We seem to have the original funding countries. On Geoscape you can see Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa clearly marked in bright. The neck flags on the soldiers also indicate Australia, Russia and Italy/France.

* South Sudan doesn't exist yet (it's still a part of Sudan), so the Geoscape seems to be dated before 2011.

* There are 3 types of firearms being carried by the soldiers. 1 is the same it was already revealed on the magazine's cover, with a laser sight. The 2nd is some sort of autocannon/machinegun (even comes with a bipod for support and handle to carry - it is the weapon carried by the featured soldier on the tactical image) and the other one a semi-automatic rifle/shotgun with a flashlight attached below the barrel.

* There's also banners hung from the ceiling with a yellow pentacle and a red X... maybe it's the new XCOM insignia.

 

Base HQ image

Base has 4 levels, with a central circular structure that appears to be a central lift. Some modules are further divided into sublevels.

Left Side:

* Hangar on the top left, with what appears on be a Skyranger being readied and 3 Interceptors on their above alcoves.

* The 3 modules on the bottom left seem to be almost the same module, possibly General Stores. There are 2 clearly 2 different types of it, one is circular like a tunnel.

* Also below the hangar, some sort of repair/workshop area (with the 2 yellow lights= ?

Right Side

* Mission Control (with Geoscape). From the image of the control room it seems that it is linked both to the hangars and soldiers quarters.

* Assuming it is correct, then the areas to the far right should be the Crew Quarters.

* Below Mission Control, it looks like some sort of Laboratory.

* To the right of the Laboratory and before the Crew Quarters there's some sort of meeting room... unclear.

* Below the Laboratory there's a base module of 3 rooms... Workshop? Laboratory?

* To its right, the violet room with the red columns maybe that we're looking at Alien Containment... unless someone has a better idea.

* On 4th level, first there's another of those Stores.

* And on the bottom left, the enigma - I simply have no idea of what it is, Base Power Plant, Radar System, whatever. And there's a human figure standing by it on the middle.

[7h30n]

In my honest opinion this looks utterly horrible! Only good thing I can see in this would be the speculated hex grid and I really like hexes in board game styled games.

I won't dismiss the game on just the first look of it but my expectations aren't as high as they used to be.

On the other hand Xenonauts is looking better with each day of development.

[Hobbes]

In my honest opinion this looks utterly horrible! Only good thing I can see in this would be the speculated hex grid and I really like hexes in board game styled games.

I won't dismiss the game on just the first look of it but my expectations aren't as high as they used to be.

On the other hand Xenonauts is looking better with each day of development.

 

I apologize if I am too direct, but are you trying to compare an incoming official X-COM game in the process of being finished and released with a fan-based related project that you can't play yet, whose tactical combat system seems to be a copy of the original UFO Defense and that there's no idea when it will be finished?!

[Thorondor]

@Hobbes:

 

I had to edit your original post _quite_ a bit as it was really messing up the main news page (what with the really big direct links and all). Also had to tidy up the text to make it news-post 'kosher' and not that straight up "totally psyched about this!!".

 

::

 

Sorry about that, but couldn't be helped.

[7h30n]

If by comparing you mean stating which of the two X-Com like games is more appealing to oneself, then yes I am comparing the two. I stated my impressions on both games just on the basis of what I see when I look at the available media. I can't give proper judgement on either of them since I haven't played Xenonauts and there is no solid information on XCOM:EU. Ofcourse not to mention, both games are far from finished.

P. S. Xenonauts' combat isn't a straight copy of UFO's (based on available information)

[Hobbes]

If by comparing you mean stating which of the two X-Com like games is more appealing to oneself, then yes I am comparing the two. I stated my impressions on both games just on the basis of what I see when I look at the available media. I can't give proper judgement on either of them since I haven't played Xenonauts and there is no solid information on XCOM:EU. Ofcourse not to mention, both games are far from finished.

P. S. Xenonauts' combat isn't a straight copy of UFOs (based on available information)

 

You made no mention on your post to the original UFO game, only Xenonauts, that's what got me thinking. To me the original game is GOD (and let no one try to challenge it!) but this new one looks promising so far. The HQ and Mission Control images simply look great and Tactical is very different but as long as it's easy to play, challenging and fun i'm more than willing to try it.

