E3 2011 – XCOM

Spoony | Jun 16 2011 | more | 
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The betrayal continues…

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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Baron-von-Graves/819905450 Baron von Graves

    Give this game any other name, and people will be happy.

    • http://twitter.com/bojak90 bojak90

       I know man, just call it “Outsiders 1950″ or “G-men”  and BOOM they’ve fixed a problem but they just couldn’t do that and had to say XCOM so all the old fans would start talking (they don’t even care if its good or bad as long as people talk).

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kristian-Jiron/100001062048612 Kristian Jiron

    It seems that you’re approaching this from a perspective of an XCom fanboy. I feel that this is the same criticism people threw at Fallout 3 when it was first shown. Coming at this from the perspective of someone who’s never gotten into XCom, this actually seems like an interesting concept. Taking the conventions and replacing the strategy interface with a shooter interface seems to me to be a strange, but promising approach. I understand that fans wanted more strategy, but at some point, you have to wonder: who even cares about XCom anymore? Your comments on the graphics are misplaced, due to the fact that the game is still a year out, and they have plenty of time to render, and for my money, the art style looks pretty cool.

    And as for more strategy, yeah it’s a shame that there’s a dearth of quality turn-based strategy games right now, but that’s more of a result of people having grown tired of turn-based strategy games in general. Apart from the Total War and Civ series, people have moved on. You can’t blame 2K for wanting to make a game that sells, and devoting tens of millions of dollars to making a strategy reboot of an old game series not too many people remember most likely wouldn’t make money. You think it’s a betrayal, fine. But I think more people than you would know or admit are legitimately excited for a shooter that requires thought and brainpower. I’ll hold judgment until the game ships, but for now, it’s an interesting concept, and I think it has serious potential to reignite interest in the XCom series. I’ve mentioned it before, but Fallout 3 had people frothing at the mouth because of its “betrayal”, and look at what a huge success that game turned out to be. (Not least of which it was a great product.) I really like you as a personality, and I value your opinion, but I wish that you wouldn’t spew venom at this game simply because it’s not exactly what you were expecting. That’s all.

    But yeah, comparisons with Final Fantasy Tactics are garbage. :)

    • Anonymous

      Here’s the problem with that logic:

      The setting is completely different.
      The gameplay is completely different.
      The aliens are completely different.

      So the only things even remotely the same from the previous games are the title and the fact that aliens are invading. If that’s the case… WHY call it X-Com? The ONLY reason is to try and get support from the name itself. This, in turn, implies that they WANT so-called “fanboys” to accept the game.

      And that is why the whole thing is a complete betrayal, because anything said people would be interested in is completely stripped away. If they wanted to make a completely new game, then just MAKE A NEW GAME. No one would care if this game was called ‘Aliens Attack the 50s’, but naming it ‘X-Com’ requires SOME link with the previous games otherwise it’s just a cheap and cynical marking ploy… AND NO COMPANY SHOULD EVER BE REWARDED FOR THAT.

    • David Gibson

      Posting this for a friend who is having trouble getting it to post on his own.

      “I care about X-COM. I still play it regularly not only because of nostalgia but because I’m a huge fan of the tactical gameplay married to progressing technology and characters that was the hallmark of the first three X-COM games. This game is a design disaster – for some reason the gameplay guys have decided to compete with some titanic brands like Mass Effect instead of striking out into uncharted territory. Sure, it would have been a gamble if they made a really big budget strategy game, but at the very least they wouldn’t have been going up against fucking Mass Effect 3 (which is going to leave their asshole in ruins). Even making it a cover based shooter has it going up against THE shooter industry titans. Hell, they’re even going into competition against THEMSELVES with this one – do you buy Bioshock Infinite and have a FPS set in a stylized version of america’s past where you dick around managing secondary characters’ magical powers and fight wacko monsters? Or do you buy “XCOM” and have a FPS set in a stylized version of america’s past where you dick around managing secondary characters’ alien magical powers and fight wacko aliens? What were they THINKING? Their competition in the turn based (or dare my heart dream, XCOM Apoc style realtime) tactics games are no slouches, but if you were a producer, would you be more scared of going up against the Mass 3 juggernaught or against the Fire Emblem series and a bunch of freeware X-COM knockoffs? Who the hell is afraid of losing against that?

      And his comments on the graphics are spot-on, considering that UFO Defense was rocking an anime art style that OOZED class from every pore. Hell, X-Com Apocalypse made retro style work a million times better by – wait for it – setting in the future like X-Com is freakin’ supposed to be so they could have these awesome hot-rod red rocketships flying around a huge dystopian city blasting everything to shit with plasma cannons. Half of X-Com that 2K hasn’t even seemed to have noticed was aerial combat. Apocalypse actually had the potential to be primarily about the aerial combat, where if you played well you didn’t have that many ground missions at all.

      Nope. Cover based shooter that looks like crap, hub-based mission system instead of actual strategic freedom, no market or management aspects to speak of, no air combat, no real risk in taking missions, a bunch of buzzwords taken from the real X-Com games (elerium, time units)… either way I lose. If they make a game that sells well, I don’t get the game I want. If they make a game that tanks, they bury a genre-defining franchise for good. If they make a game that I fall in love with forever and ever and shoots magic shining rainbows out of every second of play… it’s still not going to be X-Com. UFO Defense continually shows up on the lists people make of the greatest PC games of all time – and for good reason.”

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kristian-Jiron/100001062048612 Kristian Jiron

    It seems that you’re approaching this from a perspective of an XCom fanboy. I feel that this is the same criticism people threw at Fallout 3 when it was first shown. Coming at this from the perspective of someone who’s never gotten into XCom, this actually seems like an interesting concept. Taking the conventions and replacing the strategy interface with a shooter interface seems to me to be a strange, but promising approach. I understand that fans wanted more strategy, but at some point, you have to wonder: who even cares about XCom anymore? Your comments on the graphics are misplaced, due to the fact that the game is still a year out, and they have plenty of time to render, and for my money, the art style looks pretty cool.

    And as for more strategy, yeah it’s a shame that there’s a dearth of quality turn-based strategy games right now, but that’s more of a result of people having grown tired of turn-based strategy games in general. Apart from the Total War and Civ series, people have moved on. You can’t blame 2K for wanting to make a game that sells, and devoting tens of millions of dollars to making a strategy reboot of an old game series not too many people remember most likely wouldn’t make money. You think it’s a betrayal, fine. But I think more people than you would know or admit are legitimately excited for a shooter that requires thought and brainpower. I’ll hold judgment until the game ships, but for now, it’s an interesting concept, and I think it has serious potential to reignite interest in the XCom series. I’ve mentioned it before, but Fallout 3 had people frothing at the mouth because of its “betrayal”, and look at what a huge success that game turned out to be. (Not least of which it was a great product.) I really like you as a personality, and I value your opinion, but I wish that you wouldn’t spew venom at this game simply because it’s not exactly what you were expecting. That’s all.

    But yeah, comparisons with Final Fantasy Tactics are garbage. :)

  • Anonymous

    POINT OF CONTENTION!

    Tali doesn’t have Overload!

    I hope this new XCOM will be good, but I will certainly be waiting on reviews and possibly a price drop before buying. Keeping my eye on it either way though. Lots of games to anticipate!

    • Anonymous

      Tali doesn’t have Overload… In Mass Effect 2.

  • Anonymous

    POINT OF CONTENTION!

    Tali doesn’t have Overload!

    I hope this new XCOM will be good, but I will certainly be waiting on reviews and possibly a price drop before buying. Keeping my eye on it either way though. Lots of games to anticipate!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1659175268 Todd Hargosh

    Summon an Ethereal now and mind control the individuals at 2K Marin to give us the X-COM that we want!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_LRUIUQPADC7CDM7HWZJAJ52BL4 Kristian

    This is how I felt when Dean Devlin and Rnoald Emrich (don’t give  shit if names are spelt wrong) had the balls to make their piece of shit movie and call it a “remake of Godzilla”.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1218524780 Doug Hancox

    Spoony, No joke. You should lead a campaign to promote the original XCOM on Steam while simultaneously boycotting the new game. I think you have enough of a fanbase and enough friends to make a definite impact and send a message to the developers.

  • Nick Tolman

    It’s betrayal when XCOM does something different but Nintendo doing the exact same thing over and over is stale?

    • Anonymous

      Can we all please just STOP with the Nintendo comments? He already apologized for them. Bringing it up in the comments of every single video isn’t going to change his mind, and it doesn’t make you look cool, it makes you look like a butthurt fanboy. GET OVER IT!

      • Nick Tolman

        You know, you’re right. I should have qualified what I meant. I personally don’t own any of the current consoles (my mom and step dad bought a Wii for the kid they adopted but I don’t play it)

        However I’d like you to at least see where I’m coming from. I haven’t played the original XCOM but I did see that trailer. Sure it looked a little generic but it didn’t look all that bad to me. 

        Did you see his video about “Aliens: Colonial Marines”? He says that it looks like all the other Aliens games. If a game doesn’t look fun/interesting to him that’s fine. Different strokes, for different folks and all. It’s okay if his opinion is inconsistent about various games. We’re human, it’s par for the course. I’m just not understanding his level of hate for this game, which he hasn’t even played. 

    • Anonymous

      Yes

  • Anonymous

    The really sad thing about this game is that it’s actually legitimately interesting. The style of the xenos, the idea of a 50s agency fighting a interstellar war. I like it… except for the fact that it’s called XCOM. It has nothing to do with X-Com, and all they had to do, seriously, all they had to do to calm the pissed off fans, was change the name.

    But nope. They stubbornly stick to keeping this name slapped on a game that has nothing similar or iconic of X-Com; now I CAN’T get it out of sheer disgust. And really, are they hoping to draw in people with the name alone? Fans of the series won’t buy it, and the mainstream gamer probably doesn’t know what X-Com is. Most people didn’t know what Fallout was, and that is a WAY bigger name then X-Com.

    Folks… buy UFO: Extraterrestrials. That’s the true spiritual revival of the X-Com series. Don’t give any money to these twats.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1659175268 Todd Hargosh

      I saw Angry Joe’s review of Exterrestrials and it did look like a good game. Haven’t had the chance to play it though.
      Far as I’m concerned this game should be named XINO: XCOM In Name Only

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001326206746 Dexter Yocum

     Betrayal!

  • http://twitter.com/bojak90 bojak90

    Here’s the thing though.  Fallout 3 messed with some stuff but when all was said and done, you were still in the wasteland, you were still messing with perks, it was still an rpg and you even ran into some familiar faces.

    XCOM though has a completely different setting (1950s as opposed to near future), differnet organization (this is g-men when X-Com was a private group that was sponsoredd by global powers), different play style, different art style (watch the X-COM opening, which was screaming XTREME!!!)
    There is nothing to grab on to there’s nothing that remotely says “this is X-COM (and yes, I do know they took the hyphen out)

    It would be like if I made a game called Red Dead Revenge, set it in Vietnam, made sure that all the characters were from the East Coast, made it an RTS, and then said that it was like RDR becuase they could drink alchohol to get their stamina back

    • http://twitter.com/bojak90 bojak90

      sorry, that was supposed to be a reply to Kristian Jiron

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kristian-Jiron/100001062048612 Kristian Jiron

        Fair enough. I still think this game looks really interesting, but I agree that the XCom name was used simply because 2K wanted to capitalize on old IPs, and that dropping the name would do a lot to curb fan hatred. It still looks good, and I will probably check it out. Of course, it might suck, and then everyone will have a right to be pissed.

        • http://twitter.com/bojak90 bojak90

          I’ll admit that, despite the fact that I really hate the aesthetic (the humans look almost as alien as…well, the aliens) there are things I like.  I do like that the aliens act in interesting ways (sticking the guy in the wall, the way the Titan attacks, etc.) so I am still holding a tiny bit of hope that it will be good…I just got a bad feeling even puttng aside the name rage.

  • Logondo

    I never ended up playing the original XCom, but from what I’ve heard, it shares NOTHING in common.
    Different devs. Different aliens. Different story. Different timeline. Different setting. Different genre…Yeah, that sounds rough.

  • http://twitter.com/TehLegendOfDuke Dylan Dunn

    Keep in mind that this is coming from someone who’s never played an X-Com game before: even without having that sense of betrayal it still looks pretty damn bad. Aesthetically it looks a mess, and they “improved” it by ripping off Mass Effect now instead of Bioshock. I may eat my own words come March 6, but that remains to be seen.

    Nevermind the fact that’s the SAME EXACT DAY that Mass Effect 3 comes out. Actually, do mind it. This game just got royally screwed by Bioware’s delay, and I’d be surprised if 2K didn’t change the date. Maybe if they delay it more they can pull something out of their ass…

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Alex-Jennings/508741443 Alex Jennings

    This is not XCOM this is BETRAYAL!

    I’m sorry but no…………The psycho ex’s aborted fetus I have stored under my bed is more appealing?

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1752141987 Frank Han

    fuck this game, let’s all play xenonaunt!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Isaac-Snyder/1489356869 Isaac Snyder

    You know Spoony, your original video (yes the one with you shout betrayal) got me curious about the original. I went out and found the original and you know what? I can see EXACTLY why you hate this game already.

    The original was incredibly difficult, but fun. I find myself while playing on edge as my soldiers are inching through the darkness to the point of jumping when a shot comes from seemingly no where. It was intense, engaging, and interesting because it had the tech, it had the neat alien breeds, all of it.

    And I realize I am simply reiterating what Spoony has said, but it’s true: this is not X-Com, not even in spirit and it makes me feel a blend of anger and sadness that words cannot adequately describe. It Spoony works to boycott this game, I’m right there behind him.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001218463429 Tim House

    I don’t really know about X-COM that much, but this does seem kinda dumb.  It would be like turning Doom 4 into an RTS.  Actually, that could potentially be kinda kick-ass…
    “Chaingun squad! Flank the enemy cacodemon battalion!”

    • Anonymous

      Not quite. It’d be more like if Doom 4 was turned into an RTS. And took place on Earth. In the year 2000. And you fought street gangs with not a single demon anywhere through the entire game. And the only weapons available were various types of pointy sticks. Yet the whole thing was still called Doom 4.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1752141987 Frank Han

    looks like we have found a developer that spoony hates more than those asshole from Square Enix.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Nicholas-Ehlers/605463257 Nicholas Ehlers

    Maybe he meant Final Fantasy Mystic Quest.  You could get those confused.  If you were the dev team for this …thing.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Nicholas-Ehlers/605463257 Nicholas Ehlers

    Maybe he meant Final Fantasy Mystic Quest.  You could get those confused.  If you were the dev team for this …thing.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Roman-Monaghan/100000507912679 Roman Monaghan

    he thought he could pull out an old game not a lot of people know about and shit on it by saying their game stole from it. but Spoony was like “Not on my fucking watch”

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Marcus-Hartlow/100001299841940 Marcus Hartlow

    Honestly, I liked the first X-COM trailer they showed. It had the mystery and thought of the unknown. It looked slower paced, but that just made it feel more like the original turn-based gameplay. You were fighting against time to get in, search for the aliens, piece together some research and then get out before the shit hits the fan as the aliens’ big brother comes to play.

    This trailer? Holy shit, it looks so bad. THIS is where I scream betrayal.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=739395488 Rafael Peregrino

    “X-COM: The Betrayal”. Anyone up for an online petition to add this as the official subtitle?

    • Anonymous

      Well, don’t just talk about it. Do it, and drop a link.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Edward-Leser/100001015519472 Edward Leser

    Okay, this is my first time commenting on your site, Spoony.   This is my first time here because I am vicariously having the same throat clenching ire raised by what you’ve shown us here.   You’re right, this isn’t X-com.   This isn’t even really a reboot of X-com.   This is a game assembled from aspects of successful games to fill out a check list and get greenlit using a nostalgic intellectual property name to appeal to old fans.   Why? The old fans want  X-com, not MASS EFFECT.   We already have that!   I wouldn’t have even cared if it was a reboot or a prequel, or if it was a shooter if it had anything to do with X-com, but it seems it doesn’t.    Microprose made wonderful games back then and their IP has been sold off to the lowest common denominators.   I hate that this could do to the X-com series what MoO3 did to Master of Orion.   Developers who can’t think outside of formula deserve to have their games sacrificed on the altar of snark and anger.

  • http://filmstock.blog.pl Mateusz Hemmerling

    Oh god, the failure is strong with this game. They are trying to make money on a franchise that has nothing to do with what they are doing, now that’s classy. I think that they came up with the idea for this and figured out it’s going to suck, so they named it XCOM to get some attention. I hope they cancel it. I get the concept that such great titles should be rebooted to be introduced to new generations of gamers, but, as you said, why not just do a fucking remake (or hell, I think more people would buy this if they just ported the original to work on new systems). How the fuck did the even get a permission to use the title? And those squad mates sound like those fuse box repairing idiots from The Thing.

  • Anonymous

    Why are they calling this game XCOM when it has so little to do with the original game franchise?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ICDHG7TLTN6JVK6JMK3TKQFXKQ Mike Wallace

    Hmm. Interesting concepts but it looks like a pretty average shooter. They could have went about this game two ways, but they decided to roll the dice and slap on an established name with a fanbase behind it, and they rolled snake-eyes.

    Well, we all know “sqaud-based tactics” is developer spintalk for “chunks of your arsenal can now wander off and die,” and while I kind of like the 50′s Roswell G-men feel, this has that whole Wolfenstein vibe where you run around with a Thompson’s fighting Hitler’s Nazi Space Marines and the Elder Gods. It -sounds- fun in an RPG, but as a shooter it’s just a target range with really decorative bull’s eyes. It doesn’t get much deeper than cosmetic.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_CIAG63BD265FXVTC5XTIU656ZE Elric

    Here is the timeline for me in this video:
    Trailer: Okay, looks interesting, but NOT XCOM, could be it’s own good thing.
    “Squad based tactics”: Why do I not like that term?
    “Mass Effect”: Oh shit, thats why.
    FFT comparison: Nearly tore my fucking scalp off
    I sucked so hard at XCOM, the first time I managed not to get slaughtered in a battle I went into the red financially after maybe 2 months the first time, if that. I could not get my guys to shoot anywhere within a 45 Degree angle and was halfway into the game and had not even unlocked psychic training so my guys ended up murdering each other. I’d set 5 waypoints for the blaster bomb and end up shooting it straight into a wall next to me. But every second of victory was wonderful bliss.
    This game won’t even require a tenth of the brainpower needed to just survive in the original, much less progress. The FFT quote was just WRONG. If they actually had any grasp of the concepts that actually made that game good, they wouldn’t be making a Bioshock clone. Their presentation has actually convinced me NOT to go anywhere near it. The horror of this THING hadn’t even hit me until now. Now I fully understand Spoony’s “BETRAYAL”

  • http://twitter.com/runningerror42 Sebastian

    I never played much XCom but I wouldn’t play this game based on the bland and uninspired trailer. To me this game looks generic and without any aspect that could be remotly interessting. I also have to agree on your opinion about the graphics, they are beyond bad (and I didn’t think that would be possible after other games that I saw).

  • shen

    I know exactly what spoony feels. Its not even that much of an anger but just sadness and massive dissapointment – it feels like were gonna get old and die before anyone makes a good X-COM game again. For a xcom newbies theres not much difference anyway how the game plays or looks but us old fans who have spent thousands of hours playing the originals its just so sad – if you can’t make a totally new game then just remake the first one. Anyway, I recommend that if you want to play a modern good xcom game buy the extraterrestrials gold edition. It has huge amount of content, it plays very much the same as original (manage base, shoot down UFO’s, go and do missions).

  • Anonymous

    Everything was better when MicroProse was still around. XCOM, Civilization..

    • Anonymous

      I never lament the passing of old companies. Seeing what companies I grew up loving have done these days to completely disappoint me (I’m looking at you, Capcom), I have no doubt that if Microprose was still around they would be making XCom shooters as well. Probably selling some bullshit DLC to go with it too. Better they went out of business before that happened.

      Best the good companies we remember fondly go out like Tupac when they are still young and in the good parts of our memory and not go the way of Elvis, found dead on a pile of their own shit.

  • Anonymous

    The game does look interesting to me, and I’ll probably rent it. But I’ve never played any other XCOM game.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_4LM23I53VCE4KUVGC4GI6XYCVU toms

    Whoa, when I watch that trailer I get serious Brothers in Arms flashbacks. And developers also ruined that series (it seems).
    My guess for Xcom is that they were half way through a game called “50′s shooters” and then the marketing guy said that they should call it Xcom and change the graphics a bit so it could sell more. Hey, it worked for Die Hard 4 (which originally didn’t have McClain at all).

  • http://www.facebook.com/iramsden Ian Ramsden

    i could not hope for any game to get cancelled more than this one, totally agree it’s not Xcom, a  travesty indeed. Mind you Xcom went downhill after TFTD. The graphics are aweful and fuck yeah about the Xcom enemies, fighting a mutoid in 3d would be awesome. Could have been such a great game if they had done it right, research, bases, but missions in FPS

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Andreas-Vieru/523819819 Andreas Vieru

      Apocalypse wasn’t bad either, it was original and a good turn-based sequel to TFTD as TFTD was to the original… but not many people played it I think, after that… meh just crud afterwards, and a big betrayal coming up >:(

  • Anonymous

    I like the gesture you made to Burton near the end. 

  • http://twitter.com/chero666 Hector Perez

    I picked up XCom UFO Defense a few months back and found it to be so in-depth and difficult… that I couldn’t physically play it yet. I spent a long time finding different strategies and trying to play smart b4 I can say that I LOVE this game (I have plans on trying to find more like it). The game still takes a lot out of me, and I feel honest-to-God pressure whenever I get caught in “Doomed” situation, yet too stubborn to pull out. God this is a great game.

    That being said… have these fucktards ever even played the goddamn game? Set in the 1950s? Squad-Based Shooter? Mass Effect? Final Fantasy… TACTICS!?! What the twisted fucking twat-buster was that doucherag spewing?

    I can “benefit of the doubt” most any game before getting my hands on it (I may be one of 3 people who like Duke Nukem Forever), but this is just monstrously wrong.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Joe-Ottoson/100000693361189 Joe Ottoson

    At least there’s a new Syndicate game… Oh.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jordy-Glazer/1698351498 Jordy Glazer

    I’m sorry they did that to XCOM Spoony, I’ve never played the original but I know the feeling you have. I’m sorry dude :(

    Shit was that your last video, I was kinda hoping for a Batman Arkham City video from you. Oh well I’m still glad you got most of the one’s I wanted to see you cover :)

  • Anonymous

    With him getting this mad over a game, it can’t be that bad. To me that means it’s worth a try.

  • http://www.facebook.com/eric.s.hardy1 Eric Spencer Hardy

    I’m so sorry about this atrocity Spoony, I really wish they weren’t this blind to their own target demographic, I swear that sort of thing will not fly when I enter the games industry! Also, I will never, EVER allow my reps to compare any shooter to Final Fantasy Tactics. I’ve spent too many hours playing that game to stand seeing its good name tarnished by inadequate comparisons. Any game that I develope that is mentioned in the same breath as that game will have earned that honor.

  • http://www.facebook.com/eric.s.hardy1 Eric Spencer Hardy

    I’m so sorry about this atrocity Spoony, I really wish they weren’t this blind to their own target demographic, I swear that sort of thing will not fly when I enter the games industry! Also, I will never, EVER allow my reps to compare any shooter to Final Fantasy Tactics. I’ve spent too many hours playing that game to stand seeing its good name tarnished by inadequate comparisons. Any game that I develope that is mentioned in the same breath as that game will have earned that honor.

  • http://gooberslot.myopenid.com/ Gooberslot

    I really don’t understand why they called this Xcom.  They have to know that any fans of the original are going to hate it so what value does the name bring? If anything it’s going to loose them sales.

  • Anonymous

    I think the game looks cool I just wish they didnt callit      x-com. They could have called it Space Invaders instead its a name recognised just as much ^^

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Joe-Salary/1820734427 Joe Salary

    This is me acting as the hopeful optimist that will receive a thousand dislikes. It might be like Swat 4 logic with it’s strategies. And do you remember when Left 4 Dead 2 was created with a violent amount of protesting against it? All erased once the gamers were satisfied more or less. Meaning they were all forced out of their households at gunpoint by Valve’s secret police force and shoot Ak-47 rounds into them while their family watches. Also, the monsters are a complaint? Are you entirely sure “giant lobster men” will really reel in the new customers? A gaming company has to eat admittedly.

    But comparing Final Fantasy Tactics to their game, that’s going too far. That was a great game.

    • Anonymous

      Except that the L4D2 comparison doesn’t really work. What annoyed people about that game was the timing of its release not the design of the game. When it was released it still had the same setting, enemies & gameplay as the original but with some extra features. If you enjoyed the first game then it was a safe bet you’d enjoy L4D2. But this new X-Com game has nothing in common with the original games bar the basic premise in the most broadest terms “you defend earth from alien invasion”. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000360871797 Greg Dean

    Hi, Mr Antwiler! Long time fan, rare time commenter. Me, I mean – obviously you make a lot of comments and OH LOOK I’LL GET ON WITH IT.

    I feel ya, I really do. As a gamer who got his but kicked SO hard by X-Com and TFTD, I mean seriously just SO HARD. Even when I tried the cheat thingy and gave myself everything, I failed every time. But I just have SO much love for this game, I mean the real game. It was and is amazing.

    This piece of shit shooter bullshit they’re peddling, well, yeah. You said it, we agree yadda yadda.

    But let me offer this bit of critique: I wish you had included more thinkiness in this piece.
    Take a minute to explain just what it is about X-Com, explore its depths, and put the old side-by-side with the new.
    It’s still early days, we don’t know for sure what will come out next year, but you have enough information to work with, and enough experience, that a more measured and thoughtful approach would work out.

    I don’t blame you for getting emotional, dude. I feel sad and let down too. But you’re in a position where you can be heard, at least by a few fans if not the fucking Evil Empire.

    Oh, here’s a thought: why don’t you gang up with Angry Joe and I don’t know, some of the other BT guys, and really have a brainstorm. I mean, seriously think it through. Get your strategists, your storytellers, your tacticians, your sound and vision specialists IN A ROOM. Hack it down, write a piece. Explain in detail what your beef is, and put something together.
    And not in a funny cameo way. I mean, we all love the funny cameos. But for X-Com, maybe you should offer up your best brainstorming, your best analysis, and your best presentation.

    Maybe if you turn your entirely justifiable rage into a truly deep analytical piece, SOMEONE will pay attention.

    • Anonymous

       Ahhh I remember when I used to have that optimistic attitude to changing the face of business with the power of the popular voice. Not to be offensive, but they wouldn’t listen. Hell, I don’t even feel angry. If anything, I feel sorry for the poor bastards at E3 having to present this game to the public.

      It is a recession and no investor is going to go for “Hey, let’s make a completely retro turn based game with beefed of graphics” when all numbers point to “Squad Based Shooters like Mass Effect flying off the shelf like Free Fleshlights”. It is a numbers game; the price we pay for new graphics and more mainstream acceptance, I guess. Every once in awhile a company with balls comes around and I will surely cheer them on with my dollars when they do but it is hard to get mad or hope for change when you look at the underlying cause of the problems.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/James-Anthony/574331754 James Anthony

    I hated this game back when I thought it was just another cheap Bioshock clone, with the X-Com name stapled hastily to it to draw in the old fans.

    I hate it even more now.

    As Spoony said, it’s not X-Com anymore. All the iconic alien foes are gone. It’s not set in a dystopian near future, it’s in the 50′s. It’s not multinational, it’s in the US. They haven’t demonstrated any ability to build bases or expand them, just showing small crowded meeting rooms. All the fun and challenging bits of micromanagement are gone – it’s just another in a long list of generic squad-based shooters.

    Why should I even give this game one look? If I want a shooter that will scare me, there’s F.E.A.R. If I want squad-based combat, there’s Mass Effect. If I want a period piece, there’s L.A. Noire. Each of these games does the one thing leagues better than this new XCOM game, and it does them without sullying a long-suffering franchise. I’d rather play any one of those games, where I’d feel confident that it’ll be good, than this game, which tries to put together all of those ideas and probably will pull them all off worse as a result.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5W26L2W4J5OK3ZA6U327RG73LA Blaed

    agreed, spoonyone! the game was made with the X-COM name, but it doesn’t scream ‘X-COM’. If there’s a playable demo, I’ll check it out. But, I was hoping for a lot of the things you mentioned there. the aliens in this, at least, might make an interesting addition to the original roster of diverse X-COM species if they decide to stick with them.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Andreas-Vieru/523819819 Andreas Vieru

    Is game companies ever going to get things straight with reboots of old school games? I feel raped each time I see a horrible old school game being remade and made into shit, last one being Goldeneye for wii.

  • http://twitter.com/Eniacc Eniac

    “He pauses the game… and he goes into Mass Effect”
    LOL

    “Just like Final Fantasy Tactics”
    And so, Spoony’s mind breaks and Doctor Insano is born.

  • Anonymous

    These are the guys who made Bioshock 2 as non-inventive as possible, they wanted to do another cash in on Ken Levine’s good game but couldn’t. So they found some other IP to try to make money off the title of. Problem is they still wanted to make a ’50′s themed horror shooter and the X-Com name meant not a damn thing to them. This team exists just to get sales off the title of the game and they’re lost right now.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Christer-Jonsson/840236838 Christer Jonsson

    Spoony, I feel the same way. X-com was one of my defining games, played just in my formative mid teens. What would be great way for you to went your frustrations would be doing a X-com Let’s play just to properly convey to those who never faced a Snakeman Terror mission what true horror is. Of course Í say this just to help your mental health, there is absolutely no selfish reason why I would want to see the awesome of Spoony doing a x-com let’s play. And besides, it was a long time since you did one anyway:D  

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Grzegorz-Wojtczyk/100000046280578 Grzegorz Wojtczyk

    I can almost bet this was suppose to be a new IP just another shooter with aliens but one day someone from marketing came down and said: “Hey guys you remember X-COM games ? Let’s make a reboot to it in a form of FPS. We just add some basic tactical elements like giving orders to NPS’s, some familiar weapons and names so that old timers feel like at home. The other gamers won’t see the diffrence. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Anthony-Noway/100000447709009 Anthony Noway

    The thing that blows my mind is that the only people who would buy a game for being in the Xcom universe… are people who know what Xcom is! And they’ll CLEARLY see that this is nothing like the original. So…… who exactly are they marketing this to? Do they think that people who buy nothing but FPS games would give even two shits about a game by the name of Xcom?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_6MZUHVY66HXLLV3QB2PCSN3IQA ben

    another fucking fps? real fucking original. the video game market needs another fps like i need a hole in my fucking head. are they trying to crash the market again??

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Casper-Andersen/676567775 Casper Andersen

    First off, who ordered THE LARGE HAM? :-D
    They way I see it, the game itself looks kinda interesting, but has nothing to do with X-COM other than some vague themes. An agency who fights an alien invasion/infestation. But it just feels so stupid that the creators keep doggedly insisting that this new XCOM is in fact an XCOM game. So dumb.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_74LX4DHNUVVERCHVYP75MYAMO4 Joshua

    For decades, you, me, and other fans of X-com have wanted another one.  We’ve wanted it brought into the new millennium in style.  And then we get this.

    For me, it’s not even that X-com is being made into a shooter.  I really hate that this game bears the X-com name, but what bothers me is that for those of us who have been waiting for a new X-com game, reincarnating it as a shooter is the last nail in the coffin.  By making it a shooter, the studio has said that there’s no money in making an X-com game like they used to be.  And when this inevitably fails because there are better shooters out there, everyone else will say “Wow, X-com is a doomed franchise!”  And we’ll never, ever see our beloved X-com again.  We’ll always have Dosbox or the collector’s edition, but most of us have already beaten that game on superhuman enough times that another way to live the magic would just be amazing.

    So it’s not so much that it’s been reincarnated as something hideous, it’s that this marks the death of the series and the hopes of everyone who wanted another true X-com game.

  • Anonymous

    I’ll play 

  • Anonymous

    This game sickens me too.

    Cover-based shooter. Not even a minute in the trailer and I already know I’m never, ever, ever going to bother with this game. Ever.

    This isn’t “evolution”, this isn’t “innovation”, this is “bleh, tactical games are so nineties, FPS is the future, and they need to be cover-based because that’s how they sell right?”.

    I’d have preferred a 4.99€ budget title on Steam, with poorly-rendered fake 3D graphics on isometric maps, with like 4 maps and then a construction kit that tells us “go, fans, make your damn unsellable game yourselves you whiny bitches”. That would have been so much better than this.

    So. Much. Better.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Vaughan-MacDonald/100000473507885 Vaughan MacDonald

    I never played the original X-Com games, but I can see why you guys hate it so much. I’m not entirely impressed, if at all, by this game. Mostly to do with the art style, but also because it looks incredibly boring.

  • http://twitter.com/redviv Vivi Roth

    Nobody wanted an X-Com shooter in 2001, nobody wants XCOM in 2011. Ten years and people don’t learn. Why don’t go for an original IP if it doesn’t have ANYTHING to do with it, except having a team and getting enemy tech.

  • Anonymous

    I’ll play the Devil’s advocate here and say that the only thing that really seems wrong with the game so far (I didn’t do any in-depth research – just the trailers and some BT guys calling bullshit, pretty much) is the name.
    I am a fan of the original X-COM series, so much that the original three (Including Apocalypse, which I like the most. Sue me) are pretty close to “Best videogame ever made” with me, and I do agree that this has nothing in common with the series at all. Not even as a prequel or “alternate-universe” thing. It’s even less X-COM than Enforcer. Now that’s a scary thought.

    It does look like a genuinely interesting game in its own right, though – again, just drop the X-COM title and everyone will be happy – I like the 50′s setting, I like the alien designs (Withdrawing my previous “If you want to write Lovecraft, write Lovecraft” objection), and the trailers give me a feeling of mystery and danger – something I haven’t felt from a videogame in quite a while.

    I have to admit, the Mass Effect and the Final Fantasy Tactics things had me going “what” for a minute. That was either very stupid or deliberately provocative.

    The graphics, well, eh. I don’t care. If the content’s any good, I can close my eyes to bad graphics. And they still have the better part of a year left to apply as much polish as they please.
    As for the “X-COM can’t be a shooter!” sentiment, wasn’t there that X-COM Alliance thing somewhere in the beginning of last decade that didn’t get to be completed? That looked interesting.

    And to end it all with some wishful thinking: they might be hiding the iconic X-COM characters up their sleeve. Remember the cameos/references they had in TFTD and Apocalypse? Maybe it’ll turn out that the Ethereal Empire is behind this invasion in the end.

    Oh, right: how many successful reboots have we seen so far? Not just games, movies, too? One?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Zach-Mireles/100002180743543 Zach Mireles

    Poor spoony. :(( They broke you! As somebody that’s never played an X-com game…this game looks mediocre at best, not even that.. I’m sure if I was a fan of X-com I’d be just as insanely pissed as  you are.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Samuel-Phoenix/1171444298 Samuel Phoenix

    What the hell did you expect? Everything these days is a shooter! Xcom? Shooter? Fallout? Shooter. Everything these days is a freckin’ shooter.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Simeon-Ivanov/100000521101770 Simeon Ivanov

    I’ve never played X-Com but I feel sorry for you Spoony :( You and every other X-Com fan that have waited 10 years and they get this … this betrayal. What the fuck were these guys thinking? Are these the same guys that made Duke Nukem … or related to them? Seriously, what the fuck is up with all these reboots??? Nobody wants them! Nobody NEEDS them!!!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Anthony-Noway/100000447709009 Anthony Noway

    Kristian Jiron, you don’t pre-render real-time graphics. You can’t just have a computer set to do something that will automatically make the game look better. They can update the shaders and engine, but that probably won’t fix the issue. To make graphics look better, you have to go back and re-make the art all over again, which is NOT easy or quick. And they’re too far along to remake their art at this point; that’s right, even a year isn’t enough time for that. :(

    Taerdin, she does in ME1. :-P But I guess someone already implied that.

  • Anonymous

    Am I the only one who -heard- of XCOM: Enforcer? Y’know, the arcade shooter that came out, like, 14 years ago? ……What was the reaction to that when it came out? …shouldn’t that, if nothing else, have taken the edge off the surprise? Legitimately, I’m curious, why does this get such a bad rap when Enforcer looks like it’d be an even worse offender? On that topic, XCOM: Interceptor! The space combat sim!

    …Though, admitedly, the Final Fantasy Tactics reference is confusing…

    • http://twitter.com/quantastarfire Ted Kehoe

      Enforcer was effectively erased from fan memory before it even came out.

      On that note, there was an X-Com FPS before this one?! :O

  • Anonymous

    I find this game not only insulting to fans of the original X-Com but also to gamers who haven’t played the original series. Did 2K really think that by changing a turn-based strategy game into a FPS would fin over new fans of the series? Did the developers really think that by marketing XCOM as a FPS would appeal to gamers in general? Even to a person who hasn’t played the 1993 classic this game looks dull, boring and uninteresting. To be honest I’m getting fed up of FPS’s and I think I’m not alone in that feeling. When Modern Warfare 3 was announced I don’t think I saw a single gamer on the forums who was looking forward to it. With this in mind how could 2K in their right mind think that gamers would fall head over heels to get this game? Because its a FPS? Well that’s great because instead of doing the original games a service they’ve done the opposite and potentially turned gamers away from playing the original X-Com. Bravo guys.
    And thinking of E3 last year and Spoony’s reaction to XCOM, I still cannot fathom why Angry Joe liked the game. It wasn’t a “fresh new take” because most people have already seen this type of game done before and done much better. I wonder if Joe’s opinion has changed upon viewing this new trailer? 

  • http://www.facebook.com/drew.dubois Drew Dubois

    At the risk of having the unpopular opinion here…

    Spoony, get over it.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=578389824 David Åström

    “Hey guys, we went to X-Com University since last year so now we really know what X-Com is all about. Check it, we threw some Mass Effect in there.”

  • Anonymous

    These devs, all they had to do is make a new X-Com game in something of an homage to the original, and they FUCKED IT UP! Seriously! This is akin to the Devs walking to the board room in their office and somehow LANDING ON THE MOON. That’s how far away the 2 games are.

    If I wanted a 1950s shooter against aliens, I could go play Resistance 2. If I wanted a 1950s shooter where I get special weapons and can use powers, I’d play Bioshock. If I wanted a game where I can order my 2 squad members around, I’d play Rainbow Six Vegas 2.

    You know what would have been cool? Having an X-Com game take place 12 years after the events of the original game, or 10 years after Terror of the Deep. Have humanity going into space, and having us have to fight evil sectoids on their moon base! Let me run around with a taser shock rod and let me stun the living hell out of some Snakemen slithering around dark corridors.

