XCOM: So Fracking Good!

11 posts / 0 new
Last post
#1 Wed, 10/10/2012 - 14:00
Thom293's picture
Offline
Last seen: 5 years 4 months ago
Joined: 09/09/2010 - 23:00
Currently Playing: 

XCOM: So Fracking Good!

It is a sad testament that there is not a strategy gaming forum here. :)

 

Anyway - who has played XCOM: Enemy Unknown?  IMHO, it is really really good.

 

It is everything I remember about the original XCOM.  There are some differences (only one base, and no base attacks sadly), and minor bugs (occasional "glam cam" clipping) but they have the "feel" of it perfect.  There are real consequences to this game, and I am loving it.  I am playing on Normal difficulty with Ironman (single save - no reloads) applied.  A small snippet from last night...

I lost the last members of my original squad last night.  It was a sad return to the XCOM HQ with their bodies under their country's flags.  3 more people added to our Memorial wall (That makes 9 people so far).  The fate of the 5 man squad from operation Glass Sabre:

RIP:

Captain Roberto "Cyclops" Diaz, Mexico - Sniper.  The sole survivor of the first contact mission, and my leader since day one.  Killed by an alien grenade after being seriously wounded by a CLASSIFIED during an ambush. 

Captain Kingo "Pox" Adebe, Nigeria - Support Medic.  My second in command has been with us since our first full mission.  He died as he lived - bravely rushing to Diaz side to apply a medkit, whe he too, was killed by the alien grenade.

Squaddie Joseph Peters, Germany - Assault.  Squaddie Peters had not been with us long enough to earn a nickname, but he had a promising combat record of 2 missions with 6 kills.  He was felled defending Captain Diaz from CLASSIFIED, but their combined attacks were too much. 

Seriously Injured:

Sergeant Joe "Arcade" Johnson - Canada, Heavy.  Arcade has been placed on suicide watch in the ICU. He was seriously injured when he panicked after seeing the deaths of Diaz and Adebe - his commanding officers.  He ran out into the open, uncontrollable, and fired his weapon wildly in revenge, only to be gravely wounded by CLASSIFIED and CLASSIFIED.  Still in his panicked state, he eventually retreated, cowering in a corner.  He is estmated to be out of action for at least 2 weeks, pending psyciatric evaluation.

Lt. Shen "Combo" Lu, China - Support Medic.  Lt. Lu was terribly injured when she ran out to defend the panicked Sgt. Johnson.  She eventually killed the last CLASSIFIED, but only after being seriously injured.  Lt. Shen has earned a promotion.  However, she will be out of action for at least 11 days due to her wounds. 

Since this was the majority of the command squad, Lt. Yuri "Blitz" Ivanov (Assault) will be responsible for taking out rookies and squaddie to missions, until they can earn their stripes. 

There is MP too, which I will play after the campaign, but I havent tried it yet.

 

EDIT:  For those who care, its been getting 8.5-9.5 mainstream reviews.  Id pick it up if you were a fan of the original.

 

 

 

Thu, 10/11/2012 - 09:00
ATC_1982's picture
Offline
Last seen: 8 years 10 months ago
Joined: 06/21/2007 - 23:00

I am liking this game as well, but for more than just single player ... I have over 21 dead ... However, I am taking to the multiplayer ... I think it is more about beating others, but how to transverse with movements ... It also helps when the other team is alien to find weaknesses :) 

Fri, 10/12/2012 - 12:04
BlowMonkey's picture
Offline
Last seen: 9 years 3 months ago
Joined: 12/04/2006 - 23:00

I'm watching Battlestar Galactica on Netflix right now (the remake from 2004).  They say frack or some iteration of frack 17 times per episode.

 

I'm also playing XCOM EU and it is very very good.  They have take a lot from Valkyria Chronicles (who in turn took a lot for the original xcom) and I think I VC actually had more to offer EXCEPT  that the actual battles in XCOM are so much more tense....and the tension is what does it for me.  Super great game.

