X-COM Firaxis - XCOM: Enemy Unknown + Enemy Within Expansion

[Morgoth]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/09/25/some-things-you-should-know-about-the-xcom-demo/

RPS says demo is shit, preview code is not.

 

[evdk]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/09/25/some-things-you-should-know-about-the-xcom-demo/

RPS says demo is shit, preview code is not.

Why would you use it as a demo then?

"Try our demo, it's shit so you can appreciate the rest better!"

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

I'm getting it, but I'm not putting up a review for you retards. Wouldn't want you hurting yourselves on the sharp edges.

so edgy. especially given the message before it where you tried to insult haba back but fucked up the quotes in a way that make it look totally retarded and then just deleted it.

Could've fixed it, didn't care to since I realized just how retarded it is to insult me for giving an even-handed mini-review of the demo is. But hey, it's cool to like a guy like that. It's the basis of the American entertainment industry.

 

[IDtenT]

Shit demos that are not representative of the game seems to be the new norm. Remember the Amalur demo? lol.

 

[Gozma]

Having 4 gigs of movies full of spoilers in the demo gives it every appearance of just being a big dumb fuckup from whoever was in charge of it - hopefully a 2K chimpsquad and not Firaxis people

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

"The keyboard and mouse interface. Yes, it doesn’t feel quite right, does it?"

I like how those assclowns say that now after 2 or 3 glowing previews of the game where they don't mention it. I'm even mostly with SV in that the demo doesn't seem like a big deal since it's just showing the tutorial, but goddamn RPS.

 

[Gord]

Yeah, from whoever the idea to do the demo like that came, it was a very retarded one.

 

[KoolNoodles]

The combat SUCKS so bad. It's not tactical, it's not fun, it's not even hard on impossible(lol). The only thing that makes it hard are the crappy controls and crappy design. You can move and shoot, but you can't shoot first and then move. You can use a med pack, but THAT'S IT in your turn. You can throw a grenade but THAT'S IT. Want to move one inch, or 30 feet? It will cost you EXACTLY the same amount of "movement". As soon as all your squaddies are done with their turns it goes immediately to the Alien turn, no time to check the map, check your positions etc.(yes you could do that earlier in the turn,but what a DUMB design decision). You think your guys are behind "solid" objects for cover? Too bad, they can't help but automatically peek around every single fucking corner so that their heads get blown off. Why the hell should you even bother with solid cover on a map, just let me fortify my units ala Civilization, same thing. Yes the two missions are scripted garbage, yes the demo sucks, yes there will be more shit to do in the full game, but who cares? The greater part of the game(tactical combat) is a boring, consolized, poorly designed piece of garbage that doesn't hold a candle to any number of tactical games made over a decade ago.

It kind of reminds me of tactical combat in games like King's Bounty, except with less options and more shit. What a joke.

 

[bonescraper]

Heh, you guys still believe this game can't be that bad?

The UI and controls suck, and are exactly the same in the full version. You basically can throw your mouse out of the window. Even that RPS fuck admits, he learned to play this game with his keyboard only. And that's fukcing good, because he's still not using a controller.



Oh, and by the way, combat is also shit. You just move from cover to cover like in some retarded turn based popamole shooter. The move-shoot mechanic plainly sucks. It's bland, boring and uninvolving. Time units worked better, since you had to manage them carefully and plan ahead. Otherwise you got stuck in the open. With their new mechanic you can't fuck up like this now, you'll always find cover. And then there are also those small annoying things like:

- Aliens get a free fucking turn when YOU spot them.
- Sidearms are completely useless since you have an unlimited amount of ammo for your main weapon.
- You can't target anything other than aliens, so destructible environments are there mainly just for show.
- After launching an interceptor you're instantly awarded with an easy as fuck UFO shooting minigame. No more wild UFO chases, and it looks like all you need to down one is one single interceptor.
- The RPS blogger confirmed himself that the environments don't really get better in the full game. They aren't memorable, have no character and do not convey a real sense of space. But hey, they're all hand crafted!

All of this and more will be present in the full version. So don't give me that "well, it's not representative of the full game" bullshit. It's all hype and marketing now, wait and you will see.

 

[Trash]

RPS is quickly losing it for me. Love that site usually but it's clear they've gotten way too involved with Xcom to give any 'fair and balanced' account of it.

 

[IDtenT]

RPS is quickly losing it for me. Love that site usually but it's clear they've gotten way too involved with Xcom to give any 'fair and balanced' account of it.

Don't bash the site for the reviewer. Alec is not one of their best.

RPS has gone backwards, but only because the good reviewers only write every now and then and they got quite a few people in just to write random news posts all day long.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

- Aliens get a free fucking turn when YOU spot them.

