The Horrible X-COM Games Time Forgot

[@npc2212]

“The plot is entirely predictable” HALF WAY THROUGH THE GAME YOU FIND OUT YOU ARENT EVEN THE MAIN CHARACTER BUT ACTUALLY AN ALIEN BONDED TO HIM HOW IS THAT PREDICTABLE

[@TheGlenofKrokot]

You literally can leave your body and have weird alien magic It's pretty predictable imo

[@DisKorruptd]

@@TheGlenofKrokot the "leaving your body" part is purely for tactical gameplay purposes, because being limited to "go over there" by only being able to aim is a pretty shit way to handle it, the alien magic, I'll give you that it's weird that you have regenerative properties and telekinetic stuff, but I personally was not expecting "by the way, you're actually an alien controlling the main character"

[@SensiofRabbitude]

I'd have prefered predictable over how it actually ended up. I liked the branching 3-way ending but not the end to the story itself.

[@GeorgeMonet]

It wasn't super predictable because of how stupid and pointless it was and how much it made no goddamned sense. If you were ALWAYS the ghostly alien then you would have known from the getgo that you were the ghostly alien. This was a bunch of bullshit because the TWIST was bullshit and based entirely on CHEATING. If the player's character knows something and would know something then that needs to be explained to the player at the start of the fucking game! Failing to tell the player which character they are is bad game design and a failure of story telling.

[@Shardok1]

@@GeorgeMonet Now I dont remember why and how, but did they not explain it when it was revealed why it was not explained earlier? Its been a while tho, to be honest.

[@caelvanir8557]

The XCOM operatives in The Bureau look like the EXALT operatives from Enemy Within. I have a feeling that was meant to be an apology. "Yeah, that sucked. Here, you can shoot them now".

[@CharlatanWonder]

+Lord Caelvanir I like this theory.

[@ZenodudeMC]

Lord Caelvanir ehh it wasn't terrible. But shady government organizations deserve to get shot by aliens, as do my soldiers. I'm not bad I swear

[@Vanzgars]

Come on, The Bureau wasn't that bad.

[@MaxwellTornado]

Oh my, do they look good in those suits, though.

[@PrincessFelicie]

It was pretty bland, but it is enjoyable. I've never managed to get into mass effect- dunno, it just doesn't do it for me- and while I do agree the dialogue and characters of The Bureau are god awful, and the strategy layer doesn't work, the tactical one is fun if a bit repetitive once you get the engine running and understand how to get what you want done to be done. It's not great, it doesn't do anything unreplaceable, but it's not unredeemable either.

[@KlineStife]

i quite enjoyed the bureau actually as soon as i changed my mindset from "shitty third person shooter" to "xcom but i control the soldiers" it was okay fun. flanking and shit amplified your damage and everything, it was cool.

[@aco9880]

Welshie Ranger it was a racing MMO you idiot

[@ericexaybachay]

No

[@GeorgeMonet]

The gameplay in The Bureau was pure shit. I hate the bullshit nonsense that shooting something from the back magically hurts it more than shooting it from the front. Plus you can't really flank because the enemies are always aiming towards you, always running towards you, and your squad of idiots is always dead or one second away from dying again.

[@Obscure_1992]

@@GeorgeMonet your agents had cloaking and stuff. Using their equipment along with the right agent for the job goes a long way. The game was set for pushing enemies back to flanking them they do the same to you if you didn't think fast they'd get a drop on you.. its pretty xcom.

[@SirCrusher]

@@GeorgeMonet isn't that what happens normally in xcom?

[@Synystr7]

XCOM. The games where 95% shots miss and the AI crits for 7 through full cover.

[@AdriansCorner]

That's cause the Aliens are trying to reach out to you with their love (some say guns, but I say love!)

[@pbsixgun6]

lol Yeah, the RNG of XCOM stuff is legendary for saying " I'm cheating right now, what ya gonna do about it? huh? huh? FU!! hahaha"

[@gaiusjuliuspleaser]

"Oh, you killed an alien, did you? Well, here's four Sectopods and a dozen Chryssalids."

[@JFDSmit-rm6tw]

You saw Screen Junkies' Honest Game Trailer for XCom?

[@refi350]

98% shot miss, deal with that

[@hypermijit]

"Muffled 'ayy lmao' in the distance" I need that mod, i need that mod in my life xD

[@kinagrill]

one of my favorite quotes goes 'something something' cuz fuck you :p

[@MrCardz]

Mutons are just called Dickheads.

[@stanky9lax]

What about UFO games? You know, since the original was called X-Com in US and UFO: Enemy Unknown in the Europe. There was UFO: Aftermath in 2003 (which was decent), UFO: Aftershock and UFO: Afterlight in 2005 and 2007.

[@georgedang449]

Yep, the knock off UFO: Aftermath series games were decent and faithful to the formula. Like the Chinese $2.99 iPod knockoffs, it's as good as the original and better than the official "innovative sequels" which attempted to improve upon perfection, to various degrees of failure.

[@Beni_777]

I really liked afterlight, it is a good game.

[@CyberGenesis1]

X-Com/UFO: Enemy Unknown are not related to the UFO games. They weren't the same people

[@rmsgrey]

My problem with Aftermath is the difficulty spike when the aliens discover explosives. You switch from mobbing any xeno careless enough to wander into range and taking advantage of cover to staying spread out beyond mutual support range and staying away from anything solid enough to detonate a rocket in hopes of generating a clean miss rather than getting fried by splash damage...

[@shrike6243]

I love the UFO games. They are glitchy messes, but there are so many interesting ideas showcased there.

[@GurniHallek]

I liked The Terror From The Deep more that the original, purely for the underwater theme.

[@shrike6243]

That and it took the difficulty of the original and kicked it up to eleven.

[@GurniHallek]

And turned it into a horror game.

[@shrike6243]

It's so true. . . Those cheek clenching moments when you hit "End Turn" on a map knowing there are Tentaculants around, or peeking into an undersea cave, or *every fucking closet* on a cruise ship mission . . . gah.

[@GurniHallek]

Or starting a terror mission, having half of your submarine blown out of the existense on first enemy turn, with two aquanauts going berserk and gunning down half of the remaining guys. Fun times.

[@applejack77778]

One time during an artifact mission, on the second section I had like 10 soldiers remaining and it was kind of a breeze to get past most of it but I couldn't figure out where the last enemy was and with like 8 soldiers remaining I had them search the area for at least 20 turns and then almost every round one of my soldiers would be stabbed in the back by a lobsterman and every turn, I couldn't find that lobsterman, he kept doing hit and run tactics and after another 40 or so rounds of the same thing I only had a couple soldiers left and I finally found him and killed him. It was just one lobster!

[@Larknok1]

Was the gameplay mediocre in Bureau? Sure. Were most of the characters completely forgettable? Oh yes. Was the dialogue wheel a Mass Effect rip-off? Uh-huh. But did the story have no redeeming qualities? NO! Whenever asked for the biggest mind fucks in videogames, I always refer people to Spec Ops: The Line and The Bureau. Seriously, finding out that the player IS an Ethereal (and consequently that's why you got to make decisions for Carter) really brought all the characters alive in an incredibly immersive way in the final act.

[@dojelnotmyrealname4018]

That's the biggest twist of it all isn't it? You're not playing Carter. You're the Ethereal. I actually thought that was really clever.

[@shrike6243]

The Bureau hurts me to play, and not just because of the gameplay problems. It's the obvious ambition that led the project, but was just never met. The Bureau is the thin shadow of a much better game that simply wasn't ever finished.

