XCOM: Enemy Unknown - Strategy Game - Developed by Firaxis

So, this last week of waiting is pretty tough. On the commute home from work the other day I had this little daydream/story play out in my head and to pass some time I thought I'd actually write it down. I'm no writer, but it amused me for a little while so figured I'd share it.

The Rookie wrote:

Rookie Adam Lockett closed his eyes and simply took in the smells and sounds around him. The new plastic-like smell of his armor, the oil from his weapon, the slight ozone scent eminating from the other soldiers' energy weapons, the thumping of his gear when they hit turbulence, and the rattle of the straps holding him in his seat on the Skyranger. This was really happening. He was going on an actual mission!

The other, more experienced, soldiers were all strapped in several seats away from him. He wasn't sure what that was about. They also haven't said a single word to him, but he just figured they had their game faces on and were focused on the mission. Adam, on the other hand, wanted to just bounce in his seat in excitement. He was going to kill some aliens, he was going to make a difference! Adam rarely had any good luck, but he couldn't believe it when they asked if he wanted to volunteer as a scout for the next mission. Apparently the last few missions had taken a toll and they were a few soldiers short. Some of his buddies in the XCOM headquarters had even all ready given him a nickname. Normally nicknames were reserved for soldiers who had proven themselves, but they said his was too obvious so they'd taken to calling him "The Cleaner". It sounded bad ass as a soldier nickname, but really it did make sense because up until 2 hours ago Adam Lockett had been an XCOM HQ janitor. Obviously someone high up had seen his potential.

When Adam was first hired all staff in the XCOM HQ, no matter how menial, were required to take basic combat and survival training. Originally there had been worry of aliens invading the XCOM base so they wanted everyone ready to fight, but the higher ups have since determined this is no longer a threat and cut the training program. But now Adam was glad he took it and was familiar with all the gear and weapons given to him. He looked over the other soldiers and noticed they all had heavy armor and were holding energy weapons. He hefted his conventional rifle and checked the safety once more. For just a second something didn't sit quite right with Adam. Well, they were more experienced so it probably made sense they had better gear then him. Plus, if he was going to be scouting for them he had to be lighter and quicker. And this was the same gear he had trained with several years ago so the big wigs probably just figured he'd be more comfortable using it. No, they knew what they were doing and he was proud that they thought he was still proficient enough to just gear up and fly out. His uneasiness faded as he began daydreaming about the stories he was going to be able to tell his buddies back at HQ.

"2 minutes to the LZ!" a voice announced over the intercom.

Oh man, this was so exciting! Their mission was to neutralize any living aliens and recover any useful equipment from a UFO that had been shot down. He felt that elevator sensation of lightness as the Skyranger transitioned from the main thrusters to the hover thrusters as it swooped into the mission area. At the same time the rear ramp began to descend and everyone popped open their straps.

The voice on the intercom returned, "Go! Go! Go!"

Adam was closest so he was first off the ramp and immediately took cover behind a rock. He took in his surroundings and saw they were in the woods somewhere. Nothing but trees, rocks, bushes, and a lot of open dirt. The rest of the soldiers jumped off the ramp after him and took cover behind various trees and rocks. What now? A voice in his headset told him to go ahead and move forward. Without hesitation Adam got up and ran towards another rock up ahead. He peaked around and he saw his first signs of burning wreckage. How cool was this? "The Cleaner" was here to mop things up! The voice urged him to continue moving forward. He glanced behind him and saw the other soldiers hadn't moved yet then turned and ran up next to a tree. He looked around one side and then the other and thought he heard some movement up ahead. He radioed this in and the voice suggested that he go check it out. Another glance back and he saw the other soldiers were just beginning to cautiously move forward. He waved at them to move up and join him, but one of them just pointed 2 fingers at him and signaled him to keep moving. The uneasiness returned but Adam was determined not to show fear in front of these veteran soldiers. He saw a large boulder up ahead and made a dash for it.