- Sidearms are completely useless since you have an unlimited amount of ammo for your main weapon.
- You can't target anything other than aliens, so destructible environments are there mainly just for show.
- After launching an interceptor you're instantly awarded with an easy as fuck UFO shooting minigame. No more wild UFO chases, and it looks like all you need to down one is one single interceptor.

Kinda hate to be the Xcom defense squad here but some things worth mentioning about those:

- Free turn for aliens just involves them running to cover. Before they're activated/alerted they don't get reaction shots or overwatch. In fact, if you have guys in overwatch in range when you spot aliens they can take shots before/as the aliens are moving.
- Sidearms can be used to weaken aliens (Since they do less damage) before you taze them. Was mentioned in the hour long play video Firaxis did a while back that the taze chance is based on the enemy's health, so if you can soften them up without killing that'll help you take an alien back alive.
- You can't target anything other than aliens with your guns, yes, but grenades and rockets you certainly can. Since they seemingly nerfed the terrain destruction normal weapons do this kinda goes with that.
- No more UFO chases, but it also appears that interceptors can't fly all over the goddamn world in this. The impression I've gotten (Which may be wrong of course) is that since you can base interceptors on other continents and have satellites observing different areas in lieu of having more than one base, interceptors don't cover as large of an area as in the original game.

 

[evdk]

- Free turn for aliens just involves them running to cover. Before they're activated/alerted they don't get reaction shots or overwatch.

And that's a good thing... how exactly?

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

It's not particularly, it's just less-bad than a "Free turn" implies.

 

[kris]

Kinda hate to be the Xcom defense squad here but some things worth mentioning about those:

- Free turn for aliens just involves them running to cover. Before they're activated/alerted they don't get reaction shots or overwatch. In fact, if you have guys in overwatch in range when you spot aliens they can take shots before/as the aliens are moving.

don't worry, you just made it look worse. So alieans are confirmed to just do nothing until the player arrives at their spawning point, at which time they get a free move to cover? :D

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

But just a few posts ago I talked about the patrolling aliens. Why you gotta hurt me.

 

[bonescraper]

- Free turn for aliens just involves them running to cover. Before they're activated/alerted they don't get reaction shots or overwatch. In fact, if you have guys in overwatch in range when you spot aliens they can take shots before/as the aliens are moving.

So, before they're spotted, they're "deactivated"? Should i be happy now? Aliens don't do anything at all unless spotted, noted. And since they're always allowed to move to cover, it just proves how "exciting" the firefights must be.

- Sidearms can be used to weaken aliens (Since they do less damage) before you taze them. Was mentioned in the hour long play video Firaxis did a while back that the taze chance is based on the enemy's health, so if you can soften them up without killing that'll help you take an alien back alive.

So, they're not completely useless. They're just nearly useless They serve no other purpose than weakening the aliens. I bet thy just came up with a quick excuse for a broken/needless mechanic when asked "but what are those pistols for?".

- You can't target anything other than aliens with your guns, yes, but grenades and rockets you certainly can. Since they seemingly nerfed the terrain destruction normal weapons do this kinda goes with that.

Oh, but plasma weapons can destroy walls and pretty much everything else. They would be overpowered in player's hands though, so i get why they won't let us do that.

- No more UFO chases, but it also appears that interceptors can't fly all over the goddamn world in this. The impression I've gotten (Which may be wrong of course) is that since you can base interceptors on other continents and have satellites observing different areas in lieu of having more than one base, interceptors don't cover as large of an area as in the original game.

That's just your made up background story to cover up cut game mechanics. Geoscape servers no real purpose this time. It's there because of its iconic status. You manage your missions, satellites, interceptor bases and other strategic stuff through a separate window. That big holographic Earth is there just for fluff. But that's understandable, it's just a console port.

And one more thing. The original game has this creepy, dark atmosphere. This game on the other hand relies on cheap, gory horror scenes, and cool, futuristic battle music. This game has to be EPIC, Michael Bay style. Because that's what grabs your average customer's attention these days. Well, they also have to cover up its "nerdy" turn-based nature.

 

[Storyfag]

Kinda hate to be the Xcom defense squad here but some things worth mentioning about those:

- Free turn for aliens just involves them running to cover. Before they're activated/alerted they don't get reaction shots or overwatch. In fact, if you have guys in overwatch in range when you spot aliens they can take shots before/as the aliens are moving.

don't worry, you just made it look worse. So alieans are confirmed to just do nothing until the player arrives at their spawning point, at which time they get a free move to cover? :D

Interesting. Could someone who has the demo test that? Start the second mission (since the tutorial is scripted to hell) and then just stand there, doing nothing for, like, 10 turns? Wonder if the aliens will come...