[@Veridiano02]

Bureau was mediocre in a narrow sense. Tne story could try to explain why all of this is unkown in the forst X-COM, who or what the commander is exactly, why the council was formed in the first place and why anyone remebers when the first alien lands... Instead the game drifts in vague references and, at the end, they explain nothing. Also, I'm really done with the stupid "you we're the bad guy all along" twist in videogames. At least in this one was unexpected. In KOTOR was a magnific twist plot, but Spec Ops: The Line, the game you are all wet about, is garbage. The tittle is mediocre, the gameplay is not funny and the "twist" is obvius since the very beggining. Yeah, I know I killed those people. Well, guess what, videogame, you LEFT NO OTHER CHOICE. [SPOILER ALERT] The Phosphorus scene. The black guy was yelling all the time "use the bomb, use the bomb, use the bomb we're gonna die if you don't use the bomb", I and was, like, "dude, if I nuke this assholes on the ground I'm going to kill the civilians too. I'm not going to burn alive innocent civilians, so chill. We're Spec Ops, we're going to do this shooting baddies, no bomb" but... Guess what. The enemies are unkillable, and the game does not let you advance if you don't use the bomb only to tell you "what have you done, you monster?!" [END OF SPOILER] I've progressed in your stupid game, that's what I'm trying to do. In any time let you make a choice. The only way to advance is to kill everybody, just to achieve the end game and see how you accuse me of being a monster because I killed all those people. Ok, next time I will not buy the game, don't play it, and I will not became a monster. Is that what you try to tell me? In KOTOR, which is a GOOD example of this twist done right, the player had the choice [SPOILER ALERT] In KOTOR, if you choose to be evil, and then the reveal of you being Revan all along, then you got the "no matter what you try, a tiger will always be a tiger at the end", and your character will laugh yelling "your useless jedi tricks had proven totally useless against the power of the dark side". It makes sense. If you choose to be the good guy, you make Bastilla good again in the end without killing her (and you don't need the power of love, I did with the female Revan) and you get the "at the end the light prevails even in the most darkest places" so typical of Star Wars. It also makes sense. [END OF SPOILER] That's the power of choice, and how the gameplay and the story puts that choice and the plot twist all together, making the ending even stronger. SPEC OPS is just a shooting gallery of baddies were the game punish you to actually play the bloody game.

[@zn4rf]

Bureau was a shit fest the controls alone ruined the game (aside from the rest of the shit fest)

[@bonnie1020a]

Escobar Manchulo You had 4 years to beat the game, don't bitch when it gets spoiled.

[@TheKnightOfSmite]

Midichlorians = microscopic cells that allows people to use the force Micronoids = microscopic parasitic body snatchers ...not seeing how they did a Star Wars here

[@Schugger1]

Well, I guess both are incredible small and do incredibly suck. So, there you go ;)

[@alejoreyes6012]

r/woosh

[@TheKnightOfSmite]

@@Schugger1 From what I remember the idea of them is fine and suitably creepy, it just was let down by the muppet aliens (which was something outside designer Julian Gollop's hands as Microprose insisted on hiring this organic artist) The idea of a biological enemy that continually adapted its technology and aircraft to fight you (who already starts with a tech lead) and by mental subversion was unique for its time. It's a shame Gollop was rushed to finish it though which sucked as the game woulda been full of intrigue, gang wars and all sorts. Also Phoenix Point will revisit bio enemies such as these :)

[@vladimirkrasilnikov2245]

This guy published this video 7 years ago. "I can only hope the future holds as good of things as I think it does." He couldn't have predicted the Chimera Squad, of course.

[@AndouHarvey]

Tbf i dont think most people wouldve expected a game franchise about taking aliens' tech, and firing it back at them to turn into some bs police fanfiction just because some degenerates wanted to fuck the snake girls

[@SlipianRage]

For me (and a lot of folks around) TFTD is the best X-Com game ever. Sure, for people who played 5 minutes of the game it may feel like a reskin. But in reality they have taken the original, rebalanced and expanded it heavily. Just the mere change to damage formula being 50-150% instead of 0-200% makes a huge difference. Addition of melee weapons, underwater-only gear makes the game play completely differently compared to the original X-Com. And yes, FUCKING TENTACULATS, that will make you shit high-quality bricks any day of the week just by moving somewhere in the fog of war. I dunno what made this guy think of TFTD as a reskin.

[@shrike6243]

TFTD definitely holds its place as the hardest X-Com, bar none. Scariest too, at least in my opinion.

[@moonyaco]

tftd was my favorite too. The fact that over 70% of earth is covered by the ocean with limitless potential for mysterious alien sea lifeforms currently sharing earth with us makes the game feel much more real than UFO 1. The music is scarier, the submarine battles feel more awesome and plausible than interceptor air to air engagements simply because it just feels unreal for our jet fighters to ever catch up to flying saucers.

[@PanduPoluan]

The only annoyance I had with TFTD is that the aliens can appear *anywhere* in your base when they raid. Kinda makes sense considering that the base is floating, so they probably drill through the floor panels... but still sucks. Base layout with chokepoints go out the window...

[@shrike6243]

I think that was the point. Being able to chokepoint the aliens pretty much trivialized base invasions unless you were heavily behind in tech.

[@knightowltoo9616]

My only real problem with the game was the suspension of disbelief needed every time you "threw" a grenade while UNDERWATER! And as fun as it was to play, it lacked the original game's oh so appealing pandering to all the UFO tropes of the day from crop circles to cattle mutilations and alien abductions. Overall the amount of new content and tweeks made were impressive considering the limited resources and time they had to do it in.

[@vantuz8264]

Those who call the story of The Bureau "predictable" either lie or didn't play the game till the end. Yes, it's not stellar, but it certainly doesn't "suck". As team-based shooter it's second in my list after Star Wars Republic commando. It even wins in terms of combat mechanics. RC holds the first place because of characters. My guess is that you're calling Bureau "worse than Enforcer" because time healed all the pain from it while the chair burns from Bureau not delivering on your (probably unreasonably high) expectations are still relatively fresh.

[@PanduPoluan]

Well said!

[@TheTLProductions12]

Van Tuz or they don't like the game and thought the story was predictable because that's how opinions work.

[@vantuz8264]

TLProductions people use the word "predictable" as a synonym for "boring." Which is a wrong way to use the word. How many of those, who used this word has been able to actually predict the "protagonist is just a puppet" plot twist? My guess is: not many, if any at all.

[@ndaemon1718]

bear in mind.. all brains work differently. what person x finds utterly captivating and the best story twist in the centiry, person Y figured out after the first 4 minutes of the game. thats how it is. Predictable IS true for some, and untrue for others. no right or wrong to be had here..

[@vantuz8264]

I'll believe it when i see it, okay? If you know someone who predicted the main plot twist of Bureau "after the first 4 minutes" (okay, let's make it 40) then point them here. I'd like to know *how* exactly their super smart brain figured it out.

[@nijunikuro]

