Old-school gamers were understandably excited when 2K Games announced last week that Firaxis was bringing back the the XCOM franchise and staying true to the real-time strategic and turn-based tactical formula. New details of XCOM: Enemy Unknown surfaced on Monday along with the first batch of screenshots that provides clues to how the game is updated.
As mentioned, XCOM: Enemy Unknown will stay true to the formula of original according to new information from February issue of Game Informer. First, There's the real-time strategic layer where players manage a series of bases to protect the Earth against alien invasion. That means managing resources and personnel, directing research and development of alien technology along with fabricating new weapons. and intercepting UFOs with fighter jets.
One of the screenshots released shows how the base management has changed from the original. Previously, you built your base modules like living quarters, hangers, and engineering labs around an access lift from a top-down view. XCOM: Enemy Unknown shifts to a side view with base modules stacked on top of each other. Aliens will attack your base at some point in the game so this change in how players build up their base will shift defensive strategies significantly.
The second layer of the game is the tactical combat, or Battlescape as it was calle din the original. Battles are turn-based with players commanding squad of player-equipped soldiers. Aside from the updated graphics, it looks like XCOM: Enemy Unknown will use hex-based tiles instead of the square tiles in the original. The camera angle in the screenshot provided is also lower to the ground. Perhaps players will be able to move and adjust the camera in Firaxis' version.
There are other differences as well including different stats for the soldiers and some "streamlining" for the console versions of the game. Some of the micromanagement is reportedly being removed which sounds somewhat familiar to how Firaxis handled Civilization: Revolution on the PS3 and Xbox 360.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown will release to the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC this fall. You can check out the first images of the game in our slideshow gallery.
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Via: Game Informer
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