Tactical-o-banana-rama

"I Got a tactic for you.  It's called
a Rocket Propelled Grenade."

Lately Ive been watching clips for Gears Tactics and its gotten me super pumped for it.  There are so many things about it that are just Pro Gamer and just super fun about it.

I love Gears games, the simple fun of running between cover and snapping over to pummel someone with Lancer Rounds before rushing in to curbstomp them.  Even better is the satisfaction of using a Torque Bow and getting a headshot, which is an instant kill on most enemies, but then to penetrate and hit someone else with the explosive bolt is amazing.

For the longest time though I'm thinking to myself that this would make a great tactics game.  The movement between cover, the layouts of all the levels, the different methods of attack each enemy has... it's basically a tactics game in itself.

Gladly someone somewhere has the same mindset.  They've kept the majority of the game the same, giving you the same sort of feeling of overwhelming power and fear on equal measure.

The game is set 10 years before the first Gears game, throwing back to a point where the grubs are really getting a roll and bringing out their bigger and better monstrosities.  Urdak is the boss and he is making things like Brumaks mounted with gigantic machine guns and rocket salvos, and Corpsers with armour plating over their several limbs, both familiar enemies and big pains in the arses.

The interesting things come from their own innovations.  Compared to a game like XCOM, Gears Tactics changes things by dropping the "one shot a turn" for "shoot for each action you have".  Then you have an extra action to go with that which makes your options become exponential, especially if you want to run in for an execution which provides the whole squad an additional action.

Then quality of life improvements are great, particularly the Locust "practically instant turn", where they all kinda move and shoot at the same time, staggering out some actions just so that you can track what's happened and how it affects you.

After that, it sounds like a tonne of fun and I can't wait to get my hands on it once it comes to console.

"My Soldier has no nose."
"How does he smell?"
"Terrible."

Speaking of XCOM, they just announced their own spinoff game: Chimera Squad.

What's funny is that I've been brainstorming a very similar idea over the last few months, having a small cast of characters that the player can follow and fight with over the course of a series of story missions.

I had characters based on different classes, with cameos from all sources.  My favourite character was Damien Santiago, a character based on the survivor of the XCOM: Enemy Unknown Tutorial.  He would appear as a Heavy Soldier who lives out his days on a Resistance base and joins the main characters on their journey.  He would be wearing his old XCOM uniform, worn and torn after years of use, and his old squads Dog Tags sewn into the opposite breast, though he has to recollect the dog tags throughout the game.

He even had his own mission where he has a flashback of Operation Devils Moon, recreating that mission and then expanding it out into a longer term story, telling more of a canon experience of when his boots his the ground and started that fight in Germany, and how his team worked their way through town fending off aliens.

Chimera Squad is a bit more free form like the mainline games, having a more diverse cast of alien hybrid characters, and a gameplay more similar to a police raid than stealth ambush.  Largely the game seems to be a reboot of XCOM: Apocalypse, kinda the direction that they were leaning towards with the Multicultural Cityscape, just with a pared down cast of characters.  Though I thought I heard there was room for a Character Pool, so there may be room for my own characters as well.

A pig and a rock lady start walking out of a restaurant.
They turn to the duck and say "He's got the bill."

Part of my inspiration came from another game, Mutant Year Zero.  A very good game about a post apocalyptic setting where your main characters are Stalkers, soldier-like characters who traverse the local area to scavenge for materials, and cull down threats to the Ark, a society full of people trying to survive.

You play the Mutant Stalkers who learn all sorts of different abilities that the player can take advantage of, from sprouting wings to gain a height advantage, to being able to ram into someone and knocking them flat on their arse for a turn or two while everyone pumps ammunition into them.

The parts I really liked was the stealth mechanic.  You don't move everyone individually turn after turn.  You choose a leader and tell your team of 3 to follow you around the map as you explore, scavenge, and choose a starting point for your ambush.  You pick off enemies with your silenced weapon, and once you feel like you're down to a managable point you can go loud and hose down the boss of the level.  Given the different abilities you earn and the limited number of them that you can equip, you can have great fun just working your way through the game.

"I can't see my face when I'm with you"

The developers created a second game using the same mechanics with a different setting, telling a story about a divided United States and countering a group using highly Augmented Anonymous Soldiers, an aspect that kinda lets the game down.

Everything else about it was really good, using the same combat mechanics as Mutant Year Zero with a few minor tweaks allowing the troopers to be modified to the players preference and creating some good combinations for combat.

But aside from that, the story feels a little flat and your place in it is rather... inconsequential.  You perform all these missions, saving VIP's and Infiltrating outposts all over, while the story kinda happens around you and the consequences of your actions really affecting you.   So if the developers create an expansion for Corruption 2029, I'm hoping they really kick up the gears and focus on their story and motives.

That's neither here or there.  I'm talking inspiration here.  And with all these really good, really entertaining tactics games roaming about, I'm hoping that a certain other company with a video game based from their tabletop game actually take some notes and start making their own Video Game RPG.

I'm talking Iron Kingdoms here, guys.  I know they have a Warmachine Tactics Video game, but to see a story drawn out from that RPG with all that gorgeous art and styling, it'd be fantastic, especially with a Cameo or two here and there.

