The revised setting is going to be a sticking point for many XCOM fans, but makes a surprising amount of sense the 50s were a time of political paranoia, which the B movies of the age reflected.
Umm, what kind of sense, it has absolutely nothing to do with X-Com any more, apart from aliens setting. That's like calling Duke Nukem a sequal to X-Com. :P I really hate what they do with this...miss use, of a good name, just because they can only manage to do shooters and got no ideas of their own to attract people.
As for the indie games that are riding the wave of this, I've yet to see one that gets me excited. I mean, I get excited after a quick glance and realise they will probably have most of the things that got me excited about the original game, but realise they'll probably have very few things that will make me want to play them instead of just going back and play the original one
This review seems COMPLETELY biased and basically is just a big ad. I wonder if they didn't write it themselves.
It's obviously 2K's own version of X-COM, with little to no regard of the previous games. Screenshots look dull and uninspiring, and all this "we've done a lot of research" PR bits are becoming the developers' way of substituting original game and art design (see dues ex 3 team boasting on how they bought (!) books for research).
What it boils down to is gameplay... this could be a helluva fun game, you really don't know.
Well, bear in that the original game's art design research extended to what comic books were popular at that time, and I believe the main story of it was heavily based on one (non-comic) book in particular (title eludes me now...)
As for the indie games that are riding the wave of this, I've yet to see one that gets me excited. I mean, I get excited after a quick glance and realise they will probably have most of the things that got me excited about the original game, but realise they'll probably have very few things that will make me want to play them instead of just going back and play the original one
For me they mostly lack the polish that the original had, they've been mostly pretty so and so in that department.
it's mostly halfway quality graphics, halfway design on them, and halfway gameplay.
Hey check it out, a screenshot from the new Mario FPS
This game looks terrible. Actually, the sad part is that it looks somewhat cool on its own, but trying to pawn it off as X-Com is terrible, funny, and depressing.
For me they mostly lack the polish that the original had, they've been mostly pretty so and so in that department.
it's mostly halfway quality graphics, halfway design on them, and halfway gameplay.
That seems unfortunately to be the case most of the time.. It's expected, though, since they don't have a budget to speak of, and talent willing to work for nothing is hard to find. You can only do that much with hard work and dedication.
Good example is The Silver Lining, that King's Quest-series tribute game. I'd love a new King's Quest game, one made by people who love it more than anything else, but it looks ugly and dated. A major appeal of the original games were the gorgeous graphics (even the old EGA games looked good for the time). Take that away and it suddenly becomes so much less interesting..
Hey check it out, a screenshot from the new Mario FPS
This game looks terrible. Actually, the sad part is that it looks somewhat cool on its own, but trying to pawn it off as X-Com is terrible, funny, and depressing.
That seems unfortunately to be the case most of the time.. It's expected, though, since they don't have a budget to speak of, and talent willing to work for nothing is hard to find. You can only do that much with hard work and dedication.
Good example is The Silver Lining, that King's Quest-series tribute game. I'd love a new King's Quest game, one made by people who love it more than anything else, but it looks ugly and dated. A major appeal of the original games were the gorgeous graphics (even the old EGA games looked good for the time). Take that away and it suddenly becomes so much less interesting..
With that said though, if a few good friends, who also happen to be great designers and artists get together to do the visuals of an xcom like game, it could actually turn out well, compared to a budget studio.
xenonauts seems to actually have some kind of quality going on according to the conceptwork, but it might just be that.
I would actually pay 60 dollars for a game dedicated to gunning down the inhabitants of the mushroom kingdom.
Not a flash game, either.
Honestly, killing bowser executioner style (not with the axe..) is quite possibly the most awesome thing I could imagine.
With that said though, if a few good friends, who also happen to be great designers and artists get together to do the visuals of an xcom like game, it could actually turn out well, compared to a budget studio.
xenonauts seems to actually have some kind of quality going on according to the conceptwork, but it might just be that.
Imagine a torchlight of xcom games.
Yeah, a few of us at work have been juggling around with a few ideas since we're quite keen on doing a project for fun on our spare time, and the most likely idea is an X-COM-like game. We're thinking we'd be quite likely to get it somewhere considering we're all professional game devs and are used to working together. Biggest problem seems to find time to work on it, and also figure out all the legal aspects of it. I've heard about studios where employees got into trouble for working on non-profit projects on their spare time, not even using studio property to do so.
Apparently their employers thought it was strange that they wouldn't do insane crunch, but could go home and work on a game in their free time.
Not saying the company I work for is that way, since I honestly don't know. I just want to avoid such a situation altogether.
Well, i'm excited, but the use of the X-com name doesn't do this game any good, as all it'll do is make fans of the original series angry. I guess I don't understand how things work, is it exceedingly difficult to get a new IP or do companies just choose not to for some reason?
Well, i'm excited, but the use of the X-com name doesn't do this game any good, as all it'll do is make fans of the original series angry. I guess I don't understand how things work, is it exceedingly difficult to get a new IP or do companies just choose not to for some reason?
