XCOM: Enemy Unknown Message Board older than one year ago

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a more traditional return to the XCOM series, with Sid Meier "indirectly" lending his expertise.

PC Gamer recently visited the Firaxis offices to speak with the developer about how the PC version will stack up next to its console brethren. The site reports the PC version will get some extra TLC in mod support and a special, mouse-driven user interface.

In addition to the UI tailoring, the PC will support mods through the underlying Unreal Engine, though none will be available at launch. Check PC Gamer for more info.

Older games weren't better because you had to decipher how to play them. People constantly belittle current games with lengthy tutorials and forgiving check points, wondering what happened to the days when someone would take the time to read a 50-page instruction manual and be OK with constantly re...

#xcom Republished from Rock, Paper Shotgun More »

#xcom When Firaxis announced its new XCOM strategy game, Enemy Unknown, most fans went through the following two stages: More »

The good folks at Firaxis Games show us what their rendition of XCOM looks like. Spoilers: there are aliens!

Firaxis' "reimagining" of the original XCOM with XCOM: Enemy Unknown gets some great overall detail in this "deep dive" trailer. It covers the changes between the original game and where Firaxis went with the strategy game launching this autumn.

#xcom Not just anyone can defend the Earth from mysterious aliens in X-COM: Enemy Unknown. This is the "most elite" fighting organization in history, so you can expect at least some sort of written test, maybe a talent competition. It's the price you pay for being the bestest. More »

Here are my words on Firaxis’ X-COM remake, here are the lead developer’s words, and below, for the first time, is your own chance to eyeball it in glorious technicolour and living motion.(more…)

There are two groups of people who will be watching the XCOM series' rather rocky return with interest. The first will be players of the revered 1994 PC strategy game, long-term gamers rather worried by the concept of a remake. The second the group that includes me is people who were either too yo...

XCOM: Enemy Unknown's lead designer Jake Solomon may be part of a conspiracy at Firaxis that finds studio head Sid Meier experimenting on employees. Asked by PC Gamer if the legendary creator of the Civilization series is involved in the development of XCOM, Solomon noted he and Meier interact on an almost daily basis.

"I say 'Look, I have this problem. What do you think I should do?' and he's a very gifted designer. He can look at a situation and he can say 'have you tried this?' And I'll be like, 'oh, that's really good.' I claim all the credit for it, but I rely on him so much," Solomon said, before saying too much. "I'm now to the point where I can basically hear his voice in my head, which is probably not healthy. He tells me to hurt people. [laughs]"

Fight the chip inside your head, Solomon! We believe in you.

Up until January 5, 2012, the mega-ambitious Xenonauts, Goldhawk Interactive’s Cold War-set tale of alien invasion, where was our number one hope for a modernised X-COM. On January 5, 2012, 2K and Firaxis announced they were making an official modernised X-COM. We’ve already chatted to Firaxis about XCOM: Enemy Unknown at length, but what did that shock news mean to Goldhawk lead Chris England? Here, I chat to Chris about his initial reaction, why it doesn’t spell horror for his project, where he’s at with Xenonauts at the moment, what’s planned for the future, how he believes Xenonauts will be better than X-COM and whether spending his life savings on making the game has paid off.

Also, IKEA UFOs and drinking eight pints.(more…)

In this next chunk of a mammoth chat with XCOM: Enemy Unknown‘s lead designer at Firaxis Jake Solomon, we talk Chrysalids, the death and critical wounding of your soldiers, the fanbase, why min-maxing X-COM’s not all it’s cracked up to be, the base, the geoscape and which of the original game’s aliens didn’t make the cut… (more…)

Firaxis' XCOM: Enemy Unknown will require a specific blend of strategy, turn-based and action-title abilities -- even with a team of three against a unit of Mutons holed up in a 1950s diner across the lot from a gas station. Such is the new preview provided by Game Informer, describing the turn-based steps and tactical placement of a three-person squad assaulting a team of Mutons, told through in-game screens.

The piece outs a perk for the sniper, who earns "Damn Good Ground" after grappling to the roof of the gas station canopy, and the "Run & Gun" ability for the Assault soldier, which allows her to run across the diner's roof and still open fire at the end of her turn. Firaxis has yet to release video footage of this fall's XCOM game, but if you scroll really fast through these pictures, it's almost like a stop-motion movie. Almost.