As it stands though, I'm very excited to see Gears Tactics and XCOM: Chimera Squad to come to consoles.  They're coming to PC at the end of the month but likely going to Console by the end of the year, and that's what I'm really keen on.  The only question is how long can I wait before I start watching playthroughs and spoiling the game for myself?

Can't wait, won't wait, probably ruining it for myself.

My Year(s) in Video Games

Well lets deal with the obvious.  I haven't posted here in what feels like an age.  Last post I made was about how I was excited about the Notorious High Tier Assassin Sorscha was being made into a new Warcaster matching my Favourite Theme of Steam Powered Heavy Armour Soldiers.

Sadly I've kinda fallen out of love with Warmachine through my lack of play and interest, feeling very "back in my day, we had fun with our game" about it since I really began lurking and watching from the sidelines, and wishing I could play the Iron Kingdoms RPG instead, mostly because I got a Humble Bundle Deal that got me about 99% of the RPG books for a song.

From that I made a bunch of cool characters, all with little back stories and parties they've formed together, loose motives for their future so that any DM's have something to fuel their own narrative.  Yes I realise that means I should DM my own campaign, but I have every excuse in the book that puts me off of that.

I actually thought about doing a Play By Mail campaign with people, but I just get myself overwhelmed by trying to find some definitive answers from the internet.  I've gotten very Anti-internet for a while and now my Facebook feed is pretty much just a continuing roll of memes and tags.

So I fill in my own time with Video Games, and the last few years have been pretty hit and miss for video games.

Like Xcom 2: War of the Chosen, a fantastic expansion to the game.  It added a bunch of new stuff, like new classes and enemies, new gameplay options, new maps, even a whole new enemy type which is more hassle than they're really worth, but hey you can't get everything right.  Especially when it comes to getting a port fully working.

For ages though I've had a want to make an Xcom Campaign, something more focused on an individual party and having a bunch of encounters based on the different mission types you'd normally encounter in the Grand Strategy games, just more in depth with characters and strategy.

The more I think of it though, the cooler I think it would be as a proper video game taking inspirations from a bunch of games, starting with Xcom: Apocalypse which is focused around a singular Megacity, to Nier Automata, which seems like a far stretch but bear with me, the inspiration comes from the gameplay mechanics which changes style as you go.

For example, one minute you could be fighting in a 3D open arena with enemies coming from all around, to a classic 2D platformer style as you progress through to other map regions.  So from that, I would like to take inspiration from other turn based games and implement them into minor missions or encounters.

The more I think about it though the more I realise I kinda would use features of Mutant Year Zero, a game I really enjoyed, as short lived as it was.  If I were to nitpick it, the tedium of silent takeouts was a little grating, but still it was fun.  It could have been a little more than what it was.

When two world collide
and really support each other

Speaking of games that were more than what was expected: DOOM.  Jesus Christ that was a good game.  The speed, the fun, the exhilaration, the ripping and tearing.  The sequel is coming out in a months time and I'm excited for it even though it looks extremely arcade like in its play.  Lots of double jumping, swing bars, and wall climbing.  I saw a Youtube Card of someones review with the words "Best Mario Game Not Made By Nintendo", which feels conflicting, but hey I'm still keen.

Speaking of Nintendo, Jenny got me a Switch Lite.  It's more or less like a Playstation Portable but bigger and lighter.  I still want to get a grip case for it, maybe something that extends its battery life as well, but that has to wait until I get back to work again before I make any more.

In the meantime I have a handful of games that came with the Xmas present.  Jenny had asked around and got me The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Civilization VI, Sonic Team Racing, Mario and Sonic Olympics, and Nickelodeon Kart Racing.  The two biggest ones I wanted to play though were Breath of the Wild and Civ6.

Civilization is a game I haven't really played much in my life until this point.  I had Civ 2 or 3 when I was in high school, my mum got it as a group package with Sim City 2000 and The Settlers 2: Veni, Vidi, Vici.  I faffed around with it a lot, but never really sat down with it to understand the rules.  I gave Civ a fair crack of the whip, but on top of the rather awkward UI on the small screen I still don't really know what it is I'm accomplishing.  I do need to spend more time with it though.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a very different kettle of fish.  I'm far from finished on it, having only accomplished one of the four mechanical beasts that help in the fight of Calamity Ganon and largely only explored the bottom half of the map between getting my arse served by a new high level monster that I happen to snag the attention of.  It's a good game, don't get me wrong, but I think once I get that grip case I will have a better time fighting thanks to more flexibility in my hands.

While we are on the subject of Nintendo I've been watching a series called Game Makers Toolkit.  My mate Andy pointed me in Mark Browns direction while we were talking about certain games and their mechanics.  Mr Brown had covered the subject quite well and since then I have the occasional playthrough of all his available Youtube videos (Sorry Mark, I can't spare the dosh for your Patreon) while I play a game or sleep.  He's very soothing.

But the ones that really stood out were the series on Metroid.  I have never played a Metroid game in my life.  I think there was a period where I was using a Gameboy emulator and I may have tried to start off one of the Metroid games available but never stuck with it.  His retrospective series gave me a really good insight into the games and piqued my interest into Hollow Knight.

Hollow Knight is about a small Bug Soldier exploring an ancient kingdom called Hollownest.  You explore this hive of networked environments, meeting insects and grubs, defeating rabid bosses, and discovering secrets and history of this fascinating and magical world.  I'm 77% of the way through according to the little meter in the corner of my inventory screen so I have plenty more to find and achieve.