It is a bit easier to ride on a previous IP I guess, especially since xcom is considered quite a popular one amongst the fans atleast, but that's the problem.
This game could just aswell be bioshock3 the way its going, and the 2k heads are most likely happy to hear that it will be.
While I would've probably enjoyed this one (hey I like fps's) it means that buying this would send the message that the xcom genre should end up a shooter one, and that the strategy genre that xcom had is a dying one and not worth putting money in, if and when this game becomes a hit, it means that xcom will never end up the same again, much like shock ended up.
As a big 50's, 60's slut im all over this. You people saying it's raping it's origins. It's not like it's the first time anyway. Wasn't there alot of whine and bitching about bioshock? "Wah it's supposed to be like system shock! wah" aswell and everyone was "omg" when that was released.
It was the other way around with bioshock, since it was turning out to be quite a true spiritual sucessor, with all the gameplay that came with it, but it's no secret that they had to cut back on it a bit, still a visually wonderful game, just not up there with the previous shock games.
There's a reason why xcom keeps ending up really high up on best games ever lists, that reason shouldn't be discared so quickly to cash in on the bioshock hype.
I want to be optimistic, but they've made no attempt to show the core elements that made xcom what it is, they're only trying to make a game that their newfound bioshock crowd will buy.
i liked the x-com logo at the end, and the part where the alien blob inserts itself to the man' mouth and he goes argblblblbl. but that's it. where is the management part? where is the tension build-up? and how the hell do u kill a blob with a shotgun?
the idea of making it an fps isnt necessarily bad, but they're disregarding (or not showing) the main elements that made x-com what it was: the mystery, the eerie tension, the research and complete feel of being the underdog, all the way to the end.
as for sshock vs bioshcok, i really cant see the similarities beyond the idealogical and philosophical aspects (that reoccur on any kev levine game). ss was more akeen to deux ex than bioshock, gameplay wise.
i liked the x-com logo at the end, and the part where the alien blob inserts itself to the man' mouth and he goes argblblblbl. but that's it. where is the management part? where is the tension build-up? and how the hell do u kill a blob with a shotgun?
the idea of making it an fps isnt necessarily bad, but they're disregarding (or not showing) the main elements that made x-com what it was: the mystery, the eerie tension, the research and complete feel of being the underdog, all the way to the end.
as for sshock vs bioshcok, i really cant see the similarities beyond the idealogical and philosophical aspects (that reoccur on any kev levine game). ss was more akeen to deux ex than bioshock, gameplay wise.
I think this is somewhat how I feel too, which is quite shocking since irrational was behind SWAT4, which is a great example of a tactical squad based first person shooter, which would've been a better way to bring this over into a new perspective.
But that does remind me that they're targeting the bioshock crowd, not the x-com crowd.
just watched the trailer there and I've gotta say, it looks like a pretty damn good generic fps, and having not played the original they've sold me.
that being said It'd be a lot more impressive if they hadn't slapped the x-com name on top of the semi-original-ish alien fps they probably started out with.
yeah, i hate to say it- but i`d be willing to wager that the bioshock-FPS fan base probably dwarfs the x-com player base.
And I hate to hear it, but its true yes, same with systemshock and bioshock: bioshock is a way bigger hit with the crowd, and in money terms a way better IP.
You never know when they'll bend civilization out of sid meiers hands and make it a 50's shooter.
I never played the original games (shame on me I suppose) but I've got to say this new one does look interesting. I mean it's too early to really tell, but it has definitely got style going for it already.
I dunno, I was pretty impressed with the trailer...but then again I'm a complete sucker for 50s era anything. But you gotta admit, you don't mess with a man wearing belly high pants/suspenders/fedora and a big ass shotgun.
2k australia/marin is the bioshock 2 team, though.
So it is-- oops.
About the video/setting:
While the art direction is somewhat different than a lot of shooters, after Bioshock and Fallout 3, I am kind of tired of 50's window dressing. I am also getting a bit weary of kind-of-like-TF2 cartoony characters.
I don't think I can get past the name thing. This is more X-Files than X-Com...
How sweet would a true X-Com fps be set in the crappilly awesome early nineties like the original? Set it even further back I reckon so you can get some 80's flavour in there too.
"We've been working on this game on and off for around five years now", Jonathan Pelling, creative director at the studio, tells us. "Before BioShock 2, before BioShock."
"It gave us a chance to implement a lot of ideas in the first-person shooter space we've wanted to introduce for some time now. Make this game a new kind of FPS, something that's never been tried in the genre before."
"So when the chance came to use the XCOM license, it was a great opportunity to take some of those game ideas and blend everything together, taking everything we thought was important from the old X-Com to make something new for those who had never played that game before."
Yeah, I already commented on the whole setting and still say that this is bull. Its like calling the movie "A.I." for "Terminator: The Child", sure it got robots in it, but apart from that it got nothing to do with the originals, and that's okay because I enjoyed A.I. but sure would have thought something else if it had the "Terminator" label on it.
