Played me some X-Com this week - both the old and the new.

Of the two, I prefer the old version, but until the end story not by too terribly much.

The ending of the new game drowns you in a sea of Lame!

There are some very good things about the new game, and some very... not good... things as well. Mostly good, truth be told.

Battles are remarkably linear - the maps channel the battle to go one direction. (Bad)
Graphics are beautiful. So is the music. (Good)
Key events determine what technologies become available. (Mostly Bad)
Voice acting is decent, if repetitious. Voice acting is decent, if repetitious. (Neutral. Neutral.)
Combat is lethal in the early game. (Excellent!)
Leveling gives perks. (Excellent!)

But the ending... oh dear gods, I almost quit the game completely. It was a Fallout 3 level of bad ending, but at least it wasn't a Mass Effect 3 level of bad ending. Just... lame and linear.

Until that point I had fun. The game was linear, but it was fun. But that ending....

X-Com: Enemy Unknown on the other hand... there is a reason folks still play it, almost twenty years later.

The Auld Grump, makes me want to dust off my X-Com Spycraft campaign.

Really?

I don't remember the end of the old X-com game fondly.


It seemed well very linear.
Not that I didn't enjoy playing the game.... It's just that the story didn't seem real strong to me.


But that may have had something to do with me just finishing Ultima 7 part 2, kings quest 6 and Star Control 2 right before I played X-Com, And all those had very solid stories as I remember.

On the new game the map is literally linear - you go in one end and come out the other. In short, like unto a line. Even the final battle.

You take the technologies only after key encounters. You study them one at a time, choosing from the few that have been made available until the next key encounter.

On the new game you have an extremely limited choice in equipment - med kit, or scope, or improved armor, or grenade. Pick one.

In the new game you have one base, while you pick the nation the computer does most of the rest.

Trust me, for linearity the new game is a lot closer to the literal meaning of the term. The tactical and strategic problems have been pared down, almost to non-existence.

The biggest difference is that the new game is just that, a game - the older game was closer to a tactical simulation game.

If you prefer simulations (and I most emphatically do) the you will likely prefer the older game. If you like a more cinematic approach... then maybe you will prefer the newer game.

The ending on the original X-Com was its weakness - but in comparison that ending is incredibly strong, if only because the ending of the new game is just that much weaker.

What I know is that one play through and I am done with the game. It was enjoyable, until the ending, but not much by way of replay value.

The Auld Grump

*EDIT* Unneeded snark removed - I am tired and cranky. I was up at 4 A.M. this morning, gods how I hate waking before the sun rises....

Wow... So all the parts of the old game I enjoyed (pretty much everything up to the part on Mars) that was a free form tactical simulation is gone.

I'm never picking up the new game.
Thanks for the heads up.

I would recommend getting other folk's reactions as well as mine - it is possible that you will like it.

The original X-Com was pretty much a campaign creator for a miniatures game on the desktop. This has more... story? plot? and is less about the tactical game. Squad size is a lot smaller - up to a max of six.

I know folks that really like it. Just not... me.

The Auld Grump

Check this out for the positive side: http://www.sharkyforums.com/showthread. ... my-Unknown

Not played the new one yet (not even bought as I knew I was away over the weekend). Probably will get it for the X-box, so I'll expect it to be dumbed down!

If you like the old one, try UFO:AI. Nice complete re-working of the original, and different enough to mean the old strategies won't necessarily work.

i bought it and i'm playing it, in fact i'm kinda avoiding main investigation to get all the research and engineering done, mostly because i don't think i'll replay it too!^^

Trust me, the game isn't bad, just... watered down!
I concur with grump that the linear maps kinda sucks, it's a bit better with ufo landings, just because i force myself to take on a lateral route!^^

Btw the combat isn't that bad it's enjoyable.

What's hurting me is the managing part!
I would've enjoyed multy tasking with resource management, i feel a bit railroaded here!

Yeah - for me the railroading and the ending kind of killed it for me.

The individual battles are just fine - not quite as involved as the ones in the old game, but not bad. And they are gorgeous.

One downside - there is a lot less 'fog of war' if someone shoots you then you typically see him automatically - in the old game I would sometimes lose more men while tracking down that sole, hidden survivor than in the rest of the battle.

The Auld Grump, I wish that I had spent more time avoiding the main investigation....

That settles it for me, the fog of war and hidden enemy movement was part of what made the original X-com battles so great. Until you'd swept the whole area you never knew where that killer shot was going to come from; and even with a well executed sweep across the map there was still a chance an alien would find a way to sneak round behind you take out a valuable man. That was what really made the game for me - it was turn based, but the most carefully laid plans could get turned to custard at any moment, making you sweat to get as many of your team through the mission as possible.
If they've lost that and forced the battles to be linear at the same time...

There is still hidden movement - and your blokes can sometimes hear it and get a general direction.

Once the hidden aliens have shot, though, it seems like you pin point them easily.

The Auld Grump

Back in the days when sound location was bad, you could hear the aliens moving around and you just knew one of those aliens was about to take a shot at one of your valuable team but you didn't know where, and you hoped like hell it wasn't going to be from one of the areas you didn't have covered...
Or a shot came out of the darkness, and you didn't know if you could get enough of your men into cover and also track down the shooter before it took out one of your men...
Those were the things that really made the original X-com for me. Oh well, will give the new version a miss and go back to GuildWars2.

Started playing the original again and can't remember how to have them take shots at moving aliens? Just save enough points for a shot?

That and having them facing the right direction - one of the buttons limits your movement to make sure you have enough time for a shot.

The Auld Grump

The soldiers need to have enough initiative (energy?) left at the end of their move to take a shot. The more energy they have left, the better the shot they can take (e.g aimed shot).

If you want them to cover a wider angle they also need enough time to change facing and shoot as they will only shoot in the direction they're pointed even if they can see a wider area than that. The number of times I lost soldiers because all they did was turn to face the alien that's shooting at them and wait for the follow-up shot ... aaargh!

My roommate just picked up XenoNauts....

$20....

Lower quality graphics....

More primitive interface....

So... so... much better....

The Auld Grump, and your starting transport is a Chinook... and the enemy does target it in flight - have interceptors ready....

Interesting find there Grump. I had overlooked that, but it is one I have seen friends playing in the past year or so.

I'll happily second any recommendation for Xenonauts.

Where X-Com is a re-imagining of the franchise, Xenonauts is more of a remake.

Following it's pretty successful kickstarter, the game isn't too far from Beta. I've been having lots of fun with the alpha releases.

http://www.xenonauts.com/

All the tactical goodness from the original looks to be well on it's way to being there again. Additionally, I think there's a better weapon balance this time round.

The air interception beats the pants off of the new EU, never mind the old one, and yet is small enough not to get in the way of the combat missions.

The graphics are obviously an improvement, but there's a nice period feel to it (it's set in the cold war) too.

Good forum there too at http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/forum.php