My favourite part of the Remaster

The style of the game has me fascinated though.  The closest I can say that I've played to this is Wonder Boy: The Dragons Trap, which has a beautiful Remaster that threw me back to my Master System days so easily that when I turned on the Retro Visuals I almost thought it was a gag.  That was the closest I came to a Metroidvania game though, and I kinda want to get into more of that style of game now that I've dabbled into it.

Speaking of Re-something games, there was Sonic Mania.  Everyone and their Mother knows that I love Sonic the Hedgehog.  He's my favourite.  I want to get a Tattoo of the Sonic and Knuckles logo on my shoulder because Sonic 3 and Knuckles is my favourite game of all time.  I wouldn't be able to tell you how many hours I've sunk into it, but I know I've deleted and restarted all of those save slots until they were all 100% several times over.

Sonic Mania was really fun though.  I wasn't a big fan of some of the newer Zones, some of them stuck out as being out of place, but its still a really fun game.  I haven't been able to sit myself down to max out everything yet but I want to get a Genesis Controller for my Playstation just so I can really get back into how I used to play, which weirdly had my right hand turned over so I'm using my digits instead of my thumb to jump.

My other favourite game that came out was Borderlands 3.  A good game overall, but sadly their antagonists weren't particularly encapsulating, especially when they were following one of the best arseholes to kill off at the end of his story, Handsome Jack.

I keep seeing people on Reddit going "Bring back Handsome Jack!" which is depressing because that's really just beating a dead horse.  I love Handsome Jack, he's a great bastard to hate, and there are a few references to him, particularly in one side mission that really brings to light how malicious he can be, but he's done.  He has died in all but a Gun that plays voice clips of him.

The new Antagonists are nowhere near as hard hitting.  I said in an old post, that I'm going to redo an elaborate on one day, that there was a turning point.  That you have him playing in your ear and you don't really take him seriously until you reach a real turning point, and suddenly you have it in your heart that you need to take him down.  You need to go after him and really kill him off.

You can't go wrong with a Robot Beast Tamer

That doesn't really happen in 3.  It could be because they stumbled upon playing the same card as they did with Handsome Jack in 2, or because they just aren't that impressive, there just isn't that turning point in the story where you're motivated to stop them.

Thankfully they still have DLC coming out.  The first was a fun tribute to Handsome Jack's Stunt Double and Moxxi where you raid a Casino.  Good value.  The next one is going to be really fun as well, but I have no idea what that'll be.

Another game that really changed things up is Gears of War 5.  Or Gears 5, as they are want to go with now.  Largely, the game is still the same.  Cover based shooting and encroaching against Mutants that emerge from the ground, occasionally with a Gigantic Monster to accompany them.  But what I liked about it was the change from just straight mission after mission to a semi-open world setting, travelling on a Kite Sled between notable locations and regions that lead into missions.  Something a bit more freeform in play.

Which can be bad, such as the case of Wolfenstein Youngblood.  That was not a good game.  A lot of ideas going for it, but just so poorly executed.  A lot of cool stuff for it, the levels are pretty, the combat is fun, the super powers are always a fun addition, but... god everything else was as shallow as a Kiddy Pool.

John Carmack, one of the big Doom Guys, said "Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there, but it's not that important."  Well that's all well and good, but if you really treat it like that you get this game, where you have so little direction for your players to go that you flounder what you want them to do and encounter.

So that's what I mean by hit and miss.  There's been really good games and there have been really bad games.  I'm keen on what 2020 has to offer for games, but there's still the matter of all the games i"m yet to play.  Like Prey, Outer Worlds, and Dishonoured: Death of the Outsider.  And I haven't even finished talking about all the games I've played, really, but hey, I gotta stop this at some point.

Insert Token Self Deprecating Meme

Xcom 2? More like Se- Oh maybe I won't make that joke

I remember the final moments of XCOM.  I was on a roll, slowly moving forward through the temple ship, entrenching myself positively before bombarding something like a Sectopod with anything and everything I have.

And when I reached that final room, the last thing that went through the Uber Ethereals head was enough plasma to power Australia for fifteen years.  And that's only from a couple of shots from my Sniper.

Anyway, my Volunteer did what any semi-omnipotent Psion would:  He saved the Fuckin Day.  Everyone watched the Temple Ship rise up from it's place, floating up out of the Atmosphere, and loudly implode.

Lets move 20 years ahead.  All that I described above?  It never happened.  Humans didn't win the war.  Hell, they didn't win the battle.  Aliens descended and we were overrun by Technology and Numbers.  Seems the more likely outcome, no?  But hey, at least it's nice to know what could have been.

Now we walk the perfectly paved streets of Alien Megacities, stalking the shadows before ambushing the alien forces policing their new home, before stealing back to their new mobile headquarters, dubbed the moniker "Avenger".

I am super excited for Xcom 2, especially since Ive been playing Fallout 4.  Weird comparison I realise, but the reason is because Fallout feels like a Turn Based game.  Every time I trigger V.A.T.S. adjacent to an enemy, I usually have a 95 percentile to hit, and usually the game rolls the 5% needed to miss.  Immediately I'm reminded of a grinning meme saying "THATS XCOM BABY".