    *sigh*

    Gawd damn I’m pissed off now too.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Emanuel-Molotow/100002127344400 Emanuel Molotow

    Seems to me like:
    “Sup dawg, I herd you like FF-Tactics, so we put a FF-Tactics in your X-Com so you can Level Up while you’re kickin’ Alien A***s!”Why call it X-Com? They aren’t doing any good by that action. Plus:  A Game with the origin system will never be released under that Name again. *____*

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dane-Winton/1658182428 Dane Winton

    Aww c’mon Spoony, tell us what you really think ;)

  • http://twitter.com/Khan_FurSainty Martin Kopchev

    At least now you know how some people feel about Fallout 3.

  • http://www.facebook.com/theonevoid Zachary Thomas Pepper

    I was REALLY scared that you were going to start bashing on FF Tactics.

    As for XCom, I never played the original, so I have no real basis for comparison. It does, however, look like just another bland shooter. So boring. >.<

  • Ceherz

    I’m extremely disappointet as well. If you gonna call your game “XCOM”, this raises some high expectations of what the game should be like and that’s definitely not a FPS. i don’t understand why the developers didnt wanna do a legitimate sequel (or reboot) of the original 3 games since the series is kinda dead since XCom Apocalypse. there are so many missed chances and i really think they should have done something more similar to the original. basically they could have remade the original XCom with 3d graphics. maybe adding some new mission-types like escort-missions (save the president or whatever), story-missions or maybe some huge battles at the end of the game. it would have been ok to change the turn-based strategy into RTS or a more action-based concept. but a shooter?

    maybe this game works for a stand-alone game. but they really should change the title since the chances for another, real XCOM remake will be around ZERO after this :(

  • Aleksandar Grujic Djajic

    And this is how some people felt when Bethesda introduced new real time first person shooter Fallout 3.

    • Ceherz

      at least fallout 3 was still an RPG in its core. the setting was comparable. the fans of xcom wouldnt be THAT pissed off if the game still was a strategy game in its core with recognisable aliens / themes / story elements from the original. but THIS has obviously NOTHING to do with XCom except for the fact that aliens are invading our planet.

  • http://www.facebook.com/steven.a.skelly Steven Anthony Skelly

    You know, I’ve never really played the original XCOM, never even heard of it until I watched the Infamous Betrayal vid of yours. I guess its a PC game and I didn’t get a PC to myself until about 2006 so I didn’t really get to play many games before that time.

    I guess that factors into why I’m not as pissed off about this. I have however played FFT and this game looks nothing on the level of FFT. I may have to find an old copy of XCOM and see what all the fuss is about.

    • http://twitter.com/quantastarfire Ted Kehoe

      It’s on Steam, and costs about $5. Or you can spend $15 and get all of the X-Com games, including the shitty ones.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Ross/100000510615727 Paul Ross

    How dare they even think of mentioning FFT along with this travesty!!!

    The whole time watching the opening vid I was just thinking WTF!! I mean seriously it looks like all they are doing is taking elements from other games that were popular and then putting them into this game and hoping they work I mean what the fuck is up with the 50′s style man, it may have worked for Fallout but X-COM hell NO! I want my advanced human technologies.

  • Anonymous

    You know what this game SHOULD have been, if they were so dead set on making a shooter? (Of course, how dead set were they – they changed it from a plain old run and gun dime a dozen shooter to a mass effect clone because people whined, so they couldn’t have had any particularly strong artistic vision for this one.. Almost like they just took their random phoned in bullshit and slapped a cheap but recognizable license on it! [gee, why does the word 'fallout' come to mind?])
    A stylistic spin off. Call it something like “X-com Origins”.. I don’t know, I’m no good with names. Imagine it, showing humanity’s first, secret contact with aliens. They could take the original’s 90s comic book style and dial it back to a silver age comic book style. Playing as regular government agents thrust in to this otherworldly situation, and putting the pieces in place for the eventual formation of X-com itself with their experience and acquisitions of alien technology, all while trying to cover the whole thing up- there’s a chance for moral choices there, since modern games love those so much. Do you let the witnesses slide and take the resulting heat, or silence them to prevent a potential worldwide panic?
    It would take a few things to keep it at least thematically true to the series, of course. Equipping your guys and commanding them would have to be deep, and absolutely essential to success. Going cowboy style should get your character blown up.

    Permanent death for characters, a deep stats system, some element of base building, and non-linearity. Not in the sense of only certain missions advancing the plot, but having certain objectives that could be potentially completed in many different missions, like bringing an alien officer back alive. If enough game elements and stylistic elements were taken from the original game, switching to a squad based tactical shooter wouldn’t be so bad- as a spin off, mind.

  • http://www.facebook.com/Purger666 Tomáš Hůsek

    Well… at least we still have UFO: Aftermath and UFO: Aftershock. The only ”newer” games that were able to bring the X-Com atmosphere back on the screen.

    • http://twitter.com/quantastarfire Ted Kehoe

      There’s also the upcoming Xenonauts game by Goldhawk Software. A lot of people are looking forward to that.

      • http://www.facebook.com/Purger666 Tomáš Hůsek

        Didn’t know about that one. Thanks for pointing it out.

  • http://twitter.com/quantastarfire Ted Kehoe

    You wanna know what’s funny? XCOM comes out the exact same day as Mass Effect 3. 2K Games honestly expects to compete with fucking Bioware, using the exact same type of gameplay?

    This game is going to tank HARD.

  • dace.alksne

    You’re not Tim Roth

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000075574179 Randall Pfeifer

    I don’t have a problem with this game being a shooter, heck I was excited when X-Com Alliance was announced ages ago.  But like you mentioned, it doesn’t have the familiar faces of the original games, and that’s terrible.

  • Anonymous

    Hmm, I don’t see the big deal about it. Dark Messiah of Might and Magic is a fantasy “Ego-Shooter” while Heroes of M&M is a turn based strategy game and it’s still very good. Just forget the fact that they share a name and look at the new game on its own.

    • http://twitter.com/theinkbot Lukas Hägg

      Thing is, Might and Magic was a multi-series franchise before Dark Messiah. The original series “Might and Magic” were 1st person view rpg’s and the “Heroes of” games were the strategy offshoot series. When Dark Messiah was developed they didn’t stop making “Heroes of”. Heroes V and Dark Messiah even came out the same year. 

      But they are part of different series of the same franchise, where each series focuses on different gameplay. X-Com doesn’t and I think that’s where people are disappointed, because the strategy games in the series are the strongest and that’s what fans wanted most.

      I would have preferred a strategy game too, because well… “another shooter *blargh*”

      • Anonymous

        If you put it like that, you’re right. I didn’t really know the background of the M&M series, thus the cases seemed similiar to me. I’m not playing video games that much any more, but I guess I’d feel like Spoony if Blizzard turned Diablo III into a RTS game. ^^

        • http://twitter.com/theinkbot Lukas Hägg

          If they did that I think the world would explode from all the screams of ”BETRAYAAAAL!”
          ^_^

  • Anonymous

    Hmm, I don’t see the big deal about it. Dark Messiah of Might and Magic is a fantasy “Ego-Shooter” while Heroes of M&M is a turn based strategy game and it’s still very good. Just forget the fact that they share a name and look at the new game on its own.

  • Anonymous

    i agree with spoony 100% this is total bullshit. I loved X-com back in the day and i still do today and now we finally get a new installment of the series and they turn it into a first person shooter. unforgivable!!!

    i noticed alot of people here are mentioning that they never played x-com games. if anyone is interested in some of the best turn based strategy games ever you can purchases all 3 of the original games for $5 each on steam. I HIGHLY recommend these games

  • http://UnholyFireDragon.com Unholy Fire Dragon

    “I wanna fire a blaster bomb around a fucking corner and ride up a floater’s ass!” LOL
    That was the best fucking line ever! That SO made me laugh!

    “You can spend xp and level-up your character’s powers, just like Final Fantasy Tactics.”
    After you said that, I’m going “WHAT?… WHAAAAAAT?!…”
    Like, are you FUCKING KIDDING ME?! I’ve played god damn Final Fantasy Tactics, and there’s WAY more to that game as AN ACTUAL STRATEGY GAME than what the hell this is game is about (which sounds more like a shooter with rpg elements and would have nothing to do with strategy). It’s COMPLETELY obvious those people know NOTHING about Final Fantasy Tactics. Or if they do, they’re god-fucking idiots. They would’ve made more sense comparing the “tactics” of this game to what you find in Lufia games (particularly Lufia 2), and EVEN THEN there’s more freaking strategy (or puzzles and moving  monsters anyways…)!

  • Anonymous

    Didn’t he complain about this last year already?

  • Philip Flood

    I’ve seen this before…….Dare I say it?

    Fallout 3?

    Before people rage at me, I enjoyed the game a whole lot, but it made me SO fucking disappointed that they didn’t make or will ever make a proper Fallout 1 & 2 sequel. Sure, Fallout 3 was fun, but it’s not Fallout for me unless it’s like the original games, Fallout 3 will be like….a spinoff of some sort. No not really, but you get the idea.

    Also, thanks for your hard work Noah, even if you have opinions that clash against many, MANY others. You’ve got balls enough to take the heat. 

    • Anonymous

      The problem is Fallout 1, 2, and 3 are the same genre, just different perspectives. Isometric turn-based and first-person semi-turn-based. It’s still the same underlying concept of a role playing game with guns. More importantly, Fallout 3 had the same setting and concept as Fallout 1 and 2. This is more like if Fallout 3 was a third-person shooter with few leveling elements, no inventory system, and it takes place at the Twin Pines Mall during the events of Back to the Future Part 2.

  • Anonymous

    I just realized something.

    This new “X-com” game is basically… 1950s federal agents versus Anti-Spirals.

    Clearly we need Kamina to appear in a three-piece suit, a fedora, and his AWESOME SUNGLASSES.

    • Anonymous

      …I like the way you think. But we still need to scrape the XCOM logo off of it. :)

  • Anonymous

    is it wrong that I’d never heard of XCOM until this video, and outside of the graphics looking like it’s a PS2 game thought trailer looked cool?

  • http://twitter.com/SwedishBallsack Jonathan Andersson

    That was the first thing I thought of when I heard that you can bring two buddies with you on missions, where some of them advance the plot and some will give you items you can turn into research points and when you started to talk about leveling up the powers.

    “That sounds just like Mass Effect.”

  • Ryan Bernsmeier

    I don’t know. I’m a fan of the original and I can see this working if they kept the geoscape view in all its glory and had the FPS combat be the new battlescape. As much as I love X-COM: UFO Defense, I personally could have cared less about the battlescape (How can you miss with an assault rifle at point blank?). Most likely, this game will be just another shooter, though, as I said, a good idea might be to keep the geoscape view.

    • Anonymous

      also they need to allow you to bring as many soldiers that your craft can hold. not just two. also all the micromanagement needs to be intact as well. such as managing funds and allocating them too any area you see fit. also hiring personal needs to be the same.

      After all this i may be forgiving of its first person perspective.  But i have a feeling that production and research is going to be greatly dumb down and you won’t be able hire personal either sure as scientist and workshop engineers. as well as keeping countries happy with your activities top keep your funding high.

      and i doubt their going to do any of them /RAGE

    • Anonymous

      I would be… okay with that, but not entirely happy. I seem to recall a similar situation with Wing Commander Armada and XCOM Interceptor, and it didn’t really work that well.

    • Anonymous

      P.S. It’s easy to miss when you have a fast-as-hell cryssalid snapping its claws in your face and trying to jab an ovipositor into your stomach.

  • Brian Damage

    You aren’t alone, Spoony, dude. Just look at the Like/Dislike ratio on the game’s official youtube vid. Heck, most of the frequent posters in the official “XCOM” forum at the 2K site agree with you, either entirely or in part. We even started a petition to have the dratted game renamed on account of being an entirely inadequate pretender to the throne:

    http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/renamexcom 

    For anyone who doesn’t already know, the reason 2K’s “XCOM” is basically only an X-Com game in name is that, yes, the rumours that started at Something Awful are true: They did indeed take a game they’d had “on the stove” for several years, so to speak, and slap on the name “XCOM” when they realised they owned the rights to the franchise and that their game was “related” (Read: It had aliens getting shot in it):

    http://kotaku.com/5613458/what-came-first-the-xcom-or-the-game?skyline=true&s=i

    Also, a lot of the changes made over the last year seem to have been the result of someone from 2K with massive reading comprehension problems skimming the forum threads full of complaints. It’s like they saw what we were complaining about but managed to completely fail to understand what we were asking for.

  • Brian Damage

    Oh, and that whole “Living Technology” thing (not to mention the morphing cube) is making me think more and more of Transformers.

    Give me a creepy little sectoid any day.

  • Anonymous

    Some other projects 2K is taking on in the hopes of bringing back classic properties.

    System.Shock.3: The classic survival FPS that defined the very idea of atmospheric, creepy isolation from a first person perspective is now a dating sim where as Juan Jacker, you must seduce different AIs from his apartment in Dayton, Ohio. Who will he choose, the sassy Shodan or the stern but classy Janet?

    B-GAE-2: Beyond Good and Evil finally gets the sequel everyone wanted, if by sequel you mean a prequel that takes 400 years in the past, on Earth, where pig men are being developed in a lab under Cape Canaveral. As Jade’s ancestor Rodney, this first-person-shooter has you jumping over the most impressive chest-high walls in hopes of fighting off the alien pig clone menace.

    Darkness Eternal: Instead of a follow-up to Silicon Knights’ classic survival horror game, this twin stick shooter re-imagining of the concept puts you in the shoes of P.H. Lovecraft, a researcher at the Rovias Institute who has slaughter waves of zombies created from the dreaded Sanity Virus.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Pierson/1152517641 David Pierson

    Totally agree Spoony.  I loved Terrors of the Deep, even though it scared the shit out of me every time I played it.  But this doesn’t even look like X-Com, much less play like it.  I want to be scared when I play an X-Com game, I want that feeling of dread that at any moment one of my guys could die.  I want that feeling of responsibility that those men’s lives rest in my hands, and they are counting on me to bring them through this mission alive.  I get none of that from watching gameplay or trailers from this game.

    What they should have done was, instead of taking idea’s from Mass Effect.  You know a game that has nothing to do with a turn based strategy game.  They should have looked at Valkyria Chronicles’ gameplay.  Those mechanics would have worked beautifully with X-Com, and to make it scary all they had to do was take a look at the lighting style of say something like Dead Space.  There I just imagined a better X-Com game off the top of my head than these guys have pulled off with millions of dollars.

    This game is a horrible mistake, and will only alienate X-Com fans (You know the ones that would have bought the game in the first place), while making new comers go “Whats the big deal?”  This game is designed for NO ONE!  There is nothing for fans to hold onto, and there is nothing for new comers to find interesting.

  • Anonymous

    Sadly, I believe we have a loose loose scenario with XCOM here… you change it for people that never played the original game, you get the purists to go out and say “They changed it now it sucks” and not buy the game… on the other hand you keep it pure to its old X-COM roots… you got the newbies who can’t get their heads around it, find it too hard to play, and tell their friends to not buy it.

    Though the last question is… how do we know this isn’t a prequel to X-COM. Think about it, how did the X-COM you know and love come about? Do you really think the United Nations would throw money on a project to protect us from aliens if there was no documented proof of aliens? Maybe XCOM did start as an FBI project by the United States in the 50′s and after the fighting with the outsiders are done, they go to the president and says “We NEED a global effort if this EVER happens again. Go to the United Nations and get this passed!” and in 2000 they finally make the global group that protects us in X-COM.

    • Brian Damage

      We know it’s not a prequel because the people in charge have said it has nothing to do with the storyline of the originals.

      Even if they were to take that back, as they did with the claim they made that the game would not contain bipedal enemies, then they’re still facing the monumental task of explaining how X-Com, which was canonically founded as a multinational concern in 1998/99, is suddenly a holdover from an American DoD subgroup formed in the 60′s, as well as explaining how nobody from the universe of the original games seems to remember that America had come under wholesale alien invasion some time in 1962.

      • Anonymous

        Well while playing the original to see what got everyone dander up, I didn’t see anything of people talking about anything before 1999, all I know is that we are going up against aliens with little to no background info at all before that… I’m just saying maybe the reason we are fighting aliens is because America got hit wholesale…

        But if they said it has nothing to do with the storyline, its a reboot… why is everyone getting upset about it? It has nothing to do with X-COM besides having 4 of the 5 symbols in the name.

        I see this game and I think it’s going to be good. Mostly because I played the original, and everyone else have fun with it because I sure as heck didn’t…

        Reminds me of when Bethesda took Fallout… everyone said the originals were the best, played the original to try it, hated the damn game.

        • Brian Damage

          The 1998/99 stuff is in the manuals, as was common with a lot of games back then. Might be in the X-Com entries in the UFOpaedias, too.

          We’re upset because 2K’s minimal use of the IP is likely to lock it into the altered (and unwanted) canon and gameplay mechanics for the foreseeable future if it makes money, or add yet another failure to the franchise if it tanks, both of which would be bad news for anyone wanting a proper turn-based sequel or remake.

          As for you not enjoying the original, fair enough. It’s not for everyone. I don’t take that as a good reason to tailor a claimed “reimagining” to the tastes of people who wouldn’t/don’t enjoy the originals, though.

          • Anonymous

            But when you do that it becomes stagnant as well. Look at Megaman, who is accused of having the same game 8 times for each incarnation of him (except Legends). Do you really want a game that only the people who played the original XCOM would want to buy?

          • Brian Damage

            Yes please.

            But I wouldn’t mind a proper modern remake we could all enjoy, either.

            2K’s game is not that remake.

  • Anonymous

    If it wasn’t called XCOM, I don’t think people would be having the same reaction. The fact that is has the XCOM name, yet is nothing like the original, speakes volumes about how little the creators cared about the XCOM games. I do not like turn-based games, at all. These guys apparently despise them so much they decided to completely screw fans over and make a FPS where aliens invade the U.S. The only thing taken from the series is the name, which may or may not be besmirched as soon as reviews of the game come out. The game better be one DAMN good FPS in order to make fans even the slightest bit happy.

    • http://twitter.com/quantastarfire Ted Kehoe

      “The game better be one DAMN good FPS in order to make fans even the slightest bit happy.”

      It’s coming out the same day as Mass Effect 3, which has identical gameplay. They’re beyond fucked at this point. Take-Two’s executive board is likely shitting themselves over what a colossal fuck-up the release is going to be.

      Will this be the end of 2K Marin? Fuck, I hope so.

  • http://twitter.com/Masavanu Matti Vainionpää

    i can totally relate to you spoony.. i too hate this new one. This shit has nothing to do with x-com and the new “strategy elements” sound ridiculous. And the graphics remind me of the new Back to the future game somehow…

    • Anonymous

      Maybe because one of the buildings in the trailer looks exactly like the courthouse in Back to the Future?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Stephen-Waldock/627581358 Stephen Waldock

    you really need to lighten up
    i have never played a xcom game so i cant really comment
    but i think this looks good
    cool setting, interesting aliens (which don’t look like transformers) and the idea to take the enemies weapons.
    if you don’t like it don’t play it. its so simple. go play the old one or make a new one your self which people like to do when they are not remaking sonic
    2k have a fine track record not perfect but pretty good
    this xcom is going on the list

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Martin-Shaw/542510997 Martin Shaw

    Woah.. Black Lantern Spoony got unleashed there. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Noah get so riled up about a game before.

    It shows that he does indeed have alot of love for the original game(s) and you really can feel his hatred for this new game.
    While I have never played the original, from the trailer for me who knows nothing about it, it seems interesting. but a 1950′s Mass Effect with FF Tactics? no ta

  • http://twitter.com/quantastarfire Ted Kehoe

    I’m going to say “yes”. Now off to Steam with you.

    http://store.steampowered.com/app/7760/

    • Anonymous

      No don’t, don’t waste 30 minutes of your life trying to find that last 1 alien on the damn map.

      • Anonymous

        don’t listen to rot. if you like strategy games then do yourselves a favor and go to steam and by X-com a mere $5 its very worth it.

        yeah sometimes there is that 1 alien thats hiding in a cranny somewhere but thats just a small negative to the overwhelming positives this game provides. there nothing more satisfying then improving your soldiers skills and gear. And man do i love mind controlling those alien bastards and grouping them up for 1 well placed disruptor to turn them into a crater.  nothing like pay back for all the times they mind controlled you in the past battles.

        • Brian Damage

          I find arranging your soldiers into a sweeping pattern seems to solve the “last alien on the map” problem reasonably quickly – sometimes it doesn’t even get a chance to occur.

          One of my favourite things to do is clearing rooms by making rocket-assisted window-based explosive deliveries :D.

          • Anonymous

            thats similar to what i do myself. i like to move my soldiers out in squads of 3′s and fan out across the map. all the while i have MC soldiers in my craft ready to mind control any alien i spot. and then i have that alien look around for his buddies who are usually near by him and control them as well. then i have them line up for my soldiers to shoot to increase their accuracy :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dustin-Gunn/100000267615428 Dustin Gunn

    Why do they let you into E3? You are not a journalist and you’re incapable of being objective.

    • Anonymous

      If you present opinion for public consumption, you are a journalist by definition.
      And objective journalism is an oxymoron. It has never been done and it never will be, unless somebody invents a journalism robot.

      • http://UnholyFireDragon.com Unholy Fire Dragon

        Ironically, a robot does things based on it’s own programming, which is created by humans, so even then, in it’s own way, it would be biased. It would probably be an emotionless logic-oriented bias, but still a bias.

    • http://www.facebook.com/TopherBlair Topher Glenn

      Yeah your statement was kind of…well…yeah. When it comes to video games being ‘objective’ means having to tastes or preferences. Who wants to watch these kinds of videos by someone with an “I’m an idiot, I’ll play anything that looks shiny” mentality. 

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5FZ2QCPJDTX6MOFWHAJUKHZYD4 Paul Who Speaks With Angels

    Stop fronting. Film yourself crying and masturbating about it, or don’t bother.

  • Anonymous

    I’m right up there with Spoony.
    Look: XCOM was genius. The awesome mix of 60s sci-fi styling with modern UFOlogy lore, the fantastic simple-yet-complex cover and lighting system that to my knowledge has never been replicated, the way it scales all the way from broad, long-term strategy down to shot-by-shot tactics… no turn-based game, even the greatness of Fallout, has ever matched it.
    It wouldn’t take much to bring this up to modern standards. You don’t have to change the concept at all. I know turn-based tactical games aren’t very popular right now, but that’s just because nobody’s DOING them. I’d love to see a version where the aliens and humans plan out their moves and then execute them simultaneously. It would be great to go to a “band of brothers” type camera that rides certain soldiers as they advance, crouch, and take reaction shots. And, of course, shows the view from the blaster bomb as it zings around corners and past your own troops, seeing the “oh shit” expressions on the aliens’ faces as they dive for cover just before it explodes…

    • Brian Damage

      Psst, the original had a 90′s comic book style. It’s this “reimagining” that has the clunky 60′s stylings.

      • Anonymous

        Okay, maybe I should have just said “retro-futuristic”.

      • Anonymous

        Okay, maybe I should have just said “retro-futuristic”.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Evan-Elkins/682275173 Evan Elkins

        But it still has silly aliens in flying saucers invading Earth in a very 50s & 60s sci fi plot, even if the armor looks like something out of Young Bloods.

        • Brian Damage

          True, though as mentioned the plot also takes heavy inspiration from 90′s UFO lore, as well as stuff like Whitley Streiber’s abduction stories and the miniseries Intruders (and possibly the old TV series UFO)

          The gameplay itself sometimes comes off as a deconstruction of cartoons like GI Joe (a team of soldiers whizz around in a cool ship fighting dogmatic enemies, only the game shows how expensive and dangerous such a thing would be with a touch of reality), something 2K seems to have missed entirely.

  • Anonymous

    Furthermore, I wouldn’t play this game even if it didn’t say “XCOM”.
    The alien tech is just lazy. It looks like Star Fox. Floating rectangles that appear through portals! This is 90s crap. It’s boring and illogical, and it forcefully reminds you that you’re looking at a video game. And the aliens look like Michael Bay Transformers.

    Furthermore, having the enemies warp in like that is a lazy shortcut around good AI. How can the player come up with clever tactics when enemies can drop in anywhere they please?

    • http://UnholyFireDragon.com Unholy Fire Dragon

      You remind me of what I forgot to comment on earlier.

      When I looked at the graphics and animation, I was reminded of Zelda: Twilight Princess. It’s as if the developers of XCOM just wanted to rip-off the style of that game by having everything black with some “glowy” features and moving in a really weird pattern. It looks kind-of surreal, but the Twilight Princess version is WAY better.

    • Anonymous

      You know, the whole geometric alien tech makes me think this game could be awesome with a setting and property change.

      Hang on to your bitmaps, because you’ll be fighting cubes and spheres in a modern shooter adaptation of REBOOT!

  • Anonymous

    Man… watching you like this really makes me depressed.
    I mean seriously. The rage is something we all know and love, but when The SpoonyOne is SO affected by a game that he goes past the angry into a sort of sad trance towards the end… Don’t recall any game doing that before.

    It goes without saying that I agree though. This thing has no right to exist under the XCOM name. At this stage, I’m pretty sure 2K does this more or less just to rub it into the face of the nostalgic gamers for laughs.

  • Ryuzito Ranx
    • Anonymous

      Oooh! Color me interested!
      Also, UFO 2: Shadows Over Earth is releasing this September!

  • http://www.facebook.com/TopherBlair Topher Glenn

    This is not an evolution of the series. This is like if Final Fantasy XV came out looking like a Halo clone.

    • Anonymous

      In other words, if Square Enix vastly improved the series over FF13.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jean-Benoit-Pineault/100000171801193 Jean-Benoit Pineault

    Review the game when it come out spoony :D

     That gonna be freaking hilarious.

  • Phillip Bagley

    A squad based shooter… I just have to say one thing to that-
    “You’re standing in my spot, sir.”

    • http://twitter.com/quantastarfire Ted Kehoe

      *flashbang*

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_F6DCTUY6RUMWXJKGOICRNIAXCM André Norell

      “I never want to hear another “you’re in my way, sir” again; you got  hung up on a door!”

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_HHYFDN44YXT3H6LDT2YCO34HCY Brian

    Hey it’s 2K, the crowd that gave us “Putrid pile of Pale Pewk passed-off as Panzer General” while trying to call it Civ 5. Yeah they’re not worth trusting (and frankly I only posted this for the alliteration)

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_HHYFDN44YXT3H6LDT2YCO34HCY Brian

    Hey it’s 2K, the crowd that gave us “Putrid pile of Pale Pewk passed-off as Panzer General” while trying to call it Civ 5. Yeah they’re not worth trusting (and frankly I only posted this for the alliteration)

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Ibbitson/1006286150 David Ibbitson

    The sad thing is that if they had just created a new IP for it it has the potential to be a really interesting game.   Ugly graphics aside (which you kinda expect when it’s still almost a year away) a squad based shooter set in 1950′s suburbia where you play fedora wearing government agents battling an invading alien army and research their technology to upgrade your own arsenal is a pretty damn cool concept.  Give it some hammy 1950′s B-Movie title and I’d be interested.

    *edit* and this is speaking as someone who when he was 13 years old bashed his way through TFTD on Superhuman. If that’s not love for X-Com I don’t know what is.

    • Anonymous

      You realize that TFTD is bugged such that it’s always set to Superhuman, right? :)

      • Anonymous

        So the first game was bugged to be the easiest difficulty no matter what and the second was bugged to be the hardest difficulty no matter what?….. Okay.

        • Anonymous

          That’s right!

  • http://twitter.com/CedarMusketeer Bryan Gardner

    So, you’re telling my they are turning XCOM into SWAT4?  I wouldn’t compare it to a good game like Mass Effect.  I swear, this direction they are going is like taking ChessMaster and turning it into a paintball game, it MAKES NO SENSE!!!

    • Anonymous

      You’re standing in my way!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Lou-C-Fher/100001714235794 Lou C. Fher

    From the graphics and the gameplay, it looks like they’re partying like it’s 1999….

  • http://www.facebook.com/Novak83 Ed Novak

    If it were named ANYTHING else, it would look kind of cool and interesting.  A solid B game, with inventive enemies but derivative gameplay.

    But they just HAD to milk the sacred cow…

  • http://twitter.com/7h30n Teon

    I have never seen Spoony’s videos before. But sir, You just got a fan!
    What are they doing with XCom cannot be worded!
    I wish Gollop would return and make a PC strategy game.

  • Anonymous

    But Spoony it might end up being smartest sci-fi Thriller since Blade Runner

  • Anonymous

    While I can understand Spoony I am not sure a proper Xcom game would sell today…
    From the little footage I saw it seems like they are making gameplay mechanics similar to “Brothers in Arms”, the older ones, not the upcoming one since there is no current game play footage of that one.

    “Brothers in Arms” tactical gameplay has its moments of fun, got it on a Steam sale, but it was no Swat 4 or StarWars Republic Commando. I will check out Xcom FPS since I am into that kind of squad games, but I too, even when I am not giving up on this game just yet, would like more stuff from the old games.I also think the fist SpoonCom:Betrayal was better than this “sequel” jk :D

  • http://twitter.com/AJRimmer5 AJRimmer

    I’ve not played Xcom, so I can’t really comment on whether this is a good or bad addition, and I might be showing my lack of knowledge of these games, but I have to say the fact they’re fighting in Hill Valley seriously pisses me off. Seriously, is Marty McFly in this fucking game? Look at the footage, the clock tower, the cinema, the town square, it’s fucking Hill Valley.

    Quick Doc, get the DeLorean, Bif summoned an alien horde.

    “Great Scott”!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1667233283 Alexander Gagne

    When I heard “squad-based shooter” the first thing I thought of was “SWAT 4: The RPG!”

    • http://UnholyFireDragon.com Unholy Fire Dragon

      You’re in my XP farming zone, sir! :-P

      LOL

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GGOGZUZUP2VFCJYMRVYUYS6EMU Retloc

    His screams of “BETRAYAL” were pretty funny. Actually, while I see where he is coming from, since I loved X-COM too, I’m sure the new game itself would be okay had they not slapped the X-COM license on it, which just angers fans who expected a good addition to the X-COM legacy. I’m sure they’re all sitting around the office muttering curses at the guy who suggested their next IP be X-COM. Personally I’m looking at Xenonauts and some other remakes floating about on the web. Multiplayer X-COM sounds pretty good to me.

  • Anonymous

    I will say this in favor of the new XCOM game – but only this: I like the idea of doing a prequel, set in the “classic alien invasion” era of the 50s, showing the formation of the XCOM project.

    However, if I’m going to play an XCOM game, then I’m going to want to play a turn-based strategy game. It’s not like people won’t buy Turn-Based Strategy games – by all accounts the Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics remakes did fairly well. Yes, they were on portables, but – frankly, I don’t object to playing an X-Com game on a portable. Hell, this could be great for the Vita and it’s Transfarring capabilities.

    However, the XCOM name (and thus the XCOM brand) is synonymous for not only a specific kind of story, but also a specific kind of gameplay. Consequently, the people who would respond to that brand will be looking for that kind of gameplay, making the decision to have this game be a first-person squad-based shooter very odd.

    • Brian Damage

      As I mentioned previously, current info from 2K themselves is that this isn’t a prequel, in fact the storyline is completely unrelated to the games of the X-Com series (and it wasn’t even going to be called “XCOM”, originally, they most likely just added the name on when some exec noticed they owned the rights).

      Even if it was a prequel, it’d be a pretty heavy retcon considering X-Com was supposed to have been founded in the 90′s.

      • Anonymous

        Ah, I missed the part about this not being a prequel, and not even being originally planned to be an X-Com game. That actually makes it even more disappointing – anyone with any knowledge of marketing should know that branding is important. Pissing away a brand’s value, through over-using it, watering it down or attaching it to crappy products only makes the brand worth less money. Yes, letting the brand sit idle for a while does help restore lost value to the brand (which is why I’d argue the X-Com brand is worth more now then it was when X-Com Enforcer came out), but you still lost money. You short-term gain money, but this leads me into my usual rant about publicly trade companies, which I don’t want to get into here. Maybe I should do a video on the topic.

        As far as the X-Com being founded in the 90s bit, you could explain around it by saying that X-Com had been disbanded for one reason or another, and the X-Com project was re-started as part of an international effort to repel the alien invaders in the 90s (which is why you can install bases anywhere).

        • Brian Damage

          It’s actually been theorised elsewhere (mostly by me, I’ll admit) that the reason 2K did this is that they risked somehow losing the rights if they didn’t assert some claim to the IP by making a game at this point in time, possibly because of all the fan remakes around.

          And you could explain around it that way, but you’d still have to explain how nobody remembers the massive alien invasion of America in the 60′s (and going by the map in the previews, we’re seeing a total war situation, complete with a moving battlefront).

          • Anonymous

            True.

            Anyway, as an aside, after thinking about this a bit, my preferred new X-Com game would keep the turn-based strategy and base building, but maybe tone down the difficulty a bit, and be a portable title. Hell, put it on the 3DS with the StreetPass, and have the player get extra research points (or something), when you encounter other people who have the game.

            (Alternatively – I don’t know if the system has a pedometer built in, have taking a walk with your 3DS speed up the research process.)

          • Brian Damage

            You wouldn’t have to tone down the difficulty globally; you could just add a “very easy” setting to the difficulty settings (and make sure there was no bug that made everything default to “easy” this time round :p).

          • Brian Damage

            You wouldn’t have to tone down the difficulty globally; you could just add a “very easy” setting to the difficulty settings (and make sure there was no bug that made everything default to “easy” this time round :p).

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Max-Beattie/1587183387 Max Beattie

    When I first saw the original trailer(s) for this game my first thought was “Oh Jesus fuck, it’s X-COM: Enforcer all over again. Kill me now”. 
    And now it’s X-COM: Mass Effect  Edition. Maybe this game will be good. Maybe it’ll even be great. But there’s one thing it will not be. It will NOT, WILL NOT be fucking X-COM. 

    Fuck. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002168244411 Deam Eren

    This game isn’t even Enforcer, atleast that had the X-Com aliens.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ben-Smooker/100001851743299 Ben Smooker

    I remember a while ago seeing some concept art, and I think it was a pre rendered trailer for the game and I thought “Whoa, this looks incredible!”
    That was because I didn’t know XCOM wasn’t a new franchise. I heard from Spoony that it was, in fact, an old PC game (DOS game, was it?) and so I decided to look up some footage.

    And then I wondered what on Earth I was looking at. This…old PC game…that was a STRATEGY game. and it looked fun, cartoony, deep, involving, technical, immersive and ultimately rewarding. And I wondered what on Io they were thinking making it into a first person shooter. I mean, I remember the outcry when fans heard Fallout 3 existed and was being made only to hear it wasn’t a top down RPG like before, but instead made into “Oblivion with guns”. But that…that kept the history. It was canonical, it referenced people, places and events long since passed as well as keeping monsters, groups, factions and themes the same.

    This game couldn’t even do that. I think fans *might* have accepted an XCOM shooter, they might even have accepted a Mass Effect clone, if it kept to the original universe. This just looks like “A Game” with a brand lable stuck on it. Like a Bruno Mattei of video games. Hell not even that, because he at least rips off the movies and copies the existing scenes, this game has *nothing* familiar to the originals.

    As a shooter they could have had you in your ship, they could have had the Halo: Reach style space shooting sections, perhaps. Or even just a Hawx or Ace Combat style section where you shoot the ships down, then land at the crash zone with your team and infiltrate the site. Surely we have the tech to make randomised plots of land? Epic fighting scene, kill some aliens, maybe add some plot elements to it to make it feel like you’re advancing, bish bash bosh, job’s a good ‘un.

    Nah, much better to just make a Bioshock powered Mass Effect rip off. Fuck the fans, man.

  • http://www.facebook.com/Krensada Travis Brown

    I am a big fan of the X-com games. When I heard this from you Spoony, It crushed me. I was hoping that they would not change a thing and only add to what was already things that made X-com fun. They could have just made the graphics nicer, added additional Tech, additional enemies, and that would have been completely fine. I feel just as you do Spoony…Betrayed. Betrayed and hurt that they would rather cash in on the X-com name for a quick buck than have any love form the project they were working on, destroying X-com for a new generation in a way that might not ever recover.

  • http://www.facebook.com/Krensada Travis Brown

    I am a big fan of the X-com games. When I heard this from you Spoony, It crushed me. I was hoping that they would not change a thing and only add to what was already things that made X-com fun. They could have just made the graphics nicer, added additional Tech, additional enemies, and that would have been completely fine. I feel just as you do Spoony…Betrayed. Betrayed and hurt that they would rather cash in on the X-com name for a quick buck than have any love form the project they were working on, destroying X-com for a new generation in a way that might not ever recover.

  • http://twitter.com/86TheJehuty M.A Ajab

    Now that’s what I call “Epic nerd rage of thousand active volcanos proportions” >:D

    I’ve never played XCOM in my entire life , nor any kind of turn based RPG , mind you (Unless Pokemon Blue & Pokemon Gold counts) , but I can understand the anger.

    *Remembers what happend to Crash Bandicoot post Naughty Dog era*

    Fuck you Vivendi Universal/Activision for raping my childhood ! >:(

  • http://www.facebook.com/german.obstein German Obstein

    Honestly I don’t understand why they are calling this XCom. They can’t be banking on nostalgia factor because it shares Zero similarity to any of the previous games (note I am excluding Enforcer from this tally because, honesty… Enforcer… )
    Heard the rumor it was more about 2k keeping the XCom property from lapsing back into public domain, not sure how truthful, but it seems like the only real motivation a company might have behind the namescheme of this game.

    So 2k won’t be getting my cash over this and I’ll probably wait, with baited breath no less, for the release of Xenonauts

  • http://twitter.com/ToruMiyagishi Toru Miyagishi 徹 宮岸

    I remember watching my friend play XCOM as a kid.
    And this friggin’ treason…
    Not gonna even buy it.

    Also, something of “the betrayal continues” for me. DmC: Devil May Cry. That’s awful.

    • Anonymous

      Seconded. What Ninja Theory has done to the Devil May Cry franchise is ten times worse than XCOM. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Hákon-Óttar-Hjörvarsson/788009553 Hákon Óttar Hjörvarsson

    I wonder though, how is the game if you completely remove XCOM from it. Let’s say it would’ve been named “Xeno invasion”, how would the game itself stand up?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Hákon-Óttar-Hjörvarsson/788009553 Hákon Óttar Hjörvarsson

    I wonder though, how is the game if you completely remove XCOM from it. Let’s say it would’ve been named “Xeno invasion”, how would the game itself stand up?

