Um, I meant in terms of quality. You can't actually beat AI at present as it's not really finished.
And when UFO came out, I'd been gaming for nine years already ...
And when UFO came out, I'd been gaming for nine years already ...
X-Com returns! As a FPS. And there was much crying.
- Thread starter Jhessail
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Buxton said:
Well, let me explain. Thanks to 2K Games, there will never be a big-budget, real X-Com sequel, as in similar or even improved version of the original. Instead there will be a forgettable console shooter that will be forgotten in few years unless it really sells well in which case we're probably treated to a even crappier sequel.
I've already played the original to death, I've played the fan-made indieprojects and Altair's spiritual successors and none of them got it right either. So please, allow me to vent frustration that instead of making X-Files: The Origins or MiB: The Beginning, 2K instead pilfered the X-Com name. I'm also extremely annoyed by the fact that thanks to consoles (sounds unfair but I can't think of any other reason), my favorite genres are being neglected by the big studios almost completely and every time I try to point this out, someone jumps up and starts hugging developer/publisher feet like I'm hurting their feelings.
To be fair, there never would have been a big-budget X-Com sequel. Not unless someone ridiculously wealthy decided they had a few million quid they didn't particularly want anymore.Jhessail said:
Raz
Count
They're different genres. Saying squad based tactical shooters are superior to turn based tactical strategy games is comparing apples to oranges. Just because the industry has largely ditched the turn-based tactical format doesn't mean it's somehow outdated, or even less popular (what with so many people still going back to turn based classics). Arguably you can't achieve the same depth and scope in a tactical FPS as in a turn based tactical, like X-Com and JA2. I honestly can't think of a 'new' format that allows you to manage your team and tactics on the battlefield in such depth that it effectively replaces the turn based tactical format.
Erm, why do you think the industry ditched them in the first place? It was a niche market at the best of times, it's virtually non-existent now.Raz said:
Arbitrary complexity and spurious mechanics =/= depth, particularly not when they only arise due to attempting to simulate real time. I'd also say SWAT 4 was far more tactical than X-Com. Having to deal with the fact the enemy won't simply stand in one place like a tailor's dummy while you decide what to do adds a whole new level.
Pfft, Men of War, 7.62 mm or the modern UFO series all managed to not only meet, but exceed the depth of the turn based stuff.
Raz
Count
I stand corrected, then. I hadn't thought of 7.62, Brigade E5, Soldiers: Heroes of WWII and its successors. 
Agreed, they're mostly solid games, contributing to the tactical genre. It would've been great if they made an X-Com with any of those systems.
Anyway, I haven't touched any of the UFO games, but Aftershock looks really good. Which one you do think I should pick up?
Agreed, they're mostly solid games, contributing to the tactical genre. It would've been great if they made an X-Com with any of those systems. Anyway, I haven't touched any of the UFO games, but Aftershock looks really good. Which one you do think I should pick up?
Aftershock or Afterlight are the better of the series imho. Aftershock is closer to the X-Com series in style, there's no base management as such (though you do get to build in territories you own). Afterlight puts you in charge of a limited amount of characters adding an interesting aspect of man management to the mix (particularly since it removes the line between 'scientists at your base' and people on your mission team).
I got all excited for ufo games again thanks for this thread. First fighting all yesterday with UFO-AI and having problems with it since it hates my ATi card I decided to go with UFO afterlight. I played it by friend earlier so I never got to finish it, I think I'll have to now settle my score with it once and for all.
Aftershock and Afterlight are decent games. Afterlight has polished engine more working, but it is located in mars which doesn't give that good retro-ufo-vibe, but is still good altogether. If you like this kind of games you'll get your hours of fun with them despite their small problems. One I remember was them having repeatable maps, but as long as you don't start game again many times in row or if you can fight against your save-problem
(which I suffer too) then it probably won't get that bad.
First of series aftermath was more gruesome and still bit unfinished so I wouldn't necessarily bother with that, but aftershock should be good to start with.
Cheapest deal of afterlight I could find right now was in greenmangaming 7€, I made more detailed post about it in cheap gaming thread.
Raz said:
Aftershock and Afterlight are decent games. Afterlight has polished engine more working, but it is located in mars which doesn't give that good retro-ufo-vibe, but is still good altogether. If you like this kind of games you'll get your hours of fun with them despite their small problems. One I remember was them having repeatable maps, but as long as you don't start game again many times in row or if you can fight against your save-problem
(which I suffer too) then it probably won't get that bad.First of series aftermath was more gruesome and still bit unfinished so I wouldn't necessarily bother with that, but aftershock should be good to start with.
Cheapest deal of afterlight I could find right now was in greenmangaming 7€, I made more detailed post about it in cheap gaming thread.
Theo said:
Me too
I'm currently trying to figure out if any game is a worthy spiritual/actual predecessor.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-COM - this contains some info and links to other games that might be similar, I'm gonna start wading through them now.
So far I've tried the graveyard of fan-made games; http://www.xcomufo.com/forums/
Here I found 1 playable game, UFO: Alien Invasion(http://ufoai.ninex.info/wiki/index.php/News), which I think might be good, but is far from ready and has balance issues.
I have also, but for only a few hours yet, tried Aftermath and Aftershock - the latter seemingly beeing an interesting game. But these are "paused realtime" and not turnbased. Also base-buidling is lacking completely from the first, but there is something similar to bases in Aftershock.