 

 

 

Sat, 10/13/2012 - 15:15
CapnHun's picture
Offline
Last seen: 12 years 3 weeks ago
Joined: 11/20/2005 - 23:00
Also palying Xcom EU. Did not play the original or any game like it but I am enjoying it despite the steep (or should I say vertical) learning curve. Playing on normal, I have restarted the game six times (it took me until try #5 just figuring out how to keep a squad intact). I estimate I am half way through the game and have now managed to keep the support of all the countries (so far), so I will finish this playthrough until I finish or the bitter end. I cheat by restarting the mssion when I lose a guy most of the time but will do an honest playthrough on classic once I know what the hell I am doing.
Sat, 10/13/2012 - 21:06 (Reply to #4)
Thom293's picture
Offline
Last seen: 5 years 4 months ago
Joined: 09/09/2010 - 23:00
Currently Playing: 

CapnHun wrote:
Also palying Xcom EU. Did not play the original or any game like it but I am enjoying it despite the steep (or should I say vertical) learning curve. Playing on normal, I have restarted the game six times (it took me until try #5 just figuring out how to keep a squad intact). I estimate I am half way through the game and have now managed to keep the support of all the countries (so far), so I will finish this playthrough until I finish or the bitter end. I cheat by restarting the mssion when I lose a guy most of the time but will do an honest playthrough on classic once I know what the hell I am doing.

Yeah, it's hard to find, but on the new game 'advanced' options - there is an ironman option. No reloads. I have lost some damn good squad members.  And training new rookies late in the game is hard. They have about a 50% survival rate on the harder missions.

I'm having money issues, so I may not make it. I think two countries have withdrawn. But it's a blast.

Sun, 10/14/2012 - 17:24
MTPathy's picture
Offline
Last seen: 10 years 12 months ago
Joined: 11/22/2008 - 23:00

awesome im glad others here are enjoying the game.

Mon, 10/15/2012 - 15:31
Corps's picture
Offline
Last seen: 12 years 2 weeks ago
Joined: 12/07/2006 - 23:00

The original XCom was my favourite game of all time and so far this looks like this is going to replace it.

 

I've lost around 25 guys so far, the highest ranking was a Major.  He was a "bonus" recruit, so although his skills will be missed he still hadn't earned the respect of the rest of the squad. But I'm not playing on hardcore, so I have reloaded once or twice.  Reloaded on my first terror mission when I aggroed 3 sets of chrysallid's and they took out my best soldiers by the 3rd turn.   I'm going to play hardcore my next run through so I'm not tempted.

Mon, 10/15/2012 - 23:12
CapnHun's picture
Offline
Last seen: 12 years 3 weeks ago
Joined: 11/20/2005 - 23:00
So the question is next run through should I play iron man or classic? P.S. Thom - Liked your write-up. You clearly have a gift with words.
Wed, 10/17/2012 - 04:55 (Reply to #8)
Thom293's picture
Offline
Last seen: 5 years 4 months ago
Joined: 09/09/2010 - 23:00
Currently Playing: 

You can play both classic and ironman at the same time!  

 

But damn Classic Ironman is hard.  I did real well first 5 or 6 missions.  Had around 8 veterans, losing one occasionally.  But then two mission in a row, I got wiped, and lost a full squad of 4 vets each time.  (Including my best two captains on a single turn, who both missed on 85% shots and paid the ultimate price). Ouch.  So, then my first terror mission pops up and I upgraded to 5 squad members - one squaddie sniper and 4 rookies (allI had left).  Wiped again.  Brutal.  But so damn fun.

 

its been years since a single player game has made me yell at my TV.  ;)

Tue, 10/23/2012 - 15:05
cdn_bacon's picture
Offline
Last seen: 7 years 5 months ago
Joined: 11/18/2006 - 23:00
Currently Playing: 

I just started playing this today. Got through the first few tutorial missions (last one completed was the first rescue / escort mission). I am playing on the PC and just want to give everyone a piece of advise.....save your game frequently or turn on the auto-save feature....I assumed it was saving after each mission at least, but when the game locked back at the base and I had to kill my session I realized it doesn't save the game at all by default. Thank god I didnt play for another couple hours lol. My fault for assuming but rare to find a game without an auto-save nowadays.

Great game so far!

Sat, 12/29/2012 - 10:11
BigFish's picture
Offline
Last seen: 11 years 2 weeks ago
Joined: 02/15/2009 - 23:00

I absolutely love this game! I played the original UFO Defense and Terrors of the Deep, the 3rd installment sucked as it had more RTS elements and I'm not an RTS fan. I also don't like the fact that there is only one base, in fact until just now, I though there would be the option. I'm running out of cash quickly and had 2 countries drop me so far, with china, Japan and India ready to bolt soon. The strat aspect of the game is awesome, and gets really friggin difficult! 

Pi have to admit, I have reloaded several times, I have to remember to slowly advance and not run balls out. I'm stuck on the first alien base right now, reloaded that twice so far. Got pretty far the first time, but then got demolished by chrysalids toward what I think was the end of the map. Just gotta get past that hurdle and ill be good.

havent tried MP yet, don't know if I really will TBH. Good times with this one, and it takes me back to one of my fav games on the PC.

Join our Universe

Connect with 2o2p