XCOM (Firaxis)

[Dog Pants]

Best review I've seen of this yet!

[deject]

Sounds about right!

[Dog Pants]

Game failed to get my copy to me on release day. Now, I only paid for standard delivery, so this isn't about entitlement, but if they want to compete with electronic distribution they can't afford a scenario like this. I could have got a digital copy cheaper and faster. The only reason I used Game in the first place is for the Special Edition. Without that exclusivity they need to be competitive. Amazon are often cheaper than Steam and will get me the game on or just before release. If Game did the same I would at least look at their site. As they don't, I won't.

[friznit]

I thought Game went bust?

[Dog Pants]

I think they were saved at the 11th hour.

[buzzmong]

I think they were saved at the 11th hour.

That and they closed down a bucket load of their "duplicate" stores, probably meaning the remaining stores could actually make something resembling a profit.

[TheJockGit]

Loving the game so far,only gripe I have with the Customisation, it seems there is no way to change the nationality, so it's not a game breaker but a bit bloody annoying that something so simple wasn't factored in.

How does it compare with the original? It doesn't really as its a slightly different game, the point made about "free aim" for example, but it is still one of the best games I have played for along time

[friznit]

I'm enjoying it. Even on Normal it seems bloody impossible to keep everyone happy (or I'm doing it wrong) even though I've completed every mission with very few casualties so far. But my biggest gripe is definitely the soldier management - not being able to choose which class they are in particular, but also the stupidly dumbed down inventory which like so many console games has regressed far behind what even Eye of the Beholder managed a thousand years ago.

[Dog Pants]

I have my Special Edition, and it is nice. As well as the game and pre-order digital bonuses, it has:

An antfarm base poster
An XCOM patch (I will be creating something in Spreadshirt to put it on)
A little hardback making of/concept art book which I stopped reading when I started seeing spoilers.

[Dog Pants]

This game is eating my life. I've been playing it on classic, and despite not selecting ironman mode have been refusing (or forgetting) to save it. So I've restarted several times due to horrific losses and have started saving pre-mission just so I stand a chance of seeing some future tech. How are you chaps playing it?

[friznit]

On normal for my first run through but it's a bit too easy - I've lost a few rookies, mainly cos I use them as meat shields. I did lose a Major a couple of missions back which was painful. Preferred set up is 2 Assaults, floaty Sniper, Heavy, Stealth Recce Medic and a SHIV if I can get one, otherwise some random dude in a Red Shirt. Having lots of fun with psi powers!

Incidentally, it is moddable to an extent - Mod Nexus has a balance mod out (just tweaks, mainly) which looks interesting for a future playthrough.

[spoodie]

I got this today. I started on easy as I heard is was really tough, but it seems too easy. Although I am only just out of the tutorial missions.

[friznit]

Normal is pretty easy - you can make mistakes without losing soldiers. Classic ramps it up a lot and is very unforgiving.

[Joose]

Yeah, if you want an easyier time without being able to win without even looking what you are doing, go for Normal.

Protip: Get all the satellites ever, as early as possible. My last game was a long, slow drawn out fail as I didn't get enough satellites up early enough, so I didn't get enough money to buy shiny things early enough, so my doods kept dying, which cost me money, so I didn't have enough money to get more satellites, and so on.

[Dog Pants]

I have a terrible lack of engineers with which to build more uplinks, or indeed most other upgrades. I'm still killing aliens hard, but it's getting tougher and tougher as I fall behind. I don't have the option of building a workshop either, so I must have missed some research somewhere.

[friznit]

Things I don't like are not being able to choose new soldier class and the forced "pick one of three countries not to panic". It somehow lacks that epic feel of Original X-Com where you slowly developed your understanding of the alien menace and expanded your coverage to find out what was really going on, only to see with a sinking heart that they were rather nastier than you first thought. Sats feel like a mechanical anti-panic tool, aeroplanes are used completely randomly on an event only basis (2/3rds of the UFOs are horse cloaked by a game mechanic to prevent you shooting them down and making the terror missions too easy), and only one alien base with no base invasion...it all feels like the aliens are put there for me to level my soldiers up against, not that I'm desparately defending Earth from impending doom.

That said, it's immensely fun game and I expect it will be something I come back to often. I'll be trying classic next, because I seem to have rattled through Normal without any real idea of wtf I'm doing.

[spoodie]

Protip: Get all the satellites ever, as early as possible. My last game was a long, slow drawn out fail as I didn't get enough satellites up early enough, so I didn't get enough money to buy shiny things early enough, so my doods kept dying, which cost me money, so I didn't have enough money to get more satellites, and so on.

I think I'm starting to see this problem myself. Not fully understanding the satellite mechanic probably isn't helping, so I've started making more too late. Still it's all good fun and the normal mode is far from as hard as I was led to believe.

One annoyance I've come across though was in a large, alien ship with multiple levels. When I scroll up to the top level, so I can select my people up there, it sometimes puts the roof on. So I can't see what I'm doing some of the time.

[Dog Pants]

In my current game I still haven't earned any extra engineers. Still on the original five, and despite researching plasma weapons and skeletal armour with my gazillion scientists, I can't build any of it. Missions are starting to get very hard now with starting tech - four out of six of my squad came back injured from the last mission, with my Lt Assault having to be daringly rescued when I forgot he was lying injured in an alley while I was escaping.

[shot2bits]

surely you should be able to build workshops by now? which iirc give you 5 engineers each

[Dog Pants]

Nope, because I think they're unlocked by getting engineers as a mission reward, and every time I've had an abduction mission there has always been a more panicked country to save.