Is an X-COM remake that doesn't suck too much to ask for?

Galvatron · Post by **Galvatron** » 2004-07-22 04:03pm

I loved the original DOS version (not Terror From the Deep) and I just wish someone would give me a Windows version that doesn't reinvent everything.

lukexcom · Post by **lukexcom** » 2004-07-22 07:41pm

Kind of out of luck there...X-COM: Genesis (almost identical style to XCOM: Ufo Defense, only set in 2080) was canned along with the whole development group, the rest of Microprose followed soon after.

The Gollop Brothers (they who made X-COM: UFO Defense and Apocalypse, Terror from the Deep was purely Microprose) did work on a replacement, called Dreamland Chronicles (different story line and stuff for legal reasons), but that too encountered troubles and died. It was resurrected in the form of UFO: Aftermath, dubbed "the spiritual successor to X-COM", now available in a bargain bin near you.

Your best bet now rests on these people:
http://www.projectxenocide.com/

The X-COM saga is a sad and pitiful tale of tragedy, dashed hopes, and merciless major corporate publishers squashing out the X-COM franchise like a bug under a flyswatter.

The X-COM license went like this: Microprose>Hasbro Inc.>Infogrames>Atari. Every step of the way things got worse and a license that once held great potential decayed more and more. It was Hasbro that killed Genesis and Alliance, and released the last game, Enforcer, and shut down all work on the series. Infogrames never did anything, nor did Atari, IIRC.

There is no hope left.

2000AD · Post by **2000AD** » 2004-07-22 07:47pm

lukexcom wrote: . It was resurrected in the form of UFO: Aftermath, dubbed "the spiritual successor to X-COM", now available in a bargain bin near you.

Stay away from Aftermath! It is fucking shit after the first couple of hours playing!

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2004-07-23 01:56am

Aftermath...it's like after a certain point they all got together and said 'let's see how we can screw the players MORE!' I tripped a story trigger and suddenly I start a board surrounded by aliens with freakin supertech rocket launchers. And I'm mainly in heavy battle-armor, so I'm lumbering my heavy weapons teams into position and *FUMP*

What...the....shitbunnies?

Anyway, yeah, XCOM is pretty much dead. Heaven forbid that a publisher takes notice that the original game is /still/ winning Best Game Of All Time awards here and there even now, a good decade after its release. Naaw, that's not an indication that it's got a support base who care about it, who could think that? This kind of shit is what happens when you let accountants ride herd on developers.

Reminds me of Soviet-style political officers and military efficiency. Same idea, putting someone who wouldn't know Daikatana from Starflight or Homeworld in the topslot.

Macross · Post by **Macross** » 2004-07-23 02:06am

They are making a sequal to Aftermath, called Aftershock. It doesnt sound that good, but at least they are putting base-managment back in.

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2004-07-23 03:59am

I liked aftermath, I even finished it. But it wasnt nearly as good as the originals. You couldnt even enter buildings (or blow them up) anymore

Baka^Ni · Post by **Baka^Ni** » 2004-07-23 11:17am

Aftermath was barbaric, its just like X-Com! only with no base and it doesn't matter if your soldiers die because you get nice shiny new ones straight afterwards! =(

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2004-07-23 12:24pm

Baka^Ni wrote:Aftermath was barbaric, its just like X-Com! only with no base and it doesn't matter if your soldiers die because you get nice shiny new ones straight afterwards! =(

err... ?

They became more experienced and all so it would be bad if you lost them.

or am i thinking about another x-com game right now

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2004-07-23 12:26pm

If you just want a great turn-based squad tactic game, Silent Storm is awesome, but it has nothing to do with UFOs.

Unfortunately, making a remake of a base-management + turn based combat + aliens from the 50's invading Earth is a bit too specific

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2004-07-23 07:52pm

All the sequels (apart from the Terror reskin) missed what was great about X:COM. The strategic level gave the tactical level greater meaning; in the late game the tac level became almost meaningless. All of your troops were important (I had a this Hans guy that could never hit anything at point blank but was great at LR for some reason), your bases were important, and all the behind-the-scenes stuff that happened outside yuor radar areas created a great atmosphere. None of the other games ever recaptured the feeling of really being Earths only defence.

That said, I'd rather see an X:COM-like game where you liase with local militaries, instead of having 4000m tracking radars. And just who were you selling those corpses to?

But thats just adding detail to the existing themes; all the later games seem to have thought the turn-based tactical phase was what people liked, when it really wasn't any good without the influence of the strategic level. My 2c on XCOM... or UFO:Enemy Unknown to us crazy AUites.

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2004-07-23 10:31pm

Only thing XCOM needed was a dose of 'humanity has some pretty badass weapons, yaknow?'