That was when I stumbled across the Lets Play Videos that were recently released, and began to salivate all over again, wishing I could satiate my thirst on the death of various and numerous aliens.  I comtinue to watch long into the morning, yearning to be behind the controls of the demonstration the video reviewers are posting, while debating on trying to accomplish Impossible Ironman on my own console, along with purposely ramping the difficulty by refusing to create the powerhouses known as MECs.

The Videos were incredibly enlightening, showing us a handful of the secrets allowed by the developers and company, focusing on Soldiers, Combat, and some Strategy Layer features.  It is noteworthy the information provided from soldier profiles, informing not only of their Health, Aim and Will, but also Movement, Armour, Dodge and Hack scores.

But what I'm really happy about is how the combat hasn't changed, it has Improved.  Rather than throw the magic of their first reboot out the window and starting afresh, or reusing everything and just chinging a few names and locales, they just tacked on new features that I wish were in XCOM Enemy Unknown/Within.

Weapon Modifications, Grenade Launchers, Computer Hacking...  So many improvements that I cannot wait for.  But have to as I am going to get a console port if and when that happens.

Why i miss Demolition: EU

"You did what to Gary?"

I remember the first time I played Demolition. It was about June and I was starting to get the ball rolling at the base with everything running quite smoothly, all my little ant people running around assigned their jobs of researching one thing or another, or building satellites and constructing work rooms deeper in the base.

Suddenly, Aliens were detected in Russia, China and Argentina. So I loaded up the Skyranger and flew in to Russia because SCIENTS was available there. And i needed whatever the goddamn research was.

My four soldiers, one of each Class because thats how I always roll, were deployed with their Lasers and Carapace Armour, and were ready for a fight as they climbed out of our favourite VTOL and waited for orders outside the gated demolition site.

I made my moves sensibly, moving to either side of the lanes leading into the workspace, down both sides of the digger. Then i threw my Support forward, his additional move making him the perfect scout, and found more than i expected with two pods of Three Mutons, outfitted pretty typically with their Plasma Rifles and Grenades. I was in strife, but fuck me if i didnt want to give em the raw prawn.

Back my scout came and took position for an ambush. Surely, waiting a turn or two in overwatch would result in them walking face first into laser pointers and dropping like a sack of potatoes.

We waited a turn, everyone in overwatch, ready to drop the first spud as he saunters. The anticipation was riveting.

Another turn passed.

Huh. I know theyre there, i can see the little noise marker go off in that direction. Why are they just repositioning? Damnit, are they waiting to ambush me? Well im no fool, i can beat them at my own game! Everyone on Overwatch, and i want to see cataracts when they reveal themselves!

And there he was, the sacrificial Lamb. He padded his way down into my line of sight, triggering my sniper and heavy, who with a PEW-PEW-PEW-FREEM (thats what their weapons sound like) he fell over.

Ah, one down and five to go. See? I knew this would work. Give it time and theyll just walk into the disco lights and do the job for us! Oh, whats this? A muton is... Flanking... Everyone. Shit.

That was when with a thunk-thunk-thunksss (plasma rifle, that is) my poor little legman flew through the air and landed dead on the floor, with nothing but a 12 and a yellow star rising from his place.

I have never seen a group of flies scarper so quickly, let alone people. We fell back behind the high rise fence, and recouped our losses, reloading and hoping the panic doesn't set in quite yet.

But i said to myself "Fuckit. Let's turn the tables" and took the offensive, careening around the corner with my assault soldier, and getting into kissing distance before pumping his disco shotgun straight into his face. A hillbillys kiss goodbye, if you will.

Then there were the remaining mutons to sort out. Four of them faffing around out of sight, trying to think about what is going to happen.

I went on the hunt, prowling around corners, soldiers aiming down their sights for their next kill.

I found a pair cowering behind walls at the very end of the map. I laughed at their futility as I lobbed a grenade and watched their cover disintegrate, giving free aim to my heavy and sniper.

It was the last two that gave me strife. I followed the noises, I checked every room, every level, and I even blew out a wall to check out the closed in room therein.

There was only one place left and it was behind the outside walls. So i formulate a plan. The ol' Pincer strike! If they were going to put themselves into a spot where they almost literally can't escape, then they're going to get what's coming to them. Cheeky devils, probably trying to outflank me when I was parked near the entrance.

So Heavy down the bottom, Sniper up the top, and Assault in Reserve since he was a higher rank, and we found those last two mutons and just ploughed into them from both sides like some sort of Pornographic innuendo.

Commander Bradford thanked me for a job pretty well done, sad that not everyone will be able to come back to base, but all well. Things happen.

But that was Demolition: EU for me. I had fun. It was close quarters and you just can't cover every angle easily. Except those outside walls, of course, that's where you just get screwed.

Telltale Games Meets XCOM

A scene from my Volunteer Audition Tape

A while ago I was farting around and playing some old Gameboy Advance games, trying to get into Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis again and looking around at other Tactical RPG games when I came across Rebelstar.

By the same guy who created XCOM/UFO, Rebelstar tells a story how a bunch of kids and a handful of adults have begun their fight against their alien overlords, the variety of whom take away anybody over the age of thirty for some unknown reason. The story itself is pretty good and the system, while a little convoluted, was pretty schmick. But lord did it make me want that corner looking feature that XCOM 2012 has.