**X-Com: UFO Defense: This game (and probably TftD as well, as it used the same engine) had a bug which made some of my units end up having only 1 or 2 Action Units. Apparently, the unit stats can't go over 256 and when the units I used from the beginning of the game 'till near the end of it improved enough to go over it, their AP reduced to 1 or 2. :/ This actually made it possible for them to use most of the actions with 0 AP cost, tho they couldn't move from their starting position. This meant that they were best used equipped with alien missile launchers, which let them set the waypoints for the missile, allowing them to blow up aliens from the other side of the map. The missiles could even use the elevators/teleporters if their waypoints were set correctly. XD **X-Com: Terror from the Deep: While it's true that the game looks like just a reskin of the original, there are some unique gameplay elements. For example, while the game mostly takes place underwater, there are land-based missions (like rescuing a ship or defending a coastal city) which have some restrictions. Some of the weapons and equipment are made specifically for underwater use and can't work on dry land. If I remember correctly, the underwater "jet pack" can't fly on dry land, for one. **X-Com: Apocalypse: "...plot upset..." Um... Comparing Star Wars Midi-chlorians to X-Com Micronoids is like comparing DC's Blue Beetle with Star Trek's Borg. The 1st works in symbiosis with the host, while the latter destroys the host's mind to take control of it. Star Wars' Midi-chlorian revelation is a ridiculous retcon that just raises more questions and creates more plotholes. Apocalypse's Micronoid revelation perfectly explains everything about the aliens (with plenty of clues pointing toward it during the entire campaign). This game remains my favorite in the X-com franchise, despite some of its glaring flaws. One of the huge flaws is that ALL ground vehicles are... almost completely useless. While they are slow and can never reach the UFOs in time to do anyathing, you can scatter them around the city and station them inside non-hostile buildings to improve their response time - that's not the problem. One of the problems is that they can move ONLY on roads - which are usually blown up rather quickly and easily during UFO encounters - which often forces them to seek alternate routes - or outright makes it impossible to get close enough to the UFOs to actually shoot. Sometimes the UFOs knock down Transportation Tubes or even an entire highway overpass right on top of them, immediatelly destroying them. But the biggest problem of all is that UFOs tend to destroy roads under your vehicles when they shoot them - and doing so instantly DESTROYS your vehicle. It doesn't matter that you have an inpenetrable tank rolling around when 1 or 2 hits (from a single UFO with even the early-game beam weapons) destroy the road beneath it and make it instantly go boom. On the cool side of things, one of the things you didn't mention is the fact that (some of) the corporations actually interact with eachother and have their own mutual relations. For example, Megapol shoots down vehicles from criminal gangs (like "Diablo") and sometimes conducts raids on their buildings. The gangs sometime retaliate by mobilizing to attack their police stations. Another often overlooked gameplay mechanics is the fact that you can actually manually drive/pilot vehicles and aim/shoot with them. Unfortunatelly, it's not really explained anywhere and you have to figure out the controls yourself. :/ **X-com: Interceptor: "They're all really easy." Only if you play on easy difficulties (like Beginner). Most people considered the game impossible to beat on Superhuman (highest) difficulty - especially when you start encountering cloaked alien ships which decloak only long enough to shoot you with auto-lock-on lasers. And let's not even get into the wingmen AI, which doesn't know how to use their craft's equipment (like cloaking devices) nor shoot the missiles - they only use their default energy weapon. :/ I never had problems with game's controls, as it used the exact same control scheme as the "X-Wing" game, which I used to play before I got my hands on "X-Com: Interceptor". The fact that you can just open Options/Settings and check all the key bindings also seems to escape some people. -_- **X-Com: Enforcer: I'd like to point out few of the HUGE flaws of this game which weren't mentioned in the video. For starters, you can't even get to the game's ending unless you play on the highest difficulty. If you play on any lower difficulty, you get "You finished the game on (difficulty). Try a harder difficulty!" after you reach a certain level (depending on difficulty). You LITERALLY can't reach/play the final level unless you play on highest difficulty. The "Research" is even bigger joke than mentioned. For example, you START with an alien-looking weapon that shoots energy disks, but you have to RESEARCH the earth-made shotgun! You can only use ONE weapon at a time. You can swap weapons only if a different weapon randomly appears somewhere on the map - and then you lose the weapon you previously used. In fact, the weapons are automatically switched when you walk over one - which means you could be shooting up aliens with a decent weapon only to suddenly switch to a crappy one 'cause you walked over it as it just randomly appeared next to you while you were strafing to avoid enemy fire. -_- **X-COM: Genesis: That actually looks a lot like "Syndicate Wars". **XCOM: Enemy Unknown: While I do like the game (and "Enemy Within" addressed most of my complaints with the original release of the game), it always bugged me how you can get dozens of fighter-jets, but only one transport aircraft, which carries only up to 6 people. I wouldn't really consider this a problem if they didn't make it part of the game mechanics that you can only respond to 1 of 3 monthly alien incursions. At least "XCOM 2" had a reason for having only one troop-transport craft. **The Bureau: XCOM Declassified: While the game's definitely disappointing, I certainly wouldn't call it "garbage". "(The plot's) entirely predictable." I'm guessing you gave up on the game without playing through, 'cause I seriously doubt you could've predicted the "you're not actually playing the character you think you are" revelation. A lot of people bash that plot twist, but I actually liked it. "X-com: Enforcer actually looks good compared to this." That line makes me think you never actually played EITHER of those games. Enforcer is a barely-playable mess that makes no sense whatsoever - and makes less sense the more you think about it. Bureau actually tries to introduce interesting concepts, even if the execution's far from perfect. One of the big disappointments, imo, was the handling of the revelation that Sectoids are forced to fight you using "slave collars" and mind control and don't actually WANT to fight. While that is an interesting plot twist/point, you are never given an opportunity to free them or incapacitate them without killing them. I'm guessing developers just wanted to guilt-trip the players for killing them? **XCOM 2: One thing that bugged me about this game is... why do they treat "Commander" as the savior who's the only one who can save us when, according to game's plot, XCOM lost the Earth to aliens while under his command? :/ The base game is great, imo, and "Alien hunters" and "Shen's Last Gift" look like great additions. However, while the "War of the Chosen" does add an incredible amount of new, amazing content, I can't help but feel it shifts the game into the fantasy genre (one of the chosen is even called "The Warlock"), and away from science fiction. A lot of gameplay mechanics make sense only if you brush them off as "it's magic", which is not what you'd want in a science fiction game. For example, missing the Assassin recharges his Shield. How, exactly? When chosen are killed, they basically "respawn" in their base no worse for ware. I guess they could explain that as them psyonicly remote-controlling bodies, kinda like what Etherials do with Avatars? :/ P.S.: Sorry for the big wall of text, just trying to be thorough.

[@angellara7040]

Nijuni Kuro the commander only lost the war due to a lack of funding,having a skeleton crew and aliens using mind control to sabotage xcom from within

[@amidala1622]

the commander basically has a super human mind. he is THE person for tactics. even the aliens used him. He lost only because the world surrendered , one country after the other. at the end, he had nothing to work with , and the alien captured him, which forced Xcom into hiding

[@abyssbloodgazer6801]

About XCOM 2, the commander was literally the source of tactics for the aliens. Have you played the game?

[@buttahXD]

While this is a year old, I feel like adding on to two of your points. The Bureau was made purely for the reason that they didn't know if people still wanted a turn based strategy game with the XCOM IP, so while they were making Enemy Unknown, they had another team making it so they could figure out which one people liked better to roll with it in the future. Obviously EU/EI won out, so Bureau just got a bit of DLC and that was that. XCOM 2 explains that the Commander got royally shafted by the governments in EU/EI, and that everything past Exalt's leak of your base was a simulation made up by the aliens, as a muton bashed your head in. XCOM, plot wise, never even got past the development of laser weaponry, and that the governments were also controlled by the aliens into surrendering. Its explained in the opening cutscenes.

[@Lord_of_Dread]

You could directly control vehicles in apocalypse?! WHAT HOW?!?!

[@majesticfool]

This mob narrative that Terror from the Deep sucks/is mediocre is annoying. Sure it was a reskin, but the atmosphere/music/aesthetic is way better than the original game.

[@skeetermcghee8212]

Nah that game sucked...the maps were too large and devolved into hunting the last alien for 30 minutes...and those cruise ships....f those cruise ships.

[@bobjenkins9208]

and lets not forget the addition of the super terror site, with double sectioned mission, in the ocean liner, which was just a nightmare to navigate when its full of op lobsterman. 9 times out of 10 id die when that mission spawned.

[@AxelLeJeff]

Hey guys, let's take potshots at old games we were never around to play, 10-20 years removed from any relevant cultural context.

[@azraelle6232]

They definitely bumped up the difficulty with TFTD. Lobstermen were nigh-indestructible, and the tentaculats... take a chryssalid and allow it the power of flight.

[@JosephArata]

@@AxelLeJeff I was alive when Terror From the Deep was released. It's a good game for what it is, but the lack of game development time made the game shit because of the way they balanced difficulty.

[@doublicon7343]

I'd love to see an actual turn-based XCOM game set in the Bureau universe. Love that 50's style.

[@GeoSukarno]

i agree. i'm more interrested with the life before i born, or the life of youth of our parents. For me it's more interresting than futuristic theme. Humanity struggling fight to a millenium years difference of alien tech. Like Fred Durst said, "Don't hate me, i'm just an alien, with 27 tons of new millenium.."

[@bbs001gaming7]

Hey, you cant forget about how xcom ufo defence has a kick-ass modding community called OpenXcom, with mod packs acting more as expansions by adding a ton more items/things in-game, add new mechanics to the game, MUCH smoother game play, and even completely rewriting the game's story AND changing the world to match it.

[@a_peppercorn3159]

When you talked about Freespace, made by the Descent devs, I remembered that the original devs are working on a new game. 6 people are rebooting it and it's on steam in early access. It's called Overload.

[@CharlatanWonder]

Interesting. the last I heard about it there was that board game on kickstarter that was supposed to be some sort of interest check to see if it was a good idea to bring the IP back. Overload certainly looks very Descent-y but I'm not sure it'll scratch my itch for some good ol' FreeSpace. At least we have the FreeSpace Source Code Project. It was really cool of the devs to give out the Source Code so that the series could sort of live on.

[@a_peppercorn3159]

Never played ANY game like it, except for the overload demo.

[@sethleoric2598]

Fact: according to one demo of The Bureau it was gonna be Prey [2017]

[@PicturesqueGames]

Apocalypse IS the best x-com game. Additionally it is the best damn RTS game in existence...that is until you get toxic pistols and then teleporters with high explosives. Since they work when game paused you take 2 teleporters, zzap in, set bomb with 0 second delay, drop it, zzap out (all during pause), enjoy explosion obliterating enemy from the distance. :D. And interesting part - the producers pulled the plug on it before feature creep (thanks to Gollop himself) was getting to severe. You see - originally he planned to make game a bit too much like Syndicate, with faction wars and all. Result of that would've been game too unfaithful to original, so he was booted off the project and what was there was finished and wrapped into more classic x-com plot. Which came out pretty sweet still.

[@ralboraggins9564]

oh yeah i did that with the teleporters also. but isn't that what you might do IRL with teleporters? I didn't like the turn based mode for that one. i liked the real time with pause and slow, fast etc.