There they were! 2 Sectoids heard him coming just as he reached the boulder. One took cover behind a fallen tree and the other retreated somewhere out of sight. This was it. This was his moment. He'd seen plenty of dead Sectoids back in HQ getting interrogated or dissected (sometimes both) and knew they were little threat. These little guys would just be target practice. He lifted the rifle and looked through the scope. He couldn't believe his luck when the rifle's targeting computer told him he had a 92% chance of hitting the Sectoid from his position and angle. This was just too easy. He gently squeezed the trigger and watched as his bullets went wild and shot up a bush a couple feet from his target. Adam Lockett stared down at his rifle, dumbfounded, thinking that there must be a bug in the targeting software to have missed that. Who programmed this thing?! He never saw or felt the plasma bolts that struck him from the Sectoid's reaction fire.

***********

Cpt. O'Toole stood over the still-smoking body and shook his head. A recovery crew was busily moving all around the area bagging dead aliens and collecting UFO parts. The mission was a success. The first one they'd had in a while actually. Col. Solomon walked up behind the Captain to see what he was looking at.

"Did you know him?"

O'Toole glanced up at the Colonel, "No, this was his first mission. I checked his rifle cam and can you believe he had a 92% shot on a Sectoid and missed? Do we need to send these things back to engineering to get fixed?"

Col. Solomon turned and started to walk away, but over his shoulder said, "Nah, that's just XCOM, baby."

"What? Why do you always say that when we lose someone? What does that even mean?"

Tkyl wrote:

IMAGE(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm254/gozerthegozarian/Guiness-Brilliant.jpg)

Why did he keep talking to the Madden gamers? You can't reach those guys!

Damn, I stop checking the thread for a couple of days and this is what happens. At least it sounds like the patches are going to people who really want them so I feel less bad about missing out. Still, I'm sad the patches aren't available outside of the Special Edition.

Remember back when developers used to put cool things inside the regular boxes? Like cloth maps and pins and patches? Yeah, those days are gone forever.

I'll never forget the monster instruction book that came with Homeworld.

Tkyl wrote:

Jake Solomon Selling Game

Ok, that I enjoyed.

Vega wrote:

Story

I liked the story a lot.

Tkyl wrote:

I like Firaxist because it's a play on Marxist.

Oh, and enjoy:

I was indifferent about Xcom, but damn you developer for making me like you and take my monies.

I assume Destructoid are being paid to make videos like that.

GMG is also throwing in the free copy of Civ V now. They're saying they can't guarantee the TF2 hats.

Double post, might as well make use of it. I said that about th video not in a conspiracy theory 'they've paid off websites for good reviews!' way, but because it's a lot of effort for what the video is - a twist on a gameplay vid, but a gameplay vid nonetheless. They do seem enthusiastic about the game, but not that much.

Edit

I did like the dev in the shop video though. He seems like he'd be fun to hang around with.

This ones new. The devs get annihilated, but then get revenge with a little help.

FYI, Amazon is offering up $15 store credit for those who pre-order the console version.

1Dgaf wrote:

I did like the dev in the shop video though. He seems like he'd be fun to hang around with.

Totally. Solomon's got a tremendously awesome attitude and enthusiasm for what he's doing, and it's not smothered by a layer of pretention like it is with some people in the game industry who get thrown into the media spotlight. I'd love to have the opportunity to talk shop to him about stuff. I hope all the attention doesn't go to his head. And I look forward to the next project he works on. If he keeps applying that same enthusiasm to things that aren't old loves like X-Com it can be nothing but good.

(I hope he's as cool to work with as he seems to be to chat about stuff with.)

MannishBoy wrote:

GMG is also throwing in the free copy of Civ V now. They're saying they can't guarantee the TF2 hats.

Ok, that's pretty awesome. So that means we also get the Elite Soldier Pack too?

If so then I'm even more super excited.

