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The good, the bad and the WTF have they done to Xcom?

posted 12 years ago by Littlebitsofgaming
6 replies | jump to latest

I loved the original Xcom and TFTD...the games after that sort of fell off a little but were still good games.
I have played and replayed the first 2 games countless times since the mid 90's and I used to play Laser Squad (of which Xcom was originally planned as a sequel to) in the 80's.
I love this style of game. I still play the original even today.
People talk of putting in 20-30 hours into a good, open world game like Skyrim. I have no idea how much time I've spent playing the first 2 Xcoms over the last (almost) 20 years....several months maybe?

I have been waiting for over a decade for a new game in this genre as the game market is becoming overtly stale with endless and inane PFS that keep getting rehashed and idiots keep buying the same game over and over...oh look a "new" CoD is out next week. Well "new" is hardly the right word to use.

At last we have a "proper" Xcom game. There is another one that's in development that is a (wait for it) FPS *sigh*. Well it's been in development for a while now and it's release keeps slipping. In fact when it was shown at some game coms a few years back, the fans HATED it (Spoony?). So they recalled the game and "tweaked" it and then showed it again. The fans still hated it, so they tweaked it again and showed it. The fans hated it. There is a pattern here.
Anyway nothing was even mentioned of this "proper" version of Xcom at all at any game shows anywhere. Yet it seemed to have appeared out of nowhere while the fans were "hating" on this FPS version that has been shown several times.

Which brings me to my first niggle with this game...

1) It's been rushed out, clearly it's been rushed out to appease fans and possibly replace the FPS version which seems to keep slipping and maybe never to be released at all?
You can tell it's been rushed out as the graphics are unappealing. They are not bad, they are just kind of "meh". The voice acting is TERRIBLE and the game seems to have been massively dumbed down over it's original concept. So many things missing that makes Xcom, Xcom.
Xcom has always been a game of thinking and strategy.
This version it seems to be more a game of luck. More on this later...

2) Lack of control of your soldiers.
In the original you had full control over your guys. You could make them move one square at a time (if you wanted) and sneak around the maps. You have a variety of different types of shots to use when firing a gun. You could prime a grenade and throw it at just the right time an element of strategy missing with this new game. You could crouch and increase your shot accuracy, etc. So much control over each soldier you had.
Here you have 2 moves you can make. Either 2 movements. Or you can make 1 movement and take 1 shot. Or you can use both movements in one go and run to a point on the map (within a certain distance). Plus shooting ends your turn regardless of whether you move or not. This, while does not ruin the game. It's clearly been "dumbed down" to make the game more "accessible" to other people. Your soldiers stop being highly trained soldiers and just become inane drones that seem to lack any skill at all.
Now there are specific abilities you can upgrade to get more out of your soldiers, but they are class specific..and I'll get to that problem later...

3) You can't surprise an alien...ever.
Going back to the original. If you spotted an alien you could effectively sneak up and surprise it. You could get a cheeky well aimed shot in before it knows you are there...not with this game. As soon as you spot and alien here, it gets a FREE move and runs away into cover. You can not sneak up on anything in this game...removing the interesting "stealth" style gameplay from the original.
You would and could be rewarded for taking a more tactical approach in the original Xcom. You have no chance of this here.
Now does this also apply to your guys if an alien gets the drop on you, do you get a free move to run to cover...NO! You just have to sit there and get shot to death. Now there is an "overwatch" option where you can have your guys sit there, weapon ready to fire a shot if an alien comes into sight yes. But this takes up one of your only 2 moves, plus remember this will end your move too...and the aliens also have this option...so they are still up on this deal and hold an advantage.
Which brings me to the questionable AI...

4) The questionable AI.
Sometimes the AI in this is really impressive. From aliens running to cover, to them trying to flank you and actually use tactics and teaming up. Then there are times when the aliens just run around in the open right in front of your guys wasting all their moves and making for very easy targets.
Then there is the questionable move you soldiers make...a lot. You move one of your guys into an area, it spots an alien. Now in the original, when this happened you guy would automatically stop in their tracks and allow you to rethink your plan. Not here, your guy will spot an alien and just keep running directly toward them and 9 times out of 10 into death. Why do they do this?
The AI is just so inconsistent to the point where it becomes detriment to the game.

