The XCOM Thread

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Wed Oct 10, 2012 10:19 pm

Got XCOM! Oh, the weight hanging over this one. Will someone finally remake the classic, legendary X-COM (Or UFO or whatever it was called) without completely fucking it up??

There will be more talk about this, which is why I created a whole thread, but it's time for

MINI REVIEW BY PINBACK
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I wasn't one of the UFO disciples of yore. Had nothing against the game, just never played it, and when I tried, I got killed right away.

I will say, in the ONE DAY I've had the new one, I've had more fun than I ever had trying to figure out the old one. I know directing your guys one square at a time out of the Skyranger, and fiddling with your ammo every time was magical for some of you, but it just made me tired, and if the new one does any two things right, it is:

1. Cutting out all the stuff that some probably adored but to most was probably a pain in the ass.

2. COVER FINALLY WORKS PROPERLY. That is, you can shoot from behind cover. Granted, the animation for this is often ridiculous, but I HATED HATED HATED that about the first game, that you had to come out of cover to shoot.

Maybe it's #2, and maybe it's that this version is much more forgiving early in the game, but I'm finally able to make progress in an XCOM game, and it feels good. It feels right.

The base-building stuff I like more, too, because 1) it looks really cool, and 2) you get engineers/scientists by winning scenarios or building facilities, not by clicking on a spreadsheet. Again, fiddling with the numbers was fun for some, but this version seems to do EVERYTHING possible to streamline the process.

Love it. LOVE IT.

And it wasn't even the best game I bought yesterday.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 9:20 am

Nope? Nobody?

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 10:44 pm

I'm on a hot streak making my next game. I'll play XCOM when I am less enthused about the new stuff, sir.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Wed Oct 17, 2012 11:16 pm

Game's really excellent, you guys. Too much scripted shit, the camera is all fucked up, and it's still the best thing going.

And for you old-time UFO Defense fagg-- what do we say here now? Cunts? For you old UFO cunts who miss walking your guys off the ship, I noticed that they put the exact same clink-clank sound effect in the little cutscene of your guys walking off the Skyranger.

Boom, there ya go. Guys walking down the plank. Except it doesn't take the first three turns of the godda--

You know, this game, with its flaws, makes me wonder how anyone could stand the original, because the stuff it does RIGHT, that I know for a fact the original does WRONG, is enough to call them dealbreakers at this point for going backwards.

This is the same feeling I had about SC2 vs. Brood War. All the oldtimers decry how much better Brood War was, and then I went back and tried to play it after putting a good deal of time into SC2, and you could not pay me by the GOD DAMNED NANOSECOND to go back to the way it was.

Wish there was less scripted shit. Wish the camera worked better. Do not care. Love it.