E3 Preview: XCOM - Preview
by Alex St-Amour , posted on 17 June 2010 / 2,916 Views
2K Marin's reboot of the classic X-COM series has a lot to live up to. The fondly remembered series has not seen an installment since 1997's X-COM Apocalypse and fans have been clamoring for a sequel ever since. Well now the series is returning with XCOM, a reboot of the series that sets the franchise off into completely new directions. I got a chance to attend a behind the scenes demo of XCOM and what I say may shock you.
For starters the developers have chosen to abandon the series' tactical action gameplay to instead make a first person shooter set in 1950s America. A kinder, simpler America, where people put complete trust in the government and had dreams of the future with jetpacks, rockets and white picket fences. But all is not as it seems, secret government organisations are fighting a new mysterious alien invasion that is taking over America one suburban neighborhood at a time.
This is where you come in. You play as special agent William Carleton, an employee of XCOM, a top secret agency that researches and combats the alien threat. The tools you use to fight this war of the worlds range from the traditional human weapons like the shotgun to crazy alien technology that is acquired through researching the alien forces in the field and bringing the information back to your base.
The game is level based and will have you going across the entire United States to combat the aliens. It's a capable design choice but one that seems to take away from the original X-COM experience, and that's really my big gripe with the game so far. It doesn't feel like X-COM. The style and wit are right where they should be, but the radical departure in gameplay makes it difficult to make the association to the previous titles.
The game's visuals also seem to be in need of work. While the game's setting and style are just fine, the graphics seem on the bland and empty side and the art direction can only be described as uninspired and boring. Harsh criticisms for sure, but the game is still far from it's 2011 release date so hopefully these issues can be ironed out in time.