[@alexxx4434]

IRL teleporters? haven't seen one

[@rustypickle1156]

Oh man, this kind of power in a modern XCOM... Mmm...

[@Brigand231]

Totally agree, Apocalypse was the best by far. I have to admit, I enjoyed the real-time play as well except in times when I absolutely needed that level of fine control to survive.

[@chillhour6155]

Xcom: Apocalypse was my 1st bought PC game, thought it was a crsader type game, damn was i wrong, it was so amazing and thematic that in my head I was creating back stories for all my soldiers, this game is deep

[@ralboraggins9564]

the prototype mega city dynamic was amazing. that is probably the best of the x-com games. people who haven't played that game don't know what they're missing. you're right. so much depth to the game. i love it so much. there are so many good details. so much customization of vehicles and troop loadout. the ability to pick up items your units find during missions. raiding cult of sirius. raiding gang buildings and starting fires with incendiary grenades. watching enemies die from structure fires. tunneling with beam weapons. Real time mode was much better than turn based.

[@GeoSukarno]

Me too. X-COM Apoc is my favorit game from 1998 until now. I started play the 1997 X-COM Apoc in year 1998. Retro Future theme is very cool. The reactive Music of Mystery Horror theme and Action theme are the best. Nice Mysterious Detective movie style when the phone ringging at early segmen of intro video. Then we're greeted with mysterious tense atmosphere at main menu, until early game. i take a look around the Mega Primus City, admiring around city. i absolutely become amazed than Sim City 2😀😀😀 and Transport Tycoon 😘 , at that time.. God, i really love X-COM Apocalypse

[@MostlyPennyCat]

We only ever played UFO 1 on Amiga here, I seem to remember swapping floppies out a lot. And bring left looking at the "Hidden Movement" screen because we didn't have an A1200.

[@MostlyPennyCat]

Truly it was the glory days of "Big Box" gaming. After playing in the junior bowling league every Saturday morning it was get off the bus at Waterlooville, into the computer shop, buy a new Amiga game and spend the next two days playing that eating crisis and drinking coke, then back to school on Monday. Good Times.

[@gimok2k5]

Honestly, I didn't think that The Bureau was that terrible. Story in the last quarter was decent (and as much as people can say the story was predictable, the fact that the entire game is actually a FIRST-PERSON Game and that you're playing an ascendet Ethereal the whole time is certainly not until near the reveal). I didn't pay full price for it but 5 bucks, but as a budget-XCOM-Spinoff, I think it's okay and worth looking at. As for spiritual successors, the UFO Afterblank Series in the early 2000s was doing a pretty decent job at that (with real time instead of turn based) and the second one seems to be very similar to XCOM 2, including the "Aliens Won the previous game" start and the territory management in the Geoscape.

[@alcalshel]

Hey , but at least The Bureau plot twist was awesome.

[@3dpprofessor]

Does no one else remember Laser Squad Nemesis?

[@SianaGearz]

Ohai thar!

[@theknightofdoom260]

Awesome game had it on my Spectrum.

[@SianaGearz]

Oh wait a second. I had a Spectrum... well, not quite, a self-built 48k clone, because WHAT ELSE could you get in the Soviet Union. And I didn't know there was such a game, even anything similar. In fact I didn't have many games at all, mostly ones I made myself, and they were all shit. They were more or less what you'd imagine games might be like if you never actually saw or played any.

[@rbarnes4076]

Laser Squad Nemesis rocked. Spent many an hour playing that.

[@Maggerama]

I really wish that they rebooted the reboot (remade the remake? I'm always lost with that shit). Still one of the deepest tactics to-date.

[@panophobia704]

Xenonauts is a fantastic game - Goldhawk is currently working on a sequel!

[@CharlatanWonder]

+Panophobia yeah, I'm pretty hype for xenonauts 2! It's gonna be a 3rd version IIRC kinda like for X-COM: Genesis was supposed to be.

[@SallinKari]

Sweet, I love that game. It scratches my X-com itch that the reboot doesn't quite get because of the streamlining.

[@shrike6243]

The "Oh fuck that monsterous alien just wiped out half my squad and sweet neptune what just ducked around that corner?" kinda itch?

[@demongrenade2748]

For awhile you could actually get a free pre-alpha demo on GoG for Xenonauts 2 to assist with development and provide feedback. It let you play a single tactical operation with your soldiers. Im not sure if its still going. I played a few of the demo's. The 3D maps were kinda cool. Beyond that, everything was merely a placeholder or a rough port from the previous xenonauts. It was about as buggy and unpolished as you would expect from a game that's in the prototyping stage but it was still a nice proof of concept for the 3D engine. It was also cool that they didn't charge for it, as they felt it wasn't something that wasn't worth charging for in its current state. I'm not sure if its still going but its worth checking out

[@SensiofRabbitude]

I really enjoyed Benjamin Magnus Games recent play through of Xenonauts.

[@casedistorted]

They thought it would take 6 months to create Terror from the Deep but apparently it actually took them a full year just to reskin the game. The original creator had no input into terror from the deep either, he was working on Apocalypse iirc. His GDC talk explains all of this pretty well, it's very interesting despite him not being a great talker.

[@Freecell82]

TFTD actually is a bit better than the original game. There *are* a handful of new features, and there's a level of polish the first game didn't have. Glad you actually acknowledge how good Apocalypse is too. That game had an awful rep for the longest time and I don't understand why. I loved it. It was ambitious and easily the most creative of any X-Com game so far.

[@dragoneye6229]

Apocalypse got bad juju from it's looks most likely. When I sat down with it and didn't like how things looked. The aesthetic was garbage. Through and through. But I powered past it since I found out real time combat was a thing and I was curious as to how the fuck you can give a player a choice of HOW they want to play a game on such a fundamentally different level every time they start a mission. I finally got around to asking a ton of my friends who picked up the XCOM series for windows 95 in that green case (the one that has actual video opening for TFTD) and they said that they disliked the graphics. It always came down to graphics, only this time it's not subjective, much as I like the game Apocalypse needs a UI overhaul like Antifa needs to run into the one man who owns a gatling gun.

[@Spaced92]

TFTD had an awful reputation because of awful bugs back in the day. I agree it is better once you can play it properly, f tanker missions though. Wasn't Apocalypse horrifically buggy as well actually ...

[@Freecell82]

I mean, Xcom 1 had the bug where it put you on the easiest difficulty no matter what. They were both pretty buggy lol

[@abalamdepaimon6891]

When i think back to the countless hours of TFTD gameplay, i remember the music, the mental stress ( i couldn't play it for more then like 4hrs before i needed to take a break for my own mental health), but most of all, the cruise ship/tanker missions. With the poor AI, you could end up searching 8 floors of tight space just to find that one last alien hiding and never moving, in a 1x3 spaced broom closet. I hated those ship missions so much....

[@PicturesqueGames]

Bureau actually had most of it's stuff stripped. When you play it you can see all the elements of the original and where they were supposed to be (mission structure on the map, sending squads, research), but there are holes all over the place instead of them, with only mostly linear story remaining. Shame really.

[@robd9413]

TFTD had an incredible difficulty level - the original was unforgiving at times, but TFTD would kill your entire party for one mistake. For those crazy enough to think the original was too easy, then came TFTD. So is it a difficulty change? Yes. A change up. A lot. Not so much a learning curve as a learning cliff. It had a tech tree that screwed you - you need the hand-to-hand weapons for those near indestrubtable crab guys (who could tank rockets to the face, but fell to a single stab), but to get them you need to take a specific alien alive and usually only got one chance at it on an overworld mission early in the game. Miss that chance and you are stuffed. Not know you had to do it and you are stuffed - even if you don't find that out until two dozen missions later. Even if you have to get 3/4 of your team killed to get a live one on that mission, do it. Lest we forget, the Lovercraftian floating thingy that have insane amounts of movement and can destroy your crew in one turn. If they spot you, your dead. And then, of course, there is the final zone. Four mazes full of all the top nasties (include crabs and zombiefier) and NO SAVES. Nightmarish (especially if you don't have hand-to-hand - see above). But, if against all logical odds, you beat it. Damn was that satisfying.

[@ThunterFP]

TO be fair The bureau Xcom declassified does the squad command aspect so much better than any of the mass effect games

[@Kylephibbsky]

Honestly yeah it did have some meaningful innovations, I thought it had really responsive meaningful squad command in a pretty great blend of XCOM and Mass Effect. It was a potentially good game it just needed a lot more polishing before it was released.

[@meneldal]

Can you do worse than Mass Effect?

