I’ll have a preview for this incredibly intriguing turn-based strategy game from Russian developer Snowbird Games as soon as possible. In the meantime, here’s a slew of screens from E3 courtesy of Snowbird.
For those playing at home:
Yes, those look sort of like HoMM. No, I don’t think it plays exactly like HoMM although the combat is clearly inspired by it.
Full gallery after the break…
A huge part of XCOM is what goes on outside of a mission — the goings on at XCOM HQ. This trailer shows off how this is all going to work inside the new version set to to release in October.
This looks great, but I’m hoping we can switch to each room quickly. After a while those neat visuals could get in the way if it’s not handled properly. Still, the details provided in the trailer are very encouraging.
There’s been a bunch of cool X-COM content popping up the past few days and, the more I see, the more confidence I have in the project. My gut tells me Firaxis is doing this one right. And my gut is hardly ever wrong. The first thing you should check out is part 1 of Rock Paper Shotgun’s Alec Meer interview with lead designer, Jake Solomon. Tons of good stuff here and, evidently, much more on the way.
Next we have Game Informer’s breakdown of two separate combat encounters. While I’ll admit I have some questions about the logic behind how some of these encounters played out, this my friends, is X-COM.
Obviously, I hardly need to tell you people about the big news today. That’s right: It’s my kids’ first day back to school! Also, some obscure company by the name of Firaxis -I think they once did some funky history of the world strategy type game- announced they are doing their own reboot of the venerable, and much-loved (by old people) X-COM* franchise. Unlike the one in development at 2k Marin, this will not be a shooter, but instead a more traditional take on the original 1994 game, as revealed today over at Game Informer. Here’s the money quote for those of you concerned about this also being ginned up for a console release:
The huge feature in February’s Game Informer goes into all the gory details of XCOM’s destructible tactical environments, the interaction between the real-time strategic view and the turn-based combat, how the XCOM organization improves its capabilities as the war rages on, and much more.
You had me at real-time strategic view and turn-based combat. Hugs!
Now, measured skepticism is always healthy. I would not be shocked to see the final product be more akin to X-COM: Pirates! Edition. And let’s not forget that Railroads! was not exactly a rip-roaring success. At the same time, if executed well, I could see a bit more simplistic re-imagining of X-COM working exceedingly well and bringing in a lot of new players. I may actually have to buy Game Informer this month, so I can find out some more. That’s something I’ve never done.
You do have to wonder how this affects the Xenonauts project. Those guys have been at work for a good long while now and it would be sad if it gets blown out of the water before it has a chance to rise or fall on its own merits. Hopefully there will be enough to differentiate the two games to make playing both of them worthwhile.
That said, Firaxis! X-COM! Woo!
*I do realize the actual title doesn’t use a hyphen. I find this strange and vaguely threatening and will continue to use the hyphen as god intended.