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XCOM: Enemy Unknown on presale on Steam.
It will be available in a month. Yeeeey!


And then the price.
50E.. Also, no discount on preorder.

Isn't it a little too much? Gameplay mechanic will be something like Frozen Synapse? Is it worth it?

The fanboy in me wants to get it (it would be the first time I pay full retail for a game in 15 years) but deep down I know it will suck, so I'll wait for reviews.

 lord_blackfang wrote:
deep down I know it will suck.

Whats that based on? I am looking forward to Xenonauts more but this looks like a quality game that seems to understand what made X-COM the classic that it is even if it does have elements that I don't like.

Its £29.99 which is the standard price for new games and Steam rarely offers discounts on pre-releases. Its very likely that you will get a free copy of Civ V though (and the obligatory TF2 hat) as well. At the end of the day you could always wait a few months for its first heavy discount.

Palindrome wrote:
Whats that based on?

Every game remake ever. Including all current X-com clones. And have you tried the new Jagged Alliance?

Maybe I'm just a bitter old grognard but I find the only good games coming out today are indy retro clones.

Simply because something is a remake doesn't automatically make it bad.

Adam Smith is certainly a convert and this is one of the most positive previews that I have ever seen (remember that X-COM is a genuinely classic game, when people remake them they have very high expectations). http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/09/13/hands-on-forty-hours-with-xcom/

Pre-ordered for PS3 and very much looking forward to it.

Probably taking a day or two off of work in a couple weeks just for it. Like next week. . . .

 lord_blackfang wrote:

Palindrome wrote:
Whats that based on?

Every game remake ever. Including all current X-com clones. And have you tried the new Jagged Alliance?

Maybe I'm just a bitter old grognard but I find the only good games coming out today are indy retro clones.

hey the russian xcom clone isn't that bad its just very unfinished.

Man. I am so worried it will suck.

I'm actually getting more optimistic as I read reviews and watch gameplay videos. Looks like the developers know what it's about.

At the PAX panel the lead developer was asked how XCOM multiplayer looked and he said "Necromunda"

http://kotaku.com/5933224/playing-xcom-enemy-unknown-was-worth-the-speeding-ticket-i-got-last-week?tag=xcom

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is many things. It is a strategy game, about base-building and resource management. It is a turn-based, tactical, squad based combat game.

That's all I needed to hear.

The soul of the game is intact. I'm all in.

It's really going to have to wow me for me to want to give them $50 bucks. I'll just go play UFOAI.

I just finished my final game of Enemy Unknown. The remake has some truly gigantic shoes to fill.

Woot, Chyssalids are in. That is almost enough for me to pre-order.

That weird *weee-ooo* cry and then your men screaming as they get turned into zombies.

*shudder*

The cross platform has me worried but it's getting so much praise that I may just pre-order.

I saw a couple of the vids including the base building vid. It looks nice, the people in charge of the project are the old school players and are very enthusiastic about it. They're using the old school races and what you decide to focus on will mold your gameplay experience....hence more replay value.

Hell I'd play the original again with nothing more than a better interface controls....everything else they updated to today's standards (graphics) would just be gravy....the original game was just that good.

I have very high hopes for this.

[

It looks extremely sexy and I have no doubt it is fantastic. Anyone going into it thinking it'll match the original or be better then the original is in for disappointment that is assured.

 MightyGodzilla wrote:
I saw a couple of the vids including the base building vid. It looks nice, the people in charge of the project are the old school players and are very enthusiastic about it. They're using the old school races and what you decide to focus on will mold your gameplay experience....hence more replay value.

Hell I'd play the original again with nothing more than a better interface controls....everything else they updated to today's standards (graphics) would just be gravy....the original game was just that good.

I have very high hopes for this.

[

You know the original can be had for 5 dollars on steam, right?

You can get all the X-COM games for £8.99, admittedly that includes Enforcer which really isn't worth playing,.

I'm not sure which will be better (heresy I know). The elements that made X-COM great seem to have been replicated here while a lot of the drawbacks caused by 20 year old technology have been solved. Its possible that this may end up being a better game, although that is very subjective given that the original has a special place in gaming history.

Incidentally if you pre-order XCOM on steam you are almost guaranteed to get a free copy of Civ V. Tiers 1 and 2 (soldier outfits and TF2 hats) have already been claimed and tier 3 (Civ V) is 16% done with 3 weeks to go.

The game should be better by any standards not rose-tinted.

Could be wrong, but I doubt it.

Well, I reinstalled Steam.

My only issues are the smaller team (max 6 I think) and the lack of randomly generated maps and I don't believe the base can come under attack anymore.

 kirsanth wrote:
The game should be better by any standards not rose-tinted.

Could be wrong, but I doubt it.

Am sure it will be a great game, but I bet 20 years from now more people will be playing the original than the remake.

 lord_blackfang wrote:

Am sure it will be a great game, but I bet 20 years from now more people will be playing the original than the remake.

Thats assuming that whatever OS we are using in 20 years will handle a DOS game. DOSBOX has quite a lot of issues with running X-COM on windows 7 as it is.