Afterlight I haven't tried yet.
The one I am most curios about is this one : http://ufo.ufo-extraterrestrials.com/ , does anyone know if it's good?
It's not entirely bad, but it's not exactly brilliant either. AI is patchy, troops can't be killed, you can't purchase staff (base management as a whole is horribly simplified) and the maps are generally too small and poorly thought out. If you can find it cheap it might be worthwhile.
aguds said:
I just played yesterday newest version 2.3, but it has problems with ATI cards (at least with older versions), it either didn't worked most of the time or rebooted my whole computer
But I still managed to find one working settings.Beginning part of game is ok, you get to build your base, you can research, hunt ufos down with interceptor and send squads there. This part works well, whether you like or not it combat system which is turn based.
I don't know how far game is finished, but at least you get to play beginning - middle game which works all right, you probably can't finish and win game at this phase(?), but which is more important, goal or journey? Even in this form it can offer fun if you can avoid ATI graphic bugs.
Aftermath was unfinished product, aftershock works better and it has factions which is interesting so you'll fight different enemies and there are some politics involved.
Afterlight has best polished combat engine since they have had time to improve it, it is decent game with research and territory capturing, and there are some politics too where you can decide whether you are hostile or not to against some factions. It being mars takes it away from traditional earth ufo defence feeling though. I only know about first part of it though so no info of later phase.
Personally I like order and pause system.
I played it some time, but then stopped playing for some reason, maybe because of my regular getting-bored-quickly to games or perhaps because it has bit oldish graphics and I nowadays favour realtime combat systems.
Still it is good game so I think once I have time I might return to it some time in future.
It has many similar points towards old ufo game play, it's not located in earth, but game play is very much similar than it was in first ufo games. You create bases, there are continents which support you and you have to defend them. You can research captured technologies and aliens. You build and research new versions of interceptors and ships which you use to hunt ufos down and then go eliminate missions, or just normal defence missions or attacking against discovered alien bases.
Overall map game was ok and I liked researching new ships and ufo hunting game part, I think my problem was with turn based combat since I have played in past years several realtime combat systems which I have started to like, also graphics were bit oldish, I would had expected more from game published in 2007. Even though some persons who were great fans of first ufo series (I actually missed them back in my youth since all I had was crappy C=64
) have said/reviewed they greatly liked that game and it put them back into the old ufo feeling so you might like it.I think I liked it too, but I stopped it because my game was going too slowly forward and I managed to get bored, this might be just my personal problem since even that game I restarted few times, then I spent way too much to micromanaging and battles too were going slowly on, so I lost my interest.
I still might give it another shot at some phase if I have time and I learn to play games faster, not always hardest settings which forces me to load and repeat same scenes again, normal difficulty, swift gameplay without too much micromanaging so I can get ahead in game and keep my interest, yeah that's going to be ticket to victory
Vadermath said:
Nah, after Afterxxx, ET and AI I just know it's gonna be ****. Bes Case Scenario - I'm happily surprised.
No they didn't. Well, maybe 7.62 but not the others. At least not JA2.
And not being able to react immediately forces you to plan ahead and prepare for contingencies, making gameplay a more cerebral experience. Turnbased isn't inherently worse gameplay mechanic than real-time even if you personally dislike it Arch
Archonsod said:
The troops not getting killed/hiring etc. have been fixed by mods it seems, so I'll see if I can get hold of this game and try it with this mod-additions : http://ufo.ufo-extraterrestrials.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1661
By the videos and screenies I found it seems it tries to stay 'true' to the whole X-Com 1 experience, and with me beeing one of those types still prefering turn-based combat - I think I'll give it a go, and report back with my feelings on it in a few days.
But I think I'll maybe see if I can find a cheap Afterlight copy(or at least a demo) and try that aswell, since Aftershock does have a lot of things I like, but not quite giving me the right feel.
JA 2 wasn't exactly deep either. The plot was nonsense, the main feature of the combat was that it modelled flight ballistics and that was it. It did have a ****ton of different guns and gun mods, but you can do gun porn in any formatJhessail said:
Not really, you either wiped them out in their turn or just stacked the guys with enough TU's for reaction fire pointing in their direction. It was as bad as 2nd Edition 40K with it's overwatch rules; point enough machine guns in the direction the enemy is and watch half of their force kill themselves during their turn; mop up what's left in your own.
No, but it's an inherently worse simulation of realtimeTurnbased isn't inherently worse gameplay mechanic than real-time even if you personally dislike it Arch
It tries. I'm not sure if it's different with the mods, but the base game certainly falls short. It's not just the way they've implemented the mechanics; the AI is a little too scatterbrained to give a similar challenge, and the aliens are a little odd.aguds said:
Anyway, I'm off to play Afterlight now. Bastards
QuailLover
Marquis
Well, I'm using my mad necromancy skills, and reviving the thread.
Anyway, my hopes for the game actually rose quite a bit after seeing the E3 Trailer for it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8otmMpaIdQ&feature=player_embedded
It looks like they are implementing some tactical elements into it, which is what I was hoping for.
Anyway, my hopes for the game actually rose quite a bit after seeing the E3 Trailer for it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8otmMpaIdQ&feature=player_embedded
It looks like they are implementing some tactical elements into it, which is what I was hoping for.
So it's Rainbow Spear: X-Com now?