[@AdriansCorner]

It was look like someone was on LSD while trying to develop it though. XD

[@shrike6243]

+Kyle Phibbs The Bureau actually makes me super mad *because* of that potential. There was a very good game planned that was simply never realized, and you can see it everywhere you look when you play it.

[@reallyidrathernot.134]

That the video spends so long saying it's bad, with the only justificaition being "you have to walk your abilities like a human" what? what? what does that mean?!

[@JCDenton2012Modder]

The Bureau had soooo much potential. A 1950s themed X-Com game where you play as an MiB Agent? THAT... was a golden idea, but... the game... lacked it's own thing. The devs just threw a bunch a stuff into the blender to, 'appeal to a broader audience,' and then it satisfied nobody. The Bureau didn't know if it wanted to be a: cover shooter, a strategy game, or an RPG; and in trying to emulate them all... it failed at being any of them. This sucks even more because it had a really good idea at its core: to be a Man in Black fighting aliens in the 1950s.

[@OlDirtySam]

The bureau was a game that had a great future but the x-com fans killed it. They couldn't accept this game as a story driven investigation thriller and so it was mashed up with a tactic game. I would have loved to play the the original idea ... the game they released was okayish non the less but it felt short on many occasions

[@BearOldcastle]

Honestly seeing the old alpha footage and teasers that got me interested in the game and actually XCOM as whole, it really does make me said we never got to see the physiological thriller game that the original team working on it wanted to make. That games dev hell is truly worth a read.

[@BearOldcastle]

@@OlDirtySam From what I read, I'm not sure gamer tastes alone should get blamed, I think execs and infighting between two studios also played heavily into the split in game-play.

[@OlDirtySam]

@@BearOldcastle never heard about. Can you tell me more?

[@ProfessorYana]

@@OlDirtySam So would I. Or. y'know, something like "Rainbow Six meets X-Com".

[@Balmak_mage]

As you mention Xenonauts, there were predecessors to it by same studio known as UFO series (UFO Aftermath, UFO Afterlight e.t.c). I would argue that X-COM 2 by Firaxis took an inspiration from this series (UFO aftershock and its faction system as an example).

[@JFDSmit-rm6tw]

Apocalypse also had the option between turn-based or real-time encounters. It also takes place in a domed city on Mars, for those who don't know.

[@Brigand231]

In my opinion, Apocalypse is the ultimate X-Com game and the yardstick to hold all others to.

[@abalamdepaimon6891]

If you played X-com enemy unkown by the time it was released, you would probably not say that about apocalypse. There was nothing comparable on the market, the music, the thrill, the Angst you had during gameplay was unmatched. Researching new tech, having your soldiers gain stats, meeting new aliens was exciting and unheard of. Sure there was other games that had similar elements, like research/science/upgraded units in civilization by sid meier, or science fiction gameplay like Master of Orion, but this mix of science, upgrading base, building new bases , shooting down scary UFO's and then hunting them down... Apocalpyse was fun and i played it for many hundred hours, but it wasn't as ground breaking as the first installment. And as much as i loved the games back then, i can't get myself to play them anymore, just too many bugs and annoyances that were smoothened out in newer games. X-com2 and it's DLC are true successors, revitalized to todays standards.

[@videlmain]

@@abalamdepaimon6891 OpenXCom and OpenApoc fixes (almost) all the issues, in addition to modernizing the engine and adding many convenient mods

[@mrlucky7467]

Bureau wasn't That Bad, it might not have had all the polish of Mass Effect, but it was an XCOM Style game in almost every aspect, and got about as close to a true XCOM game as one could in a Third Person Shooter format, it was an OK Game in my opinion...

[@delta3244]

So it's kinda like Super Paper Mario in the PM series, then? Because that game gets a lot of flak from people who like the series, just because of the change in format, even though it had probably the best story in the series.

[@angellara7040]

German Pepe what is the xcom style?

[@SensiofRabbitude]

About the only things I liked about TB was the setting and the concept of the 3-way ending with slightly different outcomes. Everything else came off average at best to me and I definitely wasn't a long term series purist either as the first rebooted/remade game was my first ever in the series.

[@expressionamidstcacophony390]

As far as I recall, APOC doesn't cleverly detect that you know what you're doing, it just scales alien tech progression with your score. Accumulate a lot of early score and the mid game starts earlier.

[@JucheGang]

The bureau wasn't even that bad lmao. idk why nerds like to cry about it. It is quite literally the perfect example of a 6/10

[@prcervi]

it was a poor comparitive quality xcom entry to the series(narrative questionable quality, gameplay almost certainly poorer quality) wasn't an awful game by most means, and there were quite a few story elements i outright loved, but it just wasn't a good xcom game

[@SuperBoyboys]

The story with the newer XCOMs is that in E3 2010, they announced "XCOM" which was basically The Bureau. Then Spoony (and lots of x-com fans) called betrayal, and 2K went "OH SHIT FUCK WHAT HAVE WE DONE" and they decided to make unknown instead. Then they released The Bureau because w/e.

[@StrikeNoir105E]

XCOM: Enemy Unknown was actually in development alongside the XCOM FPS at the time, however the revelation of XCOM:EU after the furor against the FPS definitely seems to have been a reaction to said outrage. It's strange because at the time 2K was banking on the shooter being the "main" XCOM game, and yet XCOM: Enemy Unknown was the one that brought in the big bucks and critical acclaim. Now there was actually a short period where 2K Marin was actually deciding to distance their third-person game from the XCOM franchise and just call it "The Bureau", with only residual conceptual links to XCOM. However, something happened along the way where they decided they wanted to integrate it into the XCOM franchise afterall, thus how we end up with the full title "The Bureau: XCOM Declassified".

[@nilus2k]

The thing that happened was that EU came out first and was well received so they had hoped giving it the X-Com name would help sell it.

[@discountdavyjones5002]

This lines up with my memory of how it happened. Heard about shooter first: backlash seemed to push them to pivot to the remake. Never played the Bureau, but bear it no ill will. It just wasn’t what we wanted X-Com to be.

[@RashaKahn]

If I remember correctly The Bureau was announced in 2010 and the backlash was so bad they ended up making XCOM: Enemy Unknown and releasing it before The Bureau.

[@SolantisA]

to be honest, the bureau would be good if they did not call it xcom. as a start to a new ip it could have been okay.

[@AdriansCorner]

Sounds like every Hollywood reboot/sequel ever.

[@zxqwerxz]

That mod that adds the "ignoring damage because fuck you" for armor is great.

[@karolkwiecjasz9356]

It's wierd to say but I actually enjoyed The Bureau. I started playing the series with Enemy Within, so I kindda liked to be the guy on who EXALT modeled itself after [I fucking love EXALT - their style and methods]. And as an European, seeing cold war america was kindda cool and I enjoyed the story and sidemissions. Like the time you had to track the slime through the vents. The game was uninspired and had those generic locations that builded the climate for me. It was a shame that the game was never modded or expanded in any significant way. The system to manage equipment was nice but the piss poor game economy was a shame. There were only three classical tiers of weapons [bullets, lasers, plasma] with four weapon types [pistol, rifle, sniper - NO LAZER ON IT and shotgun] with a few flashy ammo eaters as alternative tiers from the hangar and preorder DLC. Because really - if the modders randomised enemies a bit [weapons, body parts, ranks...], gave them teleportation between rooms, made an actual weapon economy with 30 intresting guns in evry category and you would have an actually descent game. The weakest thing in the game are the classes of your soldiers. No psionics, no gene-mods and the plot twist abaut the Ethereal [I didn't know what to expect and it actually supriced me] could enable you to convert Sectoids [at least] to join your side as soldiers to take revenge on their slavers. Imagine that. Leveling Sectoids would be glorious. And the system with the ability aiming would be handy if the abilities would be actually intresting like a psionic push you have to carefully set up. To End this mix of rant and wishful thinking, I have to say that I sometimes dream of a perfect continuation of this game. One when Asaru comes back to Earth during the day when The Elders take over after XCOM failed and the game is actually good with classes of survivors of a team that is controlled and enchanced by Asaru. Like a survivor who is good to channel Asaru's psychic powers as a psychic class or a techie who starts to figure out alien tech as he uses it in very shoddy combat fashion. It just could be so good. :[ Imagine New York sewers filled will all classes of liquid enemies and seafood from Terror From The Deep. :(

[@dojelnotmyrealname4018]

I'll give The Bureau one thing. It has the best plot twist in recent gaming memory for me. The story's pretty mediocre, but that one moment will remain with me. It was unexpected, but only cause we had never considered it. And once it hit us it made perfect sense. Everything from when the gameplay starts seemed to be put in place for that one moment. And that's a shame, cause if they could've pulled something similar off for the climax, we would've all remembered it for it's amazing ending.

