XCOM:EU Reviews and Comments

Kushan · October 10, 2012, 01:19:21 AM

I just had a nasty couple of missions. Abduction mission where 1 had 1 KIA, a rookie, but all my vets came home injured. Had 3 floaters and 3 thin men appear in one building. Pinned most of my squad down. Its what I get for getting complacent. I split my squad into 2 groups of 3. 1st group cleared a building of a couple of thin men, then went out the back to deal with some floaters. The other group moved up a street and ended up getting ambushed. Pulled back and regrouped. I couldn't get a good line of site on some thin men in the 2nd building, so I had one of my heavies blow out the adjacent wall.

Then I had a UFO landing, that resulted in one of my sergeants getting KIA and a couple more wounded. Was rough terrain and had 6 floaters right off the bat, then ran into 2 mutons as I approached the UFO.

I seem to be getting my soldiers killed rather often. I think the longest streak is 7-8 missions. I think it would feel a bit weird to get people I know killed in a game.

tgb · October 10, 2012, 08:16:09 AM

Do they ever explain why Chevy Chase is in charge of engineering?

Silent Disapproval Robot · October 10, 2012, 03:45:27 PM

Is there a way to scale some of the terrain features? I was trying to capture a thin man that was standing on top of a train car but when I ran up to the side of it, I couldn't find a way up and the game said the bug zapper thingie was out of range. I then lost two guys in the next two turns because of this. If the aliens can get up there, surely I should be able to as well, right?

Arctic Blast · October 10, 2012, 04:05:18 PM

Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on October 10, 2012, 03:45:27 PM
Is there a way to scale some of the terrain features? I was trying to capture a thin man that was standing on top of a train car but when I ran up to the side of it, I couldn't find a way up and the game said the bug zapper thingie was out of range. I then lost two guys in the next two turns because of this. If the aliens can get up there, surely I should be able to as well, right?

Not necessarily. The Thin Men have insane levels of leaping agility : they can jump from the ground to the roof of a building in one shot. Your guys need ladders, stairs or drain pipes.

Bison · October 11, 2012, 06:25:01 AM

My unasked for, most likely unwanted and certainly random thoughts on a few hours of gameplay.

1. You make a great 3d map system, but limit control to 4 viewable directions rather than a 360 spin? Really? Frankly this is annoying as it seems that the angles you get are just not quite the angles I want to see. It's 2012 not 1995.

2. I don't really like the way the base view looks. I perferred the topdown perspective. Maybe it'll grow on me in time.

3. Cut sceens are nice...the first time you see them. I get it. A hover copter is dropping my team off at the site. I figured that out the first 3 times I saw the cutscene.

4. I love the customization. Hope they add in more armor skins. I'm going with some sort of Stormtrooper look. I honor TK 421.

5. I can really see getting attached to your squad members as you play and specialize their skill sets. This is a very good thing.

6. I find the movement/targeting controls slightly awkward. It might be an operator issue, but as I am pretty much awesome in all things I doubt it.

7. The squad member choices are great. Really forces you to make some hard decisions. How many medipacks are enough? Scopes? Armor bonus? Grenades? Decisions, decisions....

8. Cover seems off. I might be wrong here, but it seems a park bench offers the same conceal/cover as a car or concrete wall. This just doesn't seem right. I do love the destructable environment.

9. Beyond my nitnoids. I do like the game.

10. Why the hell do I have exactly ZERO Americans in my team? Hello? Anyone? Firaxis do you hate America? I want an Old Glory team member.

tgb · October 11, 2012, 06:43:13 AM

FWIW, cutscenes can be turned off.

W8taminute · October 11, 2012, 08:32:48 AM

Quote from: Bison on October 11, 2012, 06:25:01 AM
My unasked for, most likely unwanted and certainly random thoughts on a few hours of gameplay.

7. The squad member choices are great. Really forces you to make some hard decisions. How many medipacks are enough? Scopes? Armor bonus? Grenades? Decisions, decisions....

10. Why the hell do I have exactly ZERO Americans in my team? Hello? Anyone? Firaxis do you hate America? I want an Old Glory team member.

Love the decisions the player has to make when choosing loadouts for your men before 'going in' too!

I hear what you're saying on point number 10. I do have one soldier who hails from the States in my game though but haven't put him in a mission yet. I just can't bear to watch him get killed but sooner or later I'm going to need him out there.

Jarhead0331 · October 11, 2012, 09:00:05 AM

I like having to make decisions as to loadout, as well...however, I do feel as if they are too restricted as is. These guys should be able to carry more gear.

Capn Darwin · October 11, 2012, 09:42:06 AM

You do get some abilities in certain classes to hold more stuff. I've seen and used the med-kit x3 and the grenade x3 abilities. I would like to have a better selection of weapons for each in the game. Trades in range, damage, and accuracy along with cost/materials would be awesome.

I am sure we will have mods soon to do these things. I wish I had the time to do it myself right now. ;D

eyebiter · October 11, 2012, 10:30:27 AM

Switched ASSAULT troopers back to the Assault Rifle instead of the Shotgun. Too many instances charged ET using run & gun only to have the 12 gauge shot miss at point blank range.

Notice troopers carrying the arc gun now have a blue circle that shows the range of the tazer.

The current upgrade path is Assault Rifle -> Laser Rifle. Would like to see extra improvements for the Assault Rifle in the foundry. Make the migration to terrestrial Laser weapons more of a choice rather than a requirement. Perhaps Assault Rifle -> Improved AR models -> Gauss Rifle as an optional path.

tgb · October 11, 2012, 10:41:53 AM

8 hours in and that's all she wrote. Once you have nothing to work with but rookies and all the missions are rated difficult or very difficult, might as well start a new game, because there just doesn't seem to be a way back. OTOH, the losing cutscene is very cool.

I ran into one minor combat bug in the last mission before losing the game - my last man standing took overwatch fire from a Thin Man, but the cut scene showed him firing away from my guy.

Other than that, good times, and once more back into the fray.

Silent Disapproval Robot · October 11, 2012, 12:40:50 PM

I wish the maps were larger and the tactical options were a little more robust. I'm feeling a bit constrained as it is.

If they could use the combat engine from 7.62mm - High Calibre, I'd never leave the PC (well except for cases like now, when Steam is taking it's sweet time to update XCOM.)