So, I did totally enjoy playing this. Let me get that out of the way straight off. Unlike a bunch of other games I've bought recently, I don't for a minute regret the money I spent on it.
The mix of turn-based tactical and strategic segments were nicely done. It's based off a game from way back produced by Microprose software. Back in those days (for me at least) anything from Microprose was a safe bet, gaming-wise. You could buy it and generally depend on it being entertaining and fun.
Firaxis, the spiritual successor to Microprose have done a good job here of capturing the original game's fun and addictiveness.
It's not all good, though. For a start, there are lots of line-of-sight issues with the tactical section. You'll find yourself apparently firing through walls a lot. There are also issues with occasional crashes and such like that you expect with new games, but the LOS is the biggie for me.
The normal difficulty setting is far too easy but the next setting is just a tad too unforgiving. There needed to be a middle setting between the two, or some kind of ability to alter settings within the difficulty rating, such as AI, number of aliens appearing etc. That would have been perfect.
There are a number of other decisions which I don't understand. Your soldiers get bought out of a pool of credits and you can customise their looks, armor etc fairly well. But you can't change where they are from, or their gender? I have no idea why this might be, since neither of those two options has any bearing on the gameplay whatsoever.
A number of things were left out from the original game, such as the ability to shoot walls (free-aiming) with weapons and the inventory management is a very cut-down version. The original was a nightmare of micromanagement for your troops but, since there are so fewer active soldiers in this version, leaving a more meaty inventory system in place wouldn't have been too terrible an option.
Although I understand about game balance and such, some things, such as the ability to only carry one grenade per soldier, or the inability to replace the sidearm with something else, are a little irritating. But, like all games, you learn to work around these things.
All in all, I had a lot of fun playing XCOM, but I am a bit sad there wasn't more player control over the game settings, mission set-ups and so on. Having played through it once, I will play it again, after a suitable interval, but I'm in no hurry to do so. Hopefully, future DLC will expand the gameplay and not just add more maps or some hokey skins to the pot.
The mix of turn-based tactical and strategic segments were nicely done. It's based off a game from way back produced by Microprose software. Back in those days (for me at least) anything from Microprose was a safe bet, gaming-wise. You could buy it and generally depend on it being entertaining and fun.
Firaxis, the spiritual successor to Microprose have done a good job here of capturing the original game's fun and addictiveness.
It's not all good, though. For a start, there are lots of line-of-sight issues with the tactical section. You'll find yourself apparently firing through walls a lot. There are also issues with occasional crashes and such like that you expect with new games, but the LOS is the biggie for me.
The normal difficulty setting is far too easy but the next setting is just a tad too unforgiving. There needed to be a middle setting between the two, or some kind of ability to alter settings within the difficulty rating, such as AI, number of aliens appearing etc. That would have been perfect.
There are a number of other decisions which I don't understand. Your soldiers get bought out of a pool of credits and you can customise their looks, armor etc fairly well. But you can't change where they are from, or their gender? I have no idea why this might be, since neither of those two options has any bearing on the gameplay whatsoever.
A number of things were left out from the original game, such as the ability to shoot walls (free-aiming) with weapons and the inventory management is a very cut-down version. The original was a nightmare of micromanagement for your troops but, since there are so fewer active soldiers in this version, leaving a more meaty inventory system in place wouldn't have been too terrible an option.
Although I understand about game balance and such, some things, such as the ability to only carry one grenade per soldier, or the inability to replace the sidearm with something else, are a little irritating. But, like all games, you learn to work around these things.
All in all, I had a lot of fun playing XCOM, but I am a bit sad there wasn't more player control over the game settings, mission set-ups and so on. Having played through it once, I will play it again, after a suitable interval, but I'm in no hurry to do so. Hopefully, future DLC will expand the gameplay and not just add more maps or some hokey skins to the pot.