[@karolkwiecjasz9356]

Dojel Notmyrealname Yeah, we knew that Carter got some cool powers when he opened the case but we never knew what precizely happened and ww suspected something small and sidegrade-ish. NOT A WHOLE ETHEREAL. Altruth they could cover it up better, like have the scientists tell the player some cover up explanation for the psionic powers.

[@dojelnotmyrealname4018]

That's not even the best part of the ethereal thing. The best part? You, the player, are not Carter. You never were. You have always been this Ethereal. It's weird cause it doesn't change anything but it's the most clever thing I can imagine video games offering. This really is a twist only possible in video games. Like it's a shame it doesn't end up mattering, but I'll always remember it for the moment it made me pause the game and go "Wait a sec... the gameplay started after the case has been opened... I am not playing as Carter."

[@karolkwiecjasz9356]

I think that the game was wasted potencial. Imagine a sequel where it's basicly real-time XCOM with a small team that is controlled by Asaru in the field instead of beeing that kind of character-driven story.

[@shrike6243]

+Karol Kwiecjasz That was the hardest part of playing that game. Every corner was filled with the tatters of an ambitious (and better) game that fell by the wayside.

[@hm5y]

Apocalypse is my favorite game, nothing was as fun as when i found a damn popper inside a toiletroom.... where it exploded and killed most of my team and crashed half the building in the process. Ufo: Afterlight and Extra Terrestrials games should have gotten a honourble mention's thou. still a good video :)

[@ThyLegohood]

Apocalypse and interceptor were really unique xcom games, especially Apocalypse. You were able to pick how you wanted to play the game, turned base ore real time.

[@MostlyPennyCat]

Jagged Alliance is another xcom style game series that everybody should play.

[@shrike6243]

X-Com Apocalypse was not remotely close to a terrible game. Interceptor? Yeah, a bit more so. Enforcer? Well, we don't talk about that one. But Apocalypse, man? That was a great game.

[@ralboraggins9564]

interceptor was excellent and had features never again seen. I particularly liked how you had to manually launch nova bombs

[@Lord_of_Dread]

@@ralboraggins9564 You've just sparked a memory of the ending of that game. I think I actually shed a tear back in the day. *salutes the crew of the Macarthur* And all the transmissions you picked up were ominous as fuck, the tone was spot on. Interceptor was the first X-COM I could actually understand as a kid, which lead me to completing all of the others after

[@Lord_of_Dread]

Apocalypse is still one of the best games ever made in my opinion

[@shrike6243]

@@Lord_of_Dread I'm really looking forward to the openApoc edition, so the community can finally fix all the stuff Microprose wasn't able to finish.

[@Lord_of_Dread]

@@shrike6243 Is that actually happening?!?!

[@johnthehumanist2333]

Anyone got any comments on AFTERMATH/AFTERSHOCK/AFTERLIGHT? I like em! The third is quite deep.

[@nojustno334]

And now we have chimera squad

[@Bluecho4]

Yeah, it was a pretty good spin-off. Though I'm obliged to dock points because you play as cops.

[@evanbradley6169]

@@Bluecho4 I don't know, maybe it's just me, but i thought the change from "alien invasion" to "alien enforcement" was kind of a cool twist, I just wish the city anarchy was tied to more than just which mission you chose (like if the amount of force you used influenced how much backlash you got from the city).

[@luka188]

We don't talk about that one.

[@ChamblesRNG]

Apocalypse was my first game ever and boy was it great. I have the original cd still but it dont work anymore on new machines. It became an alien artifact itself

[@orkunfehmiakyon4004]

You forgot to mention UFO: Aftermath series. They were really good games.

[@mcgeufer]

I had the first one of them. And really enjoyed it. However, they were not part of the original franchise I guess that´s the reason why they are not in this video.

[@SargeDornan]

mcgeufer and that it’s good because this is about bad games

[@mcgeufer]

True, it was about the bad ones the world forgott. I kinda forgott about it during the video. But in the beginning he talked as well about the better sequels like Terror from the Deep and Apocalys

[@mocfra3253]

xenonauts was much better imho

[@BennyDYT1]

Oh man so true! I love Aftermath the most from the trilogy. Aftershock was fun for its base building and more in-depth global zone capturing and what not. The Afterlight i never really played except a demo long time ago, that one seemed the most brightest from them all as the previous had more deeper and darker atmosphere, especially Aftermath, that was some cool depressing feel ( in a good way of course ) guess they wanted to make it more " HOPE IS THERE " with the third one. None the less really love it.

[@Maioly]

16:56 a long time later, re-watching this video and this bit still annoys me because, say what you will about declassified, it has one VERY GOOD and completely unpredictable plot twist later on, and one really good 'character' I actually got attached to.

[@CaptainHillyan]

Um. Something that's likely been pointed out already about The Bureau. From what I know it was originally going to be a First Person shooter-ish game where you had to go out and investigate alien incursions sorta like X-Files, at least at first. How late game would've looked we'll never know because the fan outcry scared the publishers and forced a rework into the ME-ripoff crap that it's now known as. So yeah, maybe the original idea for The Bureau would've ended up crap as well but it'd have been a lot more interesting and I blame the fans for it.

[@corrupt1user]

XCOM Apoc is the Game That Could've Been 1) The ground vehicles died the moment the road was destroyed, making even a tank useless 2) If you missed an early UFO, you NEVER get another chance to capture it, crippling your tech progression 3) No nighttime missions 4) The aliens looked more goofy than scary

[@Entropy3ko]

Man I fucking LOVE XCOM Apocalypse. Definitively my favorite game in the series. Only thing that bothers me is that it could have been even MORE awesome as some content was left out due to time constraints. Interceptor I also liked. Definitively much easier... but entertaining. Actually hard to believe you needed a guide for Interceptor... it was quite straightforward to me...

[@MaximilienNoal]

Entropy3ko Hopefully, once OpenApoc is released, mods will bring back what was cut. You can already test OpenApoc and give feedback to the devs if you have a copy of Apoc.

[@raifthemad]

Yep, back in the day, eastern europe, didn't even know manuals existed for games, still didn't have any difficulty with interceptor, also IIRC the crash could be mitigated not only by a patch but also by running CheatEngine with the game and turning some option on from that program. Also Interceptor got a lot more difficult later on, at least on higher difficulty levels.

[@Orosian5]

If you like(d) Apocalypse, keep an eye on Phoenix Point.

[@CharlatanWonder]

+Orosian5 I know that I'm certainly excites for Mr Gollup's wild ride.

[@Orosian5]

Me too! The recent AMAs intrigue me further. Apocalypse was my favourite of the X-COM games. PP seems to draw a lot from that.

[@agentCDE]

Honestly, I think the problem with The Bureau was that it originally WASN'T an X-Com game, but was more like LA Noire Meets The X-Files. And then they slapped the XCOM label on it and fans everywhere (myself included) were apoplectic and screaming "THAT AIN'T XCOM" - and they responded by trying to make it more like X-Com instead of letting it be its own thing... "LA Noire Meets The X-Files" was certainly the impression I got from the first teasers and trailers, at least. And I will insist that THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN A DAMN GOOD GAME even with my dying breath.

[@itsflyde]

terror from the deep wasn't even that bad

[@ralboraggins9564]

it was excellent as a clone of the first game with an underwater terror theme. the music says it all. alien monsters lurking in the dark, cold depths- humanity defends righteously

[@reallyidrathernot.134]

"The tactical mode.... was abysmal because you had to actively walk your abilities like you were a person, which is havoc for thrown abilities, and even then sometimes you couldn't' get to an area you wanted to use a thing in." What? The game looks cool from what you're showing, so your big problem comes down to this sentence, and I can't understand it at all. What is "walk your abilities like you were a person"?

[@jackmanleblanc2518]

XCOM Declassified COULD HAVE been good. When it was first revealed as an FPS it looked like it could have been a pretty decent game. Maybe not good (there's no way to know that), but it could have been a decent spinoff at least. Sadly, the fanboys had to bitch and cry and moan to the point where they decided to change the game. For the worst.

[@CharlatanWonder]

+Jackman LeBlanc I'm with you on that. While I think it would have been unreasonable to expect the scope and ambition that X-COM Alliance was going to have we certainly could have got better from 2K Marin.

[@Pottedplantofdeath]

It it didn't have "XCOM" on it, it would have flown under the radar for most people. But that's not what how it was.

