I just heard about it and i stand here in disbelief. I need to check it out asap!
It's not really a productive post but i'll say this:
Remember 2K? I used to be your staunchest forum critic. But if X-Com: EU turns out to be something amazing i'll take back everything i said. Well almost anything...XCOM still sucks as far as i can tell, but EU might redeem you.
Well hello to you, too, there, Grumpy.
I've seen some videos of it.
I must say i'm at least intrigued if not more.
What i liked the most is the portrayal of the HQ. Looks really good and how it really should be. If feels homy and serious at the same time. I really like this idea, far more than the original flat based.
As for the tactic part. Well...i don't mind loss of classic TUs, 6 man cap etc.
But what is a real turn of for me is the animations and game pace. Sure we didn't see all there is but as far as i can tell, the pace is just to FPSish. Maybe some missions will be more slow paced and exploration based. Having constant action decreases the tension. There is nothing more tense than clearing room by room only to enter the last bathroom where the last partially panicked Aquatoid sticks a heavy sonic blaster in your a**. (TFTD) And all that in low res 16bit graphics. Not bad eh?
My suggestion is to make enemies in waves so to have some tension in between fights. Maps should need to be a bit larger for this to work properly.
What i disliked the most is the color palette in the game and the enemy animations. Not enough contrast something endemic to Firaxis since civ 3. Maps look way to bland and homogenous.
The enemy animations also really bothered me. It felt like every alien act's as it was hulk or spider man. Like they're making a movie or something. Extending arms, making silly taunts. It's not wrestling guys.
The sectoids also look silly rather than scary and cold.
You keep forgetting what your target audience is. It's not 13 y.o. but 17+ and even tough Transformers raped their mind it doesn't mean they want to have it this way every step of the game.
All in all, Xcom: EU is a giant leap forward compared to XCOM, but still there's much to be taken into account.
As i said many times before...keep it scary, keep i serious and keep it real. Anything else is not X-com. Don't mistake previous X-com graphics for silliness. The first three games kept it serious it's jut that technology was what it was back then.
But yes...for me not to be trashing the game right from the start is a huge improvement. Good job.
Oh and i really, really liked the feel of the HQ especially aesthetically. Thumbs up for that also.
After viewing some more...i have to say that i really don't like the art direction, the "action figure" style. X-Com was never about that.
What i would like to see is a Crysis sort of art style. Practical, futuristic and bad-ass. The Germans know their **** well.
In Xcom: EU everything seems so overblown out of proportions. I also didn't like the shooting animations, there's just too much of everything. In X-Com you followed that single shot in hope it will splatter your opponent in two. In X:EU is like a epileptic fest. Too much, way too much of everything.
I don't know but Xcom: EU feels so unnatural and i even wasn't on of those guys who wanted an exact copy of the original. This one IMO feels good intended but miss directed to a large degree. But i do like some of the choices they made i just feel it's not enough.
Please fix the art style, bring it back to your first ideas.
Last edited by Codex; 04-23-2012 at 06:53 PM. Reason: please don't bypass the language filter.
Er...Hello? X-COM was always cartoonish in appearance. Hell, the demo advertised it as a having a 'Manga-inspired' art style. It's still influenced by cartoons. It's just that it's more G.I. Joe: Resolute than dark seinen.Originally Posted by AlphaCent
Granted graphics back then were limited, but it's not like they were even trying for Photorealism in the original X-COM.
Aliens coming in waves may or may not happen. Aliens that hear you opening doors, breaking windows and blowing stuff and shooting will however happen - and they'll act on hearing that stuff. They'll also be moving around the map actively instead of just sitting there waiting for you to come along and knock them off piece by piece.
Not really. Games back then just had this sort of vibe because going for realism then didn't pan out the way it does nowadays. TFTD for instance tried to keep the style real.
The argument today is that going for realism is just overdone. Well maybe in the FPS genre, but certainly not in the TB sphere since there are almost no such games anymore.
Personally i also think Mass Effect had a great style and color palette. Looked and felt serious and at the same time rich and dreamy like.
If anything Xcom: EU should resemble Mass Effect.
This for instance
http://media1.gameinformer.com/image..._Large1280.jpg
looks quite appealing to me. The idea is also great, i don't know how exactly one base is supposed to cover the whole planet, but that is something i'm willing to put aside, because i really love this new idea.
This on the other hand
http://media.pcgamer.com/files/2012/..._1-610x343.jpg
looks quite atrocious. Bland as hell, no contrast, no life, no emotion. Oh an the THINMAN design is just downright dumb.
Every single one of the aliens in the original still today invokes fear and dread just by purely looking at them, not to mention their capabilities. The modern ones are just like mehhh.
Seriously...fighting an alien looking as a businessman? How in the hell is that suppose to invoke anything besides laughter?
Even the Apocalypse aliens who are considered silly by some looked somewhat macabre and grotesque.
Not to mention the really clique animations taken right out of Michael Bay's Transformers. Sectoids that run like animals? Mutons that act like pro wrestlers? No, that just doesn't work.
It's funny that i'm not really bothered by all the game mechanics they changed, actually looking forward to see what they came up with. But artistically Xcom: EU is in my opinion a total failure.
I find it kinda irritating that at first they wanted to do something more realistic, but changed it eventually for the worse. Seems like they panned to piss me off. :P
Firaxis often had artistic and stylistic shortcomings, i'd wish they hired a less artistic artist to do their work. Hire a German!
Japanese inspired art is a complete turn off for me.
Really funny that i generally don't ☺☺☺☺☺ about the aesthetics of games, but in XCom this is a huge factor for me.
Personally i think there's still time to change the art style but i doubt the listen to critics like me.
P.S. On of my postulates about Xcom (which i also wrote to 2K before any Xcom was announced) was: Serious, scary and real.
I just don't get this vibe from X:EU.
Mass effect guys, mass effect!
haha, funny stuff.
I like the art style. Lucky me I guess.
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