 

Check the images of tactical combat that they have at the Xenonauts forum... almost a copy of UFO... even the maps follow the same design principles and look the same.

[7h30n]

Oh, I thought I don't have to mention XCOM since this is a thread about it. So yeah, the last part where I mention Xenonauts is what concerns Xenonauts (that's why I mentioned it) and the first part concerns XCOM:EU.

 

Don't worry about good ol' UFO: EU, everyone who knows me will tell you it is my favourite game and how annoying can I be with nitpicking of any spiritual successor or with raging because of XCOM (shooter)

[Bomb Bloke]

Looking good to me. Sure, it'd be better to see things in motion, but these guys have obviously sat down and decided to make a game based on the original.

 

And heck, to see inside a decently detailed, large control room... then zoom out to see that's just a part of a huge complex of modules, obviously designed so the player can place them where they want, is pretty awesome. Hopefully this means we'll be able to wander our base at will, as it looks like that'll at least be possible on a technical level.

 

The insignia is a very close match to the original version from the first game (only that used a yellow circle), so yes, that'll be the new logo.

 

The weapon in the foreground of the first image puts me in mind of the Heavy Laser. The smaller rifles certainly remind of the originals, just a bit more chunky. In any cases, the weapons are all commonly themed.

 

The battle scene appears to be running on an Xbox360... It highlights the X controller button as a quick weapon switcher, and I'm guessing the Y button will go into an FPS view?

[FullAuto]

Looks okay to me. I like the 'alien face' enemy indicators, they're a nice touch. Overall use of colour is a little garish, but the bright, cool blues and hot reds do at least stand out. Having the Geoscape in-game could work really well.

 

The base layout looks tailor-made as a menu/diagram, so you click on an armoury section for weapons, barracks for soldiers, lab for research, etc. If they've done that and integrated it into the game, I think that's a nice touch.

 

However, these are just screenshots. They could look like absolute shit, makes no difference, the game could still be the best thing evar.

[Sorbicol]

Well it's not what I was expecting, but it does look pretty. If anything it looks more like UFO:Aftermath rather than the XCOM we all know and love.

[FullAuto]

Bet my PC can't play it, put it that way. :/

 

/pats hamster comfortingly

[Hobbes]

I need to get myself one of those

[Bomb Bloke]

Bet my PC can't play it, put it that way. :/

 

/pats hamster comfortingly

360 compatibility and all that. If you can run games released five years ago, I'll be surprised if you can't run this.

[ShadowBlade]

First screenshot is the one I like the most. It'd be nice if the Geoscape is unlike that of the original, in which it was an isolated globe with a very out-of-game interface, and replaced by that kind of holographic representation in the context of a living command center.

 

Second screenshot looks good, but it feels like an early mock-up more than something with real functionality. Of course, this isn't any indication of its final quality. The hangar is was caught my eye: I wonder if all hangars have four slots (either equal or three small and one large), or if hangars are expandable within their default size (vaguely, think of buildings in the Heroes of Might and Magic series).

 

Third screenshot isn't bad: I see some positive streamlining of the interface, to facillitate grenade throwing and things like that. I wonder how one can access an individual trooper's inventory, though. The "aliens" on-screen strike me as changeling infiltrators of sorts. It'd be cool if this race could impersonate civilians in certain circumstances, for some hellishly delicious challenge. I'd give them subtle "tells" an experienced player could be able to pick up to differentiate them from actual, otherwise identical civvies. Or maybe not. But that's just me rambling now.

[CapnKill]

Too early for anything at this point, too early to make any judgment really.

 

Its all there so far, and base defense will certainly be interesting with that many levels if I'm reading that correctly.

 

Obviously the gfx in the combat stage need to be vastly improved, those sprites don't look so hot, but that's expected from an early screen shot.

 

I don't want the game to look like the aftermath games and what not, I still want it to have that old school feel but with sharp graphics... its a tough challenge, the toughest of all, to capture the "feel" of the original.