The other thing I've been thinking about lately is Borderlands 2.5, aka Tales From The Borderlands, by Telltale Games.

The premise of it is that it's like a Choose your own Adventure book, where you're offered prompts and your options can dictate how the story can go. I've played the demo and had some laughs out of it.

So, with my love of XCOM, and the fun of a good story game, I would love to see XCOM 1.5: The Volunteer. obviously this is inspired by the designers saying that everyone's volunteers are alive, and they disappeared before the ship imploded.

So I can only wonder what happened? Did he travel to another temple ship? Or another alien base? Or has he just landed in the middle of the ocean and makes his way to the closest shore to find himself exhausted and amongst an EXALT cell?

How about rollover? I had a pretty tanked out Volunteer, with Gene Mods, armour, medals for his bravery... its hard to imagine that he would suddenly forget all those effects. Sure, lose his gear, they can be replaced. His armour would be near impossible to tear off. So what would be the go? He rolls up on the beach, radiation poisoning starting its crippling effect due to long exposure to plasma, and he has nothing but the PSI Armour on his back. His mind still reeling from the effect of teleportation, he sees others and hides, not knowing who they are or what their intentions may be. Military outfits, not too strange for the coast of... well anywhere at that time.

But hey, maybe they're secretly part of EXALT! He receives their help and passes out, and next thing you know you're forced to go track down your old commander in his living room while he's drinking mountain dew in his trackky dacks. OOOHHH OMINOUS!

But a little story could be fun! Then let that roll over to XCOM 2, why not.A while ago I was farting around and playing some old Gameboy Advance games, trying to get into Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis again and looking around at other Tactical RPG games when I came across Rebelstar.

By the same guy who created XCOM/UFO, Rebelstar tells a story how a bunch of kids and a handful of adults have begun their fight against their alien overlords, the variety of whom take away anybody over the age of thirty for some unknown reason. The story itself is pretty good and the system, while a little convoluted, was pretty schmick. But lord did it make me want that corner looking feature that XCOM 2012 has.

The other thing I've been thinking about lately is Borderlands 2.5, aka Tales From The Borderlands, by Telltale Games.  Well actually, Telltale Games' games in General.

The premise of it is that it's like a Choose your own Adventure book, where you're offered prompts and your options can dictate how the story can go. I've played the demo and had some laughs out of Tales from the Borderlands.

So with my love of XCOM, and the fun of a good story game, I would love to see XCOM 1.5: The Volunteer, inspired by the designers saying that everyone's volunteers are alive.

So I can only wonder what happened? Did he travel to another temple ship? Or another alien base? Or has he just landed in the middle of the ocean and makes his way to the closest shore to find himself exhausted and out of the frying pan and into the fire?

How about rollover? I had a pretty tanked out Volunteer, with Gene Mods, armour, medals for his bravery... its hard to imagine that he would suddenly forget all those effects. Sure, lose his gear, they can be replaced. His armour would be near impossible to tear off, I assume. So what would be the go? He rolls up on the beach, radiation poisoning starting its crippling effect due to long exposure to plasma (THAT SHOULD HAPPEN), and he has nothing but the PSI Armour on his back. His mind still reeling from the effect of teleportation, he sees others and hides, not knowing who they are or what their intentions may be. Military outfits, not too strange for the coast of... well anywhere at that time.

But hey, maybe they're secretly part of EXALT! He receives their help and passes out, and next thing you know you're forced to go track down your old commander in his living room while he's drinking mountain dew in his trackky dacks. OOOHHH OMINOUS!

Air vents should be in Xcom

I'm pretty obsessed with Xcom, and I keep thinking of other ways that would improve upon it.  Xcom Long War goes a long way towards that, but I do feel it misses a point when each class is basically recycled abilities with a handful of unique ones to make sure there is still definition between them.

But other things I think about are the covert missions, and how sub classing would be a fun addition to that.  Sure you have your gene mods and can use them to their advantage in mission, but I would like to play out some part of that covert mission using a unique set of skills.  This is pretty much inspired by Splinter Cell, which I have been obsessively watching videos of lately, and wondered what a single character moving about the secret EXALT facilities would've been like, directly controlling their infiltration and their actions, possibly changing the effect of the eventual battle with EXALT in the end by sabotaging communications or the reinforcements themselves, maybe collecting further intel on their whereabouts or striking at further hidden bases.

And you would have your subclass abilities providing bonuses like "sneak peek: cannot be seen at corners unless theyve shot or are on overwatch," or "Monkey Grip: able to hand over ledges or on certain wall surfaces", or "Execution: able to melee kill living enemies with less than 8/14 health instantly."  Maybe that's a bit much, but it's an idea.

My own personal Multi Game Pileup

OH THE HUMANITY

I've seen a backlog of games as long as my leg, thanks to Scotty.  He's a very dedicated purchaser of games that pique his interest.  Needless to say, he has a wide range of interests.

But I never thought I would have a backlog of games myself.  Sure, I have games that I have bought for the occasional time I'm feeling the mood, like Quake II or Endless Space.  And there are games I just own for the sake of owning, like Commander Keen.