  • Anonymous

    I think now I understand the problem everyone seems to be having with the new XCOM. I actually used to agree with Joe on this one, but now, I’m not so sure…

    See, what I think happened here is 2K seem to have put the wrong gameplay in the wrong setting. You’ve got a different time period, new aliens, new technology to figure out, and that seems like a good idea… if you planned on making a strategy game. Here’s the way I figure it- if they just rebooted XCOM with all the same aliens, and all the same technolgy, all the hardcore fans would already know everything there is to know about them, so there’d be no mystery to solve, and the game would be pretty boring, albeit nostalgic.

    But, they made a shooter- you’re not trying to solve mysteries here, you’re just the grunts they send in to shoot things and recover bits of alien technology. Fine… now, since you’ve now removed the strategy and research elements from the game, why not pit us against the classic XCOM aliens? Again, hardcore fans know all there is to know about them, sure, but now they’re not trying to figure shit out, they’re trying to blow shit up!

    Basically, if 2K wanted to make another strategy game, the new aliens would have been a good idea, but, if all they wanted was to make an XCOM shooter, they should have stuck with the classic aliens. It’s like they had both ideas, both seemed really good, so they decided “Okay let’s put them together!” and this is what we got… It’s kind of like fruitcake, really, but now I’m stealing jokes from Jim Gaffigan…

    • Brian Damage

      While a lot of us probably would have been happy with the opportunity to shoot at sectoids on a very personal basis (or as spoony points out, fire a blaster launcher from a first person perspective), I feel like I have to point out that there was still a lot we didn’t know about the alien empire from the original games. Heck, we didn’t even know what they called themselves, or where they came from, or even how they went from the set of species in TFTD to the ones in the original game…

      • Anonymous

        I believe the Sectoids in the original game are the “de-facto” Sectoids and the Aquatoids from TFTD are genetically engineered off-shoots.

        What happened was that the alien empire sent a colonization ship to earth eons ago that ended up crashing in the ocean. With no way of getting more Elerium, power running out, and contact with the rest of their empire cut off, the aliens decided to go into long-term suspended hibernation and hope for the best. Every few million years they’d come out of hibernation, look around, take some samples, do some genetic augmentation, tinker around with their technology to better suit their current environment, then go back to sleep. Somewhere along the line they managed to develop the Elerium-gold alloy to get over some of the technical problems with using Elerium in a watery environment, but still didn’t have enough seed energy to mass produce it and keep their colonization craft operational.

        When X-Com destroyed the alien base on Mars, it sent out a distress signal which the colony computers picked up and woke the aliens early. The aliens realized what happened and, more importantly, that a technological species was now in charge of the surface. This is why they started attacking shipping; to get materials and energy to boot-strap the whole colonization operation.

        • Brian Damage

          And yet it’s a little ambiguous, isn’t it, the sectoid ancestry? The originals in UFO/X-Com:Ufo Defence are described as having flat feet which suggest aquatic origins…

          • Anonymous

            Oh, yes. We discover very little of the aliens’ culture. In fact, the only indication that they HAVE any culture beyond social structure and technology is the hallucinogenic pods that are installed in alien bases as a means of entertainment. So, yes, there is still plenty of room to expand on the aliens in that direction. Hell, we don’t even know where they got Elerium; there was never any indication of synthesis equipment to create the element.

            One could even tie it into Apocalypse by saying that Elerium is actually native (but inert due to slightly different physical laws) in the Apoc aliens’ realm and that the original X-Com aliens used advanced dimensional science to get it, but that in turn got the notice of the Apoc aliens that resulted in an interstellar/dimensional war between the two. There’s still lots of ways to take a plot in the original X-Com universe.

    • http://twitter.com/quantastarfire Ted Kehoe

      Using the original aliens shouldn’t have been a problem for even a mildly creative team. In the original, there’s fluff about the aliens, but not so much that you couldn’t elaborate on the concepts and such surrounding them; it was all very loose and was only there to provide a bit of flavor. The story was also loose, and could easily have been filled out with story missions every now and then where you interact with the aliens just a bit more or have very specific objectives from the norm that will lead up to the final mission on Mars. These missions could unlock as you perform research, and could be completed at the player’s leisure so that there’s no clock on when you need to complete the game.

      • Brian Damage

        My personal favourite suggestion I’ve seen around is to spice things up by adding the occasional alien defector (who may be a double agent). Maybe with the possibility of false UFO data being relayed.

  • http://twitter.com/Mordaedil Mordaedil

    This is pretty much what I thought it’d turn into.

    Fuck this shit. It might have been an interesting game on its own. But this mis-use of the XCOM brand for recognition and outright piss on the fan-base of old and new, I will not stand for.

    I may have only discovered X-COM: UFO Defense due to Steam sales, but I am just as outraged by this offensive game as any old fan would be. This makes Fallout: Tactics seem like a diamond in comparison. And it had flaws. Huge flaws.

  • victor// chacon/sabadia

    HE HATES IT

  • Anonymous

    2K games is becoming fast becoming my most hated publisher XCOM, Duke Nukem Forever, their crimes are mounting.

  • http://www.facebook.com/justin.campbell2 Justin Campbell

    The best part of this video was when Spoony gestured to Burton. It was like he was asking Burton if he believed this bull?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Matt-Flohre/538885031 Matt Flohre

    I may not be the best qualified to talk about this subject, seeing as I have never played any of the original XCOM games, but from what I’ve seen from the trailers, it looks like an interesting game. It may not be anything like the original games but I agree with CheezeFox. If everything was the same, there wouldn’t be any mystery.The Mass Effect-esque tactics seem alright. I just hope there will be some form of splitscreen co-op. I’m willing to at least give the game a try. And to all the people who loved the original XCOM games, including Spoony, I found a game that will be coming out that looks like it would be a lot like the older XCOM games. It’s called Jagged Alliance: Back in Action. Now, it has nothing to do with aliens of any kind, but it does seem to have that same type of turn-based strategy gameplay that the older XCOM games had. I would suggest you guys check it out.

    • http://twitter.com/7h30n Teon

       Unfortunately the people behind Jagged Alliance 2 remake, the so called Jagged Alliance: Back in Action also think that franchise needs modernization. So they’ve ditched Complex Turn Based Tactical Combat in favor of Real Time with Pause to make it more mainstream.

      Only game that might catch the spirit of X-Com would be Xenonauts and maybe (long maybe) UFO 2: Extraterrestrials.

      And about Jagged Alliance, the Jagged Alliance 2 still remains the pinnacle of Turn Based Tactical with RPG elements genre.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1536912113 Ian Kovich

    I’ll admit that I never played Xcom, so it’s hard for me to relate to the hate this game is getting, but once I heard the Final Fantasy Tactics comparison, my mind just blew all over the place. You take a strategy game, turn it into a squad-based FPS, and then try to sell it by saying its RPG system is like another strategy game?

    Yeah, I was just as speechless as you were, Spoony; not just because of what they’re comparing, but, again, because they just couldn’t be assed to make a strategy game but then say ‘our system is like this totally unrelated strategy game’s system.’ It’s like… wow, I don’t even know how to write it out. It’s like they wanted to change it, but then sell it like they haven’t changed anything… by comparing it to Final Fantasy Tactics? Again, I don’t know. A lot of developers today are stupid.

    And on a totally unrelated note, Final Fantasy Tactics was awesome. I need to play it again to see how it holds up today.

  • Anonymous

    Spoony, I want you in 100% control of the entire video gaming industry.  You speak 100% truth consistently.  These guys in charge right now obviously don’t get it.  They are out of touch with their consumer base.

  • Anonymous

    Spoony, I want you in 100% control of the entire video gaming industry.  You speak 100% truth consistently.  These guys in charge right now obviously don’t get it.  They are out of touch with their consumer base.

  • http://www.facebook.com/LordMalvern Brian Puschell

    I could handle the turnover to a squad-based shooter if they kept in the base management and interception elements of the original and gave it some of the open-world elements the original had but thus far there has been no indication of it heading in that direction.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Adam-Doran/100000584164074 Adam Doran

    atleast spoony won’t have to worry about cheating alien bastards killing all his men at one time lol but on a more serious not the game looks more like a mod for team fortress 2 than its actual own game

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mark-Redding/100001210219556 Mark Redding

    Is it just me, or is the framerate on the video just utter crap?  Or is the game actually that poor at rendering itself?

  • Anonymous

    I guess I can understand why Spoony would be so angry, I was much the same way when C&C 4 came out. It can be hard to take when a developer radically changes a franchise that you love.

    When it comes to X-Com I didn’t grow up playing them (only lately have I taken to giving them a try) so I don’t have the love and history that many gamers do for this series. Personally I think that they should at least get some props just for trying something different, even if it doesn’t work. In this day and age of franchise milking it’s far too common for game devs to crank out to crank out the same game and just slap a new number on the box. Over the years there have been a ton of x-com games and clones that (from I can tell) just rehashed the same old game.

    I can understand Sponny and others anger at this game, but I can’t help thinking about what he said about stagnation when talking about stuff like Final Fantasy, Nintendo, and Sonic the Hedgehog. I believe that any attempt to change things up is better than remaking the same thing every year.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=578389824 David Åström

      But this is franchise milking in a very real sense. Or attempted franchise milking, I should say. They took a shitty, unfinished game they had lying around and slapped the X-COM brand on it…or XCOM, as it were, since hyphens are so ’90s. All in an attempt to generate buzz around a mediocre product by way of using a classic franchise.

      It failed by the way, the official XCOM forum isn’t exactly lively and certainly not full of enthusiastic people and the media is “cautiously pessimistic” at best. They backtracked a bit this year and tried to pretend like they actually gave a shit by turning it into XCOM: Mass Effect Edition but there’s still nothing new under the sun here.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Björn-Apel/100002414853539 Björn Apel

      The problem is, they dont do anyting brave or diffrent. They make a shooter. Pretty much the most safety genre in the actuall generation. Also there is no feeling of trying to make it a X-Com Game. If you change something really drastic, you have to give fans something to recognize and feel welcome. With this in mind, people will give the new game a chance. But if you change everyting and make it in something not noteable, you lose.

  • Anonymous

    I agree 100% with you Spoony, this is a betrayal of the X-Com (UFO) franchise. I love X-Com and Terror from the deep. This piece of shit is unbelievable. The graphics look about 5 years out of date, the very concept makes my blood boil. Why, oh why, can’t they do a proper X-Com game with next gen graphics and systems? There’s a market out there for turn-based games (King’s Bounty, Might & Magic), fans everywhere would be pre-ordering a real X-Com game like crazy…this isn’t a real X-Com game!

    Betrayal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ernest-Bohr/100001640635802 Ernest Bohr

    Hardcore hipster gamers are sour about things changing.

    • http://twitter.com/quantastarfire Ted Kehoe

      Fucking sheep!

      I played this series before it was a shooter!

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Rodoy/775323495 David Rodoy

       There’s good change and bad change. This is definitely bad change.

    • Joshua D’souza

      People just don’t know what “hipster” means anymore.

  • http://www.gamerscorner.co.uk Gamers Corner

    I have no idea why they stuck the X-COM name on this game. I understand that shooters are the “in” genre right now but why attach the X-COM name to this? Fans of the franchise are just going to loudly cry BETRAYAL while younger gamers probably won’t know what X-COM is so the name is meaningless to them.

  • http://www.ofinteresttome.com/ Matthew Jordan

    After watching you live stream Xcom last year I went and bought all the Xcom games on Steam, freaking awesome games! 

  • Joosep Nigul

    And best of all, this shit’s getting released on my birthday.
    Fuck, man. Boycott this cockbite of a game.

    • http://twitter.com/quantastarfire Ted Kehoe

      No need to boycott, just buy ME3 instead. :P

      • Brian Damage

        Let your wallet do the talking :D.

  • Wolf Coder

    “You spend experience points just like Final Fantasy Tactics”
    Haha, is it also the smartest Sci-Fi since Blade Runner?

  • http://www.facebook.com/niQboy Nico Havia

    I can definitely relate to Spoony. I would outraged if someone took one of my favorite game series and fucked it up like this.

    It’s just the same as if they would take an RPG like Dragon Age and made it into an hack ‘n slash action game.

    …oh wait

  • Joshua D’souza

    I’m a huge X-Com fan, and I share the negative feelings.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AL6ADN5J3UXVHHOSRGNDM7XBCI realslimshadowen

      Heh. There was a smudge on my monitor that made it look you said you’re an X-Com fap.

  • Mauricio Alfonso

    I want to stop watching the video because it’s sad to see spoony like this and he may be overreacting a little, but I definitely share his pain. X-Com was one of my favorite childhood games and I wanted a new XCom for years, but this looks absolutely nothing at all like XCom, it’s not even a a strategy game.
    I wonder if the guys who made this game even played the original game, or just checked the wikipedia page for XCom and said “hey apparently it’s a game about aliens!”.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Chris-Peavey/601035413 Chris Peavey

    Yipe.  I’ve seen Spoony angry, infuriated, disgusted, even horrified.

    But this is the first time I’ve seen him demoralized.  This sucker must have hit him the way the Star Wars prequels hit me.

  • Anonymous

    I agree 100%, this should NOT be called XCOM at all, none of what made XCOM so great is there, absolutely effin nothing.

    I mean, if they at the very least kept all the base management, sending interceptors/landing crews, managing personnel, equipment, research, budget and that “been there done that” FPS/cover based/whatever BS was just the combat scenes I would be all over this, but no, instead they just make a generic shooter with some mass effect thrown in the middle and slap the XCOM name in it…..

    I miss the days where games were actually consistently innovative and devs seemed to always be trying to do new stuff, today 95% of all games that come out are a clone of COD, Gears, GoW etc.. or a mixture od them with some useless RPG elements thrown in, the gaming industry got really sad as of late….

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/György-Somorjai/100000430336460 György Somorjai

    I’d say only one thing: No matter how many jerks gonna e-mail you the day this comes out. No matter how they flood your Twitter (And I’m sure they will). If you personally don’t want to face this: DO NOT! You took a greater fall for the fans than 98% of all reviewers out there just by doing the ET review after a freaking operation. If someone wants to see you suffer more for his entertainment, he doesn’t deserve to be here.

  • Anonymous

    I HATED the original XCOM.
    There you go, HATED it.
    My brother had it and played it non stop, it was f-ing boring.

    Still that was when it was first released.
    A couple o’ years later, when I was a little older I gave the game a second chance.
    The game is a slice of gaming genius. I was VERY wrong in my younger years about XCOM.
    I still have both XCOM and TFTD installed on my ‘puta and still play them to this day (in fact I was playing it a few hours ago). It’s one of the very few old games I still enjoy playing today.

    You say “XCOM” to me, I instantly think turn based strategy. I think building and developing a base, I think research. I think using alien technology against them, etc. XCOM was one of THE most impressive and imersive games ever made. Beautifuly constucted. A world of aliens and alien technology to research and learn from. A game of almost endless opertunity. It was a deep and interesting game.
    I can not praise the original XCOM game enough. One needs to play it and invest some time to realize just how great it really is.

    You say “XCOM” to me, I don’t think “tactical” FPS.

    Why have they done this, it’s NOT XCOM?
    Remove the XCOM name from this game, no XCOM fan will ever recognize this as an XCOM game
    Call it “Alien shooty game”.
    This is not XCOM.
    It’s like calling Justin Bieber “a tallented musican”. It’s just an outright and obvious lie.

    Taking what made XCOM/TFTD so damn good and updating it would be amazing and simple.
    Hell, just give the original a HD makeover and put it on LIVE/PSN/Steam as a d’loadable game. You’ve got fired gaming gold right there.
    XCOM fans want an XCOM game, it’s not that hard to understand.

    There are fan made XCOM “updates” available on interweb that are ok, a little shabby at times but FAR better then this piece of crap they are trying to palm on us.

    I’d love a built from the ground up remake of XCOM. Polygon graphics, full 360 rotation of the maps. All the old aliens and technology, with some new ones thrown in.
    Just keep the same style gameplay, redo everything else.
    It can’t be that hard to do can it?

    “Betrayal” does not even come close as a descriptive for this.
    I feel like someone has cut off my nuts, fried them up in a little garlic and sold them to me as a meal.

    • Anonymous

      *standing ovation*

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Rogerio-Penna/100000887084570 Rogerio Penna

      Are you brazilian too? As a brazilian I am ashamed to say this, but Brazil was never my first choice for the XCOM base. I would usually place it around Turkey, to protect all the european nations, and also some protection over egypt and Russia and not THAT distant to India and China. I have the blood of millions of my brazilian compatriots at my hands, all killed by evil aliens in terror attacks at Brasilia or Rio. (funny enough, the biggest brazilian city, São Paulo, was always spared, as well as my city, Porto Alegre) haha

  • Anonymous

    So, it has “rpg elements”, a Mass Effect tactics wheel, I think I saw some husks in the promo, and you’re facing an invasion of machine creatures.  This isn’t like Mass Effect.  This is Mass Effect.

    • http://twitter.com/Yushatak Yushatak

      But first person, and I hate third person! Win for Yushatak.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Claes-Forsman/100000692894869 Claes Forsman

    Now you know how I felt when I saw Failout 3 for the first time….

    • http://twitter.com/Yushatak Yushatak

      I loved the old Fallout games but my major complaint was the combat. I also strongly prefer first person over third person, regardless of real-time or turn-based combat – Fallout 3 did both, and I loved it more than any previous Fallout game (though I admit that I wish the canon/items/etc. were closer to the older games, but it didn’t ruin it for me).

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Claes-Forsman/100000692894869 Claes Forsman

        Failout 3 is a brokendown piece of shit game that has the the story of the all the previous games mashed into one because Bethesda couldn’t be bothered to come up with something new for the eastcoast.
        P.S Super Mutants on the Eastcoast! Come on!

  • http://twitter.com/Yushatak Yushatak

    I like it. I couldn’t ever handle the complex controls of or get used to the old XCOM games, but this looks brilliant to me. Perhaps they should have just named it something else, or put a subtitle on it so that it’s clear it’s an offshoot, but it does look good. Besides, how do you know they won’t make a new XCOM turn based tactical isometric strategy game at some point after this? :P

    • http://www.facebook.com/koztah Koztah V.

      One of the big appeals of X-Com: UFO Defense as a strategy game is that the controls were simple. Fucking *FACEBOOK* is more complex than X-Com was.

  • http://twitter.com/Yushatak Yushatak

    Spoony, why can’t you just accept it as a squad-based shooter in the XCOM universe instead of being annoyed that they didn’t make a new XCOM game? :P

  • http://www.facebook.com/Brian.William.Thomas.Whalen Brian William Thomas Whalen

    God Bless You.  Any turn based strategy attack you plan on making against these bastards has my full support.  Nice collection of books btw

  • Anonymous

    lol I was wondering whether he was going to break down an like it there for a second. Honestly I get the same feeling of betrayal when I watch trailers of Resident Evil Operation Racoon City. Only at least they already killed the RE series years ago with RE4 so it doesn’t sting as much as this fresh wound with X-Com.

    Thing is I still get the feeling that this game was never meant to have anything to do with X-Com an they just bought the IP to try to make it more popular. Cause the game itself has nothing to do with X-Com. The setting an Aliens are completely different. An yeah add some half ass squad command stuff isn’t going to cut it. Not when plenty of games have done that like Mass Effect, Rainbow Six Vegas, Republic Commando an many others.

    It’s just not going to satisfy the real fans who are used to commanding squads of 15 guys in a turn based method of play. An watching them get picked off one by one in horror movie fashion when a mission goes wrong. So yeah to 2K’s credit they at least acknowledged their critics an tried to make it a bit better. But its just polishing an approach that was incorrect from the start. If your going to make a new IP then make a new IP. Don’t take an existing one an use the same name but change everything.

  • Anonymous

    lol I was wondering whether he was going to break down an like it there for a second. Honestly I get the same feeling of betrayal when I watch trailers of Resident Evil Operation Racoon City. Only at least they already killed the RE series years ago with RE4 so it doesn’t sting as much as this fresh wound with X-Com.

    Thing is I still get the feeling that this game was never meant to have anything to do with X-Com an they just bought the IP to try to make it more popular. Cause the game itself has nothing to do with X-Com. The setting an Aliens are completely different. An yeah add some half ass squad command stuff isn’t going to cut it. Not when plenty of games have done that like Mass Effect, Rainbow Six Vegas, Republic Commando an many others.

    It’s just not going to satisfy the real fans who are used to commanding squads of 15 guys in a turn based method of play. An watching them get picked off one by one in horror movie fashion when a mission goes wrong. So yeah to 2K’s credit they at least acknowledged their critics an tried to make it a bit better. But its just polishing an approach that was incorrect from the start. If your going to make a new IP then make a new IP. Don’t take an existing one an use the same name but change everything.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Matt-Goles/639007463 Matt Goles

    “they have added ‘tactical elements’ to this game”
    Me: ok……..
    “it is now …a squad based shooter”
    Me *top of lungs* “FUCK!”

    Crappy fps squad AI! Yeah everyone will like that! This ain’t a game, its a maim…

  • Anonymous

    You know, I don’t really care that its title is “XCOM”.  I bought all the X-COM games from Steam over six months ago.  I figured I’d see what all the hate was about.  I figured I’d see why people thought X-COM was so amazing and fantastic.

    I was disappointed with the original games.

    I hate to rag on them, and I KNOW I’m going to get hated on for the opinion…  But I seriously DO NOT see the allure of the X-COM games.

    Don’t get me wrong, I love tactical games.  I love turn-based tactical games too.  I love being able to make my decisions based upon information given to me, and based upon how combat is progressing.

    X-COM, I found, is fucking boring.  It’s so goddamn dull, that I ended up waiting for AN HOUR before ever getting to do anything in the game.  Now, maybe I’m just playing it wrong (and I probably was, who knows?), but nothing ever happens.  And then when something DOES, you are thrown into something extremely out-of-depth for your characters.  The levelling was so obtuse and meaningless as well.  When your characters die on a regular basis, the level up system is useless.  I guess it’s supposed to be that way unless you’re a God at the game, or have all the “end game” junk…

    Plus, most of your teammates die in ONE HIT.  Doesn’t matter what it is, they die, instantly.  Pistol shot from 400m away?  Instantly kills.

    X-COM was the ONLY GAME where I found it to be a much better strategy to go “Scorched Earth” in a mission instead of “Bug Hunt”.  This HEAVILY detracts from gameplay.  I stocked EVERYONE with grenades.  I got alien grenades, I researched those too, and carried those.  I sold the guns and just threw grenades everywhere and at everything.  Which, as it turns out, is the best strategy for 90% of the aliens in the game.  Save for things like the exploding discs that turn your allies against each other.  Apparantly, guns work best on those.

    Now, me, a newbie, a new player, no manual to go on, just obtuse crap in the Walkthroughs I could find online…  Gets smashed by pretty much everything until he just simply equips grenades to his squad, as many as possible for every unit.  How is that strategy?  That’s “brute force” and nothing but.  The only way I could find to keep my units alive reliably was grenades.  That is a poorly designed game, regardless of when it was made.

    I do also love how it doesn’t occur to this organization to equip BASIC ARMOR to their units (or even have it for purchase) against hostile alien threats with far superior technology and clairvoyance.  You don’t even start with MED KITS.  Basic treatment!  WE’VE HAD MEDICS IN THE MILITARY FOR CENTURIES!  And this government agency requires me to RESEARCH medical kits?  No, sorry, screw that.

    Now, I only played the first six encounters (about 8 hours of gametime) before just getting fed up with it.  So, maybe my opinion on ‘em is biased.  Maybe I didn’t “stick it out long enough”.  But you know what, if a game doesn’t get good by hour 2, it’s a stupid game.  I don’t mind a game with a steep learning curve either.  Hell, I play ADOM.  That game routinely screws you over, even if you do know what you’re doing.  Hell, I play Dwarf Fortress, where not knowing how to MAKE A FIELD can spell game over.

    After eight hours of that game, I decided the only people who liked X-COM were those who enjoyed it because they’d somehow mastered it.  They’d invested hours upon hours learning every nuance of the game to get it.  And this puts them in some sort of supergamer clique.  Or, whatever it is.  I guess if I’d mastered the games and not gotten bored stiff with ‘em, I would agree they were good.

    They just aren’t.  Dull, boring, dry, time-sinks equivalent to WoW in terms of sheer grindtasticness.

    I look forward to this new XCOM simply because it looks interesting.  It looks PLAYABLE.  Quite frankly, I like the idea behind the original X-COM games where you find the aliens, kill or capture ‘em, capture their tech, backwards engineer it to fight them better, and etctera.  However, it looks like the SHOOTER version executes it better than the TURN-BASED-STRATEGY version of it.

    I know, I know, you all hate me now.  That’s fine, I don’t care.  I’m just saying that I did not and do not enjoy X-COM or even understand how it has earned ANY praise what-so-ever.  Why is it enjoyable to you guys?  ‘Cause not just anyone can approach it?  ‘Cause it squashes casual gamers and only the “hardcore” can enjoy it?  No, I seriously don’t get it.  It could’ve been great, but it’s not.

    And the new XCOM just looks right up my alley.  Granted, it’ll probably just be a generic shooter…  But at least I’ll have more fun with it in 8 hours of gameplay than I did with the TBS versions.

    You know what?  I’d rather play Final Fantasy Tactics instead of X-COM…  At least there’s genuine gameplay reward for winning a fight and the crap isn’t so obtuse that you need a wiki to figure out how to kill a BASIC ENEMY.  Actually, I just like FFT ’cause I don’t have to look up a freakin’ tech tree in order to equip armor or heal my units.  I can buy a Potion in FFT or buy some leather armor and away I go to live and die on the STRATEGY I employ, the not the artificial difficulty curve the game places upon you while also murdering you by sheer RNG.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=578389824 David Åström

      Well obviously the game isn’t for everyone, first of all.
      However, the game is designed around the idea that not the every soldier will survive. It’s balanced around it, just as it’s balanced around not every mission being a success, some even being catastrophic.

      As for having to wait an hour until something happened…turn up the GD speed on the Geoscape. It shouldn’t take that long at all unless something is screwed up with your game. The first UFO pops up between five to ten seconds of starting the game, not an hour into it.

      And as for you failing and getting shot to hell and having to resort to grenade spamming, well, how about utilizing smoke screens. Or keeping soldiers covered. Or keeping time units for reaction shots when it isn’t your turn. Or doing night missions while using flares to get the jump on enemies. Or all of the above.
      Just because you play in that manner (and on what difficult level?) doesn’t make the game stupid. Grenades are good but God knows I don’t pack that many when I play.

      In the end though, the game is old and everyone KNOWS it has some flaws, that’s subjective of course but yeah. Still, that’s why seeing the franchise revived and then turned to a shitty FPS is just fucking sad to a lot of people.
      It could be so much more if they took the mechanics of the original and actually made it better, everything from the Geoscape and overarching strategy portion, to the base/research managment and right down to the tactical combat. The fact that they don’t even have any of the aliens from the original is just insult to injury. It’s not like they can’t add to it or even reboot it, but it should be recognizable.

      • Anonymous

        See, I understood “alien weaponry = better than human weaponry/armor”.  However, you have NO ARMOR.  None.  Zip.  Zero.  Nada.  It’s non-existant.  You have to research it first, just like your initial medkits.  And it’s like number 6 or 7 in the tech tree.  The fact that my own units could be confused, and kill each other with one shot, with a pistol, from maximum range…  Is pretty crappy.  Now, I understand that it’s a “percent chance” of happening.  But when it happens  two, three, four, eight times in a row…  It’s ridiculous.  And yes, I did turn up the speed.  Five seconds in, UFO shows up.  I try to shoot it down, it outruns my craft right off the bat, doesn’t land anywhere, and then I wait for AN HOUR before I even get to deploy the jets again, and another 2 minutes afterwards to deploy my troops.

        My gripe isn’t about “troops die”.  It’s “troops die TOO FREQUENTLY”.  My first three missions were “only 3 guys made it back” each and every time.  After that, i was like, “screw this, grenades are cheaper than people” and decided to always buy a ton of grenades instead of restocking troops.  This brought my casulty rate down to about 1 death per mission (except when I finally encountered the floating disc thingies and had discovered their immunity to explosives.  And then having to resort to the wiki to determine that I could obliterate them with a simple Pistol).

        I went into the game, expecting it to be DIFFICULT.  To test my skills and thinking and reasoning.  What I got was a severe case of “The Computer Is A Cheating Bastard”.  I expected to lose troops every mission until I gained some skill in it, or some good weapons.  I didn’t expect to have to resort to “Scorched Earth” policy by the fourth mission just to keep MOST of my units alive.

        I played on the “medium” difficulty.  I’d played TBS games before and figured I could handle it.  I started saving points to do “reaction shots”.  Except….  MY UNITS NEVER TOOK THEM.  Enemies would shoot me LONG BEFORE my units would fire their reaction shots.  And quite often, die before ever shooting back.  I saw the enemy had no problem using their “reaction shots”, except theirs always go first while mine always go last (if my unit survived the attack on him anyway).

        So, I went “Scorched Earth”.  Blind corner?  Grenade.  Door?  Breaching Charge thing.  Enemies sniping?  Grenade up to the window.  I threw grenades as often and as far as I could.  And only lost about 1 guy a mission from it.  I killed enemies long before they ever reached “firing range”.  I cleared out crashed spaceships by lobbing grenades up a floor and into the hole in the roof.

        And after doing this for three more missions, I was quickly bored, since it was the only effective strategy I could find.

        It was just a major disappointment to me.  The game was “hard” until I resorted to such a simple and cheap tactic.  The old “kill it with explosives” that every game employs.  Yeah, it worked, but it was boring.

        Also, smoke didn’t seem to deter aliens what-so-ever.  I was frequently shot from the other side of the stuff by aliens when I couldn’t see them at all.  Hence the “clairvoyance” stab at the game I made.

    • Anonymous

      I can’t, and never will slam someone for their sincere experience with the game as long as it really is a sincere experience. 

      But there is some explaining to be done. 

      I succeeed not just at the first XCOM, but also it’s ultra-sadist brother Terror from the Deep, by not going the “all grenades, all the time” strategy. So no, scorched earth is NOT the only way. I am not a supergamer, nor a part of any clique resembling it. I also didn’t need an FAQ for killing basic enemies. Know what actually helped me? SWAT team tactical charts and manuevers. No kidding. I emulated a lot of principals SWAT elements use in assaults, adapted it as XCOM’s engine allows, and it paid off handsomely, and all the while I was using combined arms (Auto cannons are not useless when used in open field combat and loaded with HE ammo), effective use of smoke and flares. I kept to cover obsessively ( Did I still have casualties? Hell yea. I rarely got through a mission without at least one or two troops falling, and I celebrated when it happened that all my boys and girls got to go home alive. As said by David Astrom, not every mission is going to be a happy ending and I frequently had to bury some poor rookie, though you can always keep them from being complete disasters. 

      Guys dying in one shot without armor? This actually makes sense. You’re going against aliens with SUPERIOR FIREPOWER. Kevlar or Spectra likely wouldn’t even be noticed by a plasma weapon, hence why you need alien alloys and other advanced tech to counteract. It forced me to work as a team to take down each individual scumbag methodically. Before I could get my squad in power armor and plasma weapons of their own, I didn’t take on an alien position without 2 troops and preferably someone with a heavy weapon backing them. 

      Things not happening? You DID remember to turn up the speed on your Geoscape screen, right? It only takes a minute or two before the first UFO comes a calling on your radar. 

      I understand your gripes, even. Not having medic capabilities was something that begged to be fixed, as did having vauge control over troop developments. The game is far from perfect. 

      So no, I don’t hate you, but there is an explanation for what you described. 

  • http://twitter.com/perderedeus Tim Gulics

    Spoony, with the rage of ages!

    I think the explanation here is that they’re aiming for a very wide audience, PC and Console, so that means: shooter. Really, the turn-based strategy game – XCom or any game of this type from the past – appeals to only a niche market. They can (try to) make a fully faithful XCom sequel, revamped for this millennium, and sell … say, a million units. Or, they can make an FPS and sell, say, two million+.

    It’s no justification, just an explanation. Personally, I think I’ll play this ‘FPS abomination’… I dig the 1950′s setting. I loved the original XCom games but those are behind me now, existing in the past, in a special place in my heart. Really, I’d rather have them make a halfway entertaining shooter out of the property than risk them making a really bad turn-based revamp (or the project getting cancelled by some fatcat publisher who thinks it won’t sell).

    • Anonymous

      Actually, you could possibly get a pretty good Turn-Based Strategy X-Com game done as a $15 downloadable title from XBLA and PSN.

  • http://twitter.com/DoodTheMan Dante Alberti

    Ooooh! Can’t wait to play it!

  • Anonymous

    Here we could see a Spoony one trailer short of an absolute outrage.

    Man, I love X-COM, the original one, of course. Why a shooter? Why? Is that all gamers *want*, these days? Give Turn-Based strategy a hug, developers.

    I’m curious, though… What would have you thought of the game if the name “X-COM” was never mentioned? What if it’s the exact same game, but under a different name? Say, “The Monolith” or something. Bad graphics and all, whould have you been as mad?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Roler-Dark/100000545592088 Roler Dark

    that’s gaming today for you spoony

    if it’s not a shooter it wont sell, simple as that… if people are happy with it being first person is because they got suckered into the first person shooter trend

    i do feel your pain man…

  • http://www.facebook.com/lordsimen Josh Langland

    Honestly Spoony – as much as I agreed with you on Nintendo – I cannot help but think that your reaction here is exactly why Nintendo doesn’t do any major changes to games like Zelda.  Because many, many Nintendo fans would probably look at it as a betrayal. Just food for thought.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Roler-Dark/100000545592088 Roler Dark

      but keep in mind… there’s a difference between actual changes… and just turning your turn-based strategy game into ANOTHER first person shooter

      • http://www.facebook.com/lordsimen Josh Langland

        Good point.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Roler-Dark/100000545592088 Roler Dark

      but keep in mind… there’s a difference between actual changes… and just turning your turn-based strategy game into ANOTHER first person shooter

    • Anonymous

      There literally isn’t anything in common with the games though. No reoccuring characters, aliens, or plot (past aliens involving and you have to stop it), the gameplay mechanics and game genre are completely difference (a change from turn based to real time, and even to first person is something a game can survive, see fallout, but this?). I’m people poured alot of time and effort into this… but this is just Franchise familiarity exploitation.

  • http://www.facebook.com/lordsimen Josh Langland

    Honestly Spoony – as much as I agreed with you on Nintendo – I cannot help but think that your reaction here is exactly why Nintendo doesn’t do any major changes to games like Zelda.  Because many, many Nintendo fans would probably look at it as a betrayal. Just food for thought.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Spencer-Petersen/1745657519 Spencer Petersen

    Why the hell are they using Grease guns if they are a US special Ops group? This would have been a good place to show off some awesome tech, but it looks like a poor attempt at Bioshock crossed with Fallout. Odd considering the publisher also published Bioshock.

  • http://twitter.com/quantastarfire Ted Kehoe

    I don’t see the game as so brutal that you have to go all-out with grenades in order to make progress. But one thing that others will probably agree with here is that, as far as weapons go, you were really pigeonholed into going “Rifles>Laser Weapons>Plasma Weapons>Heavy Plasma” because most of the starter gear–the auto-cannon, the missile launcher, the pistol, etc.–were fucking terrible. So were non-alien grenades. So that’s one area the game could really use an improvement in, while at the same time expanding it so that there’s more selection, both in terms of conventional weapons at the start, and alien weapons later on. Sniper rifles, assault weapons, different types of body armor, and perhaps other gear.

    I think most of us who are in love with the original game have a basic loadout figured out when starting–mine’s along the lines of about 10 soldiers, rifles, stun rods, and maybe some flares, and everything else gets sold off immediately.

    The learning curve wasn’t particularly steep or anything, but just knowing what gear was useful and which was garbage really helped. That flew in 1994, but it wouldn’t survive today, so balance would be necessary.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=578389824 David Åström

      Actually it’s a bit worse than that as far as weapons go, I mean it’s kinda subjective but still:
      Laser Rifles are by far the best and most cost efficient weapons in the game. Sure, plasmas do more damage overall but not THAT much, and you waste resources making them.
      Plus, I don’t remember the name of it but one of the most hard to kill enemies in the game is the most vulnerable to lasers.

      But yeah, the game has flaws in many departments which is why it’s so sad that when the franchise is revived again they don’t take the mechanics of the game and just go nuts making it the best it possibly could be. No, instead they scrap all of it, including the lore and make an FPS.

  • http://twitter.com/quantastarfire Ted Kehoe

    Yeah, that aspect of the Sectopod was really annoying, because by then you’ve sold off all of your laser weaponry. You might have a laser tank, but at that stage, you probably want a hovertank for the maneuverability.

    As for Plasma, you never have to actually make them yourself since the aliens are liable to supply you with more weapons and clips than you could ever possibly need. They’re exclusively using Heavy Plasma around the transition to late-game too, so it’s really no worries at that point. If there’s an alien base nearby, you can run in, kill most of the aliens, steal weapons and Elerium, then run off to the entrance and dust off. You generally don’t have to worry about the ones in the upper part of the command area because they almost never leave, but if you have psi troops you can just disarm an alien soldier and stuff them someplace where they can’t get shot while you’re looting.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=578389824 David Åström

      That’s true. I don’t know why but I got it in my head that you have to mass produce clips and waste resources on them even though in my current playthrough I’ve been harvesting the transport ships and the aliens on it near a base several times now.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Stievenart-Mael/606699365 Stiévenart Maël

    Oh my dear god ! Anybody can see the rage in your eyes… I don’t doubt about your honesty, and i feel sad for you. From what i saw, i admit that this game doesn’t even look good by modern shooter standards, and i wont play it because i hate team shooters. This game seem just average. The aliens look cool, but that is it.

    Man, when you quoted FFT, i saw the rage in your eyes. You’re not angry, you have THE hate. I know i’ll sound like a fucking priest, but theses eyes brought me fear. I too endured the real hate long time ago, and i want to tell you, don’t let it devour you, you are so much stronger, hate is a very destructive force, VERY powerful, so much that it is almost impossible to control.

    As for the rest, you gave me reasons to buy at least 30% of the games you presented, so you should be proud of your journalist skills, and you should get your media pass next year too ^^. You simply deserve it. I should’ve said it before, but i’ll say it now : take care of yourself and your back budy ! It is just a cheer from a fan from Belgium ;) !

  • Anonymous

    Betrayal indeed, wow, just wow.
    Well, I won’t be buying this stinker!

    Thankfully, there is ‘Xenonauts’ being made!
    I really hope ‘Xenonauts’ will be good.

    Man, that is 2 strikes against 2k games! 
    First Duke Nukem Forver, and now this!
    GAAAH!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MTFZ3MDRIRICR5ZFNUEEKECX7E Steve

    As a shooter game and stuff, it looks really cool. But an X-COM Game this is not.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kevin-Seepersaud/100000376917913 Kevin Seepersaud

    (Tips hat to Spoony/Noah)

  • http://www.facebook.com/mmcabe1 Michael Mc Cabe

    Okay so back in the day me and my Dad went out to get a Cd-Rom for our old 486. Now the one we got didn’t come with a whole lot of games so my Dad said if I wanted to pick up a game go ahead. My first Cd-Rom game was X-Com. And dear god I spent hours playing it! I loved that game!

