Fans of playing games with a mouse and keyboard have many fond memories of the X-COM franchise. So when rumors began circulating that the franchise was getting a reboot, the masses rejoiced. However, in a twist that is beyond the imagination of even the best fiction authors, it was announced that the game would be a first person shooter. As spoken best by the great Obi Wan Kenobi, “I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.” In order to attempt to put our minds at ease, 2K Games were kind enough to let us sit in on one of the first previews of XCOM at E3 2010. What we found may not shock you, but just know that the series is in the competent hands of 2K Marin.
Simply defined as a shooter set in the 1950′s Leave it to Beaver era of suburban America, the game presents an intriguing twist on what is expected in the “American Dream.” All of the quiet and serene atmosphere that you would expect from a sitcom is instantly railroaded by an invasion from lord knows where. Now this isn’t your everyday alien encounter (i.e. The Great Gazoo or My Favorite Martian). No, these are mean and nasty critters that can spawn portals, resulting in the vaporization of entire city blocks. If they are coming in peace, I would hate to see what their hugs look like.
After witnessing the first alien invasion on US soil, your character FBI Agent William Carter is placed in charge of XCOM. Agent Carter is tasked with the mission of using XCOM resources to take random, unconnected events happening around the country, and piece them together to discover why ET decided to invade the United States of America. Housed in what can only be described as a heavily guarded airplane bunker, Carter’s team is hard at work pouring over all of the strangest happenings from coast-to-coast. These missions, at least at the time of this demo, were designated on a large map of the country and laid out for you to pick and choose which events you think will get you closer to why the aliens invaded. Just be sure to make your selections carefully, because the events of any mission can and most likely will directly influence the flow of other missions. In short, pick quick and never second guess yourself. This is where the strategy aspects of the game come into play. Let’s just hope that 2K Marin has more planned depth to the strategy.
While progressing through each quest, players are given the opportunity to both physically gather and photograph alien artifacts. This part is very critical to the armory at your disposal later on in the game. These pieces of intelligence are used to fashion new weapons and technology that are far beyond current tech for the time period. Some of the unique tech introduced in the demo include a special variety of alien resistant Molotov and a lightning gun. In another strange call back to the title’s setting, despite having all of the impressive tech at your disposal, what FBI Agent’s weaponry wouldn’t be complete without a shotgun that would make ET want to phone home, ASAP.
On his first mission away from the bunker, Carter is sent to assist in a 911 call that seems to be tied to some sort of little green man encounter… Only these little beasts are not green, they more resemble what Pokemon’s Grimer would look like if it were a BP employee with a “roid rage” problem. While not the most intimidating of creatures, they rain down terror (in the form of oil slicks) on the poor unprotected womenfolk of suburbia. Personally, I was not impressed by what I thought was more of a minor nuisance, but that is why it is only a preview build.
Coming off of the “meh”-smerizing and downright lackluster encounter, the action was then turned up to eleven. Out of nowhere a portal formed in the sky and a gigantic rectangular object emerged. Fortunately, this UFO forged in the very bowels of hell had something a bit more fantastical in mind than just harassing the mothers of the future cast of Desperate Housewives. After once again shifting form into the oval seen in early screenshots, it just as suddenly starts vaporizing everything in its path. (Pro-Tip: Instead of cowering and running for cover, deciding to capture images of this transformation can later be used against the invaders.)
After the UFO takes a few moments to show its true range of powers by turning vehicles and human flesh alike into nothing more than pixie dust, it decides that you are the true enemy and focuses on going all “Death Star” on your ass. Why it focuses on eliminating you is unclear, but if someone else was the sole focus of enemies in an FPS, the player would feel like they are being neglected. This is where you decide that your life is far more important than anyone else’s, and leave that nasty whatchmacallit, looking at nothing but elbows and assholes.
Will you escape? I can only assume you will, given that the game is most likely longer than a single stage, but you never really know with 2K Marin. They specialize in making creepy and atmospheric action work wonders for storytelling, so I can only assume that they will have another hit on their hands when the game releases sometime in 2010.
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