But then there are games that I really want to play.  And given the discount, or enough incentive and motivation, I would snatch that up quick smart.  Like Fallout 3 that I picked up the other day for $5.  Or The Orange Box that I picked up for $5.  Or the numerous games that I have gotten for free over the last month.

It's starting to get a little out of hand, and I think I'm going to have to start a Schedule on what games I'm to play before it gets out of hand.

I know there are those who scoff at me, for my relative handful of games that I've left unplayed or unfinished.  Like I said, Scott has a pile as long as my leg.  Probably longer since I last saw him.  Lets hope I won't let it get that out of hand, and before I get more games.

Current List as it Stands

• The Orange Box (Half Life 2, Episode 1, Episode 2)
• Borderlands the Pre-Sequel
• Fallout 3
• Hitman
• Tales from the Borderlands
• Metro 2033
• Final Fantasy Tactics

List for Achievement Completion

• Borderlands 2
• Xcom Enemy Within

Self Blindness

What has been seen cannot be unseen

I was looking at a Kotaku post about the ideal shooter and it struck me as pretty true.  The points of being a shooter were spot on, and the biggest thing I agreed with was the lack of verticality that Valve apparently implored other developers in past interviews.

The thing that stuck with me was the point about Feedback, where shooting something did more than just an arbitrary "You hit" notice.  You had a visual impact, whether it was the shattering of a pane of glass, to the flinch and limp of an enemy on their last legs.  And it got me thinking about another post about Number Games.

I've been playing Half Life 2 and I've gotten back to actually tracking how much ammunition it takes to drop an enemy.  It's something I've done for ages, all the way back to playing Doom.  It made the difference between knowing I have the right weapon and having to back pedal out of dodge.

Some other games I've played don't have to worry about that because of Health Bars and Digits.  You get to know if you've clocked someone in the head and how much that should impede them.  If you get one lucky sniper shot into someone's head and it only takes off 25% of that bar, you already know you're in for a bad time.

So how much of a difference would it make to just drop the bar entirely?

Borderlands The Pre-Sequel is my latest game to have this.  They've always had the digits jump out on a successful hit and it's bothered me a little because it would get in the way of what I was aiming for, especially if I had a bee line for someone's head.

On top of that, it provided the information of what I could use to counter it. Red Bars required Fire.  Blue required Shock.  Yellow required Corrosive.  After that, you could explode them or freeze them.  Sometimes it was pretty obvious what was required to take down whatever behemoth or minion was throwing themselves at you, but occasionally it didn't.  That was what make me think.  If I had to figure out what I had to use, then that'd make the game very different.

Sure, the game provides those visual effects to show that "Hey, they've lost shield" or "this element is super effective against such and such", but it's a bit overshadowed by the cacophony of digits jumping out from the guy like hordes of rats from a sinking ship.  The only thing that doesn't is when the enemy is on about 15% health and is limping their way towards you.

I look back at Xcom: Enemy Unknown.  There's an option that I'm going to use on it's next expansion which removes the Health Bar from enemies, so you have to guess how hard you have to hit something before you move on.  It's a little thing that can change how you play.

Do I want that for other games?  Not necessarily.  But I would like the option.

I have a new Hero. His name is Alec Freeman.

"I don't like it.  These clouds give as much
cover as a G-string on a Belly Dancer."
- Col. Alec E. Freeman

I was excited and shocked to see the Fantasy Flight Games, the veritable Big Boss of Board Games, had gotten the rights to make an XCOM Board Game.

Now I like XCOM. My friends got me into it and I regret nothing. I only wish I weren't so pretentious so I could stand the classic UI and play it for what it was meant to be, of which the latest game is a small inkling into the devastation that is and should be Extraterrestrial Combat.

That doesn't mean it isn't fun.  Although I'm disappointed my favourite level, Demolition, was replaced, it's still an incredibly fun and tense game.

But it's been almost a year.  I've grown tired and complacent with the game.  I can predict most of the enemy placements and how to counter them. I've tried different skill sets and achieved all but a couple of achievements in Xbox's Enemy Within, which annoyingly doesn't share with the first Iteration because of it's Stand Alone status, so I can't go back and get those achievements without having to get the old game again.

I'm trying again though, attempting to finish the game on Impossible with as many benefits I can attain, so that I can start again and do the Penultimate Hardcore Game: Classic Ironman with all Second Wave features (bar Save Scum).  It's going to be a pain in the arse.  But hopefully will tide me over until the next DLC comes out.  Which I hope acts as a proper DLC on consoles, rather than a Stand-Alone game again.

To help me in my Impossible efforts, I looked to a TV show that helped inspire the original game.  I looked up all details and luckily found it on Hulu.  A 1970's show called UFO.

My fucking dog this show is hilarious.  It's incredibly 70's, with girls in Catsuits and Navy agents in Fishnets, Split-flap displays on convoluted control desks, and incredulously corny lines with matching cinematography.  I know they make a vague reference to UFO in XCOM, a passive comment about Commander Straker being a nut ranting about shadow operatives, so I just had to watch it.  I do not regret it.

I swear if I get this board game I will need to play this in the background.  Otherwise, I want to see an XCOM mod that turns it into UFO.  It'd be Brilliant!

An Army of Four? No problem

That's right, I can use big words too

I started Xcom Enemy Within again with the sole purpose of gaining this achievement, and I was terrified that I would be in deep shit by mid-late game when the big guns began coming out.
Turns out... No. Not at all. The hardest part of the game with only four soldiers is picking what classes you don't want in your standard setup.  And quite frankly, it's the heavy.