Replies
Umm, what kind of sense, it has absolutely nothing to do with X-Com any more, apart from aliens setting. That's like calling Duke Nukem a sequal to X-Com. :P I really hate what they do with this...miss use, of a good name, just because they can only manage to do shooters and got no ideas of their own to attract people.
It's obviously 2K's own version of X-COM, with little to no regard of the previous games. Screenshots look dull and uninspiring, and all this "we've done a lot of research" PR bits are becoming the developers' way of substituting original game and art design (see dues ex 3 team boasting on how they bought (!) books for research).
What it boils down to is gameplay... this could be a helluva fun game, you really don't know.
Lol @ Disco
For me they mostly lack the polish that the original had, they've been mostly pretty so and so in that department.
it's mostly halfway quality graphics, halfway design on them, and halfway gameplay.
This game looks terrible. Actually, the sad part is that it looks somewhat cool on its own, but trying to pawn it off as X-Com is terrible, funny, and depressing.
Good example is The Silver Lining, that King's Quest-series tribute game. I'd love a new King's Quest game, one made by people who love it more than anything else, but it looks ugly and dated. A major appeal of the original games were the gorgeous graphics (even the old EGA games looked good for the time). Take that away and it suddenly becomes so much less interesting..
Hey give mario fps a chance!!
With that said though, if a few good friends, who also happen to be great designers and artists get together to do the visuals of an xcom like game, it could actually turn out well, compared to a budget studio.
xenonauts seems to actually have some kind of quality going on according to the conceptwork, but it might just be that.
Imagine a torchlight of xcom games.
Not a flash game, either.
Honestly, killing bowser executioner style (not with the axe..) is quite possibly the most awesome thing I could imagine.
Apparently their employers thought it was strange that they wouldn't do insane crunch, but could go home and work on a game in their free time.
Not saying the company I work for is that way, since I honestly don't know. I just want to avoid such a situation altogether.
If anything I would hope studios encourage people to work on hobbyprojects on their free time, to help them develop their skills.
I guess its up to what your contract says.
http://kotaku.com/5560602/our-first-look-at-xcom-in-motion
It is a bit easier to ride on a previous IP I guess, especially since xcom is considered quite a popular one amongst the fans atleast, but that's the problem.
This game could just aswell be bioshock3 the way its going, and the 2k heads are most likely happy to hear that it will be.
While I would've probably enjoyed this one (hey I like fps's) it means that buying this would send the message that the xcom genre should end up a shooter one, and that the strategy genre that xcom had is a dying one and not worth putting money in, if and when this game becomes a hit, it means that xcom will never end up the same again, much like shock ended up.
There's a reason why xcom keeps ending up really high up on best games ever lists, that reason shouldn't be discared so quickly to cash in on the bioshock hype.
I want to be optimistic, but they've made no attempt to show the core elements that made xcom what it is, they're only trying to make a game that their newfound bioshock crowd will buy.
the idea of making it an fps isnt necessarily bad, but they're disregarding (or not showing) the main elements that made x-com what it was: the mystery, the eerie tension, the research and complete feel of being the underdog, all the way to the end.
as for sshock vs bioshcok, i really cant see the similarities beyond the idealogical and philosophical aspects (that reoccur on any kev levine game). ss was more akeen to deux ex than bioshock, gameplay wise.
by taking photograph's of dead bodies/enemies for research points.
...who's making this again???
I think this is somewhat how I feel too, which is quite shocking since irrational was behind SWAT4, which is a great example of a tactical squad based first person shooter, which would've been a better way to bring this over into a new perspective.
But that does remind me that they're targeting the bioshock crowd, not the x-com crowd.
yeah, i hate to say it- but i`d be willing to wager that the bioshock-FPS fan base probably dwarfs the x-com player base.
THIS IS NOT IRRATIONAL GAMES, DEVELOPER OF BIOSHOCK. THIS IS 2k MARIN, DEVELOPER OF BIOSHOCK 2
No Ken levine! he's working on secret project whatever like always
that being said It'd be a lot more impressive if they hadn't slapped the x-com name on top of the semi-original-ish alien fps they probably started out with.
The people actually making it are 2K Australia, who have been renamed 2K Marin, despite being on the wrong continent.
"from the makers of Bioshock"-- do they really think people are stupid enough to believe that? It's like they are actually trying to ruin their rep.
And I hate to hear it, but its true yes, same with systemshock and bioshock: bioshock is a way bigger hit with the crowd, and in money terms a way better IP.
You never know when they'll bend civilization out of sid meiers hands and make it a 50's shooter.
About the video/setting:
While the art direction is somewhat different than a lot of shooters, after Bioshock and Fallout 3, I am kind of tired of 50's window dressing. I am also getting a bit weary of kind-of-like-TF2 cartoony characters.
I don't think I can get past the name thing. This is more X-Files than X-Com...
http://kotaku.com/5613458/what-came-first-the-xcom-or-the-game
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/08/14/x-com-creator-on-xcom/
http://www.gry-online.pl/S013.asp?ID=61652
Magicians use the distraction of the audience to make their magic seem, well, magical.
http://kotaku.com/5873348/x+com-returns-to-turn+based-strategy-with-enemy-unknown