As a boy, Jake 'Long Shot' Harper always dreamed of shooting things from really far away. That ambition was realised in 2025 when he joined XCOM as a sniper. A veteran of 14 missions, Harper was killed in action last week while defending American soil from an alien invasion. He was torn in half by a giant insect, turned into a zombie, and gunned down by his own squad. Captain Harper is survived by his wife and daughter. Rest in peace, soldier.
Don't get attached. That's our advice. XCOM gives you the tools to customise your own squad - name, face, nationality, beard colour - but it'll only hurt you in the long run. Harper had been the backbone of our squad for hours. We'd given him custom armour, tweaked his appearance, and the game had even generated a nickname for him - a bonus reserved for your very best soldiers. Then, on our first encounter with a chrysalid, he was killed instantly.
SPACE INVADERS
XCOM is an isometric strategy game that's split between turn-based combat and base management. It's by the team behind the Civilization series, which should give you some idea of its depth. Half of your time will be spent using tactics and improbably large weapons to outsmart and defeat an increasingly powerful army of alien invaders. The other will be spent back at your base researching and building advanced technology, shooting down invading UFOs, and dealing with global politics. There's a lot to think, and worry, about.
When you select a mission you're taken to the barracks and can prep your squad. You can take a maximum of six soldiers into battle at any one time, and it's up to you to create a balanced team. Shotgun-toting support soldiers can be upgraded to carry three medikits at once, so having one on hand is always useful if things get hairy. Heavies can blow away cover with their rocket launchers. Snipers, like the dearly departed Harper, are useful to have at the back of your group providing support fire. Assault troops are dependable all-rounders. Each class has its own skill tree, and you unlock more exotic special abilities as their rank increases.
Comments
27 comments so far...
ingy on 8 Oct '12 said:
Blimey,.....thanks for reviewing the game and telling us nothing about it.
How big is the game? how big are the levels? are the aliens scripted? how, and when can we save progress? and for all of us who are fans of the original, how does it hold up?
I'm still none the wiser
MrPirtniw on 8 Oct '12 said:
Awesome- got this preordered as I love the original Xcom (still play it now and then). It's going to be interesting to see how a turn based strategy game fares on console but I'm picking up my copy for the 360.
With this and Dishonored kicking ass in the reviews department, I'm gutted that I can't buy both due to cash and work. Why must they always do this?!
Come on Shopto, send it early again, will ya?
ensabahnur on 8 Oct '12 said:
Hmmm, Dishonoured on pre-order and i think i'm gonna have to trade some s**t for this and buy it from a bricks and mortar store. Really beginning to dislike the way all the games are bottlenecked towards the end of the year, especially when there was a good month there when absolutely sod all was released.
MatthewONM on 8 Oct '12 said:
You must have missed the three pages of excellently written review.
Seriously dude: 'how big are the levels'? If you want games broken down into tedious statistics, go read a press release.
Robcarroll93 on 8 Oct '12 said:
I've never played the original and I know very little about it but I'm looking forward to trying this.
TheLastDodo on 8 Oct '12 said:
Been interested in this since they announced it after that awful looking XCOM FPS was delayed.
Never played an XCOM, never really played a strategy game, closest I got was the TBS bits in Costume Quest
Anyway thanks for pointing out there's tutorials for noobs like myself, I think I'll be waiting for a price drop for this one, I'll happily try new things but this is too big of a risk at full price and with trying to save money for Xmas.
Is this SP only?
Sleepaphobic on 8 Oct '12 said:
Exactly! I want to know the various colours of the enemies, the different sounds they make, the options menu layout and of course how good the title screen is. Damn you CVG!
Barry316 on 8 Oct '12 said:
It's got multi. It got a line mention in the Eurogamer review "Multiplayer... feels a little lightweight, because despite ranked matches there's no real long-term structure, but that shouldn't overshadow the fact that it allows for fantastic matches."
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012- ... n-review_3
ingy on 8 Oct '12 said:
Many thanks for the heads up, their review is far superior, and to the idiots who replied to my post,...grow up, seriously.
budge on 8 Oct '12 said:
This is exactly what I loved about the first game, that gutted feeling when one of your veteran squad members bites the dust. I just hope that part of the maps that are unexplored are blacked out until your soldiers stumble into the areas, that's what gave the original its eerie atmosphere.
Looking forward to getting this after i'm done with Borderlands 2.
toaplan on 8 Oct '12 said:
For a PC gamer, that sounds quite weird, but I guess strategy games aren't nearly as prevalent on consoles as on the PC. I recommend grabbing XCOM (and Civilization Revolution) as soon as possible, as you seem to have missed out on one of the most venerable of game genres.
freds1 on 8 Oct '12 said:
Oh yes, cannot wait. Yes an expensive couple of months, I've bought recently Guild Wars 2, Borderlands 2, Torchlight 2, Carrier Command (all of which I haven't even finished yet) and now this on pre-order, but these will keep me going for a very long time.
Megatrons_Fury on 8 Oct '12 said:
@ingy
You had valid points about level size, AI scripting etc because stuff like that is essential to real time or even turn based strategy game, theres tons of features about this title all over the internet and tons of gameplay videos so dont panic too much..... The truth is out there lol lol lol
Anyway.....Moving on.
XCOM = HELLS YES!!!! Absolute must purchase after i finish everything with Borderlands 2, port royal 3 etc, theres not enough of these types of games out there so another great one makes me smile.
Megatrons_Fury on 8 Oct '12 said:
PORT ROYALE 3................ Get that shizzle sorted asap, its amazing
TheLastDodo on 8 Oct '12 said:
I did dabble on Worms Armageddon back in the day, if that is classed as a strategy game
.
Imaduck on 8 Oct '12 said:
Seriously want this game
I saw the early stuff but there were changes etc. and I kind of lost track, early footage left me confused but this strategy format looks amazing! Looks oldschool and personal. Damn what a day for games!
liquidphantom on 8 Oct '12 said:
Clearly never played any strategy games on a PC or the original UFO
BeansOnToast on 8 Oct '12 said:
Oooooo this looks good, I think I might definitely be perhaps maybe getting this.
illage2 on 9 Oct '12 said:
When is this game out in the UK?
MrPirtniw on 9 Oct '12 said:
Friday I think. Should have my copy for thursday though- fingers crossed as it looks the shiz!
gopher1369 on 10 Oct '12 said:
There's a demo you can download.
Nope, also has MP.
TheLastDodo on 10 Oct '12 said:
I'll be trying the demo out, wasn't aware of one at time of that post.
Old Skool Gamer on 15 Oct '12 said:
It's crap.
freds1 on 15 Oct '12 said:
Well I wouldn't go so far as to say it's crap, but it sure isn't the X-Com I was hoping for. My verdict is, above average and could've been so much more. I could list my reasons and gripes but I cba.
budge on 19 Oct '12 said:
You can't even be arsed typing that you can't be arsed!
freds1 on 22 Oct '12 said:
wishface on 23 Oct '12 said:
I wouldn't say it was crap.
But it's not good.
The gameplay is wonky as well and the difficulty is replaced with an AI that's very very cheap. The defensive options are a bust and the on screen representation of the action is nothing close to what's actually happening; i've had people shoot targets they cannot see on overwatch (which is functionally useless) through entire buildings!
I can't recommend this.