Every other class gives you everything you need, whereas the heavy... well he gives you rockets.  Which i don't use anyway.  I probably should, but I don't.

Everything else though?  Fantastic.  Support class for the obvious healing of 10-12 damage depending on who has what medal; Assault Class for the excessive amounts of damage you can pump away, at a guaranteed chance because of either proximity or aim bonuses from medals; Sniper because of "In the Zone" which will deal with those pesky low health enemies that don't take cover and die to a gust of wind; and the MEC Trooper because of the extreme damage output with the Kinetic Fist and it's heavy weapon, the speed at which it crosses the battlefield, and the awesome Robocop voice.

And that's how I ran through Xcom: Enemy Within on Classic without purchasing a Squad Size upgrade.

No, the game did not adjust to my squad size, I still fought about 40 enemies when the HQ was assaulted, including 3 sectopods. No, I did not get overrun every time I went and did an EXALT Mission, because they just aren't that dangerous. No, I did not have any Second Wave features active.  And Yes I was reckless with my troops, especially with my MEC who was always in the middle of the enemies because his damage resistance is the best when within 4 tiles of a target... That is, if they have survived that long.

XCOM as an RPG?

My friends all play Role Playing Games. And that's fun. IKRPG, Deathwatch, Shadowrun, and even the Classic Dungeons and Dragons. We've dabbled in them all. But I had a thought.

The Lads, my older friends, all enjoy going down to Agros enormous plot and spending the day for a yuppie shoot, firing rifles at cardboard cut outs of Zombies, stapled with packets of simulated gore. What if... Aliens turned up?

The GM would suddenly be hit by a giant gob of green plasma and instantly killed. The rest of the Lads would freak out, take cover, and encounter the little grey men.

Afterwards, the remaining lads would be picked up by a proper military mob and flown back to the Headquarters for interrogation. Of which, they will be recruited as a rapid response team for Xcom.

From there play it like new Xcom, where everyone has a class and earns abilities with each Rank and few digits and stats compared to classic, and cross it with Apocalypse with a Brisbane City Layout. They'll have a main base set somewhere near Central Brisbane, and they'll get UFO Contacts and Exalt Attacks as normal, but locations based around Brisbane.

Have a UFO crash into the City Hall in King George Square; Save your Operative from Exalt in UQ; Have a Chryssalid Hive wash up in Pinkenba before calling in an Airstrike. The possibilities are endless.

Every week would have a new encounter of some sort, and rather than having behind the scenes crap for Research and Spending, it would be a general consensus each week. And everyone would be conveniently healed at the end of the week, and an operative would be sent off at the end of the second or third week. Or better yet, someone who's missing for a couple of weeks is automatically an Operative, and first night he's back he has to be picked up "because exalt have found him as he's transmitting information back to base."

I wonder who would volunteer for MEC Trooper Augmentation...

Little Grey Men AND ZOOT SUITS?!

"Stop talking with your mouth full, Frank."

Okay, that may be a little bit of false advertising.  Xcom Enemy Within doesn't actually have Zoot Suits, but frankly I don't see why the head of an organisation like EXALT couldn't look like Dick Tracy.  Amirite?

Sadly, that wasn't the case.

I've been playing Xcom: Enemy Within for the past week and it's been a revitalising experience, not to mention fucking hectic.

I began play again on Normal mode, because the dampness of my shorts indicated my sheer intimidation of the concept of difficulty, and just so I could get a feel for the game again since I have a plan for Classic Mode.

But I dove right in with both tutorials On because although I specifically turned them off, I wasn't paying attention and simply dove in without reading the prompt saying "This is your first time playing since we don't recognise your saves from you owning the previous game. You really should play these Tutorials. Press A to continue with the Tutorials." (Note, I play it on my Xbox 360)

I ran through and ended up with my Argentinean Heavy, as is the Norm, and learnt about Meld the way they wanted you to, by putting one close and the other on the opposite side of the map.  Fair enough, kill a few Sectoids and move on.

Things were pretty usual to start, until I finally did the Meld Recombination Research.  It gave me a good little boost and set me up nicely to get a MEC Trooper within the first month.  So I did.

I found myself a soldier, an Australian Male Heavy who I renamed to my own (along with the callsign "Nepotism") and suited him up.  Even gave him a helmet that came as close to looking like Robocop as possible since he had the voice, but sadly I couldn't quite get the Silver paint job.  So I made him more Tactical and went with Black.

After that, I just went fuggin nuts.  I had quickly gotten myself a Railgun as well, and laughed at the definitive sound of "Fuuuuuck YOU" every time it was fired at everything that moved within line of sight.  Then the Jump Jet boots, and the Kinetic Strike Module (Giant Fuck Off Robot Claws, for the uninitiated), and the Grenade Launcher that I wish had that "thoomp" sound I enjoyed so much while watching Scotty play run rampant in Battlefield 4.

