The Other XCOM Game

[Joose]

Remember when people were talking about an XCOM reboot, then collectively anger-shat when it turned out to be some third person thing with only the vaguest similarities to the X-COM of old? Remember how it seemed to pretty much disappear off the face of the earth when the much more similar to the original XCOM game came out and was a huge success? Well, it would appear people are talking about it again. And making trailers and giving out release dates.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7TQsezZsvU[/media]

No gameplay footage which is a shame, but the atmosphere is nice and sinister. I do like the 60s aesthetics. Trying to claim that it shows the "origin of the XCOM organisation" seems like a stretch, as it leaves the rather gaping question of why the hell does everyone act shocked when aliens turn up in the later XCOM games? Personally I would have gone for some "alternate universe origin story" myself, but there you go.

Now that I'm no longer worried that this is going to mean no "real" XCOM reboot I'm actually quite interested in it. Apparently the team behind it are quoting Rainbow Six and the like as reference points, and encouragingly have said that they are against tacked on multiplayer. They would rather focus on the singleplayer. More games devs should do this.

[Dog Pants]

Now that I'm no longer worried that this is going to mean no "real" XCOM reboot I'm actually quite interested in it.

That pretty much sums it up for me. They've hinted that it might be a bit more cerebral, with some investigation stuff rather than pure alien shooting. So it has some potential.

[deject]

Could be good. I'm interested.

[buzzmong]

Here's the thing, does anyone on here remember the original announcement and trailer of this game?

If you don't, then the premise they put forward at the time was an investigation based shooter, shooter being an near optional extra. The gist was to go to a site, find out what had happened, collect evidence/samples/salvage some tech, then get back out. Shooting was sporadic and not the main aim (well, not during the investigating part).

Obviously, it then all went pear shaped and they turned it into some horrible third person squad game with a heavy emphasis on action, which was loudly critisied in the press and it then went away.

Then XCOM Enemy Unknown happened. It got good reviews and has apparently sold rather well.

I have a feeling that going to the third person action shooter wasn't the fault of the devs if the early videos were anything to go by, and I suspect with both the panning of the last round of videos and the sheer success of a tactical turn based game under the same licence, the chaps at 2k Marin might have been given more freedom to go back to their original premise.

Which makes me much more interested. I also like the fact it's no longer just called XCOM, but has a proper title of it's own (even if it will now incorrectly be referred to as XCOM The Bureau.

[spoodie]

Nice to see this back on. It was a little disappointing when it seemed to get crushed into non-existence by the weight of Internet disapproval, fuelled by nostalgia for the original.