[@Jebsucks]

Perhaps, but that same bout of "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING THIS ISN'T XCOM!" shit is what got us Enemy Unknown, which is better than Declassified ever could have been (unless perhaps they let us rocket-punch sectoids through walls with MECsuits).

[@cyborgt3601]

@SparraNova: It really isn't. It MIGHT have gained Enemy Unknown more development resources but given the timing of the announcement of that game, it's clear they had already been working on it before the outrage over Declassified happened. At best, that outrage slightly improved the final quality of EU. At worst, it did nothing but tank the budget for what could have been an entertaining FPS.

[@elFulberto]

People were reasonably afraid that 2K was going to pull a Fallout 3 on XCOM and turn another venerable and unique franchise into a bland and slow fps about shooting black goo and geometric primitives. Cannot fault them for this, especially after all the bullshit X-COM had had to go through with the Enforcer and the UFO Interceptor entries. If anything, all this bitching and moaning changed the game for the best. I mean, we got the Enemy Unknown which is the best XCOM fans could reasonably hope for. And the Declassified... Eh, who ever cared about that crap?

[@Severene42]

BTW - XCOM: 1st Alien Invasion email through server was an extremely enjoyable game. Played the heck out of it with co-workers in office. When they turned the server off I complained and got my money back. You can still play by email but bypass the server now instead and send to each other instead.

[@LordProteus]

XCOM 2 had good DLC? Do you mean War of the Chosen and Shen's Gift? Because surely you don't mean Alien Hunters and those customization packs. Also, the Andromedon is a related to the Terror from The Deep Aliens and the Faceless is related to the Apocalypse Aliens.

[@AdriansCorner]

WotC is by far the best expansion they've done so far. Got me playing it all over again.

[@moonyaco]

I played UFO > TFTD > Apocalypse > UFO Aftermath > Aftershock > Afterlight > Xcom 2012> Xcom 2. It didn't matter if the game's name had Xcom on it or not. These games are all awesome. The only other Xcom game I toyed around before dumping quickly was Xcom interceptor. If you didn't play the UFO Aftermath, Aftershock and Afterlight series, you definitely have been missing out. They were all incredibly fun. Xcom 2 definitely took a lot of ideas like multiple factions, resistances, cults, close combat blade and many more from this series. I am looking forward to a sequel to UFO : Afterlight, their team definitely have a good handle on the original UFO game with a nice twist of innovation to make it feel fresh.

[@ThanksIfYourReadIt]

Where is UFO: Extraterestrials? Wich is extreamly good and stomps everything, only Xenonauts got its number.

[@MostlyPennyCat]

I love XCOM (2012) 1 & 2 I'm not good enough and I can only get anywhere on the easiest levels but i love it and play it a lot.

[@wahlex841]

2 words - cruise liner.

[@Ramdapanda]

The bureau was originally going to be an FPS game. Nothing from the original press release stated it would be a tactical shooter but more an new take on the franchise with an immersive perspective.

[@zombi2537]

Am I the only one who likes The Bureau? I mean it's just for Carter he's cool asf to me.

[@feckusmaximus3234]

The bureau was alright, it does better than mass effect in many respects

[@Brigand231]

I still think Apocalypse was the best so far.

[@tammy-0]

you didn't link the XCom Alliance videos in the description like you said

[@경택오-x4b]

ahhhhhhhhh come on. you should be just grateful they didn't make 'X-COM : FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC'

[@FlameStormer2000V2]

So how long until you review X-Piratez?

[@ShadowoftheMask]

Wohoo, another person who likes Apocalypse :D Its my favourite XCOM game

[@hikmolokov1056]

Xcom: Apocalypse was a god of a game, especially for its time. The political influence, the fully fledged base building, and the overall defense mechanics really struck a soft spot in my heart. Not many games even today match the beauty that I see in Xcom: Apocalypse.

[@ivonahora]

19:12 is that a Krogan?

[@gabrote42]

I liked apocalypse

[@KrinkelsNG]

Xenonauts is the x-com sequel I was waiting for. Incredibly well put together and an optimization of what made UFODefense such a compelling experience. With the sole possible exception of the final mission.

[@KoboldPaladin]

You missed enemy within

[@tommyspringer3693]

It was a DLC

[@justanotherface1664]

What's the ending song? Sounds like something from quake 2, it's awesome.

[@StinkyGreenBud]

The new xcoms are just ok at best. Too flashy and cinematic instead of actually tactics. Xenonauts is a true successor. Cannot wait for Xenonauts 2.

[@imjustsomeguy5048]

Troma The new games are awesome, they reach a good compromise between slow paced tactical combat and action alongside a good cinematic story, but that's just my opinion.

[@BillyBobCornontheCob]

I feel like you haven't played long war...

[@CharlatanWonder]

+Billy Bob Corn on the Cob I'm not hardcore ebough :(

[@AdriansCorner]

Those damn flashy, fun games! DAMN THEM ALL! XD

[@zaxapitsa]

great video. lots of research and details but you are clear and you go straight to the point. I liked it a lot.

[@SamGarcia]

I actually like The Bureau, except for some of the clunky controls, I enjoyed it.

[@theholycrusade8786]

Bureau was actually great in my opinion and the only shooting game I actually wanted to play. The strategy mode was an interesting innovation that made the game more challenging, because you had to manage your squad in-battle like a real commander. The only thing that turned me away - it somehow managed to overheat my PC to the point of shutting down due to critical temperature multiple times. No low fps, just laptop that is literally hell incarnate that can burn your arm. No application on my PC ever managed this feat to this day.

[@gregcyr]

Insufficient research: 1. Apocalypse was NOT finished. You know how you can follow someone covertly? What use does it have in the game? NONE AT ALL. It was not finished, despite the assertion of Attlas. 2. TFTD had extreme performance problems. Clearly Attlas never played it on hardware of the time. Game balance sucked, micromanagement was required in the exreme (for example, unless you redo your gear, you might start a mission with underwater-only weapons). 3. Completely missed Dreamland Chronicles and UFO. Dreamland was by Gollop. HOW DID YOU MISS THAT? UFO was what was made from what they scavenged after pulling the project from Gollop. Next time, do some research,

[@jelle1008]

for example, unless you redo your gear, you might start a mission with underwater-only weapons i think that's the charm about the game

[@gregcyr]

jelle I hardly find endless unnecessary micromanagement to be "charming".

[@nilus2k]

Dreamland Chronicles and UFO series were not official X-COM sequels or spin offs.

[@gargean1671]

Thing is - AFAIK, and as can be seen in game iself, Bureau was almost totally scrapped and redone. And this rebuild was in short time, thus never properly finished, and game ended to be many scratches being patched together, often badly. You can see in it plot (example - good chunk of time being spend on healthing lunatics, and them being just scrapped in the ending), base management and research (example - bracelet, which supposedly was used for research and enemy capturing but ended with one capture in game being made in cutscene). And so on. You can look at early videos from game and see how different it was. You can see closer in details and see that it really had potential. But in the end we have what we have...

[@geovaughan8261]

Jesus dude. Spoiler alert please? I hit pause the moment I heard "You eventually learn the aliens are running scared..." and I still feel like I heard too much. You gotta warn people about these things.

[@AdriansCorner]

His mother spoiled the birds and the bees for him, so now he takes it out on his video watchers! :(

[@feckusmaximus3234]

Pretty sure he did say Spoiler alert at the beginning

[@alexanderinoa7850]

Tofu Mapping That he did. A big thing saying *THERE WILL BE SPOILERS*

[@damazywlodarczyk]

I just completed XCOM Enforcer and it was great! Very playable.

[@Zucadragon]

I haven't enjoyed the more recent x-com games at all, X-com and X-com 2 specifically from Firaxis just didn't do anything for me, I found the system really boring and found everything quite limiting. Especially with Xenonauts around, which I see as a more true old x-com remake, it has all the elements and a great modding scene with some awesome total conversion mods to flip the game up on its head. I finished x-com 1 but was dissapointed, played only a little of x-com 2 before I got bored, but have put in over 470 hours into Xenonauts so far. So yeah, that's my recommendation for that game over the newer x-com games. The Bureau was kinda fun though, it never led to anything sadly enough, but I enjoyed myself.

[@AdriansCorner]

LIES! XD

[@Zucadragon]

Which part :O?