5) The cover system and glitches.
There was a kind of cover in the original, it was not a "cover system". But you could get behind a wall, car, etc and use this to block enemy line of sight and fire.
They have built on the idea here and now implemented a full cover system where being behind certain scenery does provide cover and reduces the chances of being hit, etc...however, there are some rather nasty glitches which mean you (and the aliens) can shoot through the cover anyway, making the cover system pointless to begin with.
I was just playing a mission where one of my snipers took a shot through (and I counted) 4 walls of an alien ship and hit their target. Not through gaps, or doorways, or windows. Through 4 solid walls. So if it's possible to do this, then why is there a cover system in place if it does not work? Now shooting the cover to reveal the target would make sense (you could do this with the original), but shooting through the cover (or sometimes several pieces of cover at the same time) is stupid. Even more to the point, how did the alien get spotted through 4 solid walls? Yes, this also works against you and for the aliens too.
Other glitches I have noticed. Sometimes the animation of the fire fights will show the attacker (you or alien) aiming the wrong way to it's target but still the projectile goes the right way.
Then there are times when the animation clearly shows a connecting hit...but it counts as a miss. Plus I've seen times when someone has a high chance of a hit (95%) but the animation shows them miss by a mile.
This are only niggles that can and should be fixed with a patch...cos the game was rushed out.

6) Weapons, no inventory, unlimited ammo and no free aiming.
The weapons of the original had more of a point to them. Some were heavier, some were more accurate, etc. They each had +'s and -'s Which lead to a level of strategy in terms of what weapons you give to which guys for each mission.
Here this is not the case. Basically each time you come across a new weapon here, it's just more powerful than the last. It becomes a no brainier which weapons to use as outside of the power, they are all the same. Yes I know, class systems (I'm getting to this). Having to chose which weapons to arm which guys with in the original was part of the tactics approach that made the game so damn good. You had to THINK about the fight before it happened.
Why is there no inventory system? Again, this was an element of the original where you had to think about what you took with you. Heavier weapons may have done more damage, but they slowed your guys down an impeded their movements. Lighter weapons did less damage, but you had more points to spend of actions, etc. This made a more tactical game and each solider became important for very specific reasons as each one could play a part. Now there is no inventory and just a basic loadout screen where your guys are limited not only by what that can or can not carry, but also limited via their class too.
Unlimited ammo. Yeah sounds great, never run out of ammo. Yeah you have to reload your weapons, but you'll never run out of clips for the weapons. Again an element of the original that was important was how much ammo do you give each solider? Give them too much and it adds to their weight restricting moments. don't give them enough and they could be in serious trouble. Add this to the fact each weapon was different holding different amounts of rounds per clip, etc...again a part where you's have to think before you arm your guys up. Not here, does not matter as you have endless ammo. Something that ties into this factor was that when you took out an alien in the original you could loot it's corpse and use it's weapons (provided you had researched it). Again tactics, your guy is low on ammo in the middle of a fire fight. Do you risk running out of ammo and hope you come out OK, or do you risk going for that alien corpse and grabbing a new weapon/ammo?
As there is no inventory system and you have unlimited ammo, you don't have to worry about this any more. The fire fights do become no-brainers with this game, as long as you are standing in the right place...you can't lose.
Free aiming was so damn important in the original. Now you can free aim in this, but only with grenades and rockets. Your rifles, etc can not free aim. Why was this important? As free aiming meant you could shoot down walls/cover (if your gun was powerful enough) but do you want to risk wasting ammo to do so? You could aim at the gas pumps at the gas station and take out several aliens at once if there were standing near by. Again, the free aim provided another level of strategy sadly missing here.

7) Single base, single skyranger and six soliders.
I loved the base management of the original. Having the think about what you build, where you build it and the fact you could have multiple basses around the world each doing different things. I would segregate my bases and have one just for research, one for building weapons/air craft, etc, one for major storage. Then I'd have 3 basses that would be my attacking bases each with several interceptors and a skyranger.
Then when I first head that you can only have one base in this...I was fuming. One base...ONE? So I can no longer plan my bases out, I can no longer create a worldwide Xcom project...just one base? This is stupid...or so I thought.
Now I've played it, I love the single base idea. Yeah it's restrictive, but now means you have to be more resourceful and put a lot more thought into your base. Careful what you build and where as you have limited space.
But the single skyranger thing is terrible. This highly funded that has highly trained soldiers earth defence force can only have one form of attack/defence against a worldwide alien attack? When you get an alien attack it's normally three countries that need help and you can only help one. This is implemented to FORCE difficulty instead of actually making the game itself difficult. It's a cheap piece of programming.
Onto only having six soldiers per mission. This makes no sense. Again, worldwide alien threat and I can only send out six soldiers in one skyranger at any one time, despite the fact I have 30 soldiers back at base raring to go? In the original you could have loads and loads of soldiers in each skyranger and as many skyrangers as you could build and hold. This was a little "extreme" I admit and it did need scaling down yes. But to only six soldiers and one skyranger? Too much scaling down, way too much scaling sown.

