46 replies to this topic

[TLBFestus]

The game still has that "one more turn" attraction that the original game had.

I can't say that I'm totally happy with some of the camera angles and visual implementation of the game, but I've burned far too many late night hours at it already.

Over all, a worthy successor to the franchise.

[Adridos]

TLBFestus, on 14 October 2012 - 01:40 AM, said:

I can't say that I'm totally happy with some of the camera angles and visual implementation of the game, but I've burned far too many late night hours at it already.

The way camera is angled compared to the ground (0 1st person, 90 top-down view), or the way it is orientated?

[TLBFestus]

I guess the best way to describe the view is isometric and you can rotate your view in 90 degree increments, which is fine, but when fighting on multiple levels the camera is a bit touchy and will often switch to a different "floor" than your character is actually on. Often you have to tweak it again and it gets annoying that it happens with each trooper in the middle of a heated fire fight.

Still, it kept me up til 3:30 am and I was surprised when I finally looked at the clock.

Edited by TLBFestus, 14 October 2012 - 10:46 AM.

[TLBFestus]

Finally finished enough of the game to put my 2 bits in on it for those of you who might be interested in this game.

I'm into my 3rd game of it, and it's a very worthy successor to the original.

The game gives you several difficulty levels to play at, and within that you can chose "Ironman" mode. Basically in Ironman mode you only get 1 save, so going back after a bad decision is next to impossible.

Just as in the original game, you have turn based movement of your squad, during which they can move, fire, take cover or do other actions. The number of moves (usually 2) are modified by the action/weapon you chose to use.

There is a fog of war, so you can't see the entire map, and the Aliens out of your visual range can't be seen. They operate under the same basic rule set as you do.

As an update, obviously the graphics are vastly improved, and they have updated the weapons and aliens, but it's still the same game.

As your soldiers gain experience they unlock additional skills and abilities, so they are not just generic cannon fodder. If one gets killed in battle they are gone permanently along with all the skills they cultivated and you have to hire new "rookie" recruits with less experience and hope they survive long enough to gain experience and become more powerful tools.

You operate the game on two levels;

Firstly, there is the global level where you choose your base, build your facility, train troops, research new tech and engineer new weapons and systems.

In this portion of the game you are tasked with trying to manage the map and the countries that fund the XCOM project. You need to launch satellites to detect Alien craft, supply strike craft to intercept them, and generally try to protect as many countries as you can.

In the end it is impossible to protect them all, and over time countries lose faith in your project and stop funding it. If you lose 7 or 8 countries you lose the game, so strategic planning and management of your resources is paramount.

In my first run through I lost all support fairly early and thought I'd just be able to carry on funding myself through grey market sales of alien tech. I was sorely disappointed when it ended. Avoiding losing too much support is vital or the game ends.

In my second attempt I chose "Ironman" mode, and I was clinging to viability by one country when I made my next mistake. Initially when you survey the globe, Countries are listed in varying states of panic, basically 1-4. Once they reach a level of 4 they can quit the project.

I was hanging on by one Country and had just completed a salvage/rescue mission where my team had taken a lot of damage and I had soldiers in hospital recuperating when a mission came up in one of the countries I was protecting.

Since their terror level was only level 1 I thought I could let that mission slide to give my experienced troops a few more days to heal up, so I let the mission expire.

Game over....again. I guess that once you are down to one country they just aren't tolerant of failure. I ended up starting again.

Second part is the actual combat, which I can best relate through my 3rd try at the game;

On my current 3rd go at the game, in Ironman mode again, I am down to a one Country tolerance again, but Have been fighting every battle and I'm still going.

I thought I had researched everything, I had troops with maximum experience and updated weapons and I thought I was near the end game when i went on a simple mission to capture a "medium scout" with my seasoned veterans, the least experienced of which had over 30 missions and probably 40 kills.

My bad, I moved my troops too carelessly when the AI sends it's Aliens out and my turns were exhausted. There was a new Alien, an Ethereal, making his first appearance. I had totally forgotten about these from the first game, and that was a bad mistake.

The Ethereal mind controlled one of my powerful assault troops. The Ethereal was out of range and a difficult target, and I was hoping I could incapacitate my soldier rather than kill him (he had awesome stats), and that was my undoing.


My team was decimated, one by one they got taken down until I had one several injured veteran sniper left and he was subject to panic attacks. Figuring I was screwed anyhow I kept him in the fight. I was also concerned that I could NOT fail or the game would end.

He was wearing ghost armour which is a new option in this game and he was up against a mind controlled Assault I' had lost control of and the Ethereal. Using the ghost ability I managed to keep my sniper undetected until the mind control wore off.

At that point the Ethereal turned on my Assault and killed him with a blast of energy. Damn....I was hoping he might be saved. I uncloaked my sniper and he head-shotted the Ethereal to end the map and the mission was a "success".

I lost 4 seasoned troops with probably 130 kills between them and decimated my collection of veteran soldiers.

Since then I have rebuilt my troops and have another relatively seasoned group, but damn I still miss MAD DOG and WEREWOLF, my lethal assault duo, may they Rest in Peace (see image below).

I'm just about ready to head into the endgame now, as I have researched and developed everything in the game, but I keep doing "just one more mission" to gain experience for some soldiers. One wrong move and I could be faced with another wipe out of my squad.


That's what is so good about this game. It's got that classic, "Just one more turn, just one more Mission" hook to it, just like the original. If you liked the original, and you like a bit of turn based strategy this game is da bomb.

Is there anything wrong with it? If I had one complaint it's about the camera angles, especially when you are inside an Alien ship or building, that constantly revert to a view that blocks your vision of your troops. It's annoying and time consuming to reposition your camera with every turn.

The animated cut scenes get repetitive as well, but that's all I've got on the downside for this game.

I think it's got good replay value as well, so check it out if you are interested. They do offer a demo version on STEAM but it's short and only gives you a taste of the full game.







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Edited by TLBFestus, 20 October 2012 - 03:15 PM.

[MustrumRidcully]

I've actually never played an X-Com game before, but I am enjoying this one so far.

I wish there were good turn based games.

[Magnificent Bastard]

MustrumRidcully, on 25 October 2012 - 02:05 AM, said:

I wish there were good turn based games.

X-Com
Xenonauts <----- In Alpha (preorder is cheap)
Civilization
Galactic Civilization
Battle For Wesnoth <---- Free to Play
Card Hunter <----- In development but also will be Free to Play

Also there is a gameboy advance game called "Advance Wars" which is quite good despite the limiting nature of the medium.

Edited by Magnificent Bastard, 26 October 2012 - 03:55 PM.

[CeeKay Boques]

Magnificent *******, on 26 October 2012 - 03:54 PM, said:

X-Com
Xenonauts <----- In Alpha (preorder is cheap)
Civilization
Galactic Civilization
Battle For Wesnoth <---- Free to Play
Card Hunter <----- In development but also will be Free to Play

Also there is a gameboy advance game called "Advance Wars" which is quite good despite the limiting nature of the medium.

Jagged Alliance 2 (get the 1.13 patch!)