 

[Gozma]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=FaR-oDSxb3I#t=2619s

This is far enough into the game that the enemy density cranks up and there are some legit patrolling/hunting enemies (the floaters that show up in the first enemy turn)

 

[Morgoth]

The original game has this creepy, dark atmosphere. This game on the other hand relies on cheap, gory horror scenes, and cool, futuristic battle music. This game has to be EPIC, Michael Bay style. Because that's what grabs your average customer's attention these days. Well, they also have to cover up its "nerdy" turn-based nature.

You can't confront hipster shits and other non-gamers with something foreboding and dark anymore, that would disturb their fragile and always-positive-thinking-induced minds too much. They'd need medical help, and then lawmakers and lawyers would be all over 2Ks ass.

Epic and gory is okay though, because it doesn't make you think, or feel anything. It's perfect for the American audience, which this game was clearly designed for.

 

[Gozma]

It just has a really disconnected and mechanical boardgame kinda vibe due to the basic gameplay dynamics; I don't see how you could make it tense just with graphics or music.

 

[KoolNoodles]

Kinda hate to be the Xcom defense squad here but some things worth mentioning about those:

- Free turn for aliens just involves them running to cover. Before they're activated/alerted they don't get reaction shots or overwatch. In fact, if you have guys in overwatch in range when you spot aliens they can take shots before/as the aliens are moving.

don't worry, you just made it look worse. So alieans are confirmed to just do nothing until the player arrives at their spawning point, at which time they get a free move to cover? :D

Interesting. Could someone who has the demo test that? Start the second mission (since the tutorial is scripted to hell) and then just stand there, doing nothing for, like, 10 turns? Wonder if the aliens will come...

That was actually the first thing I tried because I had heard you run into the aliens in "waves". Pressed backspace(end turn) probably 20 times, nothing happened. Did it again after meeting and killing the first "wave", nothing happened.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

many word

As kinda mentioned before, the "Deactivated" aliens thing is kinda up in the air depending on if the patrolling shit they were talking about was bullshit or not. They did mention that all the aliens on a map wouldn't immediately rush the player as soon as the player was spotted since that made every mission involve hunkering down, but supposedly they will move toward the player eventually. The cyberdisc in the first mission in that hour long video didn't get an enemy spotted movie IIRC, so it could be they give you a few turns grace period before unseen aliens start heading toward the fight.
Keeping in mind this is "My made up backstory" because I haven't played the whole thing yet, this is going off what I've seen/read/heard.

Yeah, not saying pistols are super useful but they do have a purpose. Hell, I basically never used pistols in the original anyway.

If plasma weapons destroy walls well in this then yeah it is pretty stupid they don't let you target walls with 'em.

I agree that the geoscape doesn't serve much purpose in this, but given the menus for satellites, lack of other bases, and menu for stashing interceptors in other countries/continents it doesn't seem like a stretch to say that's how they're handling it here. If you CAN launch intercept aliens from one base all across the globe then why would they let you buy interceptors elsewhere?

Also totally agree this is less creepy than the original. They're trying to make the maps seem dark kinda like the original but they're doing a piss poor job of it. The aliens are other entirely unseen (And rarely/never attack you while unseen in this it appears) or they're clearly visible. There's no briefly seeing movement at the edge of your fog of war and wondering what the fuck that was, or shots coming from beyond your sight.
Also think the graphics suck on a technical level. I wouldn't be opposed to the zoomed in "Action cam" when units are executing orders, but a lot of it is really jarringly fast. Snap from tactical view to over the shoulder to back in the space of a second or two. And as mentioned elsewhere in the thread the shitty miss animations for gunfire clipping through everything. And the ragdolls of the aliens hopping up in the air and flopping instead of falling over. And the successful hits all immediately flying straight in the alien's head. All this isn't shit that would ruin the game for me but it is noticeably poorly done.

Interesting. Could someone who has the demo test that? Start the second mission (since the tutorial is scripted to hell) and then just stand there, doing nothing for, like, 10 turns? Wonder if the aliens will come...

The second mission is apparently still tutorial, it just includes geoscape and base tutorial more than the actual mission itself. Since it always has 2 kinds of the same alien I think it's safe to say it's a scripted tutorial mission and thus they probably wouldn't patrol/advance on the player.
Yes, I'm using the "B-but it's just a tutorial, guys!" line. After playing the demo it sure as hell looks like a tutorial though.

 

[Gord]

Well, RPS (I think) said it's the second mission of a 3-mission tutorial.
Why they didn't release the complete tutorial as a demo, or better yet, some mid-game terror/kidnapping mission is beyond me though.
Completely retarded move.

We'll see soon enough if there are patroling/free moving aliens. It seems completely pointless to me without.

 

[Gozma]

It's a goddamn 5 mission tutorial with gradually decreasing amounts of railroading and adviser pestering