XCOM hit with delay, not coming in 2012

Does anybody care about this game?

And here I told myself I wasn't going to comment anymore, and yet here I am, thanks to you MetroidPrimeRib. Seemed right I guess. So allow me to raise my hand and say "yeah...I guess I sorta cared about this game". But for different reasons than you might think. For starters, I am an insanely devouted fan of the original X-Com. In fact, it's glorified expansion pack sequel Terror from the Deep never quite held me the way the first one did. I always felt I'd be better off playing the original. And then years - decades! - went by as multiple C-list publishers taking the occassional crack at the precious formula X-Com invented. Most were well meaning and scored points there but ALL failed to measure up in any signifant way. They were all missing that "whatever" that made X-Com a permenant fixture on every PC I've ever owned since it's release. And then this game gets announced. And I and every single X-Com fan I either know or can imagine stared it down with murderous contempt. But it kind of stared back. It was as if some part of it was saying "yeah, OK, so the publisher is strong-arming us into making us "relevant" to today's audience and you know that means First Person Shooter and I don't like it any more than you but check this out - we're at least trying to stay somewhat true to our roots". And in this age of thoughtless commercial garbage being chucked at us in all directions, the thought of an FPS with strategic gameplay even if only somewhat inspired by X-Com didn't sound awful. You see, I just sort of assumed that some big dog publisher was eventually going to scoop up the rights and fuck the whole thing up. Syndicate, anyone? Christ. But then something wonderous - and miraculous - happened. A PROPER remake was announced. And the developing studio? Firaxis. Fucking Firaxis. Fucking Firaxis who - in my opinion - haven't ever really dropped the ball on anything Fucking Firaix who, well, they don't need an introduction them, do they? I honestly couldn't think of a single other modern day A-list developer who would be better handling the property. And there was much rejoicing. So much rejoicing, in fact, that a certain "man, we were just getting to know you" FPS reboot thingy decided it might be best just to slip out the back unnoticed and lay low until this whole thing has blown over. I for one am at least curious to see if and when it shows it's face again. So in that sense I care. But honestly I can't think of a single other case where something like this has happened in videogame history. It's kind of amazing, especially if you are a fan of the original. It's as if Michael Bay announced the first Transformers movie, only to be viciously trumped by the announcement of ANOTHER Transformers movie done by Joss Whedon (seems right these days), who turns out to be a MASSIVE fan of the original Transformers franchise (and thinking a mix of the early comics/cartoon's storyline, no less). Incredible. It jumped from "well, I guess these guys might not fuck it up as bad as some others surely would" to "if anyone has the capacity to get this right - and I mean spot-on - it's these guys!" in a relatively tight timeframe. Seriously - when does that ever happen? But the big question still remains, and this is the only question there is for a massive X-Com fan like myself: While playing the new PROPER release - all things considered - will I still feel I'd be better off playing the original? Mostly I hope not. Mostly.

So what you're saying is what I am thinking: Now that Enemy Unknown exists there IS no reason for this game to exist.

Not quite. I'm actually more likely to give the FPS XCom a fair shake now that a true remake is coming in advance and being handled by a more-than-capable team. So rather than viewing XCom FPS as a "reboot" of the beloved frachise, I'm now thinking it more akin to those yesteryear XCom spinoffs like Enforcer (lousy) and Interceptor (well, bettter than Enforcer at least). I can't say I'm expecting much, especially in the shadow of the true remake, but I would be pleased if the FPS could live up to some of it's potential and turn out to be a decent complement to Firaxis' (fingers crossed) masterpiece, especially now that it has been put in it's proper place. Although I do feel a touch bad for the folks at Goldhawk Interactive, who seemed to be nearing completion of their own crack at the classic XCom formula with Xenonauts. PC Gamer covered the game a few months ago - not long before the Firaxis remake announcement - and their feeling at the time was "this may be the one to watch - it's on the right track and is managing to keep the brilliant gameplay balance in full swing". As with the Firaxis remake Xenonauts clearly intends to do things a bit differently but not at the expense of the original game's essense. In fact in more than a few ways it seems to be an even truer take on the classic than Firaxis' approach. Although my money is (literally) on Firaxis at this point. Xenonauts only if Firaxis drops the ball, which seems very unlikely. Although I'm willing to bet the Firaxis announcement has all but killed Xenonauts' development as they've apparently gone "kickstarter" (with sadly zero dollars worth of backing to date) in addition to releasing a game demo (which I have yet to try), probably in an effort to stay on radar. This makes for an interesting conundrum: One one hand you've got the standing-tall leader of the pack, the Firaxis remake, which by all counts has the full and unbridled support of the XCom community. On the other hand you have 2K's XCom FPS prequel, which has slipped into the shadows, rightfully so as to not even try to compete with Firaxis' release. But here's the thing: the FPS XCom wouldn't really compete anyway, unless of course they released anytime near Firaxis, which doesn't look to be the case. Despite the common ancestry it's a completely different game and removed enough that I can see both existing on my hard drive (given they are both worthy of the honor). But on yet another hand you've got Xenonauts, a game more than inspired by the original X-Com and being developed by a (albeit low tier) team that continually professes their love and respect for the classic, whereas the 2K FPS at one time was actively spitting in the classic's face (see the GR article titled "2K defends XCOM's first-person shooter reboot", which I commented on fiercely at the time). Yet I see myself first and foremost dropping the cash on the Firaxis release (day one no less) and then maybe the XCom FPS (provided reviews are favorable - I'll gladly wait until they are in) but probably not at all on Xenonauts, mainly because it is likely to have too much in common with the Firaxis release, and I can't envision myself bouncing between two nearly-identical games, especially if Firaxis completely and utterly nails it. Which is kind of too bad because it seems Xenonauts developers had the heart and gumption necessary to make something worthwhile (especially considering the momentum it gained when 2K's questionnable new direction was the only X-Com fandom competition they were facing), which normally would have been enough for me, but as of Firaxis' announcement everything has changed. Too bad for Goldhawk Interactive, but as they say them's the brakes. Unfortunately for them my mindset is one of "in the world of X-Com there can only be one true heir to the throne", and Firaxis is poised nicely to claim that seat while 2K (at best) may end up lucky to be granted "nice diversion" status. Sadly, for all it's heart and good will, Xenonauts probably won't even gain admission to the throne room, despite having a strong resemblance to the king. Maybe in the spirit of good will I'll pick it up when it goes dirt cheap on Steam, even if I never play it.

Revision to my earlier statement - per Xenonauts' website it appeared that the Kickstarter efforts were in the toilet but the Kickstarter website shows that it not only hit but far exceeded it's $50k goal, sitting pretty at $94,023 with 18 days still on the clock. And while I still haven't tried the demo, I think I am going to soon based on the "WTF is…Xenonauts?" video I just watched, which did an impressive job of convincing me just how similar to the original this game intends to be. Still, it's up against some very stiff competition with Firaxis' upcoming release but now I'm thinking there might just be room for both on my hard drive, even if one lords heavily over the other.

I remember when "street dated" meant that the game was for sure coming out on that date. Those two words no longer have meaning in the gaming world.

Agreed. (Update - I was going to leave it at "agreed" but then was inspired to mention that when reCAPTCHA served me "scrutinizes sidames" and I began to painstakingly type it in, it felt highly unjust to have to type a 19-character reCAPTCHA for a lousy well-now-it-barely-seems-worth-it 7-character comment, so I felt it necessary to give my comment enough weight to justify that awful reCAPTCHA with this story.)

No biggie i still have many other games to play.