Had I the resources, I would turn all of them into MEC Troopers.  But I stuck with my team of Six with each different class, and my very own ED-209, the Alloy SHIV. (Sadly, I can't rename him from Goliath-1)
I can't really talk about the Gene Mods.  I was having FAR TOO MUCH FUN with my RoboTroop to care, though I did deck out one of my Snipers with some beneficial ones.  Like the Mimetic Skin, which allowed him to run around with an effective Cloak on him because he used every bit of that short stack of warehouse pallets to his advantage and made sure nobody could see him as he ran ring about every EXALT Terrorist he could see.

That was fun, actually.  EXALT, random terrorists who just work at the bank during the day, then get an SMS, find their scarf to mask their identity and come take us on.  Which is funny since I still had my MEC Trooper standing atop a building and telling them what he thinks of their iddy biddy organisation. (Would have a link to a montage of a MEC Trooper using a Railgun over and over again, but I can't find one and I can't record one cos Xbox360 Y'see)

So with my Robotic God Amongst His Merry Band of Men, the games balance had tipped a bit.  Which is fair enough.  If I can throw two shots into one of their new enemies which is supposed to be a similar counter, then there's a power struggle going on.

You are illegally parked on private property.
You have 20 seconds to move your Skyranger.

Then I encountered the Sectopod again.  I started shooting him and missing him, fair enough, but suddenly I was dealing a significantly less amount of damage.  Against a 30 HP enemy, that's important.  What happened was they added a damage reduction of 50%.  Yeah, you feel that when you expect to be able to drop it in one turn when ALL your troops hit it with ranged weapons. (Mind, he wasn't feeling well, but that's not the point here)

That's balance for you, though.  Having something you actually have to put effort into just so you can kick arse while you're taking names.

Now, I haven't finished Normal yet.  I'm just waiting to see what other shenanigans the game throws at me while I go ahead and finish off research projects and throw someone into the Gollop Chamber.  But crikey it's fun.

Just a word to the Wise?  Go fuggin nuts with your MEC Soldiers.  They're fuggin hilarious.  And be sure to name an American Male "Alex Murphy".  You know.  Just because:

Dear Xbox Avatar

I have been good to you. Made you look any range of dapper, to cool, to just plain nerdy. However I have spent too much money on you. Too much for a pretty little guy who just doesn't do much except represent me in the Xbox-verse, with features that aren't appreciated enough.

Quite frankly, it's a tad disappointing. Knowing that you're wearing a Sonic the Hedgehog hoodie and discovering that Sonic once came in a cartridge almost as big as a DS. Or wearing an Orc mask and a Warcraft Horde shirt while riding a Dire Wolf and throwing a Spear. Or wearing a Nanosuit and shooting across cover with an SMG and pistol. Or wearing your own incorporation of your ex-military corporations uniform, and driving around in a Bandit Truck.

I've spent far too much to have these features, all for no purpose but my own entertainment.The one outfit Im happy to have gotten, and without having to pay, was the Doomguy suit. And I received that by finishing a chapter in Doom II. And it was a Fkn hard chapter too. When faced with a horde (yes, a horde) of Imps you tend to freak out. And then finish shitting your pants when you see the Cyberdemon turn the corner.That's what I call an outfit to be proud of. It means something. You wear it with the pride of a soldier wearing a medal.

Cos frankly, Doom is a game that shows it's age, but nobody gives a Fuck. It's still relevant. I still have a hard time trying to sleep when i hear that patient Imp noise, something akin to a hungry truffle pig.

But having something to wear to show that I overcame those Imps by spamming my BFG, and dodging the Cyberdemon Rockets while making it catch my own?  It gives me a gleam in my heart.

So why don't games do that more? If you complete a game that offers an Xbox Avatar costume for you to purchase in the marketplace, why not reward the player with it?  Finish Xcom: Enemy Unknown on Easy, you get Xcom basic armour and a Pistol, Normal you also get Carapace Armour and a Laser Rifle, Hard you also get Titan Armour and a Heavy Plasma Cannon, and Impossible you get Psi Armour with an Animation of them casting Psionic Rift.  Heck, eliminate Exalt and you receive their operative outfit and weapon.

That's another thing.  I want to use my Avatar in game.  I've seen a handful of games that do use them, such as World for Keflings where you're a Giant and order your diminuitive minions around and build a Medieval Town for them to reside and work in, but could I find something a bit more... standard?  No.  I couldn't join in an MMO of Xbox Avatars to find myself shooting my way through a series of waves of Xbox Exclusive All star bad guys, could I.

No, he just sits there with little potential taken up by third party developers.  Microsoft couldn't just make an MMO using these Avatars, something they automatically subscribe to with their Xbox Live Subscription, could they.  Where a group of friends in contact with each other, with nothing to do on a Saturday night because they're bored with Halo or Borderlands, but still want to put in the effort of playing a game together.  No.  Those poor sods will have to make do with what they've got.

One day though.  One day.  Xbox All-Stars MMO, using your very own Avatar.  Recreate extreme demo scenes in games like Gears of War or Fable or whatever racing game they have an exclusive on.  Things like that.  Maybe not those specifically, but you get the idea.
It's an idea though, and that may be all it'll ever be.  But damnit, I want to see my Orc mask get some face time in a game, not just when I flick between screens on the dashboard.

X-Com

The past few months, about six of them actually, my friends have been going ga-ga over the Xcom: Enemy Unknown, not only after the release but in the lead up to it they were swapping war stories from back in yester-year.

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.

Yes, it certainly can.
Xcom 1994