20 Years from now (shortly after the release of MW15 part 4 and coincidentally the start of the dub-classical genre of music) we will be busy being annoyed by the young-ins who insist their attention span allows them to play VR games during class. We will talk of the latest president and on how the previous was worse/better. Few people under the age of 25 will remember this game or the original in 20 years (that is unless they release another rendition 16 years from now). Seriously, start asking younger kids about other classics like Dungeon Keeper or Total Annihilation and watch the "derp" physically manifest on their face.

The rookies are expected to live now, and level up. I dunno, it just seems to do away with some of the things that made the original such a cool and well remembered game. XCOM enemy unknown is not loved by it's fans because it taught you to protect your rookies and hold your hand the whole game. It became well known because in the first few months, if you screwed up, you PAID for it, and the consequences got even more severe from that point onward. You could easily force yourself into unwinnable situations by letting countries get captured or by failing to destroy enough alien bases. Heck, you could even have your funding cut and fail that way. That seems to be missing here, but who knows, maybe there's parts to it that I haven't seen yet.

It is no longer "expendable meatshields that die the moment they leave the ramp." the game. Therefore it will earn undying rage from the fans. To be honest, I'll miss that as well. The moment I heard "hey, we fixed it so the enemy won't kill you the moment you step off the ramp." my hopes for the game sank a bit. That was one of my favorite bits, trying to get off the ship alive, since it was a deathtrap if you stayed on it too long. Added a lot of tension. Just give me an option of who stands where in the ship and I would've been happy, so the best guy who's stuck with a rocket launcher and heavy ammo doesn't have to be the first off the ship EVERY SINGLE TIME.

Smaller teams, and an emphasis on cover kinda have me worried too. I think it will still be a good game, but I have doubts that it will be able to stand up to the original. It's going to take one heck of an amazing game to top the original after all.

I fel embarrassed, i have never heard of the original, and i only heard about this one because of a trailer on Kongregate (gaming site)....But having just watched the full traier (and reading the comments on here) it looks/sounds awesome!

And not having and preconceptions should make it easier for me as well i think.

not that i wont be buying the original if this is good...

 MrMoustaffa wrote:
The rookies are expected to live now, and level up. I dunno, it just seems to do away with some of the things that made the original such a cool and well remembered game. XCOM enemy unknown is not loved by it's fans because it taught you to protect your rookies and hold your hand the whole game. It became well known because in the first few months, if you screwed up, you PAID for it, and the consequences got even more severe from that point onward. You could easily force yourself into unwinnable situations by letting countries get captured or by failing to destroy enough alien bases. Heck, you could even have your funding cut and fail that way. That seems to be missing here, but who knows, maybe there's parts to it that I haven't seen yet.

From the previews that I have read all those elements are still in there. There is even a wall of remembrance for your fallen troopers. I was reading an article on Rock Paper Shotgun where Jim Rossignol said that he was suprised when he had 3 missions in a row where no one died.

The smaller squad size is a slight concern for me but it does allow the game to be more detailed (soldier and slien skills/abilities) and it focuses the game a lot more than having 16 guys spread over a large map.

 Revenent Reiko wrote:
. . . buying the original if this is good...

The original and X-Com:Apocalypse are both good so long as you can disregard the now terrible graphics. Also, if you play X-Com:Apoc, try to avoid going into missions and selecting the real-time play mode, your soldiers will waste a crap ton of ammo and this proves extremely difficult on larger maps when you are spread thin.

Hanith wrote:

The original and X-Com:Apocalypse are both good so long as you can disregard the now terrible graphics. Also, if you play X-Com:Apoc, try to avoid going into missions and selecting the real-time play mode, your soldiers will waste a crap ton of ammo and this proves extremely difficult on larger maps when you are spread thin.

For Apoc use aimed shots with everything, even machine guns, and you will soon get weapons what don't require ammo making your starting weapons effectively worthless. I really like Apoc's real time mode, it allows the game to progress so much faster (it still takes a long time to complete though) without seriously altering the X-COM experience..

Hanith wrote:

 Revenent Reiko wrote:
. . . buying the original if this is good...

The original and X-Com:Apocalypse are both good so long as you can disregard the now terrible graphics. Also, if you play X-Com:Apoc, try to avoid going into missions and selecting the real-time play mode, your soldiers will waste a crap ton of ammo and this proves extremely difficult on larger maps when you are spread thin.

Meh, i can deal with terrible graphics, with old games its all about the gamepley (actually, it is with most new games for me as well, good grpahics are just the icing on the cake). Appreciate the tips

Palindrome wrote:

Hanith wrote:

The original and X-Com:Apocalypse are both good so long as you can disregard the now terrible graphics. Also, if you play X-Com:Apoc, try to avoid going into missions and selecting the real-time play mode, your soldiers will waste a crap ton of ammo and this proves extremely difficult on larger maps when you are spread thin.

For Apoc use aimed shots with everything, even machine guns, and you will soon get weapons what don't require ammo making your starting weapons effectively worthless. I really like Apoc's real time mode, it allows the game to progress so much faster (it still takes a long time to complete though) without seriously altering the X-COM experience..

More tips...my lucky day, thanks!