Wainy316 Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 This one seems to have passed me by, but it appears that one of my all time favourite games is being re-made and the release is imminent. The original was so in depth for it's time and it appears to be maintaining a lot of them elements of the original, including gradually building your technology through capturing the aliens equipment in combat, and performing autopsies on their corpses. Anyway, I am very much looking forward to this and will probably put Resi 6, which appears to be pretty underwhelming on the back burner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Designer1 Posted October 3, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted October 3, 2012 This one seems to have passed me by, but it appears that one of my all time favourite games is being re-made and the release is imminent. Yep, exactly the same as me. I was a massive fan of Laser Squad on the Amiga and XCOM was very much in the same envelope. I had it on PS1 and iirc it took up every bit of space on a memory card for one save I'll definitely be picking this up eventually, but there's too much other stuff on the go at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 Really looking forward to this. There's a demo on Steam if you want to try it out and see what the mechanics are like (it's a bit dull if you know kind of what to do as it's just the tutorial). For people who want to get it for PC, it's current on Green Man Gaming for £21.50. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daft Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 Loved the original and played it to death! Really looking forward to this. In fact, I haven't been this excited for a game since I was about 14. And I'm an old git of 35. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Designer1 Posted October 13, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted October 13, 2012 Just picked this up on the PS3 - I lost over a hundred hours on the original PS1 version and i'm hoping it's as challenging and rewarding as that was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daft Posted October 13, 2012 Share Posted October 13, 2012 I'm up to the final mission now (after a few false starts) and **** me, this is good. I loved the original to bits, and this has the same feeling of dread when you clear out a UFO as the old one did. Can't recommend it enough. It's completely absorbing see-sawing with aliens. Firaxis really outdid themselves on this. Probably the best game I've played. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Designer1 Posted October 13, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted October 13, 2012 Played about 6 hours so far and they went by in the blink of an eye. Riveting, absorbing, perfectly balanced gameplay, absolutely superb. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daft Posted October 13, 2012 Share Posted October 13, 2012 Played about 6 hours so far and they went by in the blink of an eye. Riveting, absorbing, perfectly balanced gameplay, absolutely superb. Some absolutely amazing moments, going from absolute despair to triumph in a mad turn or two. The opposite as well obviously, which is the fantastic thing about it. One great/poor move and the tables are suddenly turned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laivasse Posted October 13, 2012 Share Posted October 13, 2012 Really a great, absorbing game. At first I was lamenting my decision to play on Classic. Some harsh losses and reloads later and I've finally got into the rhythm of things. The sense of reward you get for a solid tactical play paying off is the bees knees. I'm at the point where I've captured my first Outsider, only just starting to kit out my troops in decent armour and a laser weapon here and there. Trying desperately to keep up with the necessary pace of research. The best moment so far has been capturing that Outsider. The previous mission was a horrible wash - everyone killed except for one vet who was left out of action. Then I had an intercepted UFO with only a squad of 4 rookies to investigate it. I had a go just to see how it went - had to reload a wipe-out or two. But then it all came together and I killed two floaters, then one more through a reaction shot, one through panic fire, and finally I used a rookie as bait for the Outsider, to distract from my key rookie with the arc thrower. He moved in and tied things up as the sole survivor. That guy is now a fledgling support unit, carrying the only laser rifle I can afford. This game can really swallow up the hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daft Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 Finished my Normal play through. On to Classic/Ironman tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted October 17, 2012 Author Share Posted October 17, 2012 Ordered this yesterday? Is there different modes to play it on then? Classic etc. What would you recommend? Is classic closer to the original? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 What would you recommend? Is classic closer to the original? If you played the original, play classic. Modes are: Easy: If you struggle to turn on your PC in the morning. Full on idiot mode. Normal: I'd say for people fairly new to turn based strategy. Classic: If you've played other similar games Impossible: For masochists There's an optional ironman mode that is to stop you constantly reloading when you fail - it only lets you have one save file. I do not recommend this, as it adds nothing to the game unless you completely lack will-power, and there have been some people who have lost their game and had to restart over, because if you encounter a bug, you can't just reload an old save. Not that common, but there's no reason to risk it, imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted October 17, 2012 Author Share Posted October 17, 2012 Cheers. Is there a difference in the depth of games (ie. features missing) over the modes or does it purely determine the difficulty? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laivasse Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 Cheers. Is there a difference in the depth of games (ie. features missing) over the modes or does it purely determine the difficulty? It's not so much any sort of features missing, but the devs have said that the AI is intentionally shackled on Normal and below. On Classic, the AI plays to win (as well as having higher health and hit %). Also on Classic mode you start out without having a pre-built Officer School (used for squad expansion and upgrades). You need to build it yourself which takes money and time, as opposed to Normal where it's there as soon as you start. I've never played XCOM before but I played on Classic. I am just about keeping my head above water, with the help of some very occasional reloading, but I think I'm quite near the end of the game and the panic levels are starting to get out of control. I'm losing the backing of countries left and right, so I may not be able to complete the game on this play through. I've read that Normal is much, much easier than Classic, so I would probably be steamrollering that mode, but I would not enjoy that at all. The challenge makes the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daft Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 Did first playthrough on Normal, ha lost 6 soldiers when game finished. My Classic playthrough ended in defeat after 124 days. Total losses: 39. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 Just kitted out my most experienced soldier, Colonel Ernertso 'Doomsday' Chavez, with a heavy plasma rifle. Not much stands up to that sort of firepower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laivasse Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 Just kitted out my most experienced soldier, Colonel Ernertso 'Doomsday' Chavez, with a heavy plasma rifle. Not much stands up to that sort of firepower. It's good stuff, but wait until you see what a Colonel level sniper with plasma sniper rifle can do. I'm not sure there's an alien unit on the field that can survive the heat it brings. The hardest part is positioning, however. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 As good as some parts of this game are, I think I've just had enough, I may wait for a patch. In any UFO mission that had multiple layers, the camera is genuinely awful. I'd go so far to say it's the worst camera I've ever seen in a game. I've had to reload a few times on a single level just because instead of going to the square I was trying to click on, my assault abandoned the rest of the squad and ran up to the roof. The camera spazzing out when you go to the edge of the map is one thing, but the problem in any multiple-layer structure is just ridiculous. If it's not making it incredibly difficult to select the right floor, it's refusing to even let you see the floor because it thinks what you really want to see is a roof. It's a disgrace that the camera got out of alpha testing in this state. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted October 19, 2012 Author Share Posted October 19, 2012 Absolutely loving this. The only thing missing that I loved about the original is being able to pick up and throw corpses. I am ready to assault the first alien base but don't feel ready to attack yet? I assume I am ok to delay it without it becoming unavailable or panic increasing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 Absolutely loving this. The only thing missing that I loved about the original is being able to pick up and throw corpses. I am ready to assault the first alien base but don't feel ready to attack yet? I assume I am ok to delay it without it becoming unavailable or panic increasing? There's no time limit, you don't need to worry about it being unavailable. The longer the game goes on, the more UFO invasions will occur and the more panic will rise, so that is a concern, but it may well be worth it if your squad is not up to it yet, in terms of weapons and armour. Spoiler, not sure if you'll want to know this for your first playthrough, but it's useful to know: The alien base mission will reset panic of all countries (apart from those who've abandoned XCOM), to the lowest rating, so it may be worth delaying it until you have countries at max rating, gearing up and leveling soldiers, then doing it to reset panic. Just be careful not to wait to long as you'll lose them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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