Armor, airstrikes, artillery, snipers, helicopter gunships, hell...anyone else ever want to see what a burst from an A-10s 30mm would do to some punk-ass Cyberdisk?

EmperorMing · Post by **EmperorMing** » 2004-07-24 12:37am

Galvatron wrote:I loved the original DOS version (not Terror From the Deep) and I just wish someone would give me a Windows version that doesn't reinvent everything.

Who has an FTP I can upload a windows version to?

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2004-07-24 01:47am

No need, just get it from Underdogs.

Galvatron · Post by **Galvatron** » 2004-07-24 02:04am

Slartibartfast wrote:No need, just get it from Underdogs.

Link me.

Deathstalker · Post by **Deathstalker** » 2004-07-24 11:44am

Allow me Right to the X page!

Apocolypse wasn't to bad, but it is hard to beat the original. Didn't like playing it in the dark either!

Arthur_Tuxedo · Post by **Arthur_Tuxedo** » 2004-07-24 04:00pm

I never thought the original was all that hard. I beat it repeatedly at the highest difficulty level, so I starting inventing rules for myself like that I could only use human weapons for 1 year, and then only lasers, etc. Made it even more fun, I thought.

My style of playing the original X-Com was to use the "scorched earth" policy whenever I could. Rocket launchers and rockets were cheap as hell, so I'd take 3 or so guys with launchers, stand them on a high ground, and have them lay waste to everything until all that's left is smoking rubble. I'd also give my guys demolition packs and they would use them LIBERALLY. Let me tell you, it's a lot easier to just blow a house to bits and thereby kill all the aliens inside then it is to enter, and check room to room in a state of near panic until you get blindsided and blown away.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2004-07-24 09:37pm

Damn, now I'm hooked on X-Com again...

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-07-26 01:17am

I'm surprised no one mentioned this

http://www.projectxenocide.com/

lukexcom · Post by **lukexcom** » 2004-07-26 02:05am

See my reply, second post in the thread. The Xenocide's link is stuck in the middle of it, so it was probably hard to spot.

Temjin · Post by **Temjin** » 2004-07-26 02:10am

Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:I never thought the original was all that hard. I beat it repeatedly at the highest difficulty level, so I starting inventing rules for myself like that I could only use human weapons for 1 year, and then only lasers, etc. Made it even more fun, I thought.

You weren't beating it at the highest difficulty level, you were beating it at the lowest.

The first X-Com game had a bug which automatically sets your game to the lowest difficulty level whenever you load a saved game, even if you had chosen a higher level when you first started it.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-07-26 09:01am

Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:I never thought the original was all that hard. I beat it repeatedly at the highest difficulty level, so I starting inventing rules for myself like that I could only use human weapons for 1 year, and then only lasers, etc. Made it even more fun, I thought.

My style of playing the original X-Com was to use the "scorched earth" policy whenever I could. Rocket launchers and rockets were cheap as hell, so I'd take 3 or so guys with launchers, stand them on a high ground, and have them lay waste to everything until all that's left is smoking rubble. I'd also give my guys demolition packs and they would use them LIBERALLY. Let me tell you, it's a lot easier to just blow a house to bits and thereby kill all the aliens inside then it is to enter, and check room to room in a state of near panic until you get blindsided and blown away.

Fucking Chrysarids!!!

god but those and the disks were damn resistant to demo packs, and RL's

mind you, I kept some heavy Laser guys too just getting them on top with a good field of fire and the comment "Oswald was a Wimp"

Karza · Post by **Karza** » 2004-07-26 10:03am

If you like PBEM games (well, even if you don't) try Laser Squad Nemesis by the Gollop bros.

They are also making a game called LSN: Earth which should be just the ticket for people like you. And me.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2004-07-26 10:33am

I can't convince Xenocide to let me build a base, so I just stare at the geoscape all day. A manual (or a menu that worked) would have been nice

Post by **Vympel** » 2004-07-26 10:46am

I would've preferred if TFTD was the same difficulty level as the original. Really, it was crazy. Damn those crab monsters!

I didn't mind X-COM Apocalypse. Not as good as the first two, but still fun- the squad combat system was virtually unchanged (except for the never-used-by-me real time option).

It's too bad UFO: Aftermath apparently wasn't that hot. I never ended up buying it.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-07-26 11:32am

Stark wrote:I can't convince Xenocide to let me build a base, so I just stare at the geoscape all day. A manual (or a menu that worked) would have been nice

*sighs*

that's a technology demo showing the geoscape; not the full game

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Is an X-COM remake that doesn't suck too much to ask for?

Is an X-COM remake that doesn't suck too much to ask for?

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