Original message (1218 Views )
| Spoon 1930th Post
 
Gold Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Executive
   
    
    
    
    
|  "X-COM rises again!" , posted Thu 15 Apr 06:13
Everybody here has some game that is yet more than just a seminal experience for them. Iggy can talk for ages about every Romancing SaGa. Nobi could probably go into historical detail on every frame of every animation of every character in 3S.
For me, one of the games that I can't shut up about is X-COM UFO Defense.
But I'm so conflicted about this piece of news:
http://ca.kotaku.com/5516654/x+com-is-back
I remember long long ago when X-COM Alliance was announced, and how excited I was for that; taking the X-COM setting, and combining it with squad-based FPS combat, more plot, an alliance with the Sectoids, the research and tactical elements of X-COM... the potential was limitless. And in that limitless potential is beauty that will remain forever unmatched, because the GAME GOT CANNED. Hooray.
Fast forward about a decade or so, and we find 2K in charge of X-COM. It will be FPS. It will be made by the Bioshock people (so at the very least, it'll look good). But there's a line from the PR person that really unnerves me: "gripping narrative ride".
One of the key things about the X-COM was how invested you might (or might not) be with your guys. By making permanent character death a common possibility, guys that you chose to not let die grew to matter. Guys that you sent in with the expectation of dying would either die and meet your callous expectations/gloats, or miraculously survive and make you go "wow!". Injured soldiers would need time to recover, during which new rookies might have to be drafted to fill in. You'd create parallel narratives for yourself with these lines of troops. Because the game does not invest in any particular character but instead makes all these potentially persistent characters equally disposable, the player can wind up building an attachment and emotional investment in them that is far beyond what any dialogue sequences could have achieved in this setting. Or maybe we just had really overactive imaginations back when we played it.
I do think it's interesting that a team choosing to go X-COM has finally stopped attempting the consistently failed endeavour of simply recreating an X-COM++. So many have attempted it over the years, and still none has wholly succeeded.
Or it's possible that I'm just reading too much into something that's not really meaningful. Again.
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| KTallguy 1202th Post
Red Carpet Executive Member
| "Re(1):X-COM rises again!" , posted Thu 15 Apr 10:23:
Please please please pleaseeeee.
So so depressing.
In the new one, you're an FBI agent shooting aliens in FPS :(
No Squad Management/Base Management/Economy.
It's like they wanted an X Files game but couldn't afford the license.
I just want someone to take the original X-Com game and structure, streamline it, put some nice production value into it, and sell it. The old ones are way too clunky and punishing by today's standards. I love the narrative with expendable soldiers but maybe have some "special" units, or units with personality like Jagged Alliance, could bring in new people.
If you've played Valkyria Chronicles, that game has parallels to X-Com, just without the environmental destruction. Turn based roaming, holding choke points, advancing. All the unique units have personality too, but the game system supports swapping characters in and out even if you don't use them often (types of units level up, not individuals). Give the demo a try if you haven't already.
Edit: Grammar. :)
Play to win... or to have fun too! :)
[this message was edited by KTallguy on Thu 15 Apr 10:27] |
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