And so, God came forth and proclaimed widescreen is the best.
Sony 16:9

[–] Littlebitsofgaming 12 years ago

8) The maps.
We do get "random" missions yes. This meaning that my game will be different to yours as which and when a country is attacked, which missions the council was give is all different each game. The type of missions given will be different, etc. Where the aliens spawn and where you start from will always be different.
However, the maps are always the same. Each alien ship has it's own map and it'll always be the same map no matter where the alien ship lands/crashes. The urban map(s) are always exactly the same with the buildings in the exact same spot each time. The wooded map is always the same, etc. You get the idea. While the missions are randomly generated, the maps never, ever change.
In the original, not only were the missions random, but also were the maps with each one randomly generated. The buildings would be in different places each time, the scenery was randomly generated. Each map would be different not just in terms of it's locale but also the details of the map would be random too. Meaning you'd never play the exact same map twice. Basically each tile of the map would be random within the locale of the map. Whenever you when down to investigate a crash site, terror attack, etc. You had no way of knowing what was coming up...this added a sense of dread and fear.
Here there's only a handful of maps and after playing for a few hours (and you invest many, many hours into this game to play it right) you'll know each map like the back of your hand, there are no surprises outside of where the aliens are. You'll know where each building is, where the best cover spots are.
In the original, exploring each map was part of the game's charm, you had to learn your battlefield. Here, this does not happen as the maps repeat ad nauseum.
Another niggle about the maps. While I like the fact they have included some more mission types (yet removed one of the best mission types...more on this next) like having to rescue a single VIP/HVT, bomb disposal and even escort missions. Again, each map is the same and where the VIP/HVT/bomb is is ALWAYS the same. If there is one thing that should have been random (as the maps are not) it's where your main target is.

9) No Xcom base attack or alien base attack?
OK, there is an alien base attack. But it's story specific and only happens once in the entire game.
While I previously mentioned the new mission types, I also said the removed one of the best mission types and this was base attacks. Both the alien and your base(s) could be attacked.
If you didn't take care of a country well enough they would pull their funding (this also happens in this version) and side with the aliens (this does not happen in this version, they just pull their funding). When a country would side with the aliens, the aliens would build a base in that country. If you could find that base via tracking a specific ship to the base. You could then attack the base and get that country back on your side. This was a great addition to the original as attacking an alien base was VERY risky and one of the toughest missions in the game. Again a level of strategy missing in this version. While taking out an alien base meant getting that country back on your side and it's funding too...it was tough. You HAD to risk losing your best soldiers and weapons. It was a tough choice to make. With this version, if a country leaves the Xcom project...it's gone for good.
Then on top of that, in the same way you could track an alien ship to an alien base. The aliens could do the same to you and your base(s). Xcom base attacks were brutal as the aliens could destroy your base if you were not defending well enough. What was also a great little touch was the fact the map of your base represented how the base was built. The one instance where the map was not random but born from how you built it.
The base attacks (both alien and Xcom) were brutally hard and the success or even failure of such a mission was detriment to the entire game.
Why are there no base attacks? They were awesome and they served an important point to the game.
At least they kept the terror sites.