EDIT: Just checked the store page on GMG and apparently it does come with the Elite Soldier Pack. So the only thing not guaranteed is the TF2 stuff which I don't use anyway!

Wow, super, super, super, super excited for this!!!

!!!

So Tkyl, the next time Jake wants to offer copies of XCOM in random game stores, you want to let us know on here first? Glen Bernie's really not that far away.

!!!!

Has the game even gone gold yet? I haven't seen an announcement. God the waiting is killing me!

I'd hope it's gone gold. It comes out next Tuesday.

No one seems a bit irritated that although at the time of the PC demo release they mentioned the 360 demo release would b 'soon', it's still not. Or is this just a PC thread?

Donan wrote:

No one seems a bit irritated that although at the time of the PC demo release they mentioned the 360 demo release would b 'soon', it's still not. Or is this just a PC thread?

Wait, this is coming out on consoles?

Hey!

There are Dirty Console Peasants out there who do more than drool on their controllers during Madden/CoD sessions.

...or so I've been told.

Launch Trailer Time

And out first review score: 9.5 out of 10 from GameInformer

There is also going to be a live cast Multiplayer Match between Pete Murray (Our in house marketing guy) and 2K's Grag Laabs. You can watch that on the 2K Twitch TV channel at 11:00am EST.

Aaron D. wrote:

Hey!

There are Dirty Console Peasants out there who do more than drool on their controllers during Madden/CoD sessions.

...or so I've been told.

HEY!

There are some of us that play FIFA too!

But hey, I don't care what platform people play on--as long as they're playing the game

I'll be playing on 360.

tboon wrote:
Donan wrote:

No one seems a bit irritated that although at the time of the PC demo release they mentioned the 360 demo release would b 'soon', it's still not. Or is this just a PC thread?

Wait, this is coming out on consoles?

:)

Strangely enough after playing the demo on the PC, I felt like the controls would have been easier with a controller. I was having trouble with the mouse pointer accurately selecting the grid location I was clicking on. I still ordered it for the PC though because TBS and Football go hand in hand.

And out first review score: 9.5 out of 10 from GameInformer

Did they get an exclusive, or our we going to start to see web reviews flowing in?

I read somewhere that the review embargo is up on Monday morning.

On the console demo discussion, I think it's a missed opportunity to not have it out there pre-launch.

If any game is going to win new audiences via the demo route, it's this one. PC gamers likely already have an awareness of the IP, but there's a whole untapped market in the console sector. Building hype leading into launch would seem like a no-brainer when introducing a "new" IP in an underrepresented genre to a new crowd.

I guess Firaxis could drop a demo in a week or two, but it seems like the immediate launch window is the time when public awareness is highest.

I was just a bit concerned that this is an indication that the console folks will be getting less 'love' from the team then PC. Or that there has been difficulties with the console demo: having to 'not' worry about cpu speed, ram requirements, video card req's etc.:) Maybe I'm just be too nervous 'cause I've been waiting for an upgrade to this classic title for soooo long, I'm being too paranoid on it's translation to a console.

Oh yea, no doubt this thread will have to be split between PC and console folks soon.

Well if it's any solace, every report I've heard on the console build (Giant Bomb, Rebel FM, etc.) have been nothing short of glowing in regards of performance, control and overall quality.

Assuming this brewing cold doesn't destroy my voice, we're planning a video feature for next week (maybe Monday) and we'll talk about it on the podcast.

Donan wrote:

I was just a bit concerned that this is an indication that the console folks will be getting less 'love' from the team then PC. Or that there has been difficulties with the console demo: having to 'not' worry about cpu speed, ram requirements, video card req's etc.:) Maybe I'm just be too nervous 'cause I've been waiting for an upgrade to this classic title for soooo long, I'm being too paranoid on it's translation to a console.

Oh yea, no doubt this thread will have to be split between PC and console folks soon.

Do we know which version Game Informer reviewed?