And I haven't had a clue what they were talking about, whether it was panicking from the sudden arrival of a Sectopod, or firing several green orbs straight into the boss from the beginning of the map after mind-control hopping Aliens.
That was until I borrowed Aaron's Xbox copy from him.
I began the game on Normal, and immediately Aaron began berating me for my laziness, for not beginning on Classic. I reasoned with him that I had never actually played an Xcom game before, so I haven't the foggiest how the game actually worked. Movement, accuracy, defensive positions, let alone what I would have available for this fight against aliens.
But there I was, leading four hapless souls into battle, following the rails that the games tutorial provided, and a small story of how one Soldier, Santiago Gonzalez, later to be "Crater" the Heavy, survived an attack from two little grey aliens.
Then the game really began. Randomly chosen maps. Strange alien encounters. Terrible match ups. And cliche'd voice acting (A charm, i find). I had worked my way quickly through everything, and Aaron commended me on getting halfway through the game within about 3 months of the games timeline.
The biggest encounter I can think of, where I began laughing maniacally (only slightly) was when an Abductor class ship had landed. The gaping maw of the rear bay doors lay open, with raised pieces of cover lay about, and I stayed there, as wave after wave of enemy came into range only to be shot down by Plasma Fire, again and again and again.
Sidenote: Just saying you shot down a Heavy Floater to your partner gets a really confused response.But after Aaron's commendation, I had decided to take the time to finish my researches, upgrade all my weapons, and properly equip my squad. Because I was falling behind, and quite badly. Elite Mutons tend to shrug off Light Plasma and Laser fire.
Then, I became... bored. I felt like I had to get an entire set of Psychic Soldiers, and spent my time searching for new Soldiers and making them Colonels, because god DAMN Colonels are better than Squaddies.
Sure, you can give them Titan Armour with Chitin Plating, which will give them a great health bonus, but what about the bonus 3 spaces for your Support guy so he can bolt up and Arc Thrower a Thin Man?
Or what about the Close Quarters skill for your Assault Soldiers who will sit about 5 spaces away from a Muton Berserker, Shoot them, triggering the Berserkers insatiable desire to get close to whomever damaged him, and then get shot again because of the skill? Double Whammy of Alloy Cannon, bitches. It's great.
Then you get MIND CONTROL. Which can be really dangerous. You can't Mind Control Hop as I mentioned before, but you do gain the Line of Sight of the target alien. And that can fuck up your whole day. I had a Muton trigger another Muton Trio, an Elite Muton trio, and a Sectopod. All running around your god damn flanks and making you panic when your 23 health Assault Colonel is being shot at by the whole fucking lot of them.
I digress.
But that is the charm of the game. You get dropped off in a random map, with a random set of enemies. You'll get given a heads up of what's there, and how many there are, and on the way in you'll get a clue as to what map you're getting dumped at, but then you have to find your targets, get a hold of them, and strangle their little mongrel necks.
Occasionally the Council will ask something of you, a simple request of "Can you disarm this bomb" or "can you escort this such-and-such" and you'll be amply rewarded with Scientists, Engineers, Money and/or a new soldier. The only thing you have to worry about are the numerous thin men that may or may not hoard you.
Though they do drop about a half dozen on you after you deactivate bombs. That's pretty funny. Especially when most of your squad is on Overwatch and then EVERYONE shoots that one guy who turned up.
Haha, classic.
Now I want to focus on one thing, and that's the end of the game. For those who haven't done it, this is a spoiler alert. So I bid you adieu, because you've got a surprise coming your way.
The only other thing I would like to say is that if Xcom were made into a First Person Shooter, or a Third Person Shooter, Ala Gears of War, that would be very awesome.
So it's a bit shit. It doesn't really explain anything, like why they're there or anything. And yeah, sure, it's nice you're fighting a series of monsters that you've encountered over the course of your Xcom Career, and it's nice to be in a different map of an alien ship than that bloody stupid supply ship, but...
C'mon. If I wanted to fight a rail shooter, I'd go play Gears of War.
But I effectively got that on the final run. "Oh look, Sectoids. Oh look, Cyberdiscs. Oh look, Floaters. Oh look, Chryssalids. Oh look, Mutons and a Berserker. Oh look, three Ethereals and two Elite Mutons."
And I don't know what the fuck happened, but that last encounter didn't even finish? I got two of the Ethereals down to 3 health in two turns. They had a turn, and spent that dropping Jenny down by about 14 health and mind controlling my Sniper, but then it rolled on to the final cut scene where the Volunteer bravely sacrifices himself by taking the Alien Temple ship away from the planet as it turned itself into a black hole.
That was nice. Yeah, totally nice. Even let the rest of the squad get on the Skyranger first. Very considerate of him.
But. Yeah. I would have liked to have fought more enemies. What about a combo of enemies? Enemies that match well when fighting me? Hell, even hoard me with Thin Men if you want, just get me shaking in my boots more than when I first came across Chryssalids in that Terror Mission.
Chryssalids, which run around killing Civilians and START MURDERING EVERYONE INTO ZOMBIES.
But no. I didn't get that. It was... Dull. And the most exciting it got was an unfinished fight with Three Ethereals and two Elite Mutons.
The fear in my boots. I miss it. Hence why I have begun again on Classic Mode. And I will probably shit myself again when I see those Chryssalids again.
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| Yes, it certainly can. Xcom 1994 |
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