XCOM remake officially announced
2K Games officially announced today it is working on a new XCOM game and that it'll be an FPS.
The long-running X-COM series started in 1993 and was originally developed by UK-based Mythos Games. There were four games in the series and the first three are often remembered as some of the best titles from the period for their tactical gameplay that tasked players with maintaining a team of soldiers and using them to fight aliens.
2K Marin hasn't released many details about the project just yet, but has confirmed that the game will be played from the FPS perspective, eschewing the isometric viewpoint of previous games. That means it will probably be in real-time too, rather than the old-style turn-based - though the official press release promise there'll still be a strategic element to the gameplay.
The plot of the new game will put players in the shoes of an FBI agent who has to identify and eliminate a new threat.
“With BioShock 2, the team at 2K Marin proved themselves as masters of first-person, suspenseful storytelling, and with XCOM they will re-imagine and expand the rich lore of this revered franchise,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K.
“Players will explore the world of XCOM from an immersive new perspective and experience firsthand the fear and tension of this gripping narrative ride.”
The new official XCOM website has a few bits of concept art which imply a minimalist look for the game, as well as an update to the series name; it's changed from X-COM to just XCOM.
Check our BioShock 2 review for more info on 2K Marin's latest release, then let us know your thoughts in the forums.
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Discuss in the forums ReplyWill be a first-person shooter - BOOOOOOO!!
Aliens invading earth is not a gripping narrative ride... a FPS is not a "new perspective"... what made X-COM great was the game itself not the rubbish background story... So 2K are taking said rubbish story and making a generic FPS... sounds wack.
The fact that someone, somewhere gets paid a wage to churn out this marketing wonk speak fills me with dispair...
X-COM's sequels aren't exactly known for living up to the original's success.
it was renamed to X-COM Defence to fall in line with the rest of the titles... but really, did they not learn their lesson with enforcer and the other crap one? lol
Aahhh, now that rings a bell :D
Am I the only one that enjoyed TftD more than EU?
but why the fps. that truly sucks
Why the hell they urge to destroy a game by turning what make them unique to something that every other game has??
It's not the PC games that are dying, it is the game creativity that is dying...
Personally, I thought Apocolypse was the best.
Give us something innovative other than the story and ill be happy.
This. But including the base-building, research, etc from Apocalypse. Haven't enjoyed an X-Com game since Apocalypse. And impar, I also enjoyed Terror from the Deep more than Enemy Unknown, but i think that's maybe because I played TftD before EU.
Not sure about an XCOM fps, but will keep an open mind about it. I quite like the idea of downing a UFO in a dogfight and then assaulting the crashed ship in squad-fps style, but I doubt it will be as good as that sounds.
But, if they had announced a remake in isometric view with a new story, I'd hardly be drooling at the prospect either.
I'm going to keep an open mind about this until I see more.
Having a co-op where you and a friend jointly assault downed UFOs or infiltrated buildings sounds cool.
Doing it with a stealth option like splinter cell also sounds pretty groovy.
These games always end up with a squad of your guys in awesome(tm) armour with BFGs(tm) blowing away the entire building along with any alien threat.
Getting up close and chibbing an alien in the back sounds like a good laugh if nothing else.
There's quite a few unique options open if they think about it, and don't just churn out another FPS with new alien skins on the models. :)
All one would have to do is reskin the old game, X-Com, and you would have a huge hit. If they actually put some thought into it and improved the story (after Mars goto the aliens homeworld(s)) it would be game of the year.
Alos, isometric and 3-d are not mutually exclusive, they could have a 3d engine with presets that put you in the tradition 3/4s view, but also allowed you to change your point of view with the mouse.
I wonder how much the lobotomy adds to the cost of an MBA.
X-Com is still one of my favorite games of all time. The seamless merging of Tactics and Strategy and one affecting the other is still one of the best in all of PC Gaming history.
Yours in remembering 1995,
Star*Dagger
I remember seeing some sample screen shots as it was in development and it did look interesting and allowed you to jump into any member of your squad as you played along.
Xenonauts:
http://www.xenonauts.com/
I can't see an X-Com FPS working. X-Com Enforcer was a turkey IMHO (and critically) that jumped on the FPS bandwagon way back then and this is another shallow attempt. A tactical/stratergy third person squad based game with elements of the original's research/base management would have piqued my interest. I have a horrible feeling that this will turn out along the lines of a Men In Black FPS.
For those who need a new X-Com fix, though the original (EU) and TFTD are still a blast, should keep an eye on UFO 2 Extraterrestrials. The UFO After series are quite forgettable and rather rubbish, but UFO Extraterrestials is also worth a look at too so long as you use the Bman "Ease of Use" mod which both improves the game and brings it closer to a "X-Com like" experience.
That and what impar just posted a link to.
they better not screw this up.. after interceptor and enforcer i had completely lost faith of ever seeing another addition to the xcom series...
The last FPS I bought was Half-Life 1 the day it was released if that gives you any idea.... even this game, I'll wait until it's in the $10 bin on Steam or something.