X-COM Sightings Confirmed!!!

This has to be the biggest news story for PC Games in the last 17 years, and yet there are no details for us to salivate over.  The cover of the May issue of Official XBOX Magazine has been revealed showing not one, but two covers depicting the announcement of X-COM’s return.  The game is being worked on by 2K Marin and is being reimagined as a shooter, putting the player in the role of an FBI agent that is fighting and exposing the invading aliens..  I have to say, I am very worried. This is already a very polarizing topic in the PC community for many who did not wish to see their champion of strategy games rebirthed as a first person shooter.  Here is the exact description, as quoted from the game’s website:

XCOM is the re-imagining of the classic tale of humanity’s struggle against an unknown enemy that puts players directly into the shoes of an FBI agent tasked with identifying and eliminating the growing threat. True to the roots of the franchise, players will be placed in charge of overcoming high-stake odds through risky strategic gambits coupled with heart-stopping combat experiences that pit human ingenuity – and frailty – against a foe beyond comprehension. By setting the game in a first-person perspective, players will be able to feel the tension and fear that comes with combating a faceless enemy that is violently probing and plotting its way into our world.

Reading that description, a lot can be inferred.  It could possibly be that the First-Person perspective is simply for the combat portions of the game, and there still will be some overarcing strategy elements.  It is, understandably, skeptical when the herald of my top games of all time is ushered back on the cover of a console magazine.  I am not saying I don’t like consoles, I am simply saying I am concerned if this new rendition will be a faithful continuation of the coveted original, or if it will fall short of grace.   I’ll be honest, if 2K can recreate the immersion and depth of Bioshock, in the X-Com universe, AND someone can remake the nostalgic original, similar to how well Bionic Commando : Rearmed was done—-I could die a happy man.

If you’ve never heard of X-Com, it is considered the grand-daddy of all strategy games.  It was made by Microprose, way back in the Stone Age of 1993.  The player started by picking a base location on a rotate-able globe, and began outfitting his base.  As head of the secret multi-nationally funded organization, X-Com, you were tasked with managing all of your funds supplied by all of the countries on the globe to fight and research aliens in modern day society.  Those funds didn’t come cheap, you had a team of Interceptors and soldiers that must be used to fight back the alien menace, and if a particular country wasn’t happy with your efforts, you lost their funding.  UFO’s were shot down by your Interceptors, and your soldiers were then dispatched to mop up the surviving aliens via turn-based strategic combat.  All the while, you could research and reproduce alien technology at your bases for use against the alien menace.  All of these elements blended together perfectly, for a gaming smoothie bursting with flavor that no one has been able to clone the recipe for in the 17 years since it’s inception.   Just for clarification, this is not Ken Levine, but the Bioshock 2 team handling the project.  You can be sure that as soon as more details emerge, you will find them updated here.  Above, is the only screenshot available at the new website, xcom.com.  Below that are the covers for the May issue of OXM, hitting newstands on May 5th.  I will be anxiously counting down the days until then.

BioShock

So much has already been said about this game. So hopefully you can still get something out of this review. First of all I want to say that BioShock is truly amazing, Ken Levine and the crew really got it right this time. Most games I find myself about half way through and I just want to beat the game already, but this game is different, I never wanted it to end, ever.

First of all the game has a really interesting story that makes the gamer want to know really what happened down there in Rapture. I think that this story is interesting because we’ve never experienced a game based on a non-futuristic underwater city. I love that they didn’t make it futuristic. Same thing with the art direction, amazing. If it wasn’t set in the 50′s then this game probably wouldn’t have caught my attention as much as it did. All the levels were very interesting. You might look at it and say it looks pretty much the same throughout but if you are really into the game you can see the difference in the places you visit. One of my favorite experiences is when you come down into rapture for the first time and you can really see the art direction that they were going for.

One of the main things that I really liked about the game was the interaction. I would take the time to check every box, cabinet, corpse, and storage case in hopes of finding something, anything. At first you were collecting money and eve, but eventually you started finding little pieces like screws and tubing in which you could use to invent things. I love that about this game. It’s not like most games in where you get pushed through, and most of the people that played that game went through it the same exact way you did, it’s more of an experience. There are so many ways that you could have gone about the game. Whether you want to hack everything, destroy everything, harvest everything, or save everything. It’s your choice but you make that choice without even knowing you are doing it. Whether you want to use plasmids or weapons or a combination. You decide. There is no wrong decision either. BioShock is truly an experience. I know that everyone out there who plays it is going to experience it differently.

The only thing that I was worried about the whole time while I was playing the game was the chance that I might get “stuck.” What I mean by “stuck” is, no money, no ammo, and no health, and no eve. Because everything is connected. I can say though now that I finished the game I never got “stuck” and I think it’s pretty hard. There are so many ways to go about the game that it’s practically impossible to get stuck. A few times I had low ammo and wondered how I was gonna make it through, then I would come back to an area and find that ammo and other things magically appeared there. I’m not sure if it was placed there for me or if it was just a coincidence. The respawning was also a big help. I was surprised to find out that you didn’t get penalized for the respawning. This helped when fighting Big Daddy’s.

Another thing that I didn’t expect when going into this game was how much of a horror game this really is. I would find myself at times turning the volume down a bit. But this wasn’t like most horror games. There was blood spattered everywhere throughout the whole game but rarely did you ever really experience it. I think you were left to wonder what happened to those people and use your own imagination there.

All in all this game is a masterpiece. I never wanted it to end and that is rare in a game for me. What you should do if you haven’t played it is quit reading about it and just go buy this. I know most people will be satisfied. This is what a game should be. I believe that BioShock will be what people will compare games to from now on. It just hits the nail straight on and hopefully this will be a wake-up call to all the developers out there just trying to pump games out ASAP to make some money. I know I will play BioShock a few more times before I put it down and I can’t wait to see what Ken Levine can cook up next.