    This isn’t a X-Com game. This is 2k thinking “Wow! Lets make some retro RPG/Shooter like BioShock and throw the X-Com name on it! People will love it!” No I don’t love it, no I don’t want a X-Com game sent in the 1950′s or 1960′s. I want base building, I want going out in a damn Interceptor to take down UFO’s, I want ‘leading’ a Squad in fighting Snakemen, Floaters, Sectoids and Muton’s. I want this game to be based back in the 1990′s, ya know like the first one!

    What I sure as hell don’t want is BioShock with ‘Aliens’ and that’s what this is looking like.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=50312966 Stacey LeBlanc

     This reminds me of Starfox Adventures.

    A game that was one its own and in mid production, Nintendo leaps in and says “this shit ain’t gonna sell.  Throw Starfox on the title and throw in some arwing missions!”

    Tragic.  Just tragic.  Starfox Adventures was an okay action/adventure platformer, but Starfox it was not.  Same can be said for this game… poor Spoony.

  • Anonymous

    I’m glad I don’t live in a world where people give a shit about Xcom.

  • Anonymous

    Is Spoony gonna have to choke a bitch?
    He is gonna get outta that chair and choke a…

  • Anonymous

    You know what Spoony? How about you try making a video game instead of whining about them without purpose. If you’ve supposedly got a degree in computer science you shouldn’t be completely unfamiliar with the inner workings.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/George-Rosenbaum/100001387887487 George Rosenbaum

      The problem with your argument is that other people have made much better games.

      You argument assumes that it doesn’t matter how good a game is ‘as long as they try their best’. But the animations are crap, the graphics are crap, the gameplay is unoriginal crap, and the development team did almost no research on their source material. 

      The only thing I really like is the aesthetic. It makes the enemy seem unearthly and genuinely frightening, taking an innocent town and corrupting it beyond comprehension with black goo and space-time warping monolithic block structures.

      That’s the only compliment I can give this game, because everything else is crap all the way down.

      • Anonymous

         The game isn’t out yet, how would we know the quality of it for certain?

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Spencer-Jordan/1512115402 Spencer Jordan

          The game is shit. Get over it.

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/George-Rosenbaum/100001387887487 George Rosenbaum

          Because the developers thought the crappy demo was good enough to expose to the public. It’s either bad advertising or bad development. So you may still be right.

          But saying that ‘they at least tried’ isn’t good enough. This isn’t kindergarten, and trying to compare the work of a development team with huge resources and trained staff to video game making abilities of an internet critic is stupid. Of course Noah can’t make a game. He’s not a very good firefighter or basketball player either.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/George-Rosenbaum/100001387887487 George Rosenbaum

      The problem with your argument is that other people have made much better games.

      You argument assumes that it doesn’t matter how good a game is ‘as long as they try their best’. But the animations are crap, the graphics are crap, the gameplay is unoriginal crap, and the development team did almost no research on their source material. 

      The only thing I really like is the aesthetic. It makes the enemy seem unearthly and genuinely frightening, taking an innocent town and corrupting it beyond comprehension with black goo and space-time warping monolithic block structures.

      That’s the only compliment I can give this game, because everything else is crap all the way down.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Realist-Reviewer/100002249873460 Realist Reviewer

      Sorry but he has a legitamate complaint that this remake is not at all being true to the original source material and he is correct in that statement.

      Saying a critique is whining is the classic responce when they say something you don’t agree with, I’m afraid that doesen’t devaluate his points, the very fact that he is upset, merly strengthens his opinion, which he is entitled to, opinions we are all entitled to, he has a purpose and even gives surgestions on what he would like to see in the game, so yes I’m rather puzzled as to what your point was in the first place.

      • Anonymous

         I’m saying that if he’s going to constantly suggest ways to improve games then he should try his hand at making one himself. He often seems like he’s complaining purely for the sake of it or for attention, without taking into account how difficult that making a commercial game actually is.

        • Guest

          He has a computer science degree. I’m sure he knows how hard and complicated game-making is.

          • Anonymous

             He often seems to have forgotten what hard work really is. He’s outsourced editing his videos, playing the games he reviews, and often recycles his jokes from previous reviews he has written. I doubt he remembers how difficult making a game works individually, and I guarantee he would not do well on a team in the industry itself.

            I pose that simple challenge, but I also doubt he’d bother to read the comments, because I believe he’d shut his noise hole. He’s insulting the team who’s working on the game purely to line his own pockets while at the same time denigrating them by suggesting (pointlessly) ways to improve the game.

            The ultimate arrogance comes when he suggested that anyone on at 2K Games listens to his advice.

          • http://www.facebook.com/people/George-Rosenbaum/100001387887487 George Rosenbaum

            “He’s insulting the team who’s working on the game purely to line his own pockets while at the same time denigrating them by suggesting (pointlessly) ways to improve the game.”

            Thank’s for that snippet. I think that’s called ‘being paid to be a critic’, as opposed to being a critic for free. Your criticizing him for doing his job. Next you will criticize Burger King for NOT spitting in your sandwich. Also, if he is as greedy and money grubbing as you say, why is he still living in his mom’s house? Shouldn’t he be living in a gold plated mansion, soaking in caviar filled hot tubs and humping his robot maid?

            “I doubt he remembers how difficult making a game works individually, and I guarantee he would not do well on a team in the industry itself.”

            Even if he didn’t have any video game training, I’m sure you would make a crappy brain surgeon without training too. Your comparison isn’t very good.

            “He’s outsourced editing his videos, playing the games he reviews, and often recycles his jokes from previous reviews he has written.”

            I can’t explain the editing (you may be right), but Spoony has the occasional technical meltdown where he looses his saved playthroughs or it get garbled or is missing audio/video. Hell, even Yatzee of Zero Punctuation fame uses Let’s Plays to fill in the gaps of his knowledge when he needs more than a week to finish. Oh, and recycling jokes is a really negative term for ‘inside-joke’. Your probably taking about the SWAT 4 in-joke about how Noah ‘was in their spot’.

            “The ultimate arrogance comes when he suggested that anyone on at 2K Games listens to his advice.”
            Oh, god forbid 2K take any queues from a reviewer who was considered important enough to be granted special access start screaming bloody murder outside the XCOM booth. How arrogant to joke that maybe 2K listened to a loud reviewer?

            I guess you can assume that Noah MIGHT be arrogant, and MIGHT not do his own editing, but everything else you say either isn’t true, or is a baseless insult. Since you responded to the last guy withing about 10 hours, I might just get a reply to this. FUN!

  • Anonymous

    The saddest thing? 

    I would probably give this game a chance if it wasn’t latching it’self onto the XCOM legacy. 

    I can still to this day play Enemy Unknown and Terror from the Deep, have a different experience and a good number of war-stories to go with the playthrough. The gameplay has held up that long. But oh, OH how many new things I wished could be added and adapted. How I longed for more control over my troop’s development. How I longed for more gear, weapons and weapon customization. How I longed for extra combat options and mission types. The technology is there to give it, but….we get a Mass Effect/Fallout/Call of Duty hybrid? 

    Again, I would probably be fascinated with this were it not taking away from what could have been an update to my second favorite tactical game of all time. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Realist-Reviewer/100002249873460 Realist Reviewer

    If your going to try a turned based strategy game into a shooter, at least keep it true to the original material, Fallout 3 was OK at doing this, it had issues yep, the ending sucked yep, but it was true enough to the Fallout universe and in some parts good fun, it felt like Fallout had grown up.

    This game is trying to take a turned based strategy game and turn it into a FPS, but basically ignoring alot of the original premise of Xcom, the Aliens have been changed, the time period has changed, original xcom flew around in jets, they used pretty up to date weapons, they wore combat suits etc, they did not wear slacks and suspenders!

    So where they get this 50′s style from is a mystery, Xcom isn’t set around then, it’s obvious, so since this game is so far removed from the original game, why are they even calling it Xcom? in short money.

    I really think that it’s sad that they cant just call it something else and make what will be in a fairly large part a semi unique game, rather than ride on the coat tales of Xcom, a title this game has little to do with.

    This game might be fun, but I’m going to have to agree to boycott it on principle alone, no game should try and call it’self something it isn’t and this is so not Xcom.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Cado-Folust/100001915342551 Cado Folust

      I think Fallout lent itself to a first-person perspective, too. The combat was fairly clunky in the first couple of games and as they heavily featured firearms it made sense to switch it up. I don’t think I’d have gone the FPS route myself, especially as the combat remained fairly clunky due to the odd combo of real-time mechanics and a stat-based system, but I can see how it evolved from one into the other.

      Can’t… Really see that here. This seems like it’d be a spin-off, not a main entry in the franchise. That’s just based on the genre; it really doesn’t make sense to brand it with the license when it’s nothing like the original.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Elliott-Koepp/100000220245559 Elliott Koepp

    This review kind of reminded me of AVGN’s original “dr jeckyl and mr hyde” review. LOL

  • Renaissance_nerd

    its called “Mass market appeal” the number 1 killer of innovative and unique games.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Cado-Folust/100001915342551 Cado Folust

      But these things tend to work in cycles. I’m expecting another crash, not on par with the 1980′s one but enough to shake up the industry and potentially change everything about it. I think the biggest thing holding it back creatively is the idea that every game should have the same price point. If every genre had its own business model and not every game was expected to have cutting-edge graphics then we’d see a lot less stagnation.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Cado-Folust/100001915342551 Cado Folust

      But these things tend to work in cycles. I’m expecting another crash, not on par with the 1980′s one but enough to shake up the industry and potentially change everything about it. I think the biggest thing holding it back creatively is the idea that every game should have the same price point. If every genre had its own business model and not every game was expected to have cutting-edge graphics then we’d see a lot less stagnation.

  • http://twitter.com/TheWerebunny Laura Burkhardt

    Ok. I don’t play XCOM. I want to because I’ve heard other people say some good things about it, but I’ve never played it. So I can’t really get the whole ‘Betrayal’ feeling. However, I know the difference between a Strategy game and a Shooter game. Even if you don’t know the history behind a franchise, you know there is a history there. To take all that history of the XCOM universe right down to the genre, and shove it into a garbage disposal is just asking for fans to be up in arms about it. “In Name Only” NEVER works.

  • Anonymous

    Dial down the drama there sweetheart, you look like you are one tear away from screaming, “leave X-com alone!” I agree with your reasons for not liking what they are doing to the game, but the all that drama you portrayed is a bit too much.

  • Princess Stabbity

    So sending this to my brother. He’s a huge XCom fan and when I told him about what they did.. his reaction was so much like the “BETRAYAL!!” it was scary. I was never big on XCom, but even I’m ill at the route they’ve gone. They didn’t do anything new with this and instead just jumped on the popular bandwagon while sacrificing what made it special to begin with.

  • Anonymous

    Dear Spoony,

    You must get the over the fact that they are ripping off Mass effect and the name of the good old game to market this game. But nobody knows if the game will be good though the graphics look like shit. Maybe the story will be good? Or maybe the game-play will get better. Who knows? Anyway, they obviously wanted to just create a new game with a clean slate.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Josh-Taylor/523378875 Josh Taylor

       Then that’s exactly what they could and should have done. Why put Xcom’s name on it if what they wanted to do was create a completely different game?

      • Anonymous

        They want to sell the game. Maybe they think that people would think: “hey, XCOM is on sale… That was a fun game. Let’s buy it”. Sounds stupid.. But maybe there is a longer story behind this.

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Alexandre-Gignac/100000197589152 Alexandre Gignac

          actualy that is exactly what they are aiming for.
          just look at the fail boat that was duke nukem forever … now does it look so silly of a plow

          • Anonymous

            yup, kids played then adults buying now.

          • Anonymous

            yup, kids played then adults buying now.

          • Anonymous

            yup, kids played then adults buying now.

          • Anonymous

            yup, kids played then adults buying now.

        • Anonymous

          Which again is really stupid because either people will be too young to remember it or they will be pissed that they changed it up so much.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Josh-Taylor/523378875 Josh Taylor

    Can’t wait to get an Ultima shooter.

    • http://UnholyFireDragon.com Unholy Fire Dragon

      It would probably be similar to Spoony’s Lord of the Rings spoof or Angry Joe’s Magicka spoof. Either way, you have wizards with guns. LOL

  • http://www.facebook.com/EternalSonata2010 Anthony Valunas

    Hahahahaha, oh my god. You certainly saved the best for last. I literally busted out laughing when the trailer ended and it transitioned to you in a facepalm, and just when I thought this classic rant couldn’t get any better, I almost fell out of my chair laughing when the Final Fantasy Tactics quote came up. 

    Oh man, so classic. I’ve watched every single one of Spoony’s videos and I have NEVER seen that look of fury, confusion, and disbelief in his eyes before. I seriously thought he was going to go postal.

    I do feel a bit of your pain though as a fellow classic DOS gamer. They announced a major change that went from a bland FPS to a Mass Effect ripoff. Swing and a miss, 2K. Covering a steamy turd with sprinkles doesn’t make it a sundae.

    Still, one of your Top 5 videos of all-time. =)

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason-Prentice/100002333576013 Jason Prentice

    Right now this game looks like a dodgy version of Brothers in Arms, with Aliens.

    Honestly I think it’s destined to fail.

  • Anonymous

    Why use the X-COM name? It’s quite simple: Franchise name exploitation.

    They’re hoping to reboot the franchise anew and garner new fans, but in
    order to provide their investors with a sense of assurance, they’re
    using the name. So the old fanbase, at least as it was pitched to the
    investors, is supposed to provide that boost to get this green-lit.
    Of course, any genuine X-COM fan can tell you that this is NOT the X-COM
    we love (they already tried the shooter approach with X-COM
    Enforcer…it did not work out. At all.)

    Either way, this is pretty damn insulting; they must think my generation is so
    stupid at this point, that we would buy fucking ANYTHING if it had any
    nostalgic appeal.

    And the Hell of it? It’s a shooter made for consoles. Oh, good. Great. It’s not like we didn’t have enough of those fucking games.

    How do I know that? Mass Effect style gameplay. This will be made for
    consoles and shat back out onto PC unaltered to wring in the extra bucks from
    those poor saps who might see this on sale on Steam.
    Unfortunately, that also means there will be no element of strategy and no meaningful character management; I guarantee it.

    This is going to sound elitist, but I say this in a strictly-pragmatic
    manner: Those sorts of complex elements are NOT VERY marketable to the
    current console crowd. Management in games gets shit on enough already today, but
    turn-based games get shit on twice as badly.

    So if anyone was curious: That’s why it’s a shooter. Shooters are incredibly marketable.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Elliott-Koepp/100000220245559 Elliott Koepp

      Perhaps thats part of the problem. Back in the day when there where 1000′s of companies making video games, nobody did “market research” into what was most profitable. They just tried to make great games, often times based on a single person’s vision. Some were awesome, some were good, and others were downright assss! Today companies try to run their business like a TV station; they’re afraid to put anything out that won’t make big $$$$$. There’s only a handfull of companies that make games, and they all hire people who have credentials from college (government training camps). In other words, it’s probably safe to say that a vast majority of game company executives, as well as developers and designers, don’t have an original thought in their heads. Just like any other field in the modern world. We’re taught from childhood through highschool that higher education equals intelligence and wisdom, when in fact it’s the opposite. People in higher forms of business need to be able to think on their feet, be creative and wise, and are willing to take risks to achieve their goals. We’re obviously not seeing that in any field of business. Now everything has to be controlled, manipulated, analyzed by psychoanalysts, and put through litmus tests. We as a species are being dehumanized, and that is the plague of the new world economy.

  • Anonymous

    What’s up with the blasphemy with some of these companies turning games that’s something else into shooters?  They did the same shit with Shadowrun and bombed HARD!!!!

    • http://twitter.com/7h30n Teon

      Sorry to break it. EA is already doing that :( I completely lost hope in gaming industry.
      http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-06-02-new-syndicate-to-be-an-fps-report

      Edit: I had an idea. You know what would be awesome?! If Activision made Call of Duty: Tactics. It would work kinda like X-Com & Jagged Alliance. You have strategy part of X-Com where you go around the globe and Turn Based Combat of Jagged Alliance with its modern setting. That would be awesome!

      • Anonymous

         sigh….

        *head desks*

        • http://twitter.com/7h30n Teon

          Well I really don’t know what to think of it anymore. I’ll be getting a degree in Computer Science or Software Engineering (I’m not sure which to choose atm) and am currently making a game in C++ in my free time. But as much as I love making games and playing them, things like this are killing me.
          Then there is the indie scene, people like Mode 7 (Frozen Synapse) bring hope. I’d definitely like to sign up there. Or just screw it, get a proper programmer job and make games I like in my free time.

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=578389824 David Åström

        What the fuck.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Alexandre-Gignac/100000197589152 Alexandre Gignac

    wow 2k duke nukem wasn’t enough fail for you…you just had to butfuck xcom too…

  • Anonymous

    Xcom was before my time and I have never been a big strategy fan, so I can unfortunately not speak to what really enraged you, Spoony One. But I can say, with complete certainty, that this obsession with cramming elements from RPGs, Platformers, Survival Horror games, and every other genre into FPSs, must stop.  If you want to make an FPS, make an FPS, and leave the other genres to people who care about them.

  • Anonymous

    Xcom was before my time and I have never been a big strategy fan, so I can unfortunately not speak to what really enraged you, Spoony One. But I can say, with complete certainty, that this obsession with cramming elements from RPGs, Platformers, Survival Horror games, and every other genre into FPSs, must stop.  If you want to make an FPS, make an FPS, and leave the other genres to people who care about them.

  • Anonymous

    if the word hate was engraved on each nanoangstrom of spoony’s muscle fibers it would not equal one one billionth of the hate he feels for the game at this micro-instant. HATE.

  • Brian Damage

    Heh, your video even got 2K Elizabeth, the resident and official 2K-forum marketeer and hypemonger, to come out of hiding and claim you were being “too vague” (which will probably be their standard line against critics as this thing heats up). She pops up to make a desultory attempt to try and dredge up some good will for the game on a regular basis, then runs away when people start asking pointed questions. It’s kind of sad, really. Half a chance she pops up to comment here.

  • http://twitter.com/random_ninja5 Eric Hesselberg

    The sad thing is that if this game did not carry the XCOM name, Spoony would just call it a crappy shooter with intriguing alien enemies and be on his merry way. Unfortunately, the fact that the developers are insisting that this game is XCOM is what is sending him into his fit of rage. The same problem exists in many forms–nowadays unfortunately it mainly crops up in movies that are licensed from other sources. Movies or TV shows where they take the basic premise of the original and come up with a completely different and un-unique story around it. The example I use as the highest offender(I’ve personally seen) in this regard is the Resident Evil series of movies. You can change the titles and the movies won’t be any different because they don’t have an egging thing to do with the source material. And that is Spoony’s point. This game has taken the premise of XCOM’s story–government agency fighting aliens–and made up carp. It’s like they wanted to make a period alien shooter but were contractually bound to making an XCOM game. So they slapped the title onto the half-assed game they were developing.
    It’s really a shame, because in my mind I can see the game that Spoony wants. I can see a strategy game with great gameplay and graphics that is both challenging and fun to play. A game with a perfect mixture of classic aliens and new technology/weapons to use. Perhaps with a genius new mechanic added to the gameplay to increase the overall experience. Maybe one day it will come, but for now I agree with Spoony on this. Don’t be taken in with the flashy death ray–there are much better period alien games (like Destroy All Humans) that you can get your wanton destruction fix with. I only pray that the game’s release comes soon to spare Spoony any further torment.

    • http://twitter.com/7h30n Teon

       There are rumors that this game was in development after Bioshock 2 before they got X-Com license and apparantly they had to use it in a limited time span to prevent losing it. That’s why this game got XCOM tacked on.

      That would explain the whole thing if it is true.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Spencer-Jordan/1512115402 Spencer Jordan

    Oh man you suck so fucking hard at this game. You waited for stuff to happen instead of speeding up the game time. I am not even going to read the rest of your shit because you are obviously retarded.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Spencer-Jordan/1512115402 Spencer Jordan

    Complex controls? Bitch, you move your troops around and make them shoot at shit. How fucking complex is that?

  • Anonymous

    And there you have it, the state of video games, que melodrama. Everything that isn’t a shooter must become more like a shooter, if not a straight up shooter. But what they’ve done to X-COM isn’t some freshly cut wound for me, its more like picking at a scab after Fallout 3, or others besides. 

    I know people love to give Fallout 3 a Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card, but its no better than people giving this game a write-off for its sins. If you like it, fine, but don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining. The problem is everything GOD DAMN thing has to be more and more like a shooter these days. That seems to be the “solution” to every game that wasn’t a shooter, but it isn’t a solution. It’s like having arthritis in your hand and just chopping it off and replacing it with a hook. 

    There USE to be a healthy balance, there were fast-paced games and there were tactical/strategic games, and it was fine. But ever year the place you will see all the money getting pumped into are fast-pace, action games. People wonder why some of us who liked older RPGs or tactical games rage so often over the industry and its quite simply because THERE’S FUCKING NOTHING LEFT of what we like. Everything that hasn’t become some bastardized action hybrid will almost certainly become one. One of the last games to even try to serve up less twitchoid gameplay was Dragon Age: Origins, and they decided that DA 2 needed more “action”. Hell in the next decade I wouldn’t be surprised to see the main C&C series kanoodling with some sort of hybrid FPS mechanic that will sweep the entire strategy genre. I mean why not? It quite clear that anyone who doesn’t like to play only shooters is irreverent to the industry.   

    And you know what? While we’re at it fuck Chess, nobody likes taking turns. And trying to plan a strategy for 16 pieces is just boring. Make the player one of the pawns and give him a fucking uzi and let him go to town on those 8 other candy-ass pawns. Will we make anymore regular Chess games after that? No, because that was the outdated version, this is the evolution of chess, dontcha know.

    And I don’t hate action games or shooters or whatever you want to call them (at least not good ones), but it’s like eating spaghetti for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, every year, every decade. You just get sick of it.

  • Anonymous

    And there you have it, the state of video games, que melodrama. Everything that isn’t a shooter must become more like a shooter, if not a straight up shooter. But what they’ve done to X-COM isn’t some freshly cut wound for me, its more like picking at a scab after Fallout 3, or others besides. 

    I know people love to give Fallout 3 a Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card, but its no better than people giving this game a write-off for its sins. If you like it, fine, but don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining. The problem is everything GOD DAMN thing has to be more and more like a shooter these days. That seems to be the “solution” to every game that wasn’t a shooter, but it isn’t a solution. It’s like having arthritis in your hand and just chopping it off and replacing it with a hook. 

    There USE to be a healthy balance, there were fast-paced games and there were tactical/strategic games, and it was fine. But ever year the place you will see all the money getting pumped into are fast-pace, action games. People wonder why some of us who liked older RPGs or tactical games rage so often over the industry and its quite simply because THERE’S FUCKING NOTHING LEFT of what we like. Everything that hasn’t become some bastardized action hybrid will almost certainly become one. One of the last games to even try to serve up less twitchoid gameplay was Dragon Age: Origins, and they decided that DA 2 needed more “action”. Hell in the next decade I wouldn’t be surprised to see the main C&C series kanoodling with some sort of hybrid FPS mechanic that will sweep the entire strategy genre. I mean why not? It quite clear that anyone who doesn’t like to play only shooters is irreverent to the industry.   

    And you know what? While we’re at it fuck Chess, nobody likes taking turns. And trying to plan a strategy for 16 pieces is just boring. Make the player one of the pawns and give him a fucking uzi and let him go to town on those 8 other candy-ass pawns. Will we make anymore regular Chess games after that? No, because that was the outdated version, this is the evolution of chess, dontcha know.

    And I don’t hate action games or shooters or whatever you want to call them (at least not good ones), but it’s like eating spaghetti for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, every year, every decade. You just get sick of it.

  • Anonymous

    I think from this point on I will always refer to the original X-COM as “UFO: Enemy Unknown”, it’s original release name. So that it will not be confused with this POS.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Emery-Calame/1641327147 Emery Calame

    When did Spoony turn into a Renfield impersonator fighting percoset withdrawl ? This is sad. People make bad games sometimes and IP’s get renovated. Considering that the X-Com IP has been laying around except for a few unsuccessful attempts to make an Unreal engine first person shooter and a flight sim I think it’s LUCKY that the worst we have to deal with is an ‘X-files + Men in Black + Torchwood conglomerate set in a cornball 1960′s with Mass Effect controls. this COULD have been a Facebook click for $ game like happened to Evil Genius and Dungeon Keeper. Sectoids are just Greys these days and flying around in a recovered technology troop carrier/fighter that looks a whole lot like the Gallileo shuttle from TOS is not going to fly. I think we should let it officially suck before throwing a fit. 

    • http://www.facebook.com/taigrrr Peter Gribble

      I’ve been trying to think of a good way to say exactly this. The problem is that making the niche titles a lot of us enjoy just doesn’t bring in the money required to make games these days. You want a turn-based strategy game, leave it to the indy developers or the open source community. Hell, the guy who made the original XCOM games has released Ghost Recon Shadow Wars, a turn based strategy game for the 3DS.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Emery-Calame/1641327147 Emery Calame

        I often fantasize about storming into the Steve Jackson Games offices with a huge jar of stinky rotting fish roe from a bait shop,  and tell him that either he grants me a license to do a low budget Ogre strategy game on the Unity engine or we all find out what the inside of the jar smells like together. I would never do that of course but there should have been a better Ogre video game a long time ago and a budget version would probably do alright on XBLA or PSN or for iPhone or even in a browser with ads supporting the bandwidth. Oh well. 

        No doubt if I did do that Steve Jackson would hypno-ray me into doing a Munchkin Online prototype instead. And by “ hypno-ray me into doing a Munchkin Online prototype instead ” I mean call the police and have me held for 48 hours for medical observation and charged with making a terroristic threat and ordered by the court to stay away from him. So yeah, not a good idea really. 

        • http://www.facebook.com/taigrrr Peter Gribble

          I don’t know, Steve Jackson is pretty paranoid about calling the feds, what with having his offices raided on suspicion of terrorism. That, and being a psychotic freaking nutbar who thinks that not being allowed to carry automatic weapons on the street is as totalitarian as being randomly arrested and cavity searched without cause. TBH, if you burst into his office today, he’d probably just shoot you in the face…

          • http://www.facebook.com/people/Emery-Calame/1641327147 Emery Calame

            Seems like overkill for a stinky jar. Still it would be a GREAT excuse to ask him about ‘Hot Lead’. 

            ” You want to know about Hot Lead? Do you? Well it’s your lucky day! I have 10 copies of it right here for you to read and ONE MORE IN THE CHAMBER! Make your agility roll MOTHE R#@$#er! ”

            “Jelly Rolls? Ooh, I love me some jelly rolls! ”

            *BANG! BANG! BANG!*

            “OH! You said ‘agility roll. like GURPS. I get it. Uurrrrrrgh. ”

            *Thump.*

            (Lord, that was geeky…)

          • http://www.facebook.com/taigrrr Peter Gribble

            I thought GURPS didn’t use agility? I sure hope you know your Active Defence values… Plus it would take about two hours to play out him emptying a handgun into you in GURPS :p

            Oh, I forgot to mention, I’m actually curious to see how the new XCOM plays out. I’ve been looking forward to an XCOM shooter ever since the first game, although this isn’t necessarily the route I’d have taken.

  • Anonymous

    If you wanted a schooter go out and buy one of the 9001 shooters out there.  Leave us THINKING gamers SOMETHING.

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    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Emery-Calame/1641327147 Emery Calame

      If you guys out there were still buying campaign based turn base isometric tactics games in big numbers then they’d still be making big budget versions of them and Age of Wonders and Disciples would not be products of small studios taped together into strategy collections for $4.99 at Half Price Books.

      Harsh truth there but that’s how it is. 

      If you want to make games like that you’ll have a really hard time doing it under the conventional video game business model. You’ll almost certainly have to go Indy, use cheap or free dev tools, and media tools, and settle for shady junk-game distribution channels or online only sales. 

      • Brian Damage

        And yet the steam versions of UFO, TFTD and Apocalypse are obviously still selling (and seen as worth selling by 2K) more than a decade after they came out, and one of the most common comments I’m seeing around is “Dammit, if they just gave us a graphical/expanded update of the original TBS, I’d much rather buy that!”.

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Emery-Calame/1641327147 Emery Calame

          For sale != “selling”. 

          Neither is ‘seeing common comments’. Going by comments there should be new Mechwarrior, Freespace, and X-wing vs.Tie Fighter games by now with special “Tekki/Steel Battalion” style force-feedback joysticks and pedals, and an adjustable helmet with speakers, augmented reality features, and head tracking mechanisms all built in. Yet there isn’t. It’s a bad bet for business.

          If you can convince some investors that a huge market is out there to justify the costs for developing a big, new, high quality, 3D, principally isometric turn based strategy X-com game with a cool cinematic camera that makes the action look really awesome, then great, but some people some who buy stuff or clones of it for really cheap on Steam, or look for old stuff on GOG, probably aren’t quite the justifying evidence you would need to get funding for such a project rolling. 

          A budget version for online only consumption is more likely but still probably a little hard to pull off. Estimated current demand appears pretty tepid for a commercial X-com successor game. It is a product with a niche audience. That’s why 2K Marin is taking a chance on a new version of the property with weird geometric effects and Mass Effect like controls and a look that’s part cartoon and looks a little bit like an episode of Mad Men only with weird armor. 

          • Brian Damage

            I doubt 2K would have gone to the trouble of setting them up with a tailored version of DOSBox if they didn’t think they were going to sell, and while admittedly I can only go by conversation with likeminded people, they certainly seem to be selling. I’d love to get the sales figures off of 2K, but IIRC the last time we asked the only person we could get the info from was really cagey about it.

            And yes, that’s the way these things would go ideally, a lower-budget game that concentrates more on gameplay and replay value (as in the original games) more than on this-generation graphics (which, let’s be honest, this game doesn’t actually seem to have quite nailed yet) and flavour-of-the-month style – something that has a direct-to-the-consumer sale time measured in multiple years rather than one or two because the graphics, storyline and engine aren’t the main selling point. Take Spiderweb software’s games, for instance, but with “low budget” in terms of a large studio rather than basement coders.

            Personally, if they’re not going to keep X-Com as a bastion of TBS tactics and strategic gameplay, the thing the series is known for (or even keep it in the proto-genre people have been sticking it in, as a “Planetary Defence Simulator”), then I’d rather they didn’t use it.

            The game they’ve got now would have lost nothing by being shoved out under its own IP. Instead, what they’ve gotten by using the X-Com franchise is a whole load of bad press that seems to be proving that not all publicity is good publicity.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Elliott-Koepp/100000220245559 Elliott Koepp

      Although I think Spoony is off base on a lot of things, I have to agree with him and Draxo on this issue. I remember when I was a teenager in the 16/32 bit era and I liked all kinds of games. Everything from racers to shooters to RPG’s. Today the FUN just isn’t there in the majority of new games I play. 1st person shooters were good in moderation, but when 50% or more of new games released are about chasing terrorists or aliens around (in a post-apocalyptic world most of the time), how am I supposed to be interested in that? All those games do is remind me how fucked up the real world is, and video games are supposed to be a form of escapism. If I want to learn about terrorists and intelligence networks I can dig through the internet dirt about those subjects. I don’t need fan fiction (unless it’s really fucking spectacular). The best newest game I’ve played to date is Mortal Kombat 2011. You know why? Because it’s cheesy, unrealistic, and fun to play! I want to feel like I’m playing a video game dammit! Not working for the scum that runs the government!

    • Anonymous

      Well at least adventure games endure thanks to Tell Tale. Of course now that we have the internet you can beat those games by printing out a walk-through from GameFaqs and doing what it says without any thought whatsoever… Well RTSs still endure.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bryan-Tristan/782501143 Bryan Tristan

    Towards the end there, I thought Spoony was going to stroke out.  His rage was clearly that immense.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mario-Babic/1642160632 Mario Babić

    It’s ripping out Mass Effect?

    Sorry Spoony and XCOM fans but I’m buying this game.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jg-te-Molder/100001503808332 J.g. te Molder

      They’re not ripping off Mass Effect. They’re only using a small game-play mechanic; XCOM is NOTHING like Mass Effect. Mass Effect is a shooter RPG with a story. XCOM a disjointed level shooter like doom was, and Quake.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Karoubas/100002406798073 Paul Karoubas

    This isn’t evolution. I’ve seen evolution in game design. This is mutation. Heading sideways, turning one thing into another. No innovation on show, in plot or game design. As is, it appears to be a pretty simplistic shooter, with a simplistic alien invasion plot, that no one’s going to get invested in, and no one, bar the fans of the original, is going to remember.

    I’m a fan of innovation; I like action orientated games, alongside strategic ones. C&C3 is one of my all time favourite games, and I really like the way combat’s handled in Dragon Age 2. AFAICT, I’m at least part of the targeted fanbase for this one. But this… this is completely worthless! It makes me mildly ashamed to like those other games, just because they claim the same thing. Only difference is, those two stuck to the baseline, they kept the core of their original games, simply streamlining it and making it flow faster. This….

    Betrayal isn’t strong enough. I’ve not even played the original games, but this is anathema to me as a gamer Worthless, pointless, and a complete waste of everyone’s time and money

    *sigh* I’ve got to hunt down the original X-Com. It can’t be this bad.

    • Anonymous

      Go to Steam, get X-Com there.

      http://store.steampowered.com/search/?snr=1_4_4__12&term=x-com

      Last year, during 4th of July, they had the grand bundle of 5 games for less than 4 bucks. Best. Steam Deal. Ever. So yeah, if you feel like waiting for a sale, feel free, but even at 5 bucks, the original game is TOTALLY worth it. Terror of the Deep was a reskin with new weapons, terror missions, expanded multi-part missions, and a few other things. But still mostly it was X-Com to the core though. Apocalypse is when it started getting out there, even if they were going in a fresh, new direction. And then they F***’d it all up.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Karoubas/100002406798073 Paul Karoubas

        …:) I’ll go take a look. Even at $5, might wait till start of next month before picking ‘em up, but believe it or not, I hadn’t thought to check Steam. Thanks! :)

    • Anonymous

      Go to Steam, get X-Com there.

      http://store.steampowered.com/search/?snr=1_4_4__12&term=x-com

      Last year, during 4th of July, they had the grand bundle of 5 games for less than 4 bucks. Best. Steam Deal. Ever. So yeah, if you feel like waiting for a sale, feel free, but even at 5 bucks, the original game is TOTALLY worth it. Terror of the Deep was a reskin with new weapons, terror missions, expanded multi-part missions, and a few other things. But still mostly it was X-Com to the core though. Apocalypse is when it started getting out there, even if they were going in a fresh, new direction. And then they F***’d it all up.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Karoubas/100002406798073 Paul Karoubas

    @Mario Babic (Reply function didn’t work for some reason) Ripping off Mass Effect poorly by the sound of it. ;)

    I’m sorry, but the only thing it’s taken from ME is the Active Pause system, and that’s been used in way more games, if in a slightly less fancy fashion. Hell, IIRC, it dates back to the first Neverwinter Nights. Spoony’s being charitable by calling it a ME ripoff ;)

  • Anonymous

    I’ve never played X-Com before…but I smell new series! After Ultima, X-Com Terror from the Deep and so on! Only Spoony can really ramp up the interest in a noob like me to the original.

  • http://twitter.com/vilinder Vili Penttilä

    Well before you judge it, let’s take look at Fallout. They turned it shooter too as well, and it worked (not as good as the previous games, but quite well indeed). So I think it isn’t about whether it is FPS or TBS, the question is, how well does it presents the game play element’s from it’s predictors. Who knows, they might succeed. 

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=578389824 David Åström

      No, let’s not take a look at Fallout. It’s not the same thing, not even close.
      For one, Fallout 3 was still an RPG even if it was in first person it still used the SPECIAL system, the setting was recognizable and it was when all is said and done a relatively faithful move from the old series to the new.

      X-COM is all about the tactical battles though, the overarching strategy on the Geoscape, the base managament, the research.
      That’s what X-COM IS, before THIS E3 they didn’t even pretend that they were going to hit any of those marks. Now they throw in a Mass Effect power wheel and pretend like it’s tactical.

      It’s got nothing to do with its namesake. This is literally 2K deciding to slap the name of a classic franchise on an unrelated, mediocre product they had lying around.

      So no, let’s not talk about Fallout.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jg-te-Molder/100001503808332 J.g. te Molder

      The only reason it is too alien for the mainstream audience, is because the mainstream audience hasn’t seen a game like that at all. It’s got nothing to do with the mainstream audience not wanting to buy it, they’ve never seen.

      And that’s exactly why it will succeed, because it’s unique. This shooter, this bad looking shooter without a story in this shooter-saturated environment going up against the big boys of BF3 and MW3? They’re fucked, it’s not going to sell at all, especially if you just destroyed your ability to recapture fans of the series by betraying them this completely.

  • http://twitter.com/postafflatus Paulius Miskinis

    I totally feel for you Spoony :( I sometimes feel like creative part of gaming industry is going down, that only remakes and few others are barely carrying the light that was set by games 20 years ago (or 30 years ago if you may :P). I had the same shock of the feeling when counter-strike rip off of a game came out baring the name of  RPG franchise of Shadowrun.

    Do we really need to turn every good ol’ franchise into something that XBOX generation kids (no offense) can appreciate so they can ooze some money out of it? I mean seriously who is even gonna buy this? And we already had XCOM fps based game ”X-COM: Enforce” and we all know how that went… So this strange FPS with TACTICAL RPG elements will be liked by… minority of people? Any hardcore XCOM fans will probably download a demo or get it at bargain bin when it becomes cheaper.

    So if they even wanted to appraise the young gamer crowd, they still got better choices than this! Exactly how many Alien-invasion FPS we had these few years, like a TON! and… How many great turn-based strategy games revolving around the same idea? Well we had the crappy spin-offs like those UFO: Aftermath and the rest… I saw better FAN-MADE mods and even games which bring back the feel of the XCOM better than this FPS!

    It is a really sad event indeed. I am a classic gamer at most and I always try to re-introduce these old game gems like XCOM, M.A.X., Dungeon Keeper and many others to my next-generation player friends and I often brainstorm how awesome it would be if they made this or that game with next-generation graphics, upped the game-play a bit and added more content and we could enjoy awesome games on modern systems without the need of back door like DosBOX! I mean exactly Spoony’s words, HOW HARD IT CAN BE?!