10) Class system.
Touched upon this previously.
It's an idea I both like and hate in equal measure.
Now there was a "kind of" class system in the original. It was not an implemented and restricted class system as it is in this version. But depending on what weapons you gave to a solider and the more they used said weapons, they would get better with them. You could create a solider best suited to their own stats. So while there was no specific this guy is a sniper, this guy is a medic, etc. You could "craft" your soldiers to become whatever "class" you wanted them to become via experience with the weapon(s) and gadgets of choice. You had freedom of character development.
This is how the class system works in this game. Start off as a "rookie", take said "rookie" on a mission and after the mission providing they lived and they got some EXP, they will be given a class.
Each soldier is just assigned a class and you have no control over it. Now I've tested this (several times) as I first thought that depending on how you make a soldier act/react in a fight this determines his/her class...no does not work that way. I wish it did, but it does not.
For instance: I had a mission, the first one when starting a new game so only had four soldiers. One solider I had go in all guns blazing hoping he's become a heavy. One I had up high "sniping" so as to turn this one into a sniper. The other two I had holding back offering support. The sniper guy mad some great shots/kills via sniping (despite not actually being a sniper...yet) and got most of the kills. The heavy guy worked as I wanted him to via breaking down doors, etc and going in. He got one kill and a couple o' hits. My two support did just that offer cover fire and support my other two guys.
So we have the set up of a sniper, a heavy and two supports. What classes where they given? Well my sniper that got some great long distance shots in and most of the kills became a support. The heavy who when in guns a blazing only killed one and got some hits became a sniper, as did one of my support guys that stayed back and just got a few hits in. The other support also became a sniper despite not doing any sniping at all during the mission.
Why are the classes handed out so damn randomly?
Once your guy is assigned a class that you have no control over (which brings up the question of why include "rookies" to begin with if they are randomly given a class...just start them out with the class?) you can upgrade their skills via a VERY, VERY limited selection of skills. With these skills you'll often have to chose one over another within said class. Most of the time the choice of skill is a no brainer as one is clearly far superior to the other, and as the skill selection is so limited this makes character building pretty damn pointless.
Again, going back to the original. Each solider had LOADS of stats you could check and then mould that solider into whatever class you wanted via weapon loadouts, etc. It was a more "organic" way to class your soldiers and added tactics. Each soldier would be unique to each game. Here each sniper is the same, each heavy is the same, etc.
The class system here is a good idea...but it's just been implemented so damn badly it becomes inane.

11) Difficulty.
The original games were infamous for being so damn brutal. You want to talk about hard games, the "classic" Ninja Gaiden, etc gets thrown around...nah, not even close. Get hold of the original Xcom, play that on it's hardest setting then come back and comment. Xcom was brutality in it's purest gaming form. It didn't just come from cheap "difficulty" (that this game and many modern games have) like you have less health and the enemy had more, weapons are hard to come by, etc. The difficulty came from you and how you played the game. Yes there are harder setting granted, but if you invested time into Xcom and "learnt" the game, and learnt is the correct and important word here. Xcom became this tough as nails game that was massively rewarding. Even though playing on the hardest setting meant you were going to be raped on a regular basis, the fact that knowing and learning the game also meant it offered a rough, but fully fair fight. If you could not be bothered to learn how to play Xcom properly then the hardest setting would ruin you.
However ,the difficulty with this game does come from cheapness, an example I mentioned earlier was the fact you can only have one Skyranger with limited soldiers and only help one country at a time when three require assistance. This is not "difficulty", this is just plain unfair. Once a country leave the Xcom project in the original you could fight to get it back, it was a BIG risk but it could be done. Here you lose a country and it's gone. Again, not "difficult" just unfair.
If in the original you lost a solider, or lost a base it was due to your own poor strategic choices and lack of attention. The beauty of the difficulty of the original was that is was a fair difficulty and it never felt "cheap".
This version is not difficult, it's cheap. The complete antithesis to what the original was. You fail as you can't send out more then one Skyranger or that you only have six soldiers to work with.
If I lost a country to the aliens as I made bad strategic decisions or I equipped my guys badly (like the original), etc. Fine I can live with that as it was my fault. If I lose a country just cos the game simply will not allow me to help them when needed(like this version)...this is not difficulty, that's just being unfair.
However saying all of that. I'm playing through on harder "classic" (not THE hardest "impossible" setting...yet) and I'm not fining the game hard at all. It's just "normal" to me.
Pro tip: Concentrate on getting the world covered is satellites, get satellite links built, research the nexus, make 16 satellites ASAP. Don't worry about soldiers/weapons yet. Once the world is covered, you get so many bonuses and bonuses on top of bonuses with money and workers the game is a breeze from that point on. The more coverage you have the less attacks occur. Then get your fighter craft upgraded so you can take down even the biggest UFOs. Is this an "exploit"? No, it's part of the game you are supposed to get those satellites up, however Fraxis have decided that once you do the game will be easy. They still could have offered a harder challenge even when you have the world covered. If only there was some feature where the aliens could attack your base and hinder your progress...oh wait...
Again, I'm playing on hard and it's not "hard" at all.
I was excited when I saw the game had a "classic" mode. I thought maybe they would bring back some of the classic elements of the game that are sorely missing (many of which I've listed)...nah it's just a slightly harder (which is not that hard anyway) setting.
I will be giving this a go with the "ironman" setting which disables continual and multiple saves. But again this is not making the game itself hard, it's just forcing difficulty upon the player.