[FullAuto]

360 compatibility and all that. If you can run games released five years ago, I'll be surprised if you can't run this.

 

Like I said.

[Sunflash]

I am going to have to eat my words. I can tell it already.

[AlanatXcomHQ]

From the looks of it all, the game is pretty much in its Alpha build stage (The initial build of the game that the devs work on.)

As for Screenshot 3, the Battlescape shot, its more than likely they haven't made any enemy models or even properly rigged them yet, so its easy to expect placeholder models for the aliens until later.

 

For Screenshot 1, it does remind me of UFO Aftershock though I would not be surprised if this screenshot was used as a loading screen for missions.

[Space Voyager]

I will refrain from being too judgemental at this point so all I'm going to say is "I like the pics". First one looks like taken from some kind of mission scramble clip, and second and third ease my mind as far as staying TOO true to original goes.

 

What would be most frustrating to me is remaking the original to the full and sell it as a new game. We don't need a new X-COM 1, it has been done. And it is even being perfected in projects like OpenXcom without wrapping it up prettily and saying it is a new game. Kudos to SupSuper, Michal and the rest of the team.

 

Anyway, I want a new game with improved mechanics. So far so good.

[silencer_pl]

360 compatibility and all that. If you can run games released five years ago, I'll be surprised if you can't run this.

 

It depends on two factors - if the game engine will be targeted for Xbox and PC will be port (if so how good one, because you can make a very bad port and the PCs can struggle at some points) or If PC engine will be made stricktly for PC and how optimized it will be.

 

 

The screens look good - I wonder why no one mention the cover system on the 3rd pic. Adds more aspect to positioning your troops.

[ShadowBlade]

The cover concept looks good, and at least it's more graphic than it was in UFO Defense. However, cover is always relative to the positions of the attacker and the defender. And besides, the cover icons may be there just to point out there will be a cover system in the game: I mean, the aliens' icons don't make much sense.

 

The guy on the left is marked as being in partial cover even though it's crouching and behind fairly solid obscurement, whereas the one on the right is wide open to all the X-COM troopers and yet it seems to be in the same situation. On the other hand, the forwardmost soldier shows as being in full (ish?) cover, yet it's an example of how relative the concept can be: she might be fairly well-shielded from the alien on the right, but at the same time quite open to the guy on the left.

 

Anyway, at this point we're pretty much dissecting every pic for its tiny details, so don't take my comments entirely seriously.

[FullAuto]

Twitter tells me they've dropped the time units system for one move and one action, or two moves.

[Hobbes]

Twitter tells me they've dropped the time units system for one move and one action, or two moves.

 

That sounds kinda of interesting actually, definitely makes combat more realistic than one side doing 20 different things for its soldiers while the other side simply watches (or waits). The problem would be that it can completely break the rhythm (it takes forever to reach a place) of playing. Another question is how TUs/Speed/Weight stats affect that system.

 

 

Third screenshot isn't bad: I see some positive streamlining of the interface, to facillitate grenade throwing and things like that. I wonder how one can access an individual trooper's inventory, though. The "aliens" on-screen strike me as changeling infiltrators of sorts. It'd be cool if this race could impersonate civilians in certain circumstances, for some hellishly delicious challenge. I'd give them subtle "tells" an experienced player could be able to pick up to differentiate them from actual, otherwise identical civvies. Or maybe not. But that's just me rambling now.

 

When I first looked I wondered if I was looking at some sort of human-alien hybrid. After someone mentioned that those should be simple stand-ins for the aliens until their graphics are finished, I had a closer look and noticed that the 'hybrids' use eyeglasses... I wonder if it's some sort of inside developers joke, having X-COM battle nerds!

[Ralphie]

I'm not sure what to think. I just hope the aliens aren't all men in black style and they really do use the original monsters and add some new ones. Other than that there's something I don't like about the art style. Too cartoony or too blocky, I can't tell. I would have preferred something more realistic looking but I'm guessing they want the style to be consistent with the xcom fps, which would suck imo.