    F*ck em…

  • Anonymous

    I’m waiting for the Carmen Sandiego FPS…

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/György-Somorjai/100000430336460 György Somorjai

      It ain’t no F-PS but:

      Hitman: Carmen Sandiego? Just imagine it.

      • Anonymous

        Wow.  That IS scarier than what I was picturing.

        “Fuck the warrant! I’m taking that bitch down!”

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/György-Somorjai/100000430336460 György Somorjai

      It ain’t no F-PS but:

      Hitman: Carmen Sandiego? Just imagine it.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_F6DCTUY6RUMWXJKGOICRNIAXCM André Norell

    Show of hands: how many people said to themselves “It’s squad-based” when Spoony started to quote the PR guy on what the fans “wanted”?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jg-te-Molder/100001503808332 J.g. te Molder

    I don’t even understand why they would turn into a shooter? We’re living in a shooter saturated environment, with BF3 and MW3 coming out, and both juggernauts pumping out new games every 6 months or so, and others trying to get the pie, Serious Sam 3, the real king of old-school is about to arrive; and you turn a beloved turn-based strategy and tactics game into a shooter! A bad-looking one in comparison to the juggernauts at that. With less story-telling, with less interesting stuff. What do you think is going to happen? What are they thinking!?

    And you know, if it were at least playing in the actual X-Com universe, if I were FPSing the original game, where I go up against Mutoids, Floaters, Sectoids, etc. from a different perspective – I still wouldn’t understand why they’d turned into a shooter in the shooter environment, but at least I’d want to play it, if they kept the same scary atmosphere.

    But this shit? They’re not getting a dime from me, I’m not even going to waste my time playing it over at a friend’s house if the idiot went to buy this junk.

    And why!? You have a unique strategy game in this environment, with a built in fan-base, a fan-base that hasn’t seen a game in the series in a decade, would love to see the original game remade, judging by fans own efforts to make such remakes, as well as windows launchers to play, bugfix, and enhance the game(s) in windows. All you have to do is remake the original, add modern graphics and effects, do some interesting enhancements, gave the game now possible a less cartoony look, really, really amp up the scary (atmosphere) and you have a hit on your hands, even if only the original players bought it.

    And hell, if you REALLY want to be awesome and guarantee everyone who played it before will buy it, split it into two episodes: Episode 1: UFO – Enemy Unknown, and Episode 2: Terror from the Deep. TftD was essentially an expansion pack released as a full game enemy, with the same engine, just some new textures, and tweak here and there. Now add genuine water effects/physics, with people swimming, and not just treating underwater as land; along with bringing in a few bits of the alien tech of E1 some of which you find quickly breaking down underwater, and this is a hit!

    Instead, this… BETRAYAL is right! It’s not just wrong, it’s stupid to boot.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001885276276 Nicholas Cook

    How dare he compare it to Final Fantasy Tactics!! Honest to God man that makes me want to go burn down their office! FFT was a freaking masterpiece compared to this and is my absolute favorite final fantasy ever made! *Sigh* And they decided to turn it into a mass effect wannabe with worse graphics, story, gameplay and pretty much everything is worse! I’m with you Spoony, no one should buy this game, they shouldn’t get 1 god DAMN dime!

  • http://profiles.google.com/earnestlysearching Isaiah Thompson

    I totally sympathize with him–Having grown up with Castlevania, playing Castlevania: Lords of Shadow sent me into fits of violent rage.  This is the problem with game “re-boots.”  They’re all fine and dandy for a younger generation who have never played the original, but it alienates the long-time fans.  This is what Spoony means by “betrayal.” 

    I understand the game developers’ reluctance to stick to the original game mechanics–releasing a turn-based game into a market saturated by shooters and “strategy-lite” titles is a risk.  They want their product to be successful, so they can make more of them.  It becomes a viscious cycle when essentially, all they are doing is copying and pasting gameplay mechanics from other successful titles.  I.e. Castlevania: LoS “borrowed” elements from Shadow of the Collosus, Ninja Gaiden, and God of War, to the point where there was nothing that even remotely resembled a Castlevania game.  I think 2K is running the risk of doing the same thing here.

    To some degree, it’s us.  Gamers get older, and we yearn for the “good old days.”  Conversely, it is difficult to defend developers who sometimes seem so unwilling to take a chance and go old-school, especially nowadays when gaming is so cinematic.

    I feel your pain, Spoony.  At least we have our memories.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jg-te-Molder/100001503808332 J.g. te Molder

      But, making a shooter in a shooter-saturated market IS the risk. Making a turn-based strategy game in a shooter saturated market is NOT a risk. Everyone who likes turn-based strategy will buying your game, because there are no other turn-based games they can buy! You could practically produce crap and still expect to sell stuff because what other choice do people who like turn-based strategies have?

      But shooters!? Say, does your game produce a grand story? Uh… That stretches across the whole world? Uh… Cause it’s World War 3? Uh… Okay, is there at least lots of crude humor? Uh… How awesome old-school, balls to the wall, no cover-system, no regenerative health-bar, awesome action? Uh…

      Who the hell is going to buy your shitty-looking, devoid of story, devoid of humor shooter when people got all that, and that’s just the beginning, to choose from?

  • http://www.silverdire.com Mark Austin

    They think that all gamers these days have the attention span of a lightening bolt. The solution to every great sequel is to just turn it into a fucking first person shooter where they cover the player in in so much nerf foam that they could pass for a king sized mattress.

    It’s insulting to see such X-Com switch genres like this. Why change the formula like that? What was wrong with the old one?

    How do they thing gamers would react by doing the same to say…. Suikoden or Fallouuuu—- oh god! *sob*

  • Anonymous

    Ok i will admit i like shooter’s i like Action games But Why. Why the hell would you Take another tactical game and do this first Bethesda took one of my favorite game’s Fallout and Turned it in to a fucking Shooter rip off. i even got it thinking Well they do good with Elder scrolls…..thats all they did put guns in it ARGH. now there going to hurt X-com…What is next Why wont the god’s of gaming Strike down this Idiots.  

    • Anonymous

      At least Fallout 3 was set in the same universe and kept the character building system.

  • Anonymous

    You criticize Zelda for being too stagnant and suggest that they should have a game in a new genre…like RPG

    You criticize XCOM for changing genres.

    Less hypocrisy, more thinking.

    • Anonymous

      Games need evolution, not revolution. XCOM was a great strategy game in its own right, and all it needed was some modern refurbishment (better graphics, user interface etc). What we have here is a game that is nothing like the original in any aspect — yet seeks to leech off its good name. They could have called it anything, but no, they just had to dig up an old franchise so they could bait long time fans of the series.

      Spoony has every right to be pretty ticked off.

    • Anonymous

      The game is less about making the game part of a franchise and more like using the name of a game from one franchise to promote your shitty FPS game fighting aliens in the 50s. Now, if you want aliens to fight in the 50s, you could go play Resistance 2. XCOM name is just a means to an end.

      This would be more like if Blizzard decided to make Starcraft 2 a FPS. Go ask folks if they want a Starcraft game that’s a FPS, go see what those Koreans think. I’m sure folks will be thrilled with the idea.

      So yeah, you can have “evolution” without doing a “GM fiat” on the setting and genre.

      Hell, here’s a good idea… Make a Turn-Based Strategy game based in the 50s where you get to drive around with your men in black suits killing aliens with Tommy Guns and other random assorted post-WW2 equipment. You retain the 50s style and theme without throwing out an established game genre and all the fans who grew up and yearn for the return of said gameplay.

      So that’s the problem in a nutshell: XCOM could have been a good prequel game, but instead the devs are just cashing in for quick money because the publishers probably wouldn’t touch a Turn-Based Strategy game with a 10 foot cattleprod.

    • Anonymous

      Well the difference is that X-Com had like only one true sequel an that was like nearly 20 years ago. Where as a new Zelda comes out like almost every year an its always near the exact same damn formula. Well actually it has two formulas. LTTP and OoT. That’s it its always those two games rehashed over an over.

      At this point you could out right just remake X-Com with better graphics because its been so long an commit no foul. Though there is plenty of improvements an new features that could be added to it as well. Rather than changing the setting, enemies, and genre. Seriously they have no reason to use the name X-Com except to sell more copies. It’s just an insult to X-Com fans like Spoony so he has a right to be mad.

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1536912113 Ian Kovich

         ”Where as a new Zelda comes out like almost every year an its always near the exact same damn formula.”

        I’m not going to argue about what Zelda does differently with each game, as I and many others have already debated that in earlier videos, but I will correct you on one thing: you say Zelda is released every year, yet including the unreleased Skyward Sword, we only got five console Zelda games since 1998 (read: can’t be yearly releases). Compare that to the four Assassin’s Creed games that started in 2007, the three Uncharted games which also started in 2007, seven Halo games since 2001, and much more. Note that I didn’t even have to go straight for the Call of Duty franchise, which actually DOES have yearly installments. All in all, many other franchises, most of which aren’t even on Nintendo consoles, are more guilty of rehashing than Zelda or even Mario.

        If you’re going to slam a franchise for being rehashed every year, make sure that not only do you play the games, but make sure that it actually is a yearly franchise. It’ll make your opinions way more credible.

        • Anonymous

          I wasn’t referring to only console Zelda’s. Which is where the LTTP formula comment came from. There is plenty of them on the portable’s too most following the gameplay of LTTP with minor changes or additions.

          And I have played every console Zelda since 98 except Crossbow Training lol. Most original one was probably Majora’s Mask just because of the focus on sidequests rather than dungeons. But still firmly an OoT rehash in design.

          • http://twitter.com/SolidGoldCEO SolidGoldCEO

            The Adventures of Link was more of a Metroid style adventure game, Majoras Mask was different from Ocarina for the reasons you suggested, Wind Waker was based more on exploration then dungeons so that isn’t sticking 100% to this “OoT” formula Twilight was more of a hark back to Ocarina but Skyward Sword seems to be using motion controls to a more extensive degree then before which does change the way it plays even if you’re not a fan of these type of things. Nintendo haven’t gutted the game out and started over but they try to add new little elements. Fine there is a lot of Ocarina in the last few Zelda console games but theres also a lot of the original Zelda and the subsequent sequels as well, considering Ocarina is still regarded as one of Nintendos best efforts why wouldn’t they build on that rather then change every aspect for the sake of changing? The fact is whether its a feeling of nostalgia or just the fact this particular formula is just enjoyable to play Nintendo don’t spew these games out often enough to make people sick of them.

            Im not going to get at Spoony for being annoyed over X-Com because he’s clearly a fan of that series, but as a fan if Zelda became an RPG I would be thinking “Oh! Its not a Zelda game then?”    

      • http://twitter.com/SolidGoldCEO SolidGoldCEO

        “it has two formulas. LTTP and OoT” 
        Thats still one more formula then most game series have (it also ignores The Adventures of Link).  

    • Anonymous

      Again, it’s not just because of the change in genre. It’s because of the change in EVERYTHING.

      It’d be like if game called “Legend of Zelda” came out that didn’t have any of the series characters (including Zelda, Link, and Gannon) or enemies, took place in contemporary New York City, and was a TETRIS clone.

      Change is not binary. There is a large gradient between “nearly exactly the same in all aspects” and “completely unrecognizable except for the name”.

  • Anonymous

    They should just change the freaking name of “THIS GAME” (I just can’t call it X-Com). From now, it’s “THIS GAME” for me.

    -Hey man did you play that new X…
    -What game?
    -Euh… Well the new X…
    -Oh! You mean “This Game”.
    -Yeah, X…
    -No no, mon ami, it’s “This Game”.
    -What…What the hell are you talking about?
    -This (taking out and X-Com game) is an X-Com game. This Game, is just another fps game which as a familiar sounding name, but isn’t an X-Com game. Final.
    -But…
    -FINAL!

  • fuck you

    Its pretty obvious what this is, its a period alien shooter. It is not X-COM remotely. I mean run off a list of all the things this game has in common with X-COM and then do the same for X-Files. They have simply tacked the name XCOM onto this product as a marketing ploy. They have no intention of making an X-COM game.

    So if you were expecting an X-COM game, even a shooter about X-COM you will be disappointed. This is nothing to do with X-COM. The title of this game is simply a lie being used to dupe fans of the original into buying a completely unrelated game.

    I saw someone say its like the change from Fallout 1&2 to Fallout 3, its not. Fallout 3 is clearly set in the same universe with the same mythos and themes as the first games. This game is not. They should have called this “The Outsiders” it would have fit the 1960s theme and it wouldn’t then be a marketing trick to dupe fans of the originals.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Elliott-Koepp/100000220245559 Elliott Koepp

      Gotta love the name “fuck you”.
      “expand Fuck You’s profile”.
      “Replying to Fuck You”. LOL

      • http://UnholyFireDragon.com Unholy Fire Dragon

        Hi! I’m fucked! LOL

      • fuck you

        Lol, yeah I was kinda annoyed at being forced to make the google account just to use my already existing youtube account. So I filled it out rather, uh, rudely. I didn’t think it would come back to bite me, but when I posted here..
        I got my new one from a random name generator. It was this or Thundering Doughnut.
        Edit: Oh, changing my account name doesn’t appear to have fixed my name.. shit, Oh well adds to my legend. The legend of.. fuck you..

  • Mauricio Alfonso

    Imagine if Valve said “hey! We are releasing Half-Life 3! This time it takes place in the 40s, though. Gordon Freeman has to fight aliens in New York while combating the mafia. The final boss is Al Capone. Oh, and it’s a fighting game, not an FPS.”
    Imagine Half-Life fans.

  • Anonymous

    I’m starting to think of just sending a letter to 2K saying “Change the damn name!” No one wants to apparently pollute the name of a game that has not been relevant for 14 years. So fine let the name stagnate for 14 more for all anyone cares.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Karoubas/100002406798073 Paul Karoubas

      There’s more reason to dislike this game than ‘It’s Not X-Com’, at least to my mind (Although I think the big thing that annoys people seems to be ‘It’s not the same style’, playing straight what the first games played for humor, IIUC)

      I’ve never played the original games, but… well, look at that trailer. Look at what’s on show. Is there really anything there you can get excited over? I can’t find anything, and Spoony’s description of the gameplay didn’t mention anything remarkable. Good or bad. Just… nothing of note.

      It’s a shooter, with no innovative features, and no innovation in the plot. And whilst not every game needs innovation, without it, or an immersive plot, there’s just no reason to buy the game. There’s… nothing to get excited about here, especially when set against things like Deus Ex, tOR or BioShock Infinite. Completely mediocre.

      AFAICT, they’ve added the XCOM name to a second rate game purely to shift product. That’s what makes it a betrayal. At least Sonic 2006 had Sonic in it. :p

      • Anonymous

        Which is a really dumb idea because everyone is either going to be too young to know what X Com is or pissed off that they changed it up too much.

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Karoubas/100002406798073 Paul Karoubas

          At a guess, they’re aiming it at those of the older generation who don’t play modern games, and thus don’t keep up with the gaming media. Which… is indeed stupid, because most of the older generation do play modern games, and do keep up with the gaming media.

          Perhaps I’m wrong on that point. Perhaps this studio was formed out of old XCOM fans who thought, for some reason, the story needed to be Darker and Edgier.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000896868978 Sara Pickell

      http://blip.tv/the-spoony-experiment/live-streaming-x-com-part-1-3881466
      There you go, ten parts, over 14 hours of gameplay. So yeah… Good job calling him out for not doing what he did a year ago.

  • Anonymous

    Truthfully, the X-Com series had one good game, two okay games, and two horrible games- the series has needed no help in ruining itself before now. The game hasn’t been a planetary defense simulator since TFTD, and it hasn’t been strategic since Apocalypse. It’s a bit silly to complain about it being trashed by this gaming generation’s prerogitives because the steep decline of the series happened well before 2k games got it hands on the franchise.

  • paranoyiaragnarok

    Can’t be worse than “X-COM: Enforcer” and all the Czech crap that came after “X-COM: Apocalypse” (except for “Afterlight” which was pretty good, but lacked a lot of elements to make it a superb game). If it doesn’t have base management and an interactive global map it’s not “X-COM”, period. I’ll check it out though: might get close to the unreleased “X-COM: Alliance” (was supposed to be a fusion between “X-COM” and “Rainbow Six”).

    If you’re a fan of “X-COM” you should certainly check “Frozen Synapse” out. I think it’s better than “X-COM”, even though one might argue they’re in different genres. ”Frozen Synapse” is pretty much a reimagining of chess.

  • Anonymous

    Now you know how I feel about Prey 2.  It’s so far removed from Prey 1 it should have just been a new IP.

    • Anonymous

      I pray that is a joke…

      • Anonymous

        I don’t feel betrayed to the extent of Spoony.  Just annoyed they TOTALLY reinvented the Prey game play mechanics into an ass-kicking alien bounty hunter simulator.  In Prey the human race was the prey.  We were the food or energy source for a merciless species of aliens.  You felt helpless, terrified, and hunted as you tried to find your girlfriend. 

        The coolest feature in Prey was the disorienting portal doorways and anti-gravity tracks.  This lead to real unique map navigation and puzzle solving.  Guess they didn’t want to be labeled as ripping off Portal 2.

        My point is that in same regard Spoony is saying this XCOM is not a true XCOM game, neither is Prey 2.  It should have been a newly named property.

        • http://twitter.com/TheVoxelman The Voxelman

          From what the devs have said (and they are the same people that at least finished the first game) Prey 2 is meant to be a mirror image of the first game. Where as the first game was all about being hunted 2 is all about being the hunter. The game also continues the story and features Tommy heavily in the story, being that and not using the Prey name would be kinda weird even if the gameplay is radically different. And at least it is set in the same universe and looks awesome unlike XCOM…

        • http://twitter.com/TheVoxelman The Voxelman

          From what the devs have said (and they are the same people that at least finished the first game) Prey 2 is meant to be a mirror image of the first game. Where as the first game was all about being hunted 2 is all about being the hunter. The game also continues the story and features Tommy heavily in the story, being that and not using the Prey name would be kinda weird even if the gameplay is radically different. And at least it is set in the same universe and looks awesome unlike XCOM…

  • Anonymous

    Just like Final Fantasy Tactics??? I love FFT. It’s one of my favorite games of all time. Judge what you want on that, but that’s my opinion…. Still, how old is FFT? Seriously. They’re bringing themselves up to date in innovations while thinking the date is in early 1998.

    Actually, that might explain X-COM’s graphics right there. It looks on par with Half-Life 1.

    If it will make everyone feel better, maybe we should just refer to this game as X-Effect or MassCom. Any preferences as to which?

    And in regards to those still bitching about his Zelda reviews: evolution =/= changing to something completely random. At least RPGs and adventure games are related. And I have to wonder if this gave was actually initially conceived as an X-COM game or if they decided just to slap the name on it midway during development.

  • Renaissance_nerd

    Final Fantasy Tactics is a masterpiece… this.. this is BETRAYAL!

  • Anonymous

    So… any reason they’re keeping the name “XCOM”, and not just the subtext “Inspired by XCOM”?

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Richard-Evey-Jr/100000772710027 Richard Evey Jr.

      Probably to cash in on the name. Sometimes companies own the rights to a name and just stick it on something already in development. They do some rewrites, adjust the models and textures, and call it official. There are a plethora of examples here: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InNameOnly

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jg-te-Molder/100001503808332 J.g. te Molder

      It isn’t inspired by XCOM, just read below. The game existed long before it was called XCOM, and then they slapped the name XCOM on it to not lose the rights to XCOM and to cash in on the name.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Charlie-Angisson/100002430721959 Charlie Angisson

    Poor spoony… =…C

  • Anonymous

    Now, i was too young to play the original XCOM games, so i’m probably not going to be able to reason with a lot of you hardcore fans, but i do have a couple of arguments.  Look at what Bethesda did with the Fallout series; could that really be called Fallout?  It was  pretty damn good.  Now, granted the rebuttle is that they actually kept true to setting (time AND place), and they kept familiar elements like the karma system, as well as other systems.  However, i think what 2K is trying to do is make a game using what they know best: Effective, Heart-pounding First Person Shooters.  They are trying to input what i think they did so well in Bioshock and Borderlands (and also “apparently” rip-off Final Fantasy Tactics) to stick to their strengths.  Can anyone really picture 2K making a strategy game, or is that just me?  Only time will tell if the risk they took will pay off…Especially since it seems like they are going after the non-XCOM, Mindless FPS generation babies like myself. 

    • Brian Damage

      “Can anyone picture 2K making a strategy game?”

      Pirates!, Civilisation IV, Civ IV: Warlords, Civ IV: Beyond the Sword, Civ IV: Colonisation, Civilisation Revolution, CivCity: Rome, Railroads!, Stronghold legends, Civilisation V. A lot of their stuff comes from their studio Firaxis, which is known for its strategy games, and they also own what used to be Irrational Games, home to the guys who created the Freedom Force series of top-down tactical combat games.

      • Brian Damage

        Forgive me for replying to myself, but I just had a thought.

        The original game was, I believe, split into two .exes, both for memory purposes and because it was effectively two games in one.

        So now I’m picturing a version of the Geoscape with the strategic global overview, territorial behaviours, management system and alien opponent AI designed by Firaxis, coupled to a Real-Time-With-Pause tactical Battlescape game created by the guys from Irrational who worked on the Freedom Force games. I dunno about anyone else, but I think that’d be pretty sweet.

  • http://www.facebook.com/imaeatchurface Anthone Jason Licari Lamb

    Yeah, Final Fantasy Tactics was a pretty decent strategy game that used experience points to improve your characters.

    You know what an even better strategy game was? FUCKING XCOM!!!!!

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Karoubas/100002406798073 Paul Karoubas

      You know, on reflection, the Final Fantasy Tactics bit wasn’t the worrying part of that sentence

      The worrying part of that sentence was that he thought XP based levelling of companions was something worthy of an analogy! :p Seriously, it’s as old as the hills, why did the guy stress that?

      Although… if the first Tactics played like Tactics Advance, then your squad members don’t actually have character or personality (barring a couple of rare exceptions) They level, have classes, but they don’t talk, and don’t have much to do with the plot.

      … That… would be different for a squad based shooter/rpg. It would be a massive leap BACKWARDS, but it would be different.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/DrDespised-MajorofMentality/804213517 DrDespised MajorofMentality

    So hes saying Tactics was a good game right? i had mixed signals coming from the raging Spoon

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Evan-Elkins/682275173 Evan Elkins

      The original X-Com is somewhat similar to Tactics in its gameplay.  You move little guys on a grid and tell them to do things which cost action points.  There are obviously some differences, but you could make the case that they’re similar.

      The new XCOM is not in anyway similar except for a vague rpg element.  The comparison between it and Tactics is solely a way to pay lip service to the fans.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Juan-Machuca/100000860681595 Juan Machuca

    Theres gotta be a reason to be called X COM, sorry spoony, but the game looks awesome, played the original, liked it. This new one looks good, damn how damn sad is to see  someone complaining because they used their “20 year old game’s name” for this one. It has a strategy element, similar to the original X COM,  Really what has X COM done to deserve something lately? What has innovated? Yeaht the game is very old is good, but I prefer to see someone triying to resucitate the franchise than sticking to a game that hasnt recived anything new for the last 20 years, keep playing it and saying “No man! We dont need new game! Leave me!” WAIT, JUST WAIT, GIVE IT A CHANCE, DONT BE SUCH A DOUCHE, AND LAUNCH IT TO THE OBLIVION WITHOUT EVEN PLAYING IT” The geometric aliens are awesome, hope things from the old game come back, but seriously this game looks awesome doesnt matter what.

    • Anonymous

      Wait, wait, wait, what strategy element is “similar”? 

      Something else that needs to be explained here, while I’m at it, and why there’s a seemingly disproportionate amount of rage being bandied about. 

      Cult classics like this inspire strong feelings, especially when they’re in a genre that doesn’t get a whole lotta love from the mainstream of the industry. We hang onto our treasures rather jealously as well as their identities with similar fervor. When we hear that our treasures are getting a new lease on life, hey, we get excited, we get anxious, even if it’s probably a little undeserved. Then when we see the product being not just completely unlike what we’ve come to love, but seems to cater to tastes that already have more than enough love in the mainstream of the industry, we naturally get irate about it. 

      Unwarranted? You might make that case. But irrational and stupid? Far from it. 

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Juan-Machuca/100000860681595 Juan Machuca

        Yeah its ok, I understand that he gets angry, but you cant said that it doesnt look good. Yeah the first person shooter genre  is in the middle of the fight here, I really hope the old XCOM enemies come in the game. Everyone just wants to hate First Person Shoters now, something becomes popular and everyone starts to hate it.  I dont say every game has to be a FPS, but this one looks ok. Talking about the strategy element, I dont remember well, but there was something similar about it.

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/George-Rosenbaum/100001387887487 George Rosenbaum

          There is a difference between graphics and aesthetic. The GRAPHICS (which involve things like polygon count and the detail of animation) are blocky and wooden. But the AESTHETIC is the only think I like about this game. The AESTHETIC (which involves things like art design and tone) is creepy, unpredictably, corrupting, and seemingly unstoppable. So when you say the game looks goo, I assume you mean the aesthetic.

          But the strategy is just ripped off from Mass Effect, and was included very late. The gameplay doesn’t look fresh of interesting at all, and the old XCOM enemies will not be in the game. Not when the current enemy provides more than enough obstacle for the player.

          • http://www.facebook.com/people/Juan-Machuca/100000860681595 Juan Machuca

            Yeah I mean the aesthetics, forget a partner that doesnt speak very well english, but yeah the atmosphere looks cool, gotta say that it hopes it has some X COM elements, because I understand X COM fans, it doesnt look anything like the original X COM but still looks good, the mechanics, sorry to say, but when something works do it. If nobody tried to achieve what Super Mario Bros did at his time, where would the gaming world be right now. So I dont really complain if its similar to Mass Effect, XD I kinda sound like Roger Miyers from the Simpsons with the Itchy and Scratchy rip off LOL. The thing the game needs its the same Investigation atmosphere, having a base and making your scientists research alien technology, gathering stuff for money and that, I really hope those elements from the original XCOM are in this new one.

          • http://www.facebook.com/people/Juan-Machuca/100000860681595 Juan Machuca

            Just went to the side and it has very good info, there will be “Battlescape” mode that will allow you to see every possible action for your characters, there will be a base, where you will gather technology, investigate, and build modified weapons from this alien technology to build new weapons to fight the aliens. So there it is, come on, SOMEONE TELL ME THAT DOESNT SOUND COOL!

          • http://www.facebook.com/people/Juan-Machuca/100000860681595 Juan Machuca

            I meant the officila site of X COM

          • http://www.facebook.com/people/Juan-Machuca/100000860681595 Juan Machuca

            Damn I fuck it again!

  • Anonymous

    Giving it some thought, actually, I think if they had put sectoids, snake men, and the monsters from the older games in (and left in the new ones too, as they are pretty freaky and cool) that would have been fine with me. It is mostly the unrecognizable aspect of it that bugs me as it seems to bug most people. Even if it wasn’t a turn based strategy game, having something reminiscent of the monsters and things from old would have been cool.

    If you are gonna reinvent a whole game, Fallout franchise is a good example of how you do it right. Still feels like Fallout despite the drastic change in gameplay elements.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Francois-Cannels/100000004024590 Francois Cannels

      The thing about those putting the classic aliens back in is that fans of the original aren’t going to be surprised. See a zombie? light it on fire. See a Chrysallid? run like hell, set up some killzones for reflex fire. See a muton? shoot the shit out of it with a plasma gun. At least with the new cuboid aliens (the non humanoids, at least), you’ll be a rookie all over again. That fear of the unknown, which was a component of the original, is preserved.

      Hell, the original devs understood this. That’s why you fought a completely new race in Apocalypse.

      • Brian Damage

        It’d still be fun to fight them from an FPS view, though, I feel.

        If they’d given us a proper TBS then I must still admit I’d prefer expansion and enhancement of the cast of aliens (basically, new abilities and better AI than the original game’s “I shall stand in the open and shoot you!” algorithm), rather than a bunch of new faces, if they were attempting a reboot. Otherwise, if it was a modern TBS sequel, I’d go the Genesis route and keep the fan favourites while adding a bunch of new fellows and expanding with stuff like multiple varieties of Chryssalid.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000754984742 Georgescu Catalin

      Yes, if the lore was going to be the same, we would just brush it off as a spin-off, or something like that. Like with Enforcer or Interceptor. But when the only resemblance between the older series and the reboot are the name and “huur aliens”, then there’s a big problem. 

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/George-Rosenbaum/100001387887487 George Rosenbaum

      Adding those things now may mess with the creepy aesthetic. It might be too late.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Francois-Cannels/100000004024590 Francois Cannels

    Look, I may not agree with what a lot of what you said, and i understand why you don’t want people to buy this game, but really, what’s that going to accomplish?

    Here’s your wildest dream come true, every gamer on the planet listens to you and nobody buys the new XCOM. And here’s what the big wigs are going to conclude: “We put millions of dollars into this franchise, assigned all this talent to it and they took their job seriously and they put all that effort into it…and it bombed. Let’s bury this franchise.”

    But it doesn’t quite stop there: other companies are going to look at this, and realize that there’s simply no audience for X-com at all. Nobody will pick it up ever again. X-Com will be dead and buried.

    But fine, i get it, nobody should pick up this game. But boycotting this is only half the battle. If you really want AAA companies and studios to develop more Turn-Based Tactics games, how about supporting the actual genre some more? Recommend games like Valkyria Chronicles, or support indie TBT games like Xenonauts.

    Screaming “This is what we don’t want” is only half the argument. Showing them what we actually want, AND make them realize that they can make an actual buck off of it, that’s winning the whole battle, right there.

    • Brian Damage

      We’ve been telling them what we really want on 2K’s own forums since 2007 or so.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Francois-Cannels/100000004024590 Francois Cannels

        Telling them and proving it is not the same thing. If the numbers don’t show it, they won’t believe you. It sucks, but that’s how it is. 

        • Brian Damage

          Well  like I mentioned below, 2K seemed to think it was worth their time to put DOSBoxed versions of the games up for sale on Steam, and it seems most people I’ve spoken to have bought them. They don’t appear inclined to tell people how well the games are selling, though.

          Also, I am seeing a heck of a lot of recommendations for Xenonauts (which is up to the stage where preorder customers are getting a chance to test and opine about the ground combat, BTW) all around the place – even on the 2K forums.

          • http://www.facebook.com/people/Emery-Calame/1641327147 Emery Calame

            Yeah and that was probably about a week of effort and a very low cost project. Paying that week back is probably fairly easy with a low volume of sales. That doesn’t mean that a new X-com game based on the old one would justify the costs to actually develop, market, and deliver it.

          • Brian Damage

            I think they felt there’d be some money in it for them. It didn’t coincide with the announcement of the new game, so I doubt publicity was their reasoning – heh, perhaps the volume of sales in fact convinced them the X-Com name still had more than a bit of pull?

            Still, I think if a large publisher with a bit of cash to spare took a small investment risk and put out a low-budget TBS combat game, they’d be surprised at the volume of sales. The FPS, TPS and action RPG marketplaces aren’t the only thing people will spend on – they like uncommon modes of play as well (just look at the sales for Minecraft). And if slower strategy games like Civilisation still sell, and are still worth funding, then an updated TBS or RTWP game with the X-Com name (and preferably, universe) on it would be sure to attract more than a little positive attention.

    • http://twitter.com/7h30n Teon

      Valkyria Chronicles is amazing. Can’t wait for VC III!

      Did you know Gollop had in mind making a similiar game long before VC came to be, unfortunately he couldn’t finish it.

      So yes, people should support indie scene: Frozen Synapse, Xenonauts
      And some almost AAA studios like Sega – Valkyria Chronicles series, and Nippon Ichi – Disgaea series

  • Cles Something

    Look, a lot of you seem to be missing the scope of the betrayal here, so I’ll create a metaphor to help you understand.
    Let’s say you bought a new CD titled Michael Jackson’s Greatest Hits (you may substitute another classic artist if you prefer). On the cover it lists the top songs the CD include: Beat It, Smooth Criminal, what have you. So you get home, pop it into your stereo, hit play and scroll through the tracks only to hear…Nickelback? Justin Bieber? Lady Gaga? Various popular eastern European techno artists? What the hell, no Michael to be found though some of the songs sound vaguely like his. You take a closer look at the cover and see that it in fact states that Jackson’s old songs were modernized to keep in line with what’s popular and these artists had limitless creative license to do as they pleased, and weren’t even under obligation to remix or cover Michael Jackson songs, but could toss whatever the fuck they wanted onto the CD if they felt like it.
    That is a little bit like what XCOM feels like to people who played and loved the original.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Francois-Cannels/100000004024590 Francois Cannels

      That analogy sorta falls apart when you realize that they’re being up front with what they’re trying to sell you.

      And in this case, 2k is pretty much saying: “No, it’s not a turn-based tactics game. No, your favorite aliens aren’t coming back.” That’s not a betrayal, that’s a confession.

      • Brian Damage

        Problem is, without the distinctive original gameplay or aliens, they’re on shakey ground when they try to claim it’s an X-Com game.

        • http://www.facebook.com/holman.richard Richard Holman

          The same series that has already had a 3rd person shooter and a space sim?

          • Brian Damage

            Spinoffs, and at least they kept the universe.

          • Anonymous

            Which in the course of that story, X-Com was disbanded because after terror of the deep, a political shit storm happened. So yeah X-Com without X-Com seems to be par for the damn course.

          • Brian Damage

            It was severely reduced, but IIRC William F. Denman purchased what was left and kept it running as a salvage operation, with procedures in place to hunt down and re-employ old X-Com personnel should the aliens return. The organisation has always had some continuity to it. The relationship between UFO’s X-Com and TFTD’s X-Com is directly traceable, the “XCOM” in this new game is no relation what so ever.

        • Anonymous

          Yeah! If it doesn’t have significant gameplay bugs and a simple way to totally trivialize the game’s difficulty, it’s not really X-Com!

          • Brian Damage

            Those two things being one and the same in the case of the famous “Always On Easy” bug :P.

      • Brian Damage

        Problem is, without the distinctive original gameplay or aliens, they’re on shakey ground when they try to claim it’s an X-Com game.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Borean/100000041163314 Michael Borean

        Uh, no, the betrayal is calling it xcom, then making it not like what xcom was. Yea, they admitted they were doing as much, but that is still a betrayal. Would it still have been betrayal if the pirates told jack sparrow that they were gonna take the gold and leave him on the island? YES! Yes it would still be betrayal. Warning of doing something does not make it not betrayal.

    • Anonymous

      Think the betrayal has more to do with 2K announcing and trying to make Xcom a AAA title when the older game earned its place in gaming.

      It shouldn’t be a “full” title on disc, but a download title on PSN/XBL. It should have been technically small but intricate like the original, not something grand that jumped on the FPS bandwagon.   

  • Anonymous

    What I wonder, is why they had to call it XCOM.  It’d be like taking the Wing Commander series name, and making it a ground based FPS dealing with infantry combat.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Anton-Sergei-Dela-Merced/100001316304196 Anton Sergei Dela Merced

    I’ve never heard or played the original XCOM series, so when I saw the first trailer, I was quite excited. I can understand what original fans will feel, but I for one can’t wait for more details.

  • http://www.facebook.com/holman.richard Richard Holman

    Why would the same aliens be back? TFTD and Apoc had a whole new cast, shit apoc had psychic ameboa based enemies. Xcom has always evolved, If you want to play Xcom then go play it, it’s even on steam now so you don’t even have to dosbox it yourself. If you want a reimagining of the original then check out xenonauts it look very faithful as well as making some new additions.

    This game will suck for reasons other then being a departure from it’s old format.

    • Brian Damage

      Ah, but the games always took place within the same universe, with a largely coherent backstory and events following on from the previous games. And the Sectoids have been in every game in some form or another – and they brought along their buddies from game 1 in Interceptor, which was a nice touch (I enjoyed Interceptor, thousands didn’t. Bit of an acquired taste).

      • http://www.facebook.com/holman.richard Richard Holman

        I get what your saying but they are going for a reboot/prequel (not sure if id be keen to tack on another game to that timeline either) so not sure if they could throw in a few snakemen to tie it all togeather. But yeah i conceed that the other games were linked.

        What i was getting at is the departure in gameplay format is hardly new.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Erick-Jaudon/565050611 Erick Jaudon

    They should have given this IP to Relic IMO.

    • Brian Damage

      I was hoping for Firaxis, personally, though now I think some sort of dream team composed of Firaxis and the guys from Irrational who worked on the Freedom Force games would work a treat.

      Relic could probably get the job done more than adequately, though.

  • Anonymous

    Oh joy! A prequel to Enforcer! We sure need more of those!

  • http://twitter.com/FleacyTheSheep Desiree X

    It looks like an alright game, but they should have given it an original name.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jan-Drabner/100002362059369 Jan Drabner

    I don’t get the rant here.

    It’s a shooter in the X-COM universe, logically named X-COM. Where’s the fucking problem?
    It only makes sense not to develop a turn based strategy game these days (except M&M, perhaps) for large companies.

    If there was a shooter in the Shadowrun universe, would that also be automatically bad?
    well.. okay… it was bad, but not because of its SR roots ;)

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=578389824 David Åström

      …but it isn’t a shooter in the X-COM universe.

      Edit: Nevermind, saw your next post.

    • Anonymous

      Shadowrun is a perfect example of the exact problem I (and probably many others) have with this new X-COM.

      They released the Shadowrun shooter, and put their own spin on, but the result was something that COMPLETELY FAILED TO BE SHADOWRUN.

      So what did the 2007 shooter have? It had Metahumans, Magic, and Guns, but those things alone do not make Shadowrun. So what does? I’d say the setting, the nuances, the mythos the fictional culture and how it all fits together.
      I’ll demonstrate this with a comparison (Shadowrun on the SNES, and the 2007 version on Xbox360/PC):

      The SNES Shadowrun broke a lot of the rules and mechanics (from the tabletop) in favor of giving the player neat abilities, but that game was still Shadowrun because of the setting.

      The NPCs provided conversation in dialects and tones that fit the original setting and their position. The graphics (hideous and primitive as they were) still captured the tone of the old downtown Seattle metroplex. Goons, gangers, corporate cronies and magical critters made up your enemy roster, and they behaved about as you would expect.

      So how much of that is in this shooter called Shadowrun? Next to nothing. It had some cool multiplayer concepts to be sure (some of which I hadn’t seen since Deus Ex’s multiplayer), but that ultimately didn’t save it.

      Which brings me to the heart of my point: So why was this shooter called Shadowrun? Because the developers/publisher were simply exploiting the name to turn a quick buck. That’s it. The fans didn’t buy into it, and it couldn’t even begin to compete with the likes of Halo 3, or Call of Duty 4. So in short: Everyone stopped caring, and moved on.

      I must preface this: I loved the Shadowrun setting. Even when it was being derivative of other previous works (Blade Runner, Neuromancer), it still brought plenty of good concepts to the table, and made the game more relatable by basing it on our world.