[@jackofshadows8538]

I agree mostly. The research table was FAR FAR too short compared to what it could have been. I mean, within maybe 2 or so research branches you have the best alien rifles which was fun, in a way, but I would have prefered a much longer 'research battle' as the aliens upped their game, to deal with human advances and I don't think the aliens were ever allowed to attack the human base because there was only one! What I loved about the old XCOM:EU was I could decide to build a massive Radar alien detector base with just a few Rookies defending, after all, the aliens won't notice it... but they did in XCOM:EU and I loved the fact I was without detection for several weeks [months?] as I had to dismantle several types of structures to make room for the lost Radar detection structures in other bases, which usually meant Research bases being dismantled whilst work carried on rebuilding the destroyed Radar base. THAT kind of shock event and desperate fight to hold on, to just have a single Rookie survive after all the aliens had died, made you sweat buckets! And so these remote Radar or Research Centres became the R and R of the more experienced troops who were all veterans of fighting the hated aliens whilst you kept a cadre of vets to help your new Rookies gain their stripes & experience. But sadly, the 2012 version lacked that crucial aspect. A great game but MUCH too short for me and then I remembered that I was playing it on the XB360 so I figured the PC version was bound to be much larger and more in-depth but not true. It felt that it was coded for a much wider audience, from 10-50 yr olds, whereas the originals XC:EU, TftD and Apocalypse [well, certainly Apocalypse] were much more challenging and only the nerdiest [I hate saying it] of kids would enjoy these games at the time of their release. Since it was made for the console market it was never going to be too deep. And I despised the 'Terror' missions where you had to save as many humans from alien deaths or the 'timed' missions. It creates a very contrived tension in the player compared to the sudden invasion of a remote base in, say, South America, with the lightest of defences. So a few pesky civilians die.. ah well, nevermind. But lose a whole base? That you care about as your Research timetable and other crucial abilities are lost to an alien race that isn't so stupid as to let you happily while away the hours capturing 'live' aliens for interrogation/research & weapon offensive/defensive tech! I haven't played XCom 2 but I heard Total Biscuit's review and he - with his SLI'd Titan X top quality gaming rig - complained of the lack of optimisation and the long load times between areas/battles. I have heard that XCom 2 had long load times because there was a LOT of alien AI 'hidden' strategies going on underneath the game engine's hood so that might explain the long load times? I have to admit from some peoples' comments about 'The Bureau' that it sounds much better than the reviews I've read. I might just give it a try.

[@alexanderinoa7850]

Only the Dead Dreams of the Cold War Kid I mean, the aliens attack your base in the rerelease XCom, and in XCom 2 since you have to take your base with you, you can be attacked at any time by UFO's if Advent decides to field them for that month.

[@Btobebone]

Ah interceptor, a game with such amazing physics that you could blow yourself up if you were flying too fast when you fired a missle. Missles had a set speed they traveled, and if you were flying faster than that when you fired one, you would immediatly crash into it.

[@igorbog88]

thats some awful opinions you have

[@airplanemaster1]

But they're his, and he has the freedom to express them, just like you just did. I happen to agree somewhat with you, however.

[@1981troyboy]

this guy cant even say with. listen to him, he says wiss

[@ZRZK2127]

Yeah. This asshole called X-COM Interceptor bad. It was actually an interesting switch-up of the formula. Only thing that didn't work for me were the raids on pirate bases. Other than that I had fun.

[@AdriansCorner]

Awfully awesome?! XD

[@Delta-1X-Ray]

I've played the Xcom series. And I know how horrible is the gameplay except for the bureau.

[@BennyDYT1]

The first statement was literally describing XCOM franchise. " Oh boy, i spent 5 hours customizing my squad... Ready to kick some alien ass " 10 minutes later... " 3 men panic, one died, two are bleeding away " - *FFFFU----* ABORT - LOAD A SAVE...

[@MICKEYrenraw]

"XCOM 2 is one of the best examples of a sequel..." *closes eyes and shakes head* oh my sweet summer child, XCOM 2 was 15Lb wet Carp slap in the face of a sequel, TL/DR? buggy, heavily scripted, imbalanced, terrible mod functionality, horrible story, multiplayer is disaster, non stop timers, AI is a massive joke, It was buggy (explosions happening too soon or too late with cars, grenades and rockets) turns freezing, models glitching between floors, line of sight felt like pot luck with enemies shooting through solid walls, Obscenely heavily scripted for a game that should pride itself on NOT being scripted (look up "XCOM 2 Line Of Play"), The dlcs were an imbalanced mess (Alien Rulers), as was the game as a whole (more so then it's predecessor) the early game (on the highest difficulty) was a blind dice game, and the late game (yes even on the highest difficulty) was so easy it could be played blind, Mod functionality barely worked with the slightest hot fix patch having mods cause the game to crash to desktop on start up (they should have turn to Bethesda to see how to make their games modable out of the box), The story was horrible as you constantly felt like you weren't accomplishing anything and the "win" only came from blind luck "hey turns out the ethereals/elders were dying anyway" and god forbid they take the series down the path of "terror from the deep", Multiplayer was a disaster as it was in xcom eu/ew (you think they would have leaned), Non stop timers on 95% of the missions (yes terror missions are timed too, any mission where you have to work against a figurative clock is still a timed mission) meant that a game about choice takes most of the choices away from you, #IWantToFightAliensNotTimers #TimersShouldBeTheExceptionNotTheRule, And the aliens AI is a massive joke, they all feel like robots following a tightly set flow chart of what to do and when, XCOM eu wasn't "much" better, but it was better. None of this is excused by story or lore, gameplay and fun first, always (unless it's a story game). Someone needs to get the xcom series out of the hands of Jake Solomon that charismatic and beautiful man, flashy effects does not make a game deep and luck/dice rolls/rng does not make a game replayable, content+choice+consequence makes a replayable, and tight+in-depth mechanics and fun AI makes gameplay deep. It does have good soldier customization though :D

[@bradmaxwell7354]

you're wrong

[@ndinspection3007]

I love xcom 2 and it's a pretty hard game for me, it was a definite learning curve from enemy unknown

[@MICKEYrenraw]

@Brad Maxwell i cannot argue with the facts you have brought forth, it is irrefutable, i must have been mistaken

[@bradmaxwell7354]

"I don't like it so it's shit" ^ your entire comment in a nutshell

[@MICKEYrenraw]

fair enough

[@slenderminion2229]

"It just looks like the Battleborn to Freespace's Overwatch." This statement is so much funnier in hindsight.

[@c4tg1rl10]

I actually liked enforcer...

[@feckusmaximus3234]

Ouch... I thought all Enforcer supporters were hiding in a bunker somewhere in Nevada

[@Curtis-gx2fd]

Prep the shock therapy and get the og XCOM games ready.

[@yari4046]

"Hey bro wtf is that?" *points at the huge snake person with a plasma gun* "OMG I think we just found a SOVIET SPY!"

[@alexadamson1948]

The Bureau was good :(

[@NicoTheCinderace]

Eh, it was alright.

[@alcalshel]

And it's CANNON for some reason.

[@Balty_Burnip]

Cutman 009 *Canon

[@freedantheeternal]

I'm actually playing it right now for the first time. It's no masterpiece, but I'm enjoying it plenty. Frankly, the whole "Mass Effect but worse" argument doesn't hold water, because it does have far more tactical depth than Mass Effect ever did.

[@loneRang3r]

I would have agreed with you when I first played it.. but that point where you get bored and you are just playing for some story curiosity or completion.. that's about 1/3 in. The tactical mode feels in depth to begin with but by a couple of missions in you have seen everything. The unlocks later in the game are just more powerful defence or more damage, nothing new comes in that is actually new mechanics. I wanted to like it but the repetition was too much.

[@red_cosplay]

15:45 Should have inserted BETRAYAAAAAL here :D

[@1krani]

My major beef with Apocalypse is the fact that the deadliest enemy in the game is the first one you encounter. Tiny enemies that can irreversibly mind-control your soldiers and which all but require you to be on real time instead of turn-based because of how far they can move per turn. Yuck.

[@meyers0781]

X-COM Alliance was a thing, it's called Space Hulk (both the old and the new). And X-COM Enforcer sort of inspires the MEC troops and later SPARK (it was supposed to be vehicle or drone but vehicle too large and drone too small to be own character).

[@MetalGearXM]

The Bureau was planned and started work before the RTS was announced. The RTS was pushed out in response to an increased desire for an RTS-reboot, because nobody really cared for another OTS Shooter. So the RTS is actually more of the afterthought, not the Bureau.

[@bidet1515]

nice review ! since you talk about xenonauts what about UFO: Aftermath, UFO: Aftershock, UFO: Afterlight series ?

[@barrag3463]

It's all fun and games until the aliens start lobbing grenades and half the platoon of your heavily armed soldiers start panicking and running off into the enemies' line of sight

[@kerbal666]