Sad your favorite game designer isn't getting his or her deserved time in the spotlight? Well dry those eyes, friend! It's gonna be hard to hold onto that grudge because today industry legends Sid Meier and Keiji Inafune have both been added to the GDC talk docket, as well as League of Legends proprietors, Riot Games. But hey, if you're not going to GDC, feel free to keep crying while you read the rest of this post.

Meier's talk, entitled "Interesting Decisions," will revolve around his viewpoint of gameplay as "a series of interesting decisions" and how developers can recognize and add these kinds of decisions, ultimately providing the player with a more fulfilling experience. Maybe he'll also talk a bit how that philosophy will play into XCOM: Enemy Unknown?

Inafune will aim to analyze the current state of the Japanese game industry in his sixty-minute talk, "The Future of Japanese Games." Along with his unnamed cohorts, he'll delve into the current problems facing the region and analyze the past success of Japanese game development. We imagine he'll also probably suffer through a lot of questions about Mega Man.

Finally, Riot Games offers a postmortem on its successful Dominion expansion for its runaway hit, League of Legends. Lead producer Travis George will offer insight into the expansion's genesis, all the way through production and launch.

#xcom As intrigued as I am by what 2K's doing with X-COM—and I freely admit I'm in the minority there—the publisher's recent move to delay that game another year, and release a more traditional turn-based strategy reboot meantime, reek of please-everyone panic. Fans of the original can read between the lines and see an expression of low confidence in the first-person perspective game that has everyone up in arms. More »

While he doesn't have anything to do with the franchise anymore, Julian Gollop, creator of the 1994 PC classic X-COM: Enemy Unknown, had plenty to say about the recent revival of the series. Speaking to EDGE Gollop addressed a number of issues, including his disappointment with the original announcement that 2K Marin was turning the series into a first-person shooter...

You won't find any new information in Game Informer's latest piece on XCOM: Enemy Unknown -- the article essentially lays out how XCOM stacks up against other modern day-titles -- but you will find a handful of new screenshots. Let's just scrutinize the beauty above, shall we?

Soldier with obviously auto-generated Russian name? Check. Hit and critical hit percentage chances? Yup. Aim and range bonus stats? Oh, yes. And, upon very close observation, old-school X-COM fans may notice one other feature: Sweet, sweet hope. Head over to Game Informer for two more screens.

You won't find any new information in Game Informer's latest piece on XCOM: Enemy Unknown -- the article essentially lays out how XCOM stacks up against other modern day-titles -- but you will find a handful of new screenshots. Let's just scrutinize the beauty above, shall we?

Soldier with obviously auto-generated Russian name? Check. Hit and critical hit percentage chances? Yup. Aim and range bonus stats? Oh, yes. And, upon very close observation, old-school X-COM fans may notice one other feature: Sweet, sweet hope. Head over to Game Informer for two more screens.

Looks like we were right again -- Firaxis' XCOM: Enemy Unknown isn't a remake of the original game, but is more of a re-imagining, Firaxis told Game Informer. Enemy Unknown will mix real-time strategy on a global scale with turn-based combat, making it less of an RTS in the classic sense, Firaxis said.

Strategically, players will handle all the holistic aspects of conducting extra-terrestrial warfare, including directing research into alien technology, mollifying nations worldwide to secure funding, attacking UFOs with jet fighters, leveling up soldiers, recruiting new ones and directing the Skyranger transport to battle aliens on the ground.

Enemy Unknown isn't copying the functions of the 1994 original -- soldiers will have different stats, for example -- and it gets rid of much of the "tedium and uninteresting mechanics," while keeping gameplay challenging, Firaxis said. Enemy Unknown takes place in the thick of the alien invasion of Earth, while 2K Marin's first-person shooter XCOM covers the first alien attacks on the US. This is interesting, considering Enemy Unknown may end up launching before 2K Marin's title.

Last week we learned that Civilization developer Firaxis is making a new version of XCOM. Called Enemy Unknown, this one will be a hybrid of turn-based and real-time strategy, just like the 1994 original. Battle will take place in turn-based format, and between battles gameplay will flow in real-time as you manage your gear, research and send out your fleet. Game Informer has the first screenshots, which show off the new graphical style and a view of combat...

Firaxis, the developer behind Civilization, is working on XCOM: Enemy Unknown, a 'reimagining' of the beloved PC strategy game...