      But now, it’s highly probable that the Shadowrun IP, and by extension, the legal rights to the setting will never again be used because this last game didn’t take off and make their last owners filthy rich. The IP will be mothballed even when there are people who could and would make a genuine Shadowrun game, simply because there is no financial gains to be had there.
      And that is precisely the sort of attitude that is killing gaming for me and many others whom I know.

      Based on what I’ve seen and what I know, I’m sure the same process is now happening to X-COM. We have a generic shooter that wants to exploit the namesake of a beloved old IP to assure its backers that the game will sell. However, the game thus far does NOT seem to appeal to its existing fanbase.

      While this does not mean it will automatically be a bad game on its own merits, it still does little more than piss off the people who actually did give a fuck about the series (want to see another example of this? Ask most old Fallout fans what they think about Fallout 3. I actually did not play the originals, so I cannot comment here).

      In conclusion: I do not know if this new X-COM will be good or not, but based on what they’re saying, at best, I predict that it won’t feature any gameplay you haven’t seen before in a genre that is currently filled to the brim with generic cash-ins.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jan-Drabner/100002362059369 Jan Drabner

    Okay, should have watched to the end. Apparently, it’s not even really the X-COM universe  :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1813118664 Reza Stephen Lustig

    It’s good to hear Spoony actually angry about something for the first time in a while! Keeps me waiting in suspense for his upcoming FFX-2 and FFXIII reviews!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Brent-Hannum/1037424279 Brent Hannum

    I have never SEEN X-Com, let alone played it (It’s on Steam so perhaps someone can suggest a good one to start with. I enjoy TBS but I HATE RTS’s) but here is my idea for a new X-Com game:

    You have the Overhead format (as I have not seen X-Com, I am picturing an RTS-like setup). You send your squads and attack the enemy. If things get hairy and tough-and-go, you can click a single character and zoom down into an FPS-like view. Maybe Third-Person Shooter instead, and use that characters gear and abilities to fight the aliens until he dies or you win the fight.

    When you pause, you can issue commands in the Overhead format to be carried out by your teammates when unpaused but if your Carrier dies, you revert back to Overhead and cannot take over someone else for a small amount of time.

    The Story would be that alien tech was found that allows a being to hook up to a computer and see battles from an omnicent view, and even take over people using tech set to the same frequency, but an unforseen problem arises when used; the user starts to loose his sense of self. He keeps the memories of those he takes over, their personalities all clash in his head, the last moments of those he dies as and thousands of lives being bullied in school, robbing stores before joining X-Com, etc.

    It’s still not X-Com the TBS game..but it’s an evolution and an idea scraped up in…5 minutes. What do you all think? :P

    • http://twitter.com/7h30n Teon

      The concept is pretty good. I was thinking about something similiar what could or should have 2k done with attracting the new and keeping the old crowd.

      Your combat system sounds like Valkyria Chronicles series, if you haven’t played it I recommend it.

      Unfortunately X-Com games are rather old today, I don’t know how will you like them. I recommend UFO:Enemy Unkown (the very first one) and after that X-Com:Apocalypse. Unfortunately Apocalypse was really an Apocalypse. It is unfinished but offers a glimpse of what could have been. It has both Turn Based and Real Time combat (whichever you choose) and some new interesting things. But as said, it is unfinished. If 2K wanted they could’ve taken Apoc’s concept and improved the hell out of it.
      Anyways, check out UFO:Enemy Unknown videos and get that if you like it.

      P.S. Imagine new X-Com done Valkyria Chronicles style, I think that would be awesome! If only 2k … :sigh: :(

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Brent-Hannum/1037424279 Brent Hannum

        No PS3 :( So no Valkyria Chronicles for me.

  • Anonymous

    You know what I wouldn’t actually mind a modern version of X-Com where the battles take place in first person. I ‘d love to be able to zip around in flying power armor. I’d love to be able to level an entire building with a blaster bomb in glorious HD. I’d love to be able to shoot down alien ships in a flight sim type game. I’d love to play an alien interrogation mini-game. (It could have Kinect support for even more fun).

    Seriously if you wanted to make a modern update of X Com there’s tons of things you could do. You could have different types of power armor. You could use the alien reproduction chambers to make vat grown super soldiers. You could use the alien surgery to make cyborgs. But this. This is not it. This is just pure 100% wasted potential. X-COM HAD FLYING POWER ARMOR WHY WOULD YOU NOT INCLUDE THAT!!!!!!!! And it’s really funny Spoony mentioned Mass Effect since the aliens look like cheap rip offs of the husks.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Marcus-Billett/1458953617 Marcus Billett

    Wow. Really? Look, I love ya man. You’re opinion is always usually correct. And there have been times where I disagree with you. This is one of those times. I honestly think you are blowing this whole thing WAY out of proportion. 

    Now I understand why you are pissed, really I do. I refuse to play Metal Gear Solid Ac!d because you don’t fucking play MGS game as a turn based card battler. But whatever.But coming from a guy whose never played an XCOM game and whose never even heard of XCOM I can honestly say this doesn’t look that bad. Yes, the graphics don’t look good. Crap or last gen are good words to describe them. But in all honesty it looks like a fun game. 

    Now I’m going to bet that from the large list of aliens you gave that the original games were quite lengthy. Now from what I’ve seen they’ve only shown two, that black goop and the polygon things. Whose not to say that the aliens you listed off won’t show up in the game when it’s released. Hell I could this being a great opportunity some kick ass DLC. 

    All I’m saying is that coming from a person whose never experienced the XCOM games, this looks like it could be interesting. Hell it may even get me interested in buying the original games off of steam.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Karoubas/100002406798073 Paul Karoubas

      True, it’s possible that things like the original aliens will return. However, I wouldn’t put my hopes too heavily on that. Irrespective of the engine, the style they’re going for seems very different to the original games

      Take a look at their site. The information section has a short press release

      http://www.xcom.com/

      I particularly love the features. ;) They’re so unimpressive and uninteresting as to be mildly amazing

      Except for this one. Which… stands out.

      Feel the Weight of Mankind’s Last Stand: The
      American Dream is crumbling all around you as the invaders corrupt the
      country, one town at a time. How do you stop a force that acts without
      conscience, a force whose sole desire is to corrupt and consume all that
      it touches? How do you stop an enemy with no weaknesses, an enemy that
      cannot be harmed by conventional technology? How will you react to the
      loss of your perceived reality, and the corruption of the world around
      you?

      … Is this meant to be taken seriously? It looks like it’s meant to be taken seriously, especially with that trailer…

    • Brian Damage

      We most likely won’t see the original aliens make a comeback unless the folks at 2K Marin alter their avowed intent to create a game with no storyline links to the originals, and retract their stated opinions on the original aliens (That they were cliche and kitschy).

  • Anonymous

    Hate to say its one thing to simply say they could have done better, and another to say *how* they could have done better.

  • http://twitter.com/El_Diablo_Guapo Gerry McAreavey

    Burn it!!!!!!!!! Kill it with Fire now!

  • http://twitter.com/erni_79 Danny Mezzina

    Wow, just wow.
    I wouldnt care at all if they just would have called this game differently.

    Why would they feel the need to use a franchise thats known to be a hardcore strategy game for their FPS!?

    I am still astonished after all the time this was announced, its like making fallout into a pseudo FPS… oh wait!
    People actually like that game… I dont know why, or why Bethesda felt the need to make a Fallout game in that style… But this is by far worse.

    The game might be fine in itself but for the fans of the original series who waited very long for a reboot of X-Com, with modern graphics, much more tactical depth and generally deeper gameplay, to now get a FPS just feels like a spit in the face to me.

    And btw, crazy how this video has more comments then the other E3 videos put together ^^

  • Mother Ace

    Ive played games since the 80s, hell I even played Asteroids when that game was state of the art for Atari. My peak playing days was in the 90 and early 2000s too, and back then X-Com Terrors from the Deep was my favorite game of all time.

    Now its 2011, I still game regularly and try out most new games for PC. And here’s the kicker. My fav game of all time is STILL X-Com TFTD! Hailing from a gaming era where micromanagement, playability and re-playability was focus and not the streamlined play itself-Final Fantasy-auto-combat-shit and redneck alien duckhunt-shooters they rehash and regurgitate on the market these days. Modern day gaming just has no appeal to me.

    They are an extended features with plot and characters where you play the protagonist winding up with the chick at the final credits, and no matter how many times u play it over(!), its not gonna make any difference for the outcome or actually be what you call replayable. All I can think is, why isn’t this a MOVIE?! in Spoony terms; modern gaming is FMV Hell with updated graphics, its just the audiences are too stupid realizing they are trapped in one! Much like some teenage girls thinks their taste in music, aka all that is Justin Bieber, is epic.., so are the regular young gamer today blinded by the market. I feel for you. But if you haven’t realized this, sit down please. (If u haven’t, why would you be standing around reading internet comments? Are your commute really this late?)

    You’ll feel extremely embarressed about what Im about to tell you. You are to the gaming industry what teenage girls are to Justin Bieber. The easiest mark for exploitation they’ve ever met! For the love of God, man. Swallow the red pill and free yourself of the liquid corporate pod you are in!

    So back to me…
    A new X-Com game is my personal salvation from this void agony that is todays gaming market.
    A new X-Com game would be the Messiah to combat the world of CORPORATE!
    A new X-Com game has the potential to revitalize a dead era and genre.
    A new X-com game is the remake of my childhoods Mario, TMNT, Zelda, Final Fantasy, Battlefield, HALO, Call of Duty, “insert franchise you love”…

    And I get this?! This monstrosity, this abomination, this atrocity?! BETRAYAL I say, BETRAYAL!

    And for anyone never having played X-Com back in its day, for anyone too young to experience this dagger in the back to veteran gamers; Let me draw up the the most clear picture I can think of; the ultimate rebuttle to any positive angle u wanna spin this in;

    Take your favorite game of this decade, then let the gaming world piss on your style of gaming for 20 years until they announce in 2031 they gonna re-make the classic from 2011. Just now its everything you hate, every genre gimmick you deslike, every disgusting decayed part of rotten gaming you’ve grown to despise… And they’ve JUST SLAPPED THE NAME of the most beloved game you ever played as a teenager on it.

    “insert dumbfounded enraged Spoony-face of utter disbelief and betrayal here”

    So Damn them. Damn them all to hell and back. This is nothing short of Star Wars’ George Lucas sodomizing your childhood with the prequels all over again.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Karoubas/100002406798073 Paul Karoubas

      … Wow. That… That’s anger, right there.

      *looks up* And that’s the sky. On to other matters.. ;) Oddly enough, I personally think this game isn’t modern enough. Action based revamps of beloved old games aren’t new, but this game hasn’t learned from any of them. And given how little face time we’ve had with any protagonists in that trailer, I’m not holding out much hope for the plot.

      Since I’ve been given a recommendation here, I think it’s only fair I give one back. Have you tried Beat Hazard? Top-down asteroids style shooter, with levels generated from music tracks.

      I’m part of this younger generation, and not a critic, but I like that thing, find it fun and challenging, and think you might too. :)

      • Mother Ace

        Thank you for the tip. Checking out gameplay for it at youtube now. It really looks like a revamped version of the old Asteriods game. Mind you, I wasn’t as much a fan of Asteroids as it was the best example I could think of to timestamp how long I’ve been into gaming.

        And bringing it back to X-Com. Beat Hazard is a blitzy epileptic seizure inducing modern version of Asteroids. Looks cool, and more importantly, features the same style of gameplay;
        EXACTLY what we wanted with X-Com.(perhaps without the seizure, but okay.) Not a goddamn shooter thats leagues away from its canon and gameplay

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Karoubas/100002406798073 Paul Karoubas

          It’s actually intended to be that seizure inducing. :) A deliberate hazard  at least supposedly The new DLC includes the ability to adjust visual feedback, to as low as %50. I can’t recall the price of it though.

          But keeping this on topic. ;) Yeah, I can see that. I really think this is one of those rare, wonderful games that manages to annoy everyone. It doesn’t have the fast paced, funny style and gameplay that the fans of the earlier games want. But it can’t seem to deliver on it’s new feel either; it’s website makes it sound like an action/horror game. Not only completely missing the point of the series, but that might just be the worst action/horror trailer that I’ve ever seen. It barely had either! Yes, the typewriter could have worked for it, but the footage… a mild gunfight, alien ships, and one guy getting his legs dissolved? That’s… all you’ve got, game?

          Oh, and an alien jumping a guy and clawing at him. Joy. How… unique

          This really stumps me. Even from a money grubbing standpoint. Who the hell thought this’d be popular? With any demographic? *sigh*

  • http://twitter.com/ProfessorGascan T H

    It’s kind of a shame because 2K owns Irrational Games, and if they’d gotten them to do this in a vein similar to SWAT 4 I honestly think it could have really worked.

    When you think about it, Jagged Alliance 2 is kind of in the same boat as X-Com in that they’re an old license that PC gamers love but never really got a good update despite several clones being made within the last decade (UFO: Extraterrestrials, 7.62, Brigade E5, UFO: After____ series, etc.). It’s kind of a shame because I love those games but you definitely can add more functionality/streamlining to them. UFOExtender mod? I can’t play X-Com without all the handy features it adds like not deleting partially-spent magazines in weapons, or allowing me to see what a soldier’s carrying capacity is. 1.13 Patch for JA2? Revamps inventory and adds a ton of tacticlol stuff.

    These games CAN be improved upon, and they’d work great on something like the 3DS or any other handheld.

  • Gildedtongue

    Yeah, really?  A shooter?

    Okay, I realize that X-COM: Alliance was supposed to be a tactical based shooter, which was being made about the same time that Rainbow Six was the hot IP in the market, and… okay, was different, and, X-COM shooters don’t have a good history… *cough*Enforcer*coughcough* (actually, surprised you didn’t mention Enforcer or Interceptor, but, guess we’re all trying to repress those memories…), but, Alliance had an X-COM feel to it.  You went on alien planets and your base of operations was an Avenger, and you were wielding laser rifles that looked like from the game.

    But, overall, it looked like X-COM.  Aside from the name, is there anything in this game that remotely looks like X-COM?  Okay, 1950s setting, with man Vs alien menace looks pretty cool, but… again, where is it X-COM?  It seems named thus because they had the IP, but, that’s it.

    • Gildedtongue

      Oh, and in case people were wondering about Alliance, here’s some trailers for the long defunct game:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVwIkJPMeP4
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNwJmMcImcU

      Oh, what could have been…

    • Anonymous

      People, this REBOOT is taking place in the 1950′s technology hadn’t gotten passed rotary phones yet… televisions were a standard black and white, the fastest cars where a blistering 168 mph,  and computers were a nice size of 1800 square feet. Of course it doesn’t look like X-Com, we are starting 49 years BEFORE X-Com would have happened!

      And for the aliens, come off it, we have to have the same aliens as in the original X-Com? And who knows, we might… we have seen 2 types of aliens so far. The geometry wars type, (who control humans) and the black blobs. Who is to say we wont see some of the relatively ‘weak’ aliens from X-Com as the stronger baddies?

      But X-Com was one game, one game in a lineup of 7 which apparently just kept going downhill. To tell you the truth I do hope that you aren’t just playing as 1 super hero soldier, I would rather choose who I play as for the mission out of the mooks you hired, and when the one you control bites it, you jump to one of the other two.

  • http://www.facebook.com/maxwell.keeley Maxwell Keeley

    the way you sound, it’s like the game did something like kill a child needlessly for shock value, like in cry for justice. you sound like a 5 year old dude. 

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Karoubas/100002406798073 Paul Karoubas

      You know, bringing up Linkara-reviewed comics… I’m starting to get Scott Ciencin flashbacks when thinking about this game. I mean, the writing bares many of his hallmarks of completely missing the point and focusing on his strange, somewhat nonsensical style of horror.

      Do we know what Ciencin is working on these days?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Colin-Snow/648690665 Colin Snow

    Shooter Game – The purpose of a shooter game is to shoot opponents and proceed through missions without the player character dying.

    Roleplaying Game – The purpose of a Role-Playing game is to engross the player/players into the story and character development.

    Game Makers: STOP MAKING SHOOTER GAMES THAT INVOLVE POINT SYSTEMS AND SKILL UPGRADES!!! IT DOES NOT WORK!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jonathan-Taylor/100000806714645 Jonathan Taylor

    Man Spoony, I’ve never seen you this actually pissed off.  Kind of scary.

    I played the original X-Com on the ps1 and it kicked my ass.  I will say though, the game itself was awesome.  I liked the whole set up.  As far as it being a shooter, I honestly have no clue what they were smoking when they decided to make X-Com a shooter.  I seriously think this is gonna fail.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/George-Rosenbaum/100001387887487 George Rosenbaum

      You think that was scary. Watch the review of Bloodwings: Pumpkinheads Revenge.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TTV2LRDOSMMIURX3NRKQZYE47E Chase Horn

    To Colin Snow:

    Yeah, good thing nobody ever mixed shooters with RPGs.  I bet if they had, they’d've made some half-assed game about government conspiracies and themes of what it really means to be human and what humanity wants, needs, and deserves.  Yeah, man, I bet that game would’ve sucked.  I’m absolutely certain it wouldn’t have been one of the most classic and beloved PC games of all time.

    Yeah.  Good thing that game was never made!  We’d never be able to make drastically generalized comments about how genres should never mix without sounding like we’re totally hysterical that way!  Whew.  Good save, Mr Spector…  Thanks for not making that game.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Colin-Snow/648690665 Colin Snow

      If a game starts out as a rpg. It should remain as such. I appreciate your sarcasm and you are welcome to your opinion, as am I.

      Maybe it’s because I have yet to play a good shooter with a “level/power up” system that works well.

      My point is, that a roleplaying game or in this case strategy game should not be turned into something else. CMG stated that the 2001 X-Com: Enforcer had “All the complexity and depth of a frying pan” granted I’d give it a shot, I mean hell I bought a copy of Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh off a friend because I liked the bizarre aspect of the game.

      Just like with movies, I’d be willing to give any game a shot really.

      Thing is if I’m playing say an Elder Scrolls game, I don’t need some NPC coming and sniping my ass with some ray gun that does like 50 damage while all I can get is a Daedric Warhammer that does 28 damage. Hell, even the bows only do up to 21.

      It has a chance to be a good game, but only time will tell.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Colin-Snow/648690665 Colin Snow

      If a game starts out as a rpg. It should remain as such. I appreciate your sarcasm and you are welcome to your opinion, as am I.

      Maybe it’s because I have yet to play a good shooter with a “level/power up” system that works well.

      My point is, that a roleplaying game or in this case strategy game should not be turned into something else. CMG stated that the 2001 X-Com: Enforcer had “All the complexity and depth of a frying pan” granted I’d give it a shot, I mean hell I bought a copy of Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh off a friend because I liked the bizarre aspect of the game.

      Just like with movies, I’d be willing to give any game a shot really.

      Thing is if I’m playing say an Elder Scrolls game, I don’t need some NPC coming and sniping my ass with some ray gun that does like 50 damage while all I can get is a Daedric Warhammer that does 28 damage. Hell, even the bows only do up to 21.

      It has a chance to be a good game, but only time will tell.

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TTV2LRDOSMMIURX3NRKQZYE47E Chase Horn

        I admit maybe I shouldn’t have been so snarky, and for that I apologize.

        Still… I’ve seen too many examples of GOOD games that we all thought would suck to really lose all hope.  There’s a really nasty trend on the Internet, in that everything is either BEST THING EVAR or RUINED FOREVER.  XCom is, right at this moment, neither of those things.

        I, personally, am excited for XCom.  Not because I assume it’s going to be awesome, but because I WANT it to be awesome.  If it had been a literal retread of UFO: Enemy Unknown, I’d frankly be disappointed.  I WANT new aliens.  I WANT new threats.  But I still want that feeling of being outnumbered, outgunned, outmatched… and winning because dammit we humans are plucky little bastards and we’re not above stealing your toys and beating you to death with them.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TTV2LRDOSMMIURX3NRKQZYE47E Chase Horn

    Spoony, your primary complaint seems very much to be that it’s not a direct shot for shot remake of the initial XCom.  You mention Sectoids, Chrysalids, Cyberdiscs, and Mutons (you called them Mutoids but we understood).  None of which were present in TFTD or Apocalypse.

    I understand where you’re coming from, but now, just like last year, it seems to be a simple knee-jerk fanboyism rage that doesn’t give the game a fair chance on any of its own merits.

    And I understand why you feel that way.  I did, at first, too.  Then I thought about it for awhile and I decided maybe, just maybe, this was a good thing.  Think about it this way.  How did we feel when Doom 3 was a prettier Doom made by people who obviously had no regard whatsoever for making a new or more interesting game?  I can’t speak for anyone else, but I was frankly bored off my ass by Doom 3.  Nicer graphics and good atmosphere, sure, but with all the flaws we’d ironed out of games like, a decade before?  Seriously?

    There are die hard fans of XCom, yes.  I’m one of them.  Most of us are in our late twenties, or thirties right now, and most of us have lapped up the XCom “spiritual sequels” in the UFO Afterblank games and UFO: The Extraterrestrials.  Hell, there’s a mod that literally adds XCom 1 stuff into the last game there.

    If they’d done a straight remake… it wouldn’t sell.  Old fans would be split between buying it because it’s XCom and screaming that there doesn’t need to be a remake how dare they do a remake argh gnash teeth scream roar etc.  Let’s face it, outside of 4X games and JRPGs, top down turn based games just aren’t all the rage anymore.  They could’ve made Alliance for us, sure.  If they wanted to have literally no say in innovating or evolving the theme of XCom or making it their own thing.

    Maybe you feel they shouldn’t be doing that.  I get that, I understnd it.  I also disagree with it.  To me, it’d feel a lot like fanfic writers doing their best to live up to the original works and just not being able to.

    I’d like to point out that there are other games that reinvented the wheel while keeping the cart the same, to murder a metaphor.  Fallout 3 was bashed like hell before its release for being “just Oblivion with guns!!!” for example, and honestly I love Fallout 3.  And I know what you’re going to say, “at least they kept the same world!”  And you have a valid point, except that “keeping the same world” in XCom means remembering that the Ethereal empire is gone, most of the world is relegated to living in a single megacity (with, if I recall, others being built), alien invaders being extradimensional beings in Apocalypse, etc.

    They’re rebooting a universe that had pretty much run its course.  Starting over, from scratch, with their own new ideas and new take on things.  It may be a take that turns out to be a bad one.

    But I don’t think you’re giving them a chance, Spoony.  I don’t think you’re judging the game on its own merits, and that makes me sad.

    I could be wrong.  I wasn’t at E3.  I didn’t get a demo of the game.  I’ve just seem the two videos they’ve released.  Maybe there are lots of other reasons you havte it, more valid reasons.  But your chief complaint so far, on both occasions I have seen you speak of XCom, were that “It’s not the same game.”

    I felt that way about Fallout 3 (hell, even about Oblivion itself after Morrowind!).  I felt that way about every Civilization game I’ve ever played since Civ 2.  I felt that way about Simcity 4.  I felt that way about Halo Wars.  I felt that way about Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter.  I felt that way about Rainbow 6 Vegas.  I felt that way about Deus Ex Invisible War.  I felt that way about World of Warcraft.

    In every case, I had to overcome that feeling to give the game a fair shake and evaluate it on its own merits rather than comparing it to some artificial invisible and unreachable standard in a stint of fanboy rage.

    So I guess here’s a direct request from a fan.  You’re going to play XCom eventually, we all know it.  No matter how much you hate it, you’ll probably give it a review or something.  If nothing else you’ll rent the game.  When you do, please try to give it a fair shake.  MAybe it’ll suck anyway, and if it does, then it sucks.

    But maybe it won’t suck.  And if it doesn’t, do you really want to miss out on what could very well be an incredible reinvention of a franchaise that was in what amounts to a mostly-dead genre anyway?  This might not be XCom 1.  But it doesn’t have to be Enforcer, either.

    I, personally, would rather hold our hope that these guys can make it awesome.  That hope has been dashed in the past.  But that hope has been upheld, too.

    There are a lot of people who didn’t want to try Mass Effect 1 because “OMG ACTION RPG OMG BIOWARE U SOLD OUT OMG”.  They blew us all away… because the game rocked.

    Maybe this one will too.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Karoubas/100002406798073 Paul Karoubas

      You’re right, in that Spoony shouldn’t write off this game. But nothing we’ve seen so far of it justifies the slightest thread of hope to my mind. This big thing for me personally, as a non-fan, is the stylistic changes. I guess the impression varies a bit, but reading their site… whilst most things are neutral, there’s a long rambling point in the features section that makes this sound entirely like a horror game, and less, you know, XCOM like.

      Stepping back a sec, a lot of people have brought up Fallout 3 here, and with good reason. However, stylistically that game was very similar to it’s originals. I don’t mean mechanically, I’m thinking of humor, the feeling of being in the setting. I honestly didn’t think Bethsheda would pull it off, but they did, and deserve praise for that.

      And that, AFAICT, is the big issue here. This game does seem to be different stylistically, highly so, playing straight what the old games played for laughs. And unlike Mass Effect, we’ve got nothing so far to suggest it’ll be good. New studio, with no pedigree behind it. I was actually expecting ME2 to be bad; but at least there the trailers did give us something to get excited over (quite a few things, in fact)

      If you’ll permit me a Warhammer DoW quote ‘Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment’

      • Brian Damage

        And once again, an additional thing about the Fallout 3 comparison is that at least F3 kept the universe and canon of its predecessors.

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TTV2LRDOSMMIURX3NRKQZYE47E Chase Horn

        I think the core theme of XCom, of all the (good) XCom games and XCom style games, is pretty well intact.  An enemy you know nothing about is here to terrorize humanity, to move into your house, dig up your backyard, stab your dog, and eat all your snacks.  The feeling of being totally outmatched by an opponent with weapons and technology you don’t even know where to begin fighting, carrying the day through sheer balls and a willingness to experiment with dangerous and untested technology in the holpes that maybe this bit of alien tech will be the key to winning this war.

        I think the core theme has ALWAYS been terror of an unknown and unknowable enemy coming to obliterate everything you ever cared about, slowly moving from pants-shitting fear to building confidence only to revert back to pants-shitting fear when the NEXT new species comes along and you have to learn a whole new set of tactics for dealing with them.

        It’s also worth noting that the original XCom came about in a very different era of gaming.  Games, and gamers, are different people now.  We expect different things of modern gaming than we did back then.  For better or for worse, the industry is changing and trying to keep up.  Game companies have enough trouble keeping up with the casual gaming market and the MMO market already.  Expecting a retread of old ground in an industry that gets a lot of derision for the fact that “everything is an identical sequel now” is a little… well, I can’t think of any word to use that doesn’t sound rude so I won’t pick one because I’m not intending to insult anyone here.

        Your Warhammer quote is, I feel, a perfect example of the bitter cynicism that’s permeated the gaming market.  Anyone who asks why Halo sells more copies than Psychonauts should ask themselves how many people they know who PERSONALLY PLAYED Psychonauts?  Hell, whether I lose my gamer cred for this or not, I’ve never played Psychonauts.  I’ve heard it’s awesome.  I’d love to get it and play it someday.  But I just haven’t ever picked up a copy.  Instead, I picked up games like Halo 2.  Why?  Because I knew what I was getting and I wanted it.  A video game is a $60 investment these days.  And until literally this very morning, I have not had regular employment since 2007.  I can’t afford a lot of games.  Blockbuster was a good resource for me, for awhile.  Too bad I no longer live within 50 miles of one.  Gamefly would be great… if I could still afford it.

        To put things another way, you say hope is the first step on the road to disappointment.  I say that a world that makes that belief true is a sad, unpleasant place that isn’t really worth living in.  Lucky for me, I don’t believe this world, or the gaming industry is that hopeless yet.

        The funny part is, I’m often a cynic myself.  I used to make a joke that the difference between a cynic and a pessimist is that a pessimist thinks the glass is half empty, but the cynic doesn’t care because it’s not our glass, nobody’s going to share, and it probably tastes like shit anyway.  But I’ve discovered that no matter how cynical I might be, no matter how easy it is to stay that way, I need to accept that there’s plenty of awesome going on too.  I want this game to be awesome.

        And I refuse to accept that it can’t be just because it isn’t the exact same game that has had a permanent install on my computer for years… which I still play.

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Karoubas/100002406798073 Paul Karoubas

          If that’s the things you want, thematically speaking, this new XCOM might well be your thing. Like I say, I’ve never played the originals, but I always got the impression they were a bit tongue in cheek, a little less than serious. I admit freely though that I’ve never played the games, so if you can interoperate them straight, then fine, this game might work on the thematic level.

          But still, it doesn’t appear to be a particularly competently done game thus far, even when playing things straight. That trailer isn’t too good at invoking… well, anything, fear, or badassery. CERTAINLY not when set against things like the trailers for Deus Ex, tOR, Bioshock, Blur… We’ve not seen the aliens DOING anything, apart from… being here. And dissolving a guy’s legs. That’s not that evocative.

          As to the whole hope thing… well, I have hopes, I’ll confess. I tend towards cynicisim, but I hope for some things. I hope Xenonaughts will be good. I have hopes for Deus Ex and tOR. But I like to have a reason to hope, rather than blind faith. and I’m getting nothing from this game.

    • http://twitter.com/SolidGoldCEO SolidGoldCEO

      Wow I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen someone give cynicism get such a massive kick in the balls. 

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1813118664 Reza Stephen Lustig

      Interesting that you should point out the success of Mass Effect. I actually bought the X Box 360 for the sole purpose of playing Mass Effect; after all, Bioware made my all time favorite KOTOR, and this looked cool as well. Quite frankly, I was blown away. However, this was only because the game was pretty loyal to the RPG style of play; it was heavy on RPG (story, character customization, etc.), and very light on the shooter elements. For this reason, I am one of a small but vocal minority who hated Mass Effect 2, for putting snazzy graphics and Hollywood-esque action ahead of RPG aspects. The same goes for Dragon Age and it’s sequel.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Woodson-Baldwin/734904847 Woodson Baldwin

    Does anyone else see a heavy dose of Gurren Laggan in the alien tech?

    • doresh

      With a little bit of Rebuild of Evangelion thrown in for good measure.

      How the hell can they make a rather unique, turn-based strategy game and turn it into just another run-of-the-mill sci-fi shooter – minus the big, overmuscular marines?
      Well, at least the aliens are cool…

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/George-Rosenbaum/100001387887487 George Rosenbaum

    I don’t really think that Spoony is a good interviewer or game conference journalist. Not that he is stupid, but he has a hard time getting to people and asking the right questions. He is great when thinking about the subject in the comfort of his comfy green-chair, but gets flustered in the heat of the moment.

    This probably stems from the fact that he has a heart like a fucking pressure bomb. Instead of beating faster, his heart beats HARDER, so when Noah pushes himself physically, he risks heart attack and cardiovascular damage. He ended up in the ER because of this condition several times, and it prevents him from having a clear head as he talks to the booth reps.

    Spoony, not everyone is cut out for this. Joe is good at it, he knows when to push someone, has a lot of energy, and knows what questions are important in the moment. Your better at reviews and Let’s Plays, at least from what I’ve seen. You need someone else to carry your gear for you so you don’t pass out. Ask yoursef if you are physically capable of doing this. Watching you interview people at E3 is like watching Hulk Hogan wrestle. He’s gonna kill himself, and so are you.

    Do you even like running around at PAX and E3?

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/George-Rosenbaum/100001387887487 George Rosenbaum

      AND SPEAKING OF REVIEWS… have you finished making the FFX-2 review? I remember you saying that review would come our ‘soon’ several weeks ago. Can someone give me a date or something?

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1813118664 Reza Stephen Lustig

        That’s what I’d like to know, too!

  • Cat of Many Faces

    Front Mission Evolved.

    Well ok that one was at least the same setting. but it was another turn based strategy game turned into a shooter…

    Weep Turn based strategy fans for our games are being stolen from us…

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Eric-Mc/100000152293904 Eric Mc

    I think they broke Spoony?

  • Anonymous

    Spoony, you’re missing the point.

    This game is not for old farts like you and me who played the hell out of the old X:COM and the phoned-in underwater sequel (which we nevertheless loved). No. This game is for the new generation, who neither know or care about those old ugly games. All they need to know is that the name X:COM somehow has an impact on the game community and that’s the extent of it. It’s the figures, really.. turn-based games are a niche thing, FPS is what draws money. Why invest in something that needs quite a lot of creativity but is risky when you can just spruce up a generic FPS, slap a name on it and rake up cash?

    I for one am not disappointed. If it’s a good FPS, I’ll probably try it out. If it’s bad, I’ll ignore it. I will never consider it to be in any way connected to the original X:COM (except as a hommage or a reference or a spin-off, whatever) and noone can ever convince me that this should be considered a “sequel”. Perhaps there will be a “true” X-COM sequel, maybe in a boardgame form, who knows. Currently, my brain is blissfully ignoring the “X-COM” in the title which rather successfully keeps me, well, not angry.

    So, yeah, I’ll keep an eye on this alien shooter called “Blank”. Who knows, it might be playable.

    • Brian Damage

      The thing is, I doubt we’ll ever get a true TBS sequel if the success of this game allows 2K to point at it and say “See? Noncanon 60′s FPS XCOM is what everyone wants! FPS and new story from now on!”. And if this fails… well, I worry that would simply deter anyone else from ever trying to make one, too, since it would be another commercial failure against the name. 2K probably wouldn’t even bother to sell it to someone who might try, if anyone would even be willing to buy it.

      • Anonymous

        I dunno. I choose the optimistic route. Would the release of SC:Ghost shoot down the possibility of SC2? Or would it had sped it up? Also, who says that if they did choose the TBS route, they would do a good job? Remember the Star Control 3 debacle? Ugh.

        What IS kinda bad though is that if X:COM TBS does eventually come out in some shape or form (because of fan outcry, mostly), it might be based on this “new” mythology, which again isn’t X:COM, really. Still, I’d probably buy it, for old time’s sake. This FPS thing? I will most probably blissfully ignore it unless I stumble upon some really raving reviews.

        Basically the only thing I find distasteful is 2K not saying outright “folks, we are trying something new here” but blindly selling this as a true, bona-fide X:COM sequel. It’s just plain insulting. Say that you want to explore the X:COM universe, say that you want to keep the name alive, but do not pretend like you’re making this for the fans of the old X:COM games.

        • Brian Damage

          I agree with you entirely on the last paragraph, but I can’t find in in me to be optimistic about the route they’re going.

          SC:Ghost was positioned as a side game, a spinoff. If it had come out, it would have been like the planned FPS X-Com spinoff Alliance, which was not going to interfere with the other top-down strategy X-Com title they were working on at the time, Genesis.

          This game 2K is pushing is being slotted in as the main game in a new sequence (no subtitle, just the word “XCOM” and a lot of blather and marketing speak about it being a new dawn for the series), not as a spinoff, meaning they now consider the franchise to be A) Based on their new canon and B) FPS-oriented. We’re trying to get them to see sense on the 2K forums and either rename this game or to give us some promise that they’ll divide the series into “XCOM” and a more faithful “X-Com Classic” (or, as a last resort, turn all the stuff they’re not using over the the fans by putting it in the public domain), but all they do in response is make sad attempts to push this game and cyclically tell us how much we’ll love it when we get the next bit of info (and then the opposite inevitably happens).

          If they had gone the TBS or Real Time With Pause route, I would think they’d have stood a pretty good chance of making something respectable. After all, 2K have Firaxis and the guys who worked on the Freedom Force games, as I’ve mentioned before.

  • Anonymous

    http://www.xenonauts.com – Even if XCom fails, like I’m pretty sure it will do, Xenonauts provides hope. Check it out! It’s a fateful recreation of the original with updated tactical elements and improved graphics that stay really fateful to the original! I feel like this is the next “true” X-Com game.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-McKenna/1784652572 Paul McKenna

    actually  dude, this is exactly what i wanted, FPS FTW. u are entitled to your own views but come on, this is the future, besides if u want to play the old style play UFO ONLINE.

    • Anonymous

      Your spelling reveals everything that is wrong with people like you.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Elliott-Koepp/100000220245559 Elliott Koepp

      yeah man everybody wants new fps’s y’know, they’re awesome right!

    • Brian Damage

      There you have it, ladies and gentlemen: 2K’s target audience for this game.

      Incidentally, UFO Online does look interesting, and what’s more it’s apparently going to be free to play. Not sure on how it’s going to compare mechanically to UFO Defense, Terror From The Deep or Apocalypse, but I’m looking forward to finding out. Unfortunately, even if it’s good, it can never have the setting, villains or storyline from the original games.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Elliott-Koepp/100000220245559 Elliott Koepp

    “with Final Fantasy 8 you heard the sincerity in my voice, now see the sincerity in my eyes…This game is fuckin horriblel!. Don’t even buy it if you see it used for a like a penny or whatever. Don’t even download it, even if you’re a hardcore xcom fan just do yourself a favor and never play it cause you’ll be wishing for the rest of your life that you could invent a time machine and go back to the day you played it and just fuckin kill yourself. If you ever find the game, if you ever see it, smash it with a hammer, smash it until every tiny fragment is invisible. You’d rather super-glue your asshole shut than play that game, you’d rather drown in gasoline. You think I’m kidding but the fact that that game exists is a horrible abomination of mankind, and I am not kidding, I’m dead fuckin serious, DEAD FUCKIN SERIOUS!”
    Spoony, XCOM Review

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Elliott-Koepp/100000220245559 Elliott Koepp

      Maybe the game will be only 4 levels long! LOL XD

  • Anonymous

     Spoony, you should try Valcuria Chronicles on PS3. Just try and look past the anime motif. You know, maybe it’s just because of my general attitude toward “re-imaginings”. I like both the new and old Battle Star shows, but for very different reasons and they don’t share a strong connection to one and other. Also, if the new show had sucked, it wouldn’t have spoiled my love for the older show. So when I heard XCom was going to be a shooter I wasn’t going to dismiss it out of hand. You seem to be giving it a VARY hard time, not really because it deserves it but rather because they used the XCom name. Unless I’m missing something hand you HAVE actually played the game. Once the game comes out, I’ll get a demo and if it sucks I’ll ignor it. Also, I’m wondering if you’d have been more excepting if it had been a sort of SWAT tactical shooter style.

    • Anonymous

      Do you mean “Valkyria Chronicles”? If so, yes that is a really good tactical game that should be given a try.

  • http://twitter.com/IcelandQuest Iceland Quest

    I am not sure why everyone is so hung up on some old sci fi game that was not that great to begin with… Who cares if they borrow the name,.  They can call it Q-Bert for all I care it looks like fun on its own merit. 

