Also thought I should mention, I really see a re-birth of the Strategy genre coming. Let's hope some of these Strategy titles dropping this year really make it big and show the devs of all the "tripple A" game companies that Strategy Games can still be blockbuster money makers. If that happens we could indeed see a re-birth of the days when Strategy games we're made for people who liked depth in their games and don't need them to be dumbed down to be successful.

I dont know how I feel about the UI being based on consoles.  It seems like it would be really annoying in a game like this.  I really hope that they don't do the classic move of making the UI for consoles and then doing a crappy job of porting it to the PC.

The original is truly one of my favorite games of all time.  It is a classic.  I will definitely pick this one up if for no other reason than to support a game that has turn based squad combat.     In any case, it looks really good from the video.

I hear ya Raven.

I think this kind of game is my favorite, even over the slew of classic TBS out there.  I think the greatest game possible for me would be to take the best systems out of XCom and JA and set them in a fantasy setting.  ToEE is kinda a game that does that, and I love me some ToEE, but it's lacking the base building/research/production side of things.

I'm not as on board with buying it just cuz though.  Well, those are my new principles anyway.  I'll be reading as much info on it as I can as we drag on to fall, but for right now, Xenonauts seems more my cuppa tea than this one, though XCom certainly is going to look prettier.

I get a little miffed when they start talking about how good everything looks, and how those zoom in camera things are going to add to the game.  Because if the underlying mechanics aren't up to snuff none of that pretty FX is going to matter, and I know, that after seeing a couple of the camera zooms I'm just going to turn it the #@$#@ off anyway. 

Love the clip. I have my fingers xed in the hope that it pans out.

If there is multiplayer then it's not XCom.

Otherwise there is one campaign, maybe different difficulty levels, but many 'events' in the campaign happen 'randomly'.  Mostly it's UFOs start showing up, you take a rookie group of dudes, shoot down UFOs, investigate the crash sites, kill aliens, capture aliens and alien weapons/gear, have your scientists research alien stuff, have your engineers prototype/build new stuff, go out and shoot down bigger alien ships with new gear and kill/capture new aliens with improved soldiers, ....

So the game has one story, but each time you play a new game the story will unfold 'slightly' differently.  It's base building coupled with real time UFO interceptions coupled with turn based squad combat.

I'm loving everything I see so far, except the change to movement and actions. That one I'll have to play before I decide upon.

Yeah man, I'll probably turn the "Glam Cam" off too after a while. It might be cool at first, but after you've seen all the different types of aliens a few times the camera zoom will probably get anoying. I too have Xenonauts pre-ordered and can't wait for it to drop.

On how moddable it will be that's still up in the air. I've found that most Firaxis games are pretty easy to mod, like Sid Meier's Pirates. So, I guess we'll wait and see but I'm hoping we can mod that "6 man limit" at the very least.

Thanks shadowtongue, that really helps. Maybe I need to see if I can find the original anywhere over here in Germany. I think I saw a clone somewhere -- ok did a search, it was on desura. Is that anything like it? Or is it the original?

I understand most of what people are saying here, but not the bit about base building. Is that like fort-, city- or planet-building in most other 4x environments (CIV, HoMM, GalCiv, E:WOM)? Can you actually have different types of playthroughs depending on what kind of "base" you build (in other words: are there real choices to be made?), or is it more like just some random stuff you have to micro around for some quasi-RPG?

If there is replayability in this, and it is SP instead of MP, and i can play it on my lame machine, then it sounds good.

ono-

There have been several UFO:[something] games over the past few years.  I think I played UFO:ET and found it to be quite fun, but only with a custom mod to improve some aspects.  I never played Afterlight, Aftershock, AI... but they all seem to fit the same basic game play.

I would imagine you can pick up various ones for $5 or so off of GoG or somewhere, but do a little review work first to make sure you're getting one that actually embraced the XCom style and didn't diverge too far from it.

On the other hand, even though this game is titled 'XCom' some reviews I've seen have indicated that it's a not the same depth as the initial 3 XComs.  Could be better could be worse, depends on the tastes of each person individually

The one 'gripe' people often have about these games is the pacing at which you get tactical missions.  Eventually those missions get kind of boring, but you can't really afford to ignore them or else you start taking penalties from various factions in game who fund you.  On the other hand, as the missions scale up due to you unlocking new content through your research you get a boost in excitement at facing new aliens new weapons new...