I think I've pretty much exhausted my views on this game. (I do have more a lot of them praise too)
But overall do I think it's a bad game? No, it's great one of the most refreshing games I've played in years. It's just that I LOVE the original Xcom and this had removed so much of what made the original such a great game. It is dumbed down, this is "Xcom For Dummies", it's "Xcom-lite."
It works as a great intro to the series and it's a worthy return. But it's still not quite what Xcom should be. There is a lack of depth and control over the original.
They are clearly trying to make this game appeal to a wider audience which is both a good and bad thing.
It's good as many more people will learn what Xcom is and hopefully enjoy it. It's bad as it does disappoint the long time fans (of almost 20 years) like myself.
I just do not understand why they could not have had two settings for the game. One in which the game plays as it already does. One that brings back the depth of the original. Classic mode really could have been "classic mode" for the old-timey Xcomers.

This is how think of this game...
If you were starving, had not eaten anything for ages and someone handed you a mouldy, stale piece of bread. That bread would taste amazing.
This is how this game is. It's not that this is an amazing game. More a fact games around it are stale using and overusing the same old game concepts and ideas. So when something like this comes along that does offer something "new"...it "tastes" amazing.

Fraxis, I hope you are already working on a sequel...
I also hope they bring back many of the missing features and tidy up the graphics and voice acting too. There is a good game here, but as I previously said it's clearly been rushed out.

And so, God came forth and proclaimed widescreen is the best.
Sony 16:9

[–] Degree7 10 years ago

I agree with you totally, but mostly on the fact that the aliens get one free move when you spot them!

This makes the game totally unbalanced and just ridiculous to play. Imagine if you were playing chess with someone, and they got an extra move for every one of the pieces on their board. The game cheats like a motherfcker.

It eliminates any element of stealth or surprise, like you said. There is no ability to recon or spot enemies from a distance.

Also the cover system in this game is broken. Cover basically acts like a 50/50 chance of you being hit or protected by whatever debris you're hiding behind. Very rarely does it protect you. Of course, there's the 'hunker down' option, but that also only slightly increases your survival chances.

Limit of the Willing Suspension of Disbelief: directly proportional to its awesomeness.

[–] nomen_meltdown 10 years ago

Except this isn't true, there is a way-- it's called Ghost Armour. If a cloaked soldier scouting ahead spots an enemy or group of enemies, they don't react to being spotted. Then if you have a squad sight sniper and they have a line of effect, they can open fire on one target before the group will make a break for it. Otherwise the enemy units won't move until their turn or until another, visible soldier moves up on them.

I'm an island- peopled by bards, scientists, judges, soldiers, artists, scholars & warrior-poets.

[–] Degree7 10 years ago

Ah thanks for the tip.

I only just researched ghost armour, and I wasn't aware of how to incorporate it into my strategy. I was mostly just scouting with the heavy, but now I think I'll equip my assault with it to creep up on the aliens. Tbh, when I wrote that comment I was still frustrated with the mechanics of the game, but now after playing a few times on normal, I think I've found my way around the learning curve.

~ There is nothing more pathetic than an aging hipster.

[–] Karl Aksel 9 years ago

It isn't true even without the ghost armour. Aliens don't get a free move, if anything it is exactly the opposite: the player gets a free view of where they are, via a cut-scene. The cut-scene always starts out with the aliens (two or three at a time) standing around, huddling together, right in the open. This is something you would never see in the original X-COM, where the aliens were not automatically discovered by proximity, and were certainly never huddling together right in the open. So this new feature is not helping the aliens one bit; it is helping the player tremendously.

Just to reiterate: the aliens do not get any free moves. It is a cut-scene showing where they have taken cover.

[–] swaroberts 9 years ago

I completely agree with your posting. I wonder if you've played Xenonauts- it's the true spiritual successor to UFO Enemy Unknown and has the blessing of Julian Gollop. It's on Steam and isn't expensive.

Imagine UFO but with better, more modern isometric graphics, improved aerial combat, better/more interesting base combat and the Blaster Launcher removed (maybe you'll think that's a bad thing) and you have a rough idea of the Xenonauts.

I'll warn you though that it has some late-game balance issues in much the same way that UFO did, but despite this I've played it through to the finish at least seven times.