  • Eric Stewart

    I think Spoony needs to move on. I love the old X:COM, he loves the old X:COM, but why not give this new game a shot? The fruitless, No Mutants Allowed-style fury over the fact that it’s a different kind of game is getting nowhere, and hey- maybe this new one will be good! Sure, it’s not X:COM, but it could be a cool RPG/shooter with a neat art style. I would like nothing more than a new tactical X:COM, but I think all of us neckbeards gotta stop writing off these new games since they share the same name.

    • Brian Damage

      Dunno about anyone else, but I’d rather not give game companies implicit consent to pull this sort of shit by saying nothing when they try it, if it’s all the same to you :p.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Zach-Gacula/100000350486881 Zach Gacula

    Spoony should do a lets play of the old Xcom

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=578389824 David Åström

      Well if you’re interested he did stream a playthrough of X-COM: UFO Defense last year. He also tried his luck at TFTD if I remember correctly. It’s all still archived:
      http://sv.justin.tv/spoonyone/b/266319465

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Triplett/1028632148 Mike Triplett

    They done broke Spoony’s brains!  Quick give him an IV of Ultima set on a continuous drip and somebody get Reb Brown on the TV stat!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_V3K7WV3HFEU34TVYZ5D2A3HOK4 charles

    One of the reasons I watch your reviews is that I know that you are a fellow fan. I can sympathize with your emotional reaction to watching a beloved franchise being grossly mismanaged, if not perverted. However, for those who didn’t play X-com back in the day it comes off as fanboyish and irrational. So why don’t you do a review of X-com to show what the new title should have been. 

  • Anonymous

    I was more excited about this game when it sounded and looked like a Bioshock rip-off with aliens.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Isaiah-Craig/1730230146 Isaiah Craig

    No Warhammer 40K: Space marine? If I remember well, that was one of the games you went to check out twice last E3! They even had a playable demo this year! I am somewhat dissappointed…

    • Anonymous

      I played it at E3 and it seemed pretty awesome. I didn’t see enough to know if the game will really be a hit, but it was fun to tear through hordes of Orks with a chainsword.

      If you’re worried about this being a Gears of War ripoff, don’t. The first thing the booth rep said was that, unlike other third-person shooters, there’s not much emphasis on cover and no hiding to recover health. If you get hurt, you can heal by executing an Ork. If you get attacked, you jump into the fray with your bolter and chainsword and show them by you’re one of the Emperor’s finest sons. Nobs are formidable, but the rank-and-file Orks can get blown away by the dozens.

      This is good, because space marines are… well, the original space marines. Any chapter in the Imperium of Man is more badass than any other space marine squad in the rest of fiction. A single Ultramarine could decimate an entire COG battalion like a Dalek on a planet full of Cybermen. So… yeah, no covering yourself behind chest-high walls.

      I wish I tried out Dark Millenium. That actually stokes me a little more than The Old Republic, if only because WH Online was a pretty great WoWish game and Star Wars Galaxies sucked nut.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg

    To anyone saying that he’s not giving it a fair chance, that’s he’s not judging it “based on its own merits”, you’re absolutely right and you know what else? HE’S right for doing it. 2k Marin chose to make a game using the X-Com name and therefor it should not be judged based on its own merits but the expectations and demands that X-Com has on it. This isn’t just another shooter we’re (I use we in the sense of all us X-Com fans protesting against this game) calling shameless, soulless or generic, this is an X-Com game and we expect it to be like the X-Com games we love and cherish.

    This game has extremely little to do with the established franchise; the setting doesn’t return, only a small, watered down fraction of the gameplay appears to be back, none of the aliens return, the art style is completely different and they’re even rebooting the story (there IS a story so shut up!). What I think a lot of people are missing is that we’re not criticizing the game for looking like that crap or that it’s generic even if I’m sure a lot of this is tossed around but we’re protesting against the fact that they still haven’t justified using XCOM as the title. It only strengthens the belief and enhances the idea that they’re just doing it to get in on a legendary, still fondly remembered game franchise and make some money.

    Perhaps it’s just that after two really shitty titles X-Com fans have just had enough. It’s now more about the principle of the thing than ever before. Have the gamers of the world become so jaded and complacent that they just don’t care anymore and let the industry walk all over them? We’re standing up for ourselves and the things we love, perhaps someone should take notes.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Martin-Wilson/1061373959 Martin Wilson

    Ditto with everyone else who asks for an X-Com UFO Defense review (similar format to the Ultimas, maybe?)

    Loved the original. Tried to love TFTD. Tried harder to love Apocalypse. After that, though, I’m pretty sure they released some crappy titles too (Isn’t X-Com Interceptor pretty bloody terrible?). UFO Aftermath was a fairly fun spiritual successor, I thought.

    It looks a lot like a totally different game that has just been stamped with the X-Men brand to ship copies (like the film “I Robot”- originally conceived as an original story, branded with an Asimov title to boost its popularity). In that sense, I wonder if the game will be fun on its own merits, but yeah, doesn’t look like much of an X-Com revival :(

    I don’t know if X-Com is the sort of game that you could make these days, though. Some of the core concepts are the ball busting difficulty (the atmosphere of fear in the missions is a big part of it to me), and the slow resource management research/manufacture game. It seems that modern games cut out a lot of the really difficult and boring bits. Generally I’d say that that’s a good thing a lot of the time, but in the case of X-Com I think it’d pretty much kill it.

    Still, we’ll always have the original.

    • http://twitter.com/quantastarfire Ted Kehoe

      “It seems that modern games cut out a lot of the really difficult and boring bits.”

      I don’t think it’s that they cut these things out so much that improvements in game design and development have made these bits vanish; improved interfaces, better AI, better level design, better tutorials, balance testing, and more have contributed to games becoming “easier” without the developers having to be deliberate about it.

      In addition, gamers get better over time, and thus the impossible challenges of their youth become progressively easier as time goes on. Patterns get memorized and recognized easier, the AI seems to get progressively dumber as the flaws become apparent, interfaces get adapted to in minutes even if its your first time playing a particular game, and so on.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Martin-Wilson/1061373959 Martin Wilson

    Just out of curiosity, were any of the later X-Com games any good? I played UFO: Enemy Unknown / X-Com UFO Defense a lot, and really loved it. I couldn’t really get into TFTD so much (felt like the same stuff… but under water!), and then I tried Apocalypse. Apocalypse just bewildered me so much that I floundered on every mission and wound up quitting (I couldn’t get my head around all the choices you got in the vehicle buying / outfitting section, or the base building stuff).

    Were those two, or any of the ones that followed, any good?

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg

      Although the general opinion on Apocalypse tends to be divided, most people will probably agree that Enforcer and Interceptor are garbage. Even if X-Com Apocalypse deviated from the established gameplay, Enforcer and Interceptor more or less sank the franchise. Interceptor for instance wasn’t just bad, it was a massive failure in sales too.

      But the answer is, Apocalypse might or might not be your thing but Interceptor and Enforcer, no, just don’t, it’s not worth your sanity.

  • http://www.facebook.com/TopherBlair Topher Glenn

    X-Com UFO Defense review!

    • Anonymous

      Gief.

  • Anonymous

    I absolutely love watching how angry you get, it’s positively hilarious.

    That being said, I will not buy this new X-Com. I never played the old ones (probably should), but just on the principal of the matter I do not agree with the new X-Com. It is blatantly obvious with this game (and with any game that makes such a dramatic genre change) that the developers are trying to cash in on the current trend of FPS games. And the pathetic thing is, it won’t even succeed in being a cash-in. It’s going up against heavy competition, namely the Call of Duty and Halo franchises. They would have stood a better chance of making a good, popular title by appealing to old fans. Doing it this way, their mediocre Mass Effect clone is going to be lost in a sea of FPS games.

    And to compare this to Final Fantasy Tactics is both ludicrous and insulting. Tactics was an amazing (if somewhat basic) strategy game in its own right. To say a mediocre first person shooter with halfassed leveling up elements is on par with a legitimate strategy game is nothing short of idiotic.

  • Anonymous

    I don’t think you care about ”innovation” as much as you make out, Spoony.
     
    Here are some games you discussed:
     
    1. Another Zelda game with some new elements (mechanics, items, setting, art style, story), and many familiar elements.
     
    2. Another Mass Effect game with some new elements (mechanics, items, etc.) and many familiar elements.
     
    3. Another Elder Scrolls game with some new elements and many familiar elements.

    4. Another Silent Hill game with a rain motif.
     
    5. Another X-Com game, which shares nothing with the original other than the core plot (secret agency fighting alien invaders while developing/stealing technology).

    You dislike Zelda, even though most Zelda games are somewhat innovative (changes in setting, mechanics, perspective, etc.). You like Mass Effect and The Elder Scrolls, even though they change very little. You like Silent Hill, because it has a new rain motif. You hate the new X-Com, even though they changed everything other than the core plot.

    It doesn’t look like innovation has much to do with which games you like and dislike. It looks more like innovation is a good thing when you dislike a series, and a bad thing when you like it. Which is of course completely reasonable.

    I see lack of innovation more as a problem with the industry than with particular games. Lack of innovation doesn’t make a particular game bad, but it does make games in general less interesting.

    P.S. I think these videos would be better if they had more plain information, and less of you trying to rile yourself up (i.e., saying “it’s so bad” for 10 minutes). You’re a good writer – I want to hear your considered opinions!
     

    • Anonymous

      I like the Zelda games, but Spoony isn’t wrong in his complaint.

      Zelda games have very little story. They have some big notes, good scenes, but these aren’t exactly epic fantasies. You’re Link, you run around, get MacGuffins in dungeons, and save Zelda (or, for the portable/side-story games, the region you ended up in). The structure, both in dungeons and out, are nearly identical. In the main parts of the games, you can be certain Link will fight through dungeons that have exactly one map, compass, and boss key. They will have one boss, one special item to beat the boss and/or solve the puzzles before the boss, and a heart power up that will add one more heart to his maximum of two rows. He’ll use primarily a sword and shield, and also employ a hookshot, a boomerang, bombs, some item to help him lift heavy objects, a bow and arrow, bottles with three different potions or health-restoring fairies, and a few other items that might be unique to the new chapter. The pattern of the game goes as thus:

      1: Get a sword and shield.
      2: Find out your destiny.
      3: Find out you need to get so many MacGuffins (generally three).
      4: Enter the first dungeon.
      5: Find the special item.
      6: Find the boss key.
      7: Fight the boss and get the MacGuffin.
      8: Find the location of the second dungeon.
      9: Repeat steps 4-8 two more times.
      10: (Optional) Find out a big twist and get a new set of Macguffins to get.
      11: Repeat steps 4-8 several more times.
      12: (Optional) Fight the enemy you thought was the big bad.
      13: (Does not apply for portable/side stories) Fight Ganon
      14: Save Hyrule (or Termina, or find out Koholint Island is really the dead ghost of Zanarkand’s dreams, or some crap).

      I like the Zelda games and consistently enjoy them, but no matter what Nintendo does, they all feel samey because of that structure.

      Meanwhile, Mass Effect and Elder Scrolls V have tons of plot and much more to do. You honestly don’t know what the twists are going to be. You don’t know where you’ll go, who you’ll fight, or who you’ll save until you actually get there. Friends may die, cities may burn, and you’ll feel like you’re actually part of it instead of just being the voiceless errand boy for destiny. Yes, the mechanics might be the same and you’ll recognize the names and places, but what actually happens as you play through the game? You can’t know that. Meanwhile, I could write a list of things that will happen in Skyward Sword and get 8 out of 10 right without reading one word about the game. The “many familiar elements” in Mass Effect and Elder Scrolls are presented in such a way that you look at them from new angles. More importantly, they’re presented not as rehashes like every Zelda game, but as parts of a coherent universe.

      Nintendo says they have a timeline for the Zelda universe. That might be a lie. It doesn’t matter, because each Zelda game takes a handful of the same elements but shakes them up in a way that there is no real connection besides vague ties to lore causing fanboys to come up with increasingly crazy and nonsensical theories based on the tiniest details that stick out to them. Even though they say there are connections, Nintendo doesn’t give a shit about actually making those connections besides design elements and shared names. Twilight Princess happened before or after Ocarina? Wind Waker happened after Ocarina, but just in one of two possible futures? There’s a ton of fanwanking with no effort made to bring it together in a coherent narrative from Nintendo’s end. Bioware and Bethsoft put forth that narrative, and they’ve made two pretty big, compelling universes instead of these capsule worlds each with a Link, a Zelda, a Ganon, and dungeons.

      • Anonymous

        So I guess you’re saying the main difference is that ME and TES have more sophisticated story-lines? I don’t think that makes much difference to my points about innovation.

        As for justifying the sameyness of the games, I could equally say that Zelda has more original and less generic settings and more unique content (i.e., no repetative dungeons as in ME and TES). New settings (etc.) justify new Zeldas, just as new storylines justify new ME and TES games (although I’d object to this justification for TES!).

        Note that I’m not trying to say Zelda is better than ME or TES or anything else. I just think there’s no special distinction between Zelda and these other games in terms of innovation. And to restate my main point, Spoony doesn’t (and shouldn’t) really care about innovation *of itself* - if he did, he would praise the innovations of X-Com (for being innovations, if not for their particular form), and chastise the sameyness of ME, TES, and Silent Hill.

      • http://twitter.com/SolidGoldCEO SolidGoldCEO

        But as Ive said Zelda’s development is more building on whats been established in terms of gameplay so of course you can say “this is the same as last time” but what else can they do? gut something thats still fun and make it an RPG? Don’t you think its better to keep what works then try to add to it?

        People keep saying how overdone this “Oot formula” is but look at how many games have been released since Ocarina that are even 3d. 4 including Skyward thats 4 since 1998, god of war started 7 years later and is already 3 games old so I fail to see how people can act like Nintendo keep flooding the market. Yes you there are a lot Zelda games overall but considering its over a quarter of a century old and has released games over multiple platforms ranging from 8-bit to modern day its nowhere near the frequency of most modern franchises. 

        If people don’t like their games fine thats a perfectly valid view but I don’t get why Nintendo get these accusations of constantly making sequels when the reality is they are much more careful with their own franchises then 90% of the developers out there. 

  • http://bwmedia.wordpress.com/ ShadowWing Tronix

    Now you know the pain of many oldschool Galactica fans. (Myself included.)

    Turn-based strategy isn’t my kind of game, so I don’t think I’d be into X-Com. Most FPS games aren’t my kind of game (some are) but Fractal Invasion here looks like one that would interest me. It probably would have been better to call it something else since I, for one, had never heard of X-Com prior to this or at least it wasn’t a name that I would recall. It doesn’t hold any connection for me and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

    • Anonymous

      That’s not fair. Considering the differences between X-Com and XCOM, that’s like saying the original BSG was a space opera and the new BSG was a dark, depressing soap opera where everyone screws and dies all the time.

      …goddammit.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Rebecca-Smith/804271796 Rebecca Smith

    I don’t think I’ve ever seen Spoony this mad and upset in a video before, not even in his FFX and FFVIII reviews.
    I’ve never played X-COM, heck I never even heard of it before Spoony talked about it in another video, but they should seriously contemplate on changing the name to something else or may god have mercy on those poor souls who made this game cause the fans…well…from what I’ve seen of Spoony and some other people on forums they are not very happy..AT ALL!
    Let’s hope the developers see the error of their ways soon before it’s too late.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Nagneto-Lives/100002330956610 Nagneto Lives

    Spoony man I feel your pain man. It’s like the only RTS or TBSGs out there is either Civ or Total War.

    Starcraft II totally BOMBED. Dawn of War turned into an RPG, Warcraft turned into an MMORPG (which I hate). No word yet from Sins of a Solar Empire for sequel or an expansion.

    The industry is determined to churn out all these goddamn shooters and MMOs. Literally no new  Strategy games are in the works! No next gen fantasy RTS, or anything! I am so fucking pissed off about it!

    • Anonymous

      Starcraft 2 bombed!? In which universe?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kyle-Dennis/1731271692 Kyle Dennis

    Sorry that you are so offended by this game Spoony. Unfortunately you are another victim of Publishers being to afraid to make a game without a pre existing franchise to back it up. This is the way I see it: the developers wanted to make a shooter, an interesting one that wasn’t set in a bleak gray environment and wasn’t full of muscle bound protagonists fighting a generic Nazistan enemy or set in a post apocolyptic world. But the publishers nowadays are to chicken to try anything that hasn’t been proven to work, so the developers pitched this game as a reboot to an existing franchise, one with an obviously passionate fanbase, extremely dated graphics that could easily be redesigned to look nothing like it originally did, a close enough storyline that the developer could tweak to suit their needs, and MOST importantly, even though it was remembered by SOME gamers, most modern gamers would have no idea what the game was originally based on was like.

    Xcom was just old enough, popular enough, with poor enough graphics and simple enough story that it could fall into this niche. I’m sorry Spoony, but you are just the collateral damage after the developers pulled a fast one on the publisher.

    • http://www.facebook.com/timm3r Timmer Ratajczyk

      We’ll see who’s left with collateral damage when nobody buy it!

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg

        Which we all know won’t happen. People with no prior experience with X-Com will buy it because it looks interesting and it’s from the dudes who made BioShock 2 which was such a radically different and amazingly creative experience they can barely keep their pants on when they so much as look at a picture of big daddy. And unfortunately, both for society as a whole and for the X-Com fans in general, they’re a majority of the intended audience here.

        Yes, I am being overly cynical and bitter about it but I’ve had a few years now of disappointments to build up to this level. Just a matter of time before I start writing a blog and pretend I know everything!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OU7Z4DKACDRDJNH4E42XNZUJYI Calbeck

    …okay, yeah.  Watched the trailer.  Have NOT heard Spoony comment yet.

    But I had to say it, like thousands of others have by now if not millions: WHAT THE HELL DID THAT HAVE TO DO WITH X-COM?!

    Seriously, it doesn’t even work as a prequel.  There’s no similarity whatsoever, even granting that this is an FPS.  The aliens are completely different, so’s their tech — if anything, it’s far more advanced than what you encounter in the original game.  Meanwhile of course, your own tech is from the ’60s.

    The only thing I’m seeing here that correlates in any way is the basic concept: you have to fight and beat aliens in order to steal and reverse-engineer their tech so as to defend Earth.  Other than that — it’s a complete reboot.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Alex-Patrick/1329527234 Alex Patrick

    I feel you pain man, the same thing happened to me when i saw the new max payne teaser and screens, i literaly died inside.

  • http://twitter.com/Virus513 guess for request

    I feel you

  • http://twitter.com/Virus513 guess for request

    I think 2K has a thing with ruining classic games

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=794310182 Angelo Buono

    Yeah, I was there too. I remember when a friend in high school gave me a floppy with a demo for some weird thing called “X-Com”. It blew my mind. Any of you hoping for such a game should pay attention to Xenonauts. I already preordered the game and it seems to be a faithful remake/new game.

  • http://www.facebook.com/timm3r Timmer Ratajczyk

    I won’t be buying this trash. I’m sick of shooters and I’m tired of watching my favorite franchises getting dumbed down for 10 year old CoD drones. This is like if the next season of Ameriacn Idol was all obout finding the best helicopter pilot. I don’t watch that trash either but I know the legion of brain dead followers wold be going bat sh*t insane over the change. I’ve never seen Spoony at such a loss for words but I totally agree with him. This was turn based and would have absolutely worked on a console just like Civ Revolut’n. I’m off to light up their forum and warn them about trying this with Masters of Orion or Alpha Centauri.

    • http://www.facebook.com/EllendeBunchastu Joel Hudson

       Ahhh, alpha centauri; I heard there was an ‘updated’ version that either came with/was available for download for Civ 4, did I hear correctly?  I’m so used to its civ 2 based system that I dunno how I’d do with a newer interface xd

  • http://www.facebook.com/EllendeBunchastu Joel Hudson

    Maybe it’s just me, but I have never really bought the ‘ruined forever!’ bit in games.  Metroid: other M didn’t taint the rest of the metroid games, and just because this has been made into fps form doesn’t mean that we are all doomed.  Yes, I realize it won’t be anything like the originals, and it probably won’t be good, but I think somewhere along the li,ne people forgot their priorities. 

    You’re killing yourself with this spoony, please calm down, part of the reason I like this site is because you were the coolest even at your angriest before.

    • http://twitter.com/quantastarfire Ted Kehoe

      “Metroid: other M didn’t taint the rest of the metroid games”

      From what I’ve heard, Other M turns Samus from a stoic badass who can get along fine on her own to a whimpering puddle that needs a man to validate her existence. You might want to avoid straying into that particular minefield.

      • http://www.facebook.com/EllendeBunchastu Joel Hudson

        I mean that I ignore that game, and therefore spare myself the effects of ‘AUGH THIS GAME IS AN ABOMINATION/WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO SAMUS’, not that I think it was a good thing, just using it as a worst case scenario.

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg

          You just IGNORE it? I have some colorful words to describe you right now but let’s just go with “Are you utterly, boggerly, snooker looker?” I mean, are your insane? How can you just ignore it? Is it too bothersome to actually go “You know what? I don’t like this. I won’t stand for this and I’ll be damned if I let them get away with it!” If you just ignore it and hope it goes away, that’s quite the opposite of what will happen because everyone else is thinking the same thing as you “I’ll just ignore it and it’ll go away.” and then they buy Other M and guess what, Other M was a massive success. Sure its’ story received some complaints but it won awards and it sold millions of copies. Why on EARTH would they just NOT do the same thing again? No-one seemed to mind too much, they bought the game and it received high enough praise from reviews… you’re on the loosing side there, your Metroid will change if not enough people raise a ruckus and complains. If you just ignore it now you better well shut up when it’s not the Metroid you once loved and cherished.

          Most X-Com fans don’t mind taking this fight to the developers because they care enough. Sure, we’ll be screaming ourselves tired and we most likely won’t change a thing but at least we didn’t go silently into that good night.

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg

          You just IGNORE it? I have some colorful words to describe you right now but let’s just go with “Are you utterly, boggerly, snooker looker?” I mean, are your insane? How can you just ignore it? Is it too bothersome to actually go “You know what? I don’t like this. I won’t stand for this and I’ll be damned if I let them get away with it!” If you just ignore it and hope it goes away, that’s quite the opposite of what will happen because everyone else is thinking the same thing as you “I’ll just ignore it and it’ll go away.” and then they buy Other M and guess what, Other M was a massive success. Sure its’ story received some complaints but it won awards and it sold millions of copies. Why on EARTH would they just NOT do the same thing again? No-one seemed to mind too much, they bought the game and it received high enough praise from reviews… you’re on the loosing side there, your Metroid will change if not enough people raise a ruckus and complains. If you just ignore it now you better well shut up when it’s not the Metroid you once loved and cherished.

          Most X-Com fans don’t mind taking this fight to the developers because they care enough. Sure, we’ll be screaming ourselves tired and we most likely won’t change a thing but at least we didn’t go silently into that good night.

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg

          You just IGNORE it? I have some colorful words to describe you right now but let’s just go with “Are you utterly, boggerly, snooker looker?” I mean, are your insane? How can you just ignore it? Is it too bothersome to actually go “You know what? I don’t like this. I won’t stand for this and I’ll be damned if I let them get away with it!” If you just ignore it and hope it goes away, that’s quite the opposite of what will happen because everyone else is thinking the same thing as you “I’ll just ignore it and it’ll go away.” and then they buy Other M and guess what, Other M was a massive success. Sure its’ story received some complaints but it won awards and it sold millions of copies. Why on EARTH would they just NOT do the same thing again? No-one seemed to mind too much, they bought the game and it received high enough praise from reviews… you’re on the loosing side there, your Metroid will change if not enough people raise a ruckus and complains. If you just ignore it now you better well shut up when it’s not the Metroid you once loved and cherished.

          Most X-Com fans don’t mind taking this fight to the developers because they care enough. Sure, we’ll be screaming ourselves tired and we most likely won’t change a thing but at least we didn’t go silently into that good night.

          • http://www.facebook.com/EllendeBunchastu Joel Hudson

            I’m sorry you’re upset over what I said, but there was nothing that said you couldn’t feel how you wanted to; I just think that people tend to go insanely overboard with things like videogames when there are problems in the real world that get much more glossed over, such as people being arrested for capturing video of police officers and getting arrested for ‘disturbing the peace’.  Not trying to be sarcastic, but seriously, just because someone expresses the opposite view doesn’t mean they’re trying to murder your favorite thing.

          • http://www.facebook.com/people/Zach-Mireles/100002180743543 Zach Mireles

            True, but what he’s getting at is that if we don’t say something at all, the series will become a pile of shit. That’s really what most people are saying in a nutshell. The entire series will be a pile of shit that is nothing like what it once was, and that’s one less series that will have great games in the future. It’s not so much about the past, more about how the series will continue on. A gigantic chunk of the Metroid, and in this case the X-Com fandom are worried about how their series will turn out post-Other M and Mass-Com (X-Effect).

          • http://twitter.com/Cristiona Cristiona

            Right.  You screaming on a message board will totally make a difference.

          • http://twitter.com/Cristiona Cristiona

            Right.  You screaming on a message board will totally make a difference.

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg

          You just IGNORE it? I have some colorful words to describe you right now but let’s just go with “Are you utterly, boggerly, snooker looker?” I mean, are your insane? How can you just ignore it? Is it too bothersome to actually go “You know what? I don’t like this. I won’t stand for this and I’ll be damned if I let them get away with it!” If you just ignore it and hope it goes away, that’s quite the opposite of what will happen because everyone else is thinking the same thing as you “I’ll just ignore it and it’ll go away.” and then they buy Other M and guess what, Other M was a massive success. Sure its’ story received some complaints but it won awards and it sold millions of copies. Why on EARTH would they just NOT do the same thing again? No-one seemed to mind too much, they bought the game and it received high enough praise from reviews… you’re on the loosing side there, your Metroid will change if not enough people raise a ruckus and complains. If you just ignore it now you better well shut up when it’s not the Metroid you once loved and cherished.

          Most X-Com fans don’t mind taking this fight to the developers because they care enough. Sure, we’ll be screaming ourselves tired and we most likely won’t change a thing but at least we didn’t go silently into that good night.

  • http://holyjunkie.wordpress.com/ HolyJunkie

    You know, if you focus on the background and ignore the title drop for XCOM, the whole thing looks like a rip-off of Half-Life 2, except with crazier alien weapons that make no sense.

    In the same sense of Eragon ripping off classic Star Wars, that’s still ripping off some pretty good stuff.

    At the same time, it looks a crapton like Bioshock. That means if I wanted to play Bioshock, I’d play Bioshock.
    At the same time the same time, it also reminds me of Call of Duty- which immediately kills my interest.

  • http://www.facebook.com/natecrocker Nathan Crocker

    http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/renamexcom

    not sure if this has been posted yet…

  • Anonymous

    So biased. For once I don’t think I’ll even consider his word.

    Enjoyable regardless.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Tariel-Corbeau/1388782046 Tariel Corbeau

      As i watched the trailer, even me, a girl whom has NEVER I repeat NEVER played xcom; I was “What the hell. What the hell is this?” I don’t know what xcom is truly is but even I was wondering what the hell it was. Because even I know enough that this game does not belong to the ‘xcom’ frame of knowledge in my head. I know just the premise of the games and still I was wondering what the hell was going on.
      This game just seems more like some alien fighting game that is a rip of something like Halo. As a rule I hate first person shooters. I’ve gone into some tactic games and surprise I like them a little. But from what I have seen that game, it looks like a game that should have came out four years ago. or MORE. Having that kind of graphics tells me one thing: they didn’t spend much money on this. Yes we are in a depression but if you gut the man hours out of a game and make it look like shit then people are not going to buy it. People buy shitty KH games, and FF games. Hell my brother bought me Dirge of Cerberus while just a banal third person shooter I still keep the game because the graphics are kinda nice to look at. It is why people made the word, EYECANDY.
      If you make something attractive looking people are going to want it to stare at. FF13 while being hardly a wonderful game is still breathtakingly beautiful to look at. It makes money for its looks to be sure…((and the fact it is under the name of FF)) This xcom looks like crap, it really does. It looks like the graphics I would expect if I bought “hannah montanta the video game.” I’m gonna ask my brother what he thinks of this new xcom, as a fanboy of it himself and a grand fan of tatic games…I do not doubt he will be resigned at least to this game.

      • Anonymous

        How futile. My comment was related to Spoony going nuts over the changes. It had nothing to do with the game itself, nor did Spoony talk much about it until later (when drawing comparisons to Mass Effect).

        But thanks for chiming in.

        What are some of your favorite games, by the way? I have trouble figuring out what you like. I’m not implying anything with this, I’m really just curious.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Tariel-Corbeau/1388782046 Tariel Corbeau

      As i watched the trailer, even me, a girl whom has NEVER I repeat NEVER played xcom; I was “What the hell. What the hell is this?” I don’t know what xcom is truly is but even I was wondering what the hell it was. Because even I know enough that this game does not belong to the ‘xcom’ frame of knowledge in my head. I know just the premise of the games and still I was wondering what the hell was going on.
      This game just seems more like some alien fighting game that is a rip of something like Halo. As a rule I hate first person shooters. I’ve gone into some tactic games and surprise I like them a little. But from what I have seen that game, it looks like a game that should have came out four years ago. or MORE. Having that kind of graphics tells me one thing: they didn’t spend much money on this. Yes we are in a depression but if you gut the man hours out of a game and make it look like shit then people are not going to buy it. People buy shitty KH games, and FF games. Hell my brother bought me Dirge of Cerberus while just a banal third person shooter I still keep the game because the graphics are kinda nice to look at. It is why people made the word, EYECANDY.
      If you make something attractive looking people are going to want it to stare at. FF13 while being hardly a wonderful game is still breathtakingly beautiful to look at. It makes money for its looks to be sure…((and the fact it is under the name of FF)) This xcom looks like crap, it really does. It looks like the graphics I would expect if I bought “hannah montanta the video game.” I’m gonna ask my brother what he thinks of this new xcom, as a fanboy of it himself and a grand fan of tatic games…I do not doubt he will be resigned at least to this game.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Tariel-Corbeau/1388782046 Tariel Corbeau

      As i watched the trailer, even me, a girl whom has NEVER I repeat NEVER played xcom; I was “What the hell. What the hell is this?” I don’t know what xcom is truly is but even I was wondering what the hell it was. Because even I know enough that this game does not belong to the ‘xcom’ frame of knowledge in my head. I know just the premise of the games and still I was wondering what the hell was going on.
      This game just seems more like some alien fighting game that is a rip of something like Halo. As a rule I hate first person shooters. I’ve gone into some tactic games and surprise I like them a little. But from what I have seen that game, it looks like a game that should have came out four years ago. or MORE. Having that kind of graphics tells me one thing: they didn’t spend much money on this. Yes we are in a depression but if you gut the man hours out of a game and make it look like shit then people are not going to buy it. People buy shitty KH games, and FF games. Hell my brother bought me Dirge of Cerberus while just a banal third person shooter I still keep the game because the graphics are kinda nice to look at. It is why people made the word, EYECANDY.
      If you make something attractive looking people are going to want it to stare at. FF13 while being hardly a wonderful game is still breathtakingly beautiful to look at. It makes money for its looks to be sure…((and the fact it is under the name of FF)) This xcom looks like crap, it really does. It looks like the graphics I would expect if I bought “hannah montanta the video game.” I’m gonna ask my brother what he thinks of this new xcom, as a fanboy of it himself and a grand fan of tatic games…I do not doubt he will be resigned at least to this game.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg

      Of course he’s biased, he’s a fan of the original X-Com. What did you expect him to do, just roll over? This is Spoony we’re talking about, when did he ever stand down from a fight?

      • Anonymous

        You’re right, this IS Spoony we’re talking about. And Spoony was always extreme, which is a part of why I enjoy his videos. I’m just fed up with people always going crazy whenever a series is taking a new direction.

        Just the other day I saw this one person complain about the up-coming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon “destroying” her “childhood”. This is quite juvenile; its existence changes nothing. It doesn’t affect the original TMNT show in any way. It’s a seperate entity.

        See that as an example. Spoony wasn’t saying anything like “omg my childhood is fucked”. But that’s why I dislike this sort of thing.

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg

          I do agree it gets tedious to hear people bitch about something new wrecking the old. But that’s not what Spoony and a lot of us are saying here. I don’t think anyone has said this will ruin the X-Com franchise or make the old games worth any less in our eyes, if anything Interceptor and Enforcer did a perfect job of sinking the franchise on their own.

          We’re only protesting about the fact that it isn’t even remotely related to X-Com as it looks right now. As for your example with TMNT, the difference here is that even if it’s a different take on TMNT, it’s still four turtles trained as ninjas fight evil. People looking at this new TMNT series can recognize it as a TMNT product. The same went with Fallout 3 when it was made; people looking at it thought and knew it was a Fallout game because of so many things that carried over.
          But with XCOM you can’t look at it and think “Yeah, this is an X-Com game alright.” There are no discernible carry-over from the previous games to this one; not the art style, not the story, not the tech, not the enemies, the setting and some small fractions of the gameplay (that is shared by hundreds of games, Mass Effect 2 for instance has the exact same things) are the only things that carry over and we (again, the majority of X-Com fans protesting) don’t think this is enough to warrant it being called XCOM.

          It’s not a sleight against the game itself or that it will somehow tarnish the reputation of a franchise that suffered through the jokes that were Interceptor or Enforcer. It’s just a matter of not wanting to see the name used for blatant money-grubbing and cheap marketing tricks to garner attention. I’d be all for an X-Com FPS if it was done right, the only problem here is that it doesn’t seem to be done right with this game.

          • Anonymous

            I hear what you’re saying, and in my opinion the fact that it’s so little like X-COM gives you LESS reason to care. With TMNT they might indeed butcher something familiar (even if, as I said, it doesn’t actually change the other parts of the franchise), but here it’s so different that the only thing you feel is the same is the title, yeah?

            I’m not a hardcore X-COM fan, although I really did/still do enjoy Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense, but I have no problem with this because it just isn’t X-COM, and that’s that. Reminds me a bit of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift in this aspect, although a big difference is that that movie is tuck right in the middle of the series. It is unavoidable.

  • Anonymous

    So biased. For once I don’t think I’ll even consider his word.

    Enjoyable regardless.

  • Anonymous

    The original 1994 X-Com is the best strategy game of the 90′s (and in the top 5 strategy games of all times.)

    Many strategy gamers who had the privilege to play it will agree; that type of experience is almost impossible to recreate again. If we pay 2K Marin and play their 2012 version we’ll just encourage them to keep this butchery going for longer than it has to.

    In fact, thanks to Steam and Dos Box we can just keep playing the original. Why? Would you rather eat the picture of an apple or the apple itself?

    • Anonymous

      It’s a bloody brilliant game and yes, people have made sure it can still be bought and experienced to this day. It is still increasing its fanbase.

      All the less reason to care about what happens to the series today. We still got the classic that was never surpassed by other titles in the series itself.

      Long live UFO: Enemy Unknown!

  • ORCACommander

    Careful Spoony Looks like you are going to burst out a nose bleed.

  • Anonymous

    While i have not played X-Com personally, I understand your personal anger for this. I havent played a single x-com game and Im mad about it. There is no reason at ALL to make an RTS into a squad based shooter/Mass effect copy. It just May be the slowly rising crave for stupid people to keep playing shooters, and never trying anything else. Its like turning a game in the style of serious sam/Duke Nukem into a deep story driven game such as Metal Gear Solid. Its Wrong and sad that they had to stoop so low in order to gain money. Either give fans what they want or dont even do it.

    • Liam Ryan

      Ironically Duke Nukem I and Duke Nukem II were very heavy on exploration, secrets, and puzzle solving, which have since fallen by the wayside to the point that you use the franchise as an example of shallow gameplay.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1217767934 Elizabeth HororPulp

    I never knew about XCOM until I saw this review (please don’t hate) and your review made me want to reseach the game; and I must say I do agree with Spoony, It really pulls away from what XCOM was into something…completely different…NOW, if this game had a different title, then it could pass as a fairly good game…but it dose not… ¬_¬ Spoony has every right to be bias and mad, for any fan that loves a games/movies/books certain expectations need to be met…why COMPLETELY change the game??? That to me shows no respect to the game and especially the fans.

    • Anonymous

      XCOM is a beloved classic in tactical strategy games. I find it hilarious how the presenter compared the new XCOM shooter they made with FF Tactics, another classic game in the genre of the original XCOM. What a fucking idiot. The sad thing is, a reboot of the original XCOM would be perfect for an Xbox Live or PSN download and easy to make with todays technology. Alas, a shit developer picked it up the license and made a Resistance rip-off out of it.

    • Anonymous

      XCOM is a beloved classic in tactical strategy games. I find it hilarious how the presenter compared the new XCOM shooter they made with FF Tactics, another classic game in the genre of the original XCOM. What a fucking idiot. The sad thing is, a reboot of the original XCOM would be perfect for an Xbox Live or PSN download and easy to make with todays technology. Alas, a shit developer picked it up the license and made a Resistance rip-off out of it.

  • Anonymous

    So you guys think it’s never okay to make significant changes to the method of interaction in a game series? You don’t think there are any exceptions to this?

    Also, the comparison to FF Tactics could’ve been completely reasonable. Did he say it was comparable in tactical depth or detail or even quality? I expect he was just saying that they were similar *in that* you had characters that could level up and which had various abilities that could be applied tactically. That may be a strange comparison, but it’s entirely accurate.

    Also also, it’s not “biased” in any meaningful sense to have likes and dislikes. Bias becomes an issue when you start having a double standard (e.g., saying that a reboot of X-Com is a betrayal while recommending a reboot of Zelda).

  • Anonymous

    So you guys think it’s never okay to make significant changes to the method of interaction in a game series? You don’t think there are any exceptions to this?

    Also, the comparison to FF Tactics could’ve been completely reasonable. Did he say it was comparable in tactical depth or detail or even quality? I expect he was just saying that they were similar *in that* you had characters that could level up and which had various abilities that could be applied tactically. That may be a strange comparison, but it’s entirely accurate.

    Also also, it’s not “biased” in any meaningful sense to have likes and dislikes. Bias becomes an issue when you start having a double standard (e.g., saying that a reboot of X-Com is a betrayal while recommending a reboot of Zelda).

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg

      There’s a difference between “significant changes” and “there’s nothing relatable what so ever”. Fallout 3 (again) is a perfect example of how you can make significant changes to how the game is played while keeping true to the original games while keeping it identifiable to the fans (similar environments, weapons, enemies, there are even characters from the two first games that return, even the vaults were back).
      Most of us are not pissed to see X-Com turn into an FPS, some of us are annoyed that they’re turning it into a run of the mill shooter but that’s a different matter all together, but this XCOM title has nothing similar about it. (shown so far, what do I know, they might be hiding significant parts for later reveal… wouldn’t be a first time developers were stupid). So please, don’t think we’re all a bunch of backwards striving fanatics that only want to see X-Com the way it always was, there’s certainly enough of those too, we’re just against the fact that a game completely unrelated to our beloved cherished is using the name for a quick buck. That’s all.