I loved JA, but JA2 just didn't work for me, because after a few hours it was just too much the same annoying mission types on a different map.  That and the base management (such as it was) in JA2 was more of a pain than fun.  But that's a digression.  XCom and it's clones are not JA, even though they are all turn based tactical squad based combat games.

As to the base building...

Each game does it slightly differently, but no, there's not a lot of interaction there.  It's just a 'place' where you manage your soldiers, researchers, engineers, and various other structures you need.  Some games have multiple bases you can build over the planet to increase radar coverage or interceptor coverage, other games have one main base where everything goes, and then you build satellite bases that just handle detection or something.  Really it's not so much 'base management' exactly as it is 'soldier management'.  Equipment, vehicles, research... that kind of thing.  But, your base can be attacked by the aliens so you wind up with a base defense mission which is usually pretty cool.

It does actually matter how you build your bases in most of the games, the original X-Com and most of it's later clones. If you want to play a some-what modern game that's as close to the original X-Com as possible I would go one of two ways until Xenonauts is released (will talk more about this in a second). As far as bases go though basically you have a limited amount of funds. Building installations like a "Alien Containment" so you can trap live aliens, or building more hangers for interceptor craft, anything really, all costs money. In some of the games the bases you get may be limited in size and you might not be able to build everything you need in that one location so strategic placement is important. It depends a little though on if you're playing  X-Com or one of it's later clones.

To be as faithful to the original as possible, and I'm also sure both of these will run on your system, try either:

UFO: Extraterrestrials (make SURE to use the BMan mod as it fixes a lot of things the devs didn't)

or

UFO: Aftermath (the first game in the UFO:After series)

Both of those do a pretty good job of sticking to the feel of the game-play of the original X-Com and both of them manage to not look too terrible in the process. Don't expect mind blowing 3D or advanced lighting effects though. Think more like Fallout 2 or Baldur's Gate type graphics only with slightly newer graphics.

To add to what Shadowtongue has said, there is indeed a LOT of replayability in most of these games as it's how you play the game that makes the story. They aren't heavy with RPG elements, but they do have soldier progression because they have stats they gain at each level and rank and you train them. Some of the games have training specializations soldiers can have once they meet the stat requirements, like "Sniper" or "Medic" (the "UFO:After series does this).

There are certain points when you are researching the aliens or their technology where you make breakthroughs in what would advance the "Story". In many of these games that might be when you take a alien of high enough rank alive in a mission and interrogate him when you get him back to your base. Another might come when you've finally found a certain weapon the aliens have been attacking you with and when you research it you unlock a whole new branch of technology that lets you make new armor, weapons, and even better vehicle parts for your troopship and interceptors. Again it's how you play the game that makes the experience or story.

As for another new game that's coming that is remaining truly faithful to the original X-Com experience, I HIGHLY recommend "Xenonauts". It should be out this year. It's got a great setting and time-line of aliens invading in the 80's. The feel of the game is simply amazing really and it has a great atmosphere. The game-play features cover all the areas where the original X-Com shined and they're adding some newer updates that stay very true to the genre experience. You can find Xenonauts on Desura as well and get in on the Alpha too. Also it's very affordable and will run on just about any system. Again don't expect mind blowing graphics as Goldhawk Interactive is a very small Indy company. Basically one guy, a English dude named Chris, put this all together and is the whole company (plus the people he's hired to do the work of course). I know he's dedicated to his company though because he's sunk his entire life savings and inheritance into making Xenonauts. The game doesn't look horrible graphically, mind you, just don't expect anything too fancy. You can see footage from the latest build on YouTube.

As far as I know, in the new one as soldiers gain exp and level up you'll be able to train them as certain roles for on the battlefield. Some times you'll probably need a specialized training to use certain types of weapons. This is actually pretty true to military standards. Not everyone knows how to properly use a sniper riffle, just like not everyone knows how to drive a tank, and not everyone knows how to patch a bullet hole.

UFO: Afterlight and Aftershock both did this as well. The original X-Com only changed the rank of the soldiers and they were different by how you attributed their stats. If you gave a guy a lot of strength he could carry the rocket launcher and the ammo for it. They're getting a little more detailed than that this time around. It's where the few Rpg elements come in but it's not really a Rpg with personal stories for every person or anything.

UFO: AI is available on Desura, which I downloaded -- and cannot play. I have absolutely no idea what to do. Like putting a four-year-old into a military helicopter and telling him: "Go fly to Tokio and bring me back some milk." Lack of tutorial is kinda hard on a newb like me who missed the original.