      • Anonymous

        I think I see what you mean, although XCOM does keep the core plot of the original.

        Maybe my issue with this is that the word “betrayal” pretty much implies that the new game is objectively bad. Everyone thinks betrayals are bad, so if this is a betrayal, it must be bad also. But if this is a betrayal because it has little in common with the original, then surely a Zelda reboot would be a betrayal, and surely Casino Royale was a betrayal along with countless other adaptations.

        • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1631667413 James Walker

          It’s a betrayal because it’s nothing like the original. Betrayal, doesn’t mean anything bad per say, it just means that the game was disloyal to the original plot. I do think that the plot of the game isn’t the same, because after seeing all the core mechanics taken out of the game, you can really see how they really contributed to the plot. The game doesn’t feel the same anymore, and therefore isn’t X-COM. The original was a game about you VS the universe, you were in hiding, waiting for the enemy to appear, then you would strike. You would steal and gather, protect and build. It was the perfect balance of terror, and triumph.  It isn’t the loud, bombastic, American, polymorphic, kinda ugly thing you see now. It betrayed it’s original experience.

        • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000896868978 Sara Pickell

          I know that on some level saying core plot is probably right, I mean in the end I guess they are both about good guys kill aliens, steal their tech for research and save the world… But that’s enough connection to make an argument for Mass Effect 2 being a viable X-Com reboot.

          But everything about the story, setting, theme, and higher level plot points are all completely different. The organizations are nothing alike, one being a post cold war international agency, the other being a McCarthy era American black on black initiative. The aliens from one being a parody of little green men from mars, and in the other an analog for communists. One was set on a global stage, literally, the other is main street home bread america and to all appearances NO WHERE ELSE.

          Casino Royale was still about a British secret agent going out to find and kill global level villains(not criminals, villains), he was just more human and less super-human as he went about it. Zelda has become a morass of it’s own tropes, if they did a reboot they would be expected to subvert those tropes, not do away with them entirely.

          X-Com had not become a victim of it’s own tropes, it did have games in the main series that were re-imaginings, and it has lain fallow for about a decade now. There isn’t a stagnant cycle of sequels that needs an extreme re-imagining to break the series out of it’s funk. All it needs is a little love. This is where you would first release a retro-arcade remake to appease the fans and remind everyone it still exists and is taken seriously, *then* you do your full on reboot, full of nods to the fan base, marketing your new aliens as updates of the old aliens. That would be a competent way to bring the franchise back from the dead. The best you can say about this is that the incompetent handling of the franchise is par for the course in the industry.

          At the end of the day, that’s what this all is really about. They aren’t making a new X-Com game, it’s only appearing in the title of this game to make it perfectly clear that they don’t give a rats ass about the franchise. Someone made a nice powerpoint presentation about franchises they had in cold storage and how some of them were still getting mention on gaming sites, so they slapped XCom on this hoping it would make it just a little safer of an investment. And maybe it did, maybe this was a smart move, no press is bad press and all that. Even so, it would still be a betrayal, because they took the love fans had for the franchise and decided it wasn’t worth any semblance of respect. They decided that even if it meant pissing all over us, if it got them even a handful more sales, that was a good trade.

          That is betrayal. That’s why this is a betrayal. And yeah, whatever level of quality this may be on it’s own merits apart from it’s franchise, they chose to have it judged as an X-Com game. It is a bad X-Com game.

  • Anonymous

    So you guys think it’s never okay to make significant changes to the method of interaction in a game series? You don’t think there are any exceptions to this?

    Also, the comparison to FF Tactics could’ve been completely reasonable. Did he say it was comparable in tactical depth or detail or even quality? I expect he was just saying that they were similar *in that* you had characters that could level up and which had various abilities that could be applied tactically. That may be a strange comparison, but it’s entirely accurate.

    Also also, it’s not “biased” in any meaningful sense to have likes and dislikes. Bias becomes an issue when you start having a double standard (e.g., saying that a reboot of X-Com is a betrayal while recommending a reboot of Zelda).

  • Anonymous

    I loved X-Com, but I do not live in the early 90s.

    Today Computer Games are a mass product and not anymore for techy kids with wealthy parents. Every idiot has a Playstation so expensive games are produced for this every idiot.

    Most people love doing the same thing over and over again to avoid reflection and Call Of Duty part 924 is their game, like the 924 parts before that.

    Please stop complaining, because we created this market by buying their games and expanding their production values.

    So please get over it.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SFDXAKFAV53FHIRPU7MX2RZXDI Danny

     That trailer seems interesting. I’m not a fan or have ever heard of the original XCOM but look at this game as something unrelated and the designs seem pretty cool. It’s like someone took the look of old games like space invaders, and made a serious game about them but it still has that simple look.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SFDXAKFAV53FHIRPU7MX2RZXDI Danny

     That trailer seems interesting. I’m not a fan or have ever heard of the original XCOM but look at this game as something unrelated and the designs seem pretty cool. It’s like someone took the look of old games like space invaders, and made a serious game about them but it still has that simple look.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Marvin-Commodore/100002219326951 Marvin Commodore

    Spoony I completely understand your position here. Being part of the industry however there are some things I have to clear up.

    First of all, XCOM will be a reboot (duh) meaning its trying to revive the franchise and by numbers it is in fact dead. Let me evaluate on this, a franchise is considered dead, if there is nobody, or just a small group of people left that are caring for it. Or to put it in another way, if the production costs outweight the estimated revenue.

    This latter is quite important for game developers these days, since it is almost not possible to create a game out of thin air alone.

    You need to pay liscences, programs, rent, wages, advertisement, distribution ( although there is the online way, still it costs money), taxes you get the idea. From a consumer point of view this is pretty easy. Why dont they create the game that I and others I talked to want?

    If a game in that format would be wanted one would see it in the sales of the original titles, just to name one example, it is on sale and it works, but thats all.

    In case you dont know in order to recieve funding from a publisher, you are required to present a project that promises profit, like it or not, but thats how it is.

    Now that that is out of the way, let me say I love XCOM, played all of the old titles and still they are in my top 5 games of all times. However I can accept the fact that this format wont sell in numbers, simply because there aint enough interest.
    So this title might generate enough interest again, you can be a fan of the old and you can like it or not but thats how it is.

    Might be sad but this is how the industry works.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg

      Yes, that’s how the industry works but that doesn’t mean we have to like it or even accept it. I happen to be in the industry as well although I just started and I’m getting pretty pissed about people saying “This is how it is, deal with it.” No, we must not deal with it. Maybe I’m naive and still clinging to archaic notions of what games represent to me but it’s not this and I’ll be damned if I just stand idly by and say nothing.

      But to deconstruct what you said yourself, explain to me the point of using XCOM as a title when, as you said yourself, the community of fans for the X-Com franchise is small and not worth mentioning in the big picture, we’re not gonna turn a profit. Isn’t the whole point of using the name to draw in old fans? Even people who have never played the original X-Com games are taking a look at this new one and the old one, saying “Well, how the fuck are they related?” The point Spoony and a lot of others like him is trying to point out is “There is no point in reviving X-Com as a franchise when you’re not going to use it.” It isn’t going to increase their revenue buying the license probably cost them more than they’ll make off of it in the end. X-Com fans aren’t going to buy it because it’s not X-Com and people who don’t know what X-Com is won’t be lured in by the title. There is no economical sense in sticking to the name when it might actually end up hurting their sales.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Marvin-Commodore/100002219326951 Marvin Commodore

        Sometimes you do not create a game for the fans of a franchise, especially if it is considered dead. A developer might like the concept of XCOM and they might try to market their own take on this franchise, wich seems likely, especially if you worked with 2k before.

        Alos if you remember there were a few XCOM games by the original developers that also changed the format, they werent as good but they were there.

        Sometimes its not just luring people in with a branded name. What 2k tries instead is to generate interest in this game in general, they rarely market it as a successor.

        Besides if you dont look at it as an XCOM title it looks intersting as others stated aswell on this board. So there you have your potential customers, people who want to know what this game is. People who are interested in FPSs, yes there are people ;), people who are interested in aliens, shall I go on?

        Besides the XCOM liscence is a very cheap one, compared to others so believe me if I say they wont lose much in buying this liscense. What definetly costs more is everything else.

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg

          But they’re not generating interest. Anyone who played the original X-Com is kicking up dust and the people who don’t know of X-Com isn’t exactly going to go “WOW! A new X-Com!” and even the most casual observation will tell you that there isn’t anything connecting the new game to the old franchise other than “aliens”. They’d probably have more success garnering attention by making it another entry in the BioShock franchise which is a franchise it has more in common with than X-Com.

          As an industry man I’m questioning the move to market it as an X-Com game when it’s garnering more negative attention that it is positive. Throwing words like “From the creators of Bioshock 2!” or Prey or Mafia II would get them way more attention and hype than X-Com.

          • http://www.facebook.com/people/Marvin-Commodore/100002219326951 Marvin Commodore

            Well first of all I did not say that this game is connected to XCOM, not even remotely hence it is a reboot. As I said before the devs my liked XCOM but had their own ideas for it, hence the new XCOM is born.  Your question is absolutely right at that point and in all honesty I cant answer that, since I dont work on XCOM.

            The only problem I have with your statement is,that you state that there is more negative than positive attention, not true. The old XCOM fans do have their problems with this game, but the rest seems to be ok.

            You can tell by the score the trailers get, 8.1/8.8 average. Does not sound like BAD attention.

            This is a break with the old format, those things happen and it might be not as bad as some make it out to be.

            On another note, if the old format would be appreciated like you and spoony said, why are games like UFO Extrateresstrials(spelling?) not selling? Because this game basically is XCOM with updated graphics and mechanics, it is not the best game ever, but it just sold ok for a small developer.

            There is not enough profit in this format for a big studio to work on it. Thats what I mean by saying: thats how it works, deal with it. It is a simple fact.

            Now why they chose the XCOM name for this game, that beats me cant tell you that sorry.

            Anyway I can understand how XCOM fans feel about the new game.

          • http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg

            I didn’t say the game is bad. What I meant with it garnering negative attention was solely concerning the name. The fact that people are getting excited about the game has nothing to do with the name or the franchise is any way. Like I said, people who know X-Com are at best dubious and at worst outraged while people who have no clue about X-Com isn’t exactly being drawn in by the title but the fact that it’s by the developers of BioShock and it looks like a semi-creative, new FPS. So them using XCom has more negative aspect attached to it rather than positive. A simple change of title would dispel most of the controversy around it, allowing the game to be judged on its own merits rather than an X-Com title.

            And I don’t remember saying the old gameplay was viable in this day and age for a big, AAA title. An updated version, sure, perhaps in the vein of Valkyria Chronicles but with less cellshading and a little bit more sci-fi could probably turn a nice profit. Not as big a profit as a run of the mill FPS, surely, but it’s not an impossible game to pull off. But again I reiterate that I have absolutely nothing against an FPS set in the X-Com verse, quite the opposite. The night time missions in the original X-Com are still some of the most haunting and frightening scenes to this day, they still make me look over my shoulder. Capture that atmosphere in a similar setting in FPS format? Holy crap, we’re golden and I’d be all over that. But that’s just not the feeling I’m getting here, they’re going more of explosive, in your face action and that’s just not what X-Com is about.

            Then again, they could just have chosen footage and aspects of the game to show off poorly and it has all these features we’re complaining about being missing. Time will tell but until I’m shown then I’m going to remain highly critical.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Ibbitson/1006286150 David Ibbitson

    In all honesty I think that the decline of FPS’s might not be too far off.  I mean really, where else to FPS’s have to go?  Think about it, the huge increase in popularity that FPS’s have had has been driven largely by the amazing improvements in graphics that we have seen in the past decade, lets say since Unreal.  Gameplay wise I think there have only been two major ‘evolutions’ in FPS gameplay.  The first was the development of Mouselook, and the second was ditching health packs.  Past that we’re still playing Wolfenstine with a wider variety of weapons and shiny graphics.  Multiplayer will keep FPS’s chugging along for a while but ultimately if there are no improvements in graphics or radical changes in gameplay why would anyone want to buy next years Modern Warfare?

    Now, I have a theory.  The popularity of genre’s seems to coincide with graphical improvements to the genre.  I mean look at point and click adventure games.  These games thrived on having a two dimensional palette for the player to explore and solve puzzles in.  The adventure genre graphics improved throughout the 80′s and into the 90′s until their popularity probably peaked with Myst released in 93 or Kings Quest 6(ish) as a high point graphically and declined after that.  Sure there were other adventure games that came out after that but the next graphical evolution for point and click adventure games was the “FMV” craze of the mid 90′s and it quickly became apparent (as spoony has pointed out) that FMV’s did nothing to improve gameplay or immersion.

    I think that Turn Based Strategy and Real Time Strategy had almost identical graphical peaks in the late 90′s early 00′s. I’d probably put Turn Based Strategy’s high point at Heroes of Might and Magic 3 and RTS’s high point at Red Alert 2 respectively…  Well not counting Starcraft, but Starcrafts popularity in Korea is a weird aberration that probably can’t be replicated.  Command and Conquer generals and Might and Magic 4 both added 3d graphics to the mix but the graphical upgrade did not improve the experience or immersion so their popularity dropped off…

    Now we’ve hit a point where I can’t really think of anywhere else for graphics to go where they would still be relevant to a FPS.  I mean compare a screenshot of the newer modern warfare games to a photograph and they’re pretty darn close…

    So… if my theory is right and graphics really do have nowhere to improve to and stuff like Virtual Reality isn’t even on the horizon yet what happens next?  Unless you unseat WoW MMO’s are a poison apple…  Casual games have already gotten their niche pretty well carved.  I dunno…  We might be heading for another video game crash.  My hope is that now that devs have pretty much mastered their ability to present games we’ll start to see a focus placed on how they present the story and immersion of games but that might be me giving them too much credit.

    Of course this also might be like Bill Gates “56K should be enough for anybody” comment and the next graphical revolution is right around the corner but I can’t picture it.

  • Anonymous

    I think this is the most I’ve laughed at one of your videos in a while, but I do indeed share your sentiments with this one. Would it really have been so awful to make a strategy game (turn-based or realtime, I don’t mind) based off the older X-COMs? 

    I think, if this wasn’t called X-COM, it wouldn’t be so bad.

  • Anonymous

    I think this is the most I’ve laughed at one of your videos in a while, but I do indeed share your sentiments with this one. Would it really have been so awful to make a strategy game (turn-based or realtime, I don’t mind) based off the older X-COMs? 

    I think, if this wasn’t called X-COM, it wouldn’t be so bad.

  • http://twitter.com/NoSoSavvy Kevyn Dietz

    I have to agree with what a few people have said so far. This looks like a really interesting game. But it is not an XCOM game by any measure.

    But I can sorta understand what the thought process behind this was. There’s been plenty of XCOM clones over the years, and they’ve never sold as well as the original XCOM games did. They wanted to get a good return on their investment and the way to do that in this day and age is the shooter.

    Frankly, I’m going to give this a shot. I love the old XCOM games, but I can stomach a change if the game is good. Granted, if it only LOOKS good, then I’m going to be pissed.

  • http://www.facebook.com/mrbartxb Bart Blommaert

    So it’s a shitty game they used a known name for. If this had a different name would anybody care?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/James-Gibson/100000587485264 James Gibson

    Honestly, this is a perfect example of a developer trying to shoe-horn an idea into something marketable. The guy only knows how to do FPS so guess what, now everything’s FPS. Frankly I’m sick of it. Like I give two SH*TS what some college jughead likes to play with his drunken fratboy friends. Give me entertainment already!

    I play a wide variety of games from strategy to sim, adventure to RPG, and yes the occasional FPS. But for crying out loud can I get a decent game more than once every two years?? Can developers stop fixing what’s not broken and innovate for once? Like Infamous 2, did they really have to make him younger? Was it worthwhile to make his voice so annoyingly squeaky? It’s like going from Die Hard with Bruce Willis, then casting Skreetch from ‘Saved by the Bell’ as John McLain for the sequel.

    I like games like Oblivion or Fallout 3 that give you the option to switch angles as you see fit. Imagine how much better Dead Island would be with that setup. Why the hell would a melee game need to be FPS?? Let me see the gore, let me see the drama, let me be creeped out by all that happens around me. Not straight-jacketed into one point of view which usually leads to you missing those oh-so-clever in game jump scares. Newsflash: If I’m busy watching for enemies I’m probably going to miss the dead body falling to scare me (usually because I’m facing the wrong way to see it).

    But I digress. I always love reading the back story of how games are made and why some directions are taken and others ignored. and one prevailing feature in FAILED games is: The marketing guys didn’t get it, so it became a platformer. or: We switched directors and this guy didn’t like the fact that the hero wins at the end. Stupid crap that can easily be avoided by giving a damn when you set out to tell a story.

    Final words: This thing is going to tank worse than ‘Mars needs Moms’ and sadly, it’s the only way companies are going to learn that the market is over-saturated with FPS.

  • Anonymous

    XCOM more like XDOODY

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Steven-Keena/1206815423 Steven Keena

    So This is basically Spoony’s, Bat Credit Card or Last AirBender, interesting!

  • http://twitter.com/nnecron Necro

    Probably I am the only one amused by his rant on the new XCOM.  I’m not sure if he is acting or not, but his expressions are so over the top that he kind of sound like a cartoon character.  But at the same time, I was disappointed by you Spoony.  You said to someone who got mad at you that “it’s just a game” and I think this line applies to your complaint about the game.  You said this line when the guy was offended by your opinion about Zelda games.  If you aren’t acting at all, then you are no different from this troll.  Because you two are both obsessed by your favorite game.  Its not like your life is going to suffer because of economic crisis. 

    I cannot imagine how much you love XCOM, but can you just accept it as another crappy game?  It doesn’t change the fact that your experience with XCOM was real.  Why would you have to act that way as if your childhood has been blamed by someone?

    I’m sorry, but your reaction was so out of this world that I wished it was a comedy show.  I thought you were a rational person.  I’ll still vote for this video because it was funny, but you should be more careful about what you say.  Just because you felt like sharing your frustration with us, it doesn’t mean you can act like a mad man.

    That being said, I may not be a person to say this since I don’t share the same experience like yours.  If you were just acting, forget what I said.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_VAEVHATXY7QK4NYPU3RUY3GJNM Steve

      … Did you watch the video at all? Did you not hear him say that a 2k employee compared the reboot game to Final Fantasy Tactics? Sorry, but you’re a fucking twat.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OHHDYAGSU6HK74JXGFKBTZHYFY Noelia

    Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Shadow Wars is rumored to be a lot like XCOM, so if you’re desperate for an XCOM-like game, there’s one out. Its lead designer is Julian Gollop btw.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Filipe-Isabelinho/100000173498272 Filipe Isabelinho

    I have to agree with Spoony, all I gotta say, if it’s not going to be an XCOM game, then don’t fucking call it XCOM!

    If they wanted to make this game, fine, make it, just call it something else!

  • Bob Mahony

    Constructive criticism attempt :D
    How about you make a review or just a video looking over the Original Xcom games and tell people what you think made them good. It would help those less in the know (people who have not played Xcom or whatnot D:) why you feel this way about the new game… I agree with you by the way, this new game is a shit stain on the series’ name :[

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7G5RVM6FJDMTJJTYI7KCHLUNM4 Verkandt

    Now, I have to agree with Spoony, and I know this is rather late in coming.

    I am not impressed with the new X-com…but at least I found something that might be as good.

    A small indie developer called Goldhawk Interactive is doing a version of the game called Xenonauts, and are attempting to recreate X-Com as best they can with updated graphics and what not.

    They are small, and this is a labor of love for the group as most of them work regular jobs on top of working on the game. So, this might actually be a worthwhile alternative/successor to the joke of a game that has the X-Com name on it.

    Check it out here: http://www.xenonauts.com/

    The more pre-orders they get, the more they can do…fingers crossed that its a decent game.

    And no, I’m not part of the development team. :D

    Just my input on it.

  • http://twitter.com/Simbaka Thomas Punton

    Now this I agree with, a FPS is a FPS no matter what you add or change to it. Think of what it would be like if Nintendo did this to the Fire Emblem series. A franchise they have kept the main game the same but just improves over time. Nobody would enjoy seeing that as a FPS even if they added an RPG element to it.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/James-Gibson/100000587485264 James Gibson

    Honestly, imagine if they bought the rights to the “Destroy all humans” franchise and slapped that name on it. It would be a fantastic change of pace for that game because basically, DAH is all about destruction and shooting. 

    XCOM is more like Starcraft. It’s like going from chess to ‘Go fish’ and calling it the same. Everyone would say that ‘Checkers’ would have been a more logical step right??

  • http://www.facebook.com/JO009 Slow Bro

    Okay, This is my first comment here. I can understand your concern with the game, and like many others on this page, i haven’t played the originals. What i don’t understand is…WHY all the hate? You talk about wanting to do all the things you did in the original…..play the original games then! Obviously, you’re a huge fan of XCOM. Sure, It’s not the same game, and even i’ll admit that i still love the SNES and Dreamcast more than i’ll ever enjoy these newer next gen systems, but i also know that things can’t or don’t stay the same. They just can’t, and it’s just a matter of fact these days that games built on older franchises have to be able to show people that they need this game. Who knows, maybe it’ll lead to getting a sequel with the original turn based system you want so much!

    It all comes down to this: The game isn’t even out yet and you’re just kind of slagging it like it’s the shittiest game ever in the history of mankind and you certainly haven’t even played it (or if you did, not much of it). All i’m saying is you have to give it a chance or else you’ll NEVER see the new XCOM you want.

    Also, It kind of irked me that you talk about how bad this game looks. Honestly, That’s a bit of a low blow as you’re seeing footage of a game that isn’t even out yet and is probably still getting worked on in regards to its engine, graphics, et cetera. Just noting.

    • shaun o

      If the game succeeds we won’t see an updated x-com game like what spoony and I would like. We’d see a sequel to this game with the same basic gameplay and premise as this game.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1023442674 Eli Wintercross

      It would be like if they made the next Mass Effect game a clone of mario kart with non of the aliens present in that series.

      If they had made a tactical, squad based shooter (with some sort of pre mission planning) and kept all of the X-Com cannon (Weapons, armor and aliens) then it would invoke less rage.

      Basicaly, this game is not X-Com. Not in spirit or presentation.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Matt-Hayden/1720262285 Matt Hayden

    You obviously never played XCom Slow Bro, and don’t try to tell me you have.

    After seeing that trailer, I feel a similar urge to rage and facepalm the very concept of this atrocity. It’s almost unbelievable that some asshole sat down with his development team and said, “Great! We got the rights to do a brand new XCom game. Let’s make it a shooter!”

    What in the flying fuck? All they had to do was just REMAKE XCOM and it would have sold a bajillion copies and sent hordes of geeks into a slavering frenzy (in a good way). Forget innovation or new mechanics, just update the original game for 2011. That’s all they needed to do. But no, shooters are in with the kids these days so a bland, generic shooter it is. And the only thing worse than a FPS is a Squad based FPS. Ugh.

    For those who never played XCom and don’t understand where Spoony (and I) are coming from, what they’ve done is like taking the Total War series and making them into shooters. It’s like making Sid Meier’s Civilization into a squad based FPS. It just doesn’t even compute.

    Final Fantasy Tactics; holy shit.

    • http://www.facebook.com/JO009 Slow Bro

      Okay, I won’t. I never played XCOM and i’m not going to pretend that i did. I probably should’ve mentioned but then again i didn’t expect you or some other ass to claim that i don’t know how you feel just because i didn’t play YOUR favorite game. Despite your claims otherwise, I do understand where you and spoony are coming from. I LOVE Chrono Trigger, okay, and sure, I’d be kind of iffed if they finally made a sequel and it ended up being something different from an RPG. I just wouldn’t go on griping about it when i know it could lead to a better sequel or more games in the series that ARE RPGs. And i don’t think you read my comment, I actually mentioned them UPDATING THE GAMES LIKE THAT. But you know what, It probably won’t happen if this game doesn’t sell well enough for them to do it, which in turn would probably end any chances of a possible new sequel like the old games.

      • Anonymous

        Hi Bro. I think that the best way to NOT get the XCOM game, that fans would love to see, is to buy this game. Why? If this game would sell really well then developers would think that it was a real success. And we have to remember that the game industry is a business. So if the same developers would then make a sequel what do you think the genre would probably be? That’s right, another FPS. If you are a game developer that would be an obvious choice. Don’t change what sells well. And maybe they would update it by adding features that are popular in other FPS games. And add some small RPG elements. But still keeping it FPS. Because the first one sold so well. I personally really like XCOM series. But I also like FPS like Mass Effect and Dead Space.

    • http://www.facebook.com/JO009 Slow Bro

      Okay, I won’t. I never played XCOM and i’m not going to pretend that i did. I probably should’ve mentioned but then again i didn’t expect you or some other ass to claim that i don’t know how you feel just because i didn’t play YOUR favorite game. Despite your claims otherwise, I do understand where you and spoony are coming from. I LOVE Chrono Trigger, okay, and sure, I’d be kind of iffed if they finally made a sequel and it ended up being something different from an RPG. I just wouldn’t go on griping about it when i know it could lead to a better sequel or more games in the series that ARE RPGs. And i don’t think you read my comment, I actually mentioned them UPDATING THE GAMES LIKE THAT. But you know what, It probably won’t happen if this game doesn’t sell well enough for them to do it, which in turn would probably end any chances of a possible new sequel like the old games.

    • http://www.facebook.com/JO009 Slow Bro

      Okay, I won’t. I never played XCOM and i’m not going to pretend that i did. I probably should’ve mentioned but then again i didn’t expect you or some other ass to claim that i don’t know how you feel just because i didn’t play YOUR favorite game. Despite your claims otherwise, I do understand where you and spoony are coming from. I LOVE Chrono Trigger, okay, and sure, I’d be kind of iffed if they finally made a sequel and it ended up being something different from an RPG. I just wouldn’t go on griping about it when i know it could lead to a better sequel or more games in the series that ARE RPGs. And i don’t think you read my comment, I actually mentioned them UPDATING THE GAMES LIKE THAT. But you know what, It probably won’t happen if this game doesn’t sell well enough for them to do it, which in turn would probably end any chances of a possible new sequel like the old games.

  • http://twitter.com/getintheVandell Vandell

    Y’know, I would kill for a high-def turn based strategy game on my console/PC. I’ve never known XCOM existed until quite recently, and it’s something I can’t really get into now.. it doesn’t date well for me, when compared with other modern TBS’ like Civ V, Total War: Shogun II, and et cetera.

    I’d love to see a streamlined, updated version of that old game so many people love.

  • http://www.facebook.com/franman781 Kevin Franzen

    All this talk about the old Xcom series has me curious. Since I started watching Spoony’s material, I’ve tried some of the games he’s touted as great, including Privateer and the Wing Commander series, all of which I’ve enjoyed. So i looked up Xcom and saw that there were 5 games in the series.

    If anybody could recommend any particular one in the series, which would it be? I do have dosbox if i need it.

    • Brian Damage

      Just start at the start, with the first one, I’d say. If that one’s too clunky or low-res for you and you don’t mind skipping a bit of story, try X-Com: Apocalypse, which among other things is a bit more streamlined UI-wise, in my opinion.

      Whichever you try, leave the X-Com: Terror from the Deep until you’re absolutely confident you understand how the games work, as it turns the difficulty up to eleven.

      Interceptor is okay if you’re into space sims, though it doesn’t really compare to games like Freespace or TIE Fighter. I’d recommend giving Enforcer a miss unless you’re really desperate to play a bland, arcadey third-person shooter.Incidentally, all the ones that ran on DOS come with preconfigured DOSBox installations if you buy them on Steam, though IIRC I needed to edit the .conf files on my copies to get them running in a window.

    • shaun o

      Try Terror From The Deep or UFO: Enemy Unknown.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Stephen-Doerr/100001969145701 Stephen Doerr

    I’ll have to say I’m passionate about videogames as well as passionate for X-COM.  But this kind of nerd rage is not only embarrassing for a nearly 30-year-old, but hurts any kind of legitimate credibility as a journalist.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_VAEVHATXY7QK4NYPU3RUY3GJNM Steve

      You know, there’s a difference between a review and expressing one’s thoughts on a subject. People like you will always eat the shit given to you by half assed game companies. Sorry, but whoever liked your comment are idiots.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KUPX4DMSKGQVEAY5AGDDZPYJFU Andrew

      What are you talking about? He is a nerd journalist, it is alright tohate something and rant on it. What’s the big deal telling people that it will suck?

  • Nick Gill

    if they wanted to do an fps, i sort of agree. westwood studios did
    c&c renegade, it was really bad, but was also quite interesting to
    see the c&c world in a new light. but they should also let us know if they will make a new propper x-com game, or if is the direction of all future games, if its a one off, yay it could be intersesting, but if its the future, boo, its gonna suck!

    • Brian Damage

      Looks like 2K want it to be the future. I wouldn’t have minded an FPS either, but it would have to be a spinoff, like Renegade was and like Alliance was going to be.

      Anyway, they’re titling this game “XCOM”, with no subtitles or anything, so they’re pretty obviously thinking of it as the central game in their “Re-imagining” (*wince*) of the franchise – not a spinoff. They’re already talking like they want to make FPS sequels, too.

      And the one person that the fans can put questions to RE: the future of the series (and we’ve been asking if there will be any turn-based, “X-Com Classic” games REPEATEDLY) just keeps dodging the question with responses that boil down to “Um… we really just want to talk about our new game”. So I’d guess they’re either not even thinking of it, or if they do have one cooking (possibly in association with the persistent rumours about Firaxis’ next game being an X-Com title), then they consider it a secondary thing and don’t want to risk it overshadowing their FPS money grab.

      • Renan Ruivo

        “posting to another old post”

        Prophetic words dude..

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002492498398 Matthew Harris

    anyone else heard about xenonauts?

  • shaun o

    I can’t wait for Invasion of the Tetris people

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Anthony-Cekic/1142040841 Anthony Cekic

    I don’t understand why they did this. I mean if there gonna do an FPS then have them do it in a rainbow six or swat 4 fashion because at least then you would still have the strategy element while having the FPS element, and thus getting the best of both worlds, but how they describe it I can understand why spoony is angry. I don’t think it is with the change it is with the wasted potential that this game has. Here is what I would’ve done:

    Firstly, base building have it be like a 3d base that is sort of like sim city, but only in looks. The maintenance costs and cost and time to build it would be similar to the first xcom and as an added graphic as time goes on you can see the building being built in its stages of development.
    Secondly the worldscape element I would’ve had the graphics updated with the ships bleeping in and out as they move like they were being detected on radar that was originating from your base.
    Finally, the loadout would be similar to xcom where you get your people the weapons you loaded on the ship. The thing I would do however is have the combat play like rainbow six, but smoother and with more micromanagement for control freaks and general controls for the people who just want to watch shit blow up real good.

  • Anonymous

    Moron,… this game was made for the new generation where the population is much more than old nerds that played old strategy games (I’m one of those nerds) that is one of the main reasons to change the game. They don’t care about the minority. They want the mayority. Stop the hate.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/George-Rosenbaum/100001387887487 George Rosenbaum

      They could have avoided all of this hate by not calling it XCOM. It’s nothing like an XCOM game, and has almost none of the canon in it.

      Just call it something else, because it’s not XCOM. Anything else.

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=653834656 Liam Crowter

        I’m looking forward to XenoShock personally, but XCOM…nope

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=653834656 Liam Crowter

        I’m looking forward to XenoShock personally, but XCOM…nope

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KUPX4DMSKGQVEAY5AGDDZPYJFU Andrew

      but they know that other people have played this game, many in fact. If they really wanted the majority they would have changed the name, so by calling it XCOM they are screwing it up. there are strategy games loved by majority, its not just shooters buddy. Stop liking it.

    • Renan Ruivo

      Old post, but whenever i read someone writing like this i picture Stan’s sister in South Park speaking.

  • test test

    This is exactly how I felt when the new Transformers movies were being made.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Gray/100001453548635 David Gray

    Now, I have never played the X-Com series so I don’t share your feelings about the game. In that respect, I can’t even call it a betrayal. However, I can say that my initial impressions about the game are rather mixed. I do like the design of the aliens and their technology. It’s very Lovecraftian and definitely seems more inspired than generic. I kinda like the setting; 1950′s Midwest is overdone but it isn’t bad. Hopefully they can bring out a solid story and relateable characters; if not this game will end up sucking. Everything else though is either average or bad. I do not think this will do very well and here’s why: timing. XCOM will be released around the same time as Mass Effect 3, and everyone, including myself, will gravitate towards ME3 more. If Spoony is right, then why should we spend the money on a Mass Effect clone when we can buy the genuine article at the same time? Not to mention that the PS Vita will be released in the Spring as well and you know that most people will save their money for the system, the games that will release with it, and all of the accessories. This wouldn’t have been the first time timing would completely crush a game’s sales. For example, Star Wars The Force Unleashed II was released last year in November, but at the same time as Call of Duty Black Ops and a week before Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. Needless to say, everyone bought both Black Ops and Assassin’s Creed, but they completely overshadowed The Force Unleashed II. I’m predicting that Mass Effect 3 and the release of the PS Vita will end up being a huge headache sales wise for XCOM.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002043373713 Rick Wheeler

    I’m on Spoony’s side with this one. If they had chose to call this
    something other than XCOM, I would have been OK with it. But in taking
    the basic title, its a signal saying: this is what X-COM is supposed to be.
    This is what some players are objecting to. The game in and of itself
    may be quite good and stand up on its own. The concern this that then
    this will be the new form of XCOM, and the true sequel to what X-COM
    players were looking for will never see the light of day. This is not
    the tactical strategy game the X-COM faithful were looking for. This is
    either Mass Effect: 1950s or Bioshock: OMG Aliens.

    The cynic in me is saying that this is just the new ‘norm’ of the
    industry, remaking old ideas into FPS games whether its a good idea or
    not. I fully expect to see these titles in a few years:

    MR. DO!: Subterranean Slaughterhouse

    Leisure Suit Larry: Blueball’s Revenge!

    Myst: Mindless Violence Edition

    Pong: Death to Tyrants!

  • Anonymous

    Although Iv never even heard of Xcom, I think I understand Spoony’s pain. Try putting yourself in his shoes: My favorite game series is the Mario games. If they turned it into a first person shooter with blood and shit, I would be fucking pissed! Whats yours? Modern Warfare or something? What if they turned that into a puzzle game or a dance game? While were on the topic, I dont find WoW to be as entertaining as Warcraft 3, but at least it was based on the games and lore that preceeded it. If what iv heard is true, they might as well call this “Star Wars” and it would make about as much sense as calling it Xcom since it has nothing to do with the games that preceeded it.
    Not only that… but this honestly does look like a Mass Effect clone with a different setting. If I want to play Mass Effect, ill play Mass Effect >_> im not getting this game, im sure theres gonna be better things to spend $50 on.

  • Anonymous

    If you like XCOM then why not try this open source XCOM like game, UFO ALien invasion, which all you like in XCOM with better graphs and mods.

    http://ufoai.ninex.info/wiki/index.php/News

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_F6DCTUY6RUMWXJKGOICRNIAXCM André Norell

    I think Yatzhee summarized what’s said here quite well: XCOM! Which now isn’t set in the near future and isn’t turn-based, so it could have called itself “Custard Pie Fights with Christopher Walken”, and that would have been equally relevant.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2IZB5MLC6AUO6HRHR5ZYUM4DUU Pirate

    God i literally grew up X-com..

    They could have just made the old game with certain changes like saving an agents preferred weaponry as well as updated graphics and i would have happily bought it for 50 bucks.

    Instead i don’t care what gimmick they add to the game its just not X-com

  • Anonymous

    This game sounds like the aborted child of Mass Effect and Resistance.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Stephen-Moyer/1090242482 Stephen Moyer

    Even though it doesn’t deserve the name X-COM, it still looks like it would be a fun alien invasion game.

  • Sean Tharpe

    I’m not touching this new… “X-COM” as they call it… not until they make an ACTUAL NEW X-COM GAME!!! You know? Like the first 3?

  • Sean Tharpe

    ALL REAL X-COM FANS: Read this!!! An actual new X-COM by Firaxis?! 
    http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/115063-Firaxis-Reveals-a-Real-X-Com-Remake

  • Sean Tharpe
    • Senna4ever

      Just watched a vid of this game on Xbox live.
      It’s X-Com. Base building, weapon/equipment Rn’D, terror missions, recognizable aliens, turn based/point usage.

      It’s X-Com, just with a 3D graphic engine…which is what we want.
      It looks awesome.
      I’ve gone from bitter disappointment to pumped up.

      Have they scrapped the 1950′s FPS “betrayal” or are there two X-Com games coming?

  • mikedb
  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001767804677 Skyler Munz

    Change the title and some of the spoken language so that it is not an xcom game but still has the same plot and premise then this game would not be a betrayal to a franchise and instead be its own standalone title and it might be good.

    It could have been good but someone decided to make it  part of the xcom universe.  

    • coralie draper

      you know its really a betrayal when thats all you need to do…

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Rogerio-Penna/100000887084570 Rogerio Penna

    Am I the only one that thinks Spoony sounds (and even makes similar faces) as Jerry Seinfeld?

    Anyway, the betrayal scream was something most fans were screaming inside. Spoony gave us XCOM fans a voice at E3.

    Please Spoony, there are other games out there deserving a BETRAYAL scream… Syndicate was one of them… another great strategy game from the 90s turned into an idiotic FPS.

    The game didnt sell well and the producers were like “oh, e wonder why it failed”. FUCK YOU PRODUCERS!

  • http://twitter.com/MursaArtDragons Mursa ArtDragons

    I’m sorry but where is the betrayal? Admittedly I have not played the first XCOM games. I’ve tried mind you, but my dosbox goes into like meth mode at 1200X normal game play. But I have not heard a SINGLE thing about the original two, all I hear is “How dare they make it an FPS”. I tend to not like FPS games either, They seem to be dumb down and simply made with flare for the newer generation of gamer who just want to blow things up. But hating it before its released because its an FPS? There was another great game that became an FPS not too long ago, Fallout 3. Now it was a hybrid of rpg and FPS sure, But it was great! I didn’t play fallout either back then (Didn’t play computer games as a kid, I didn’t have one and was on Nintendo and what not) but I have played it now, and loved it too. Maybe XCOM will get new school gamers to play those old school classics.

    Don’t you all think your jumping a little fast? Once it comes out I’ll be glad to hear the hate, hell I may agree with you! I just feel like you may be hating it for the wrong reason.

  • http://www.facebook.com/john.rose.921 John Rose

    This is how I felt when they announced Arkham City was open-world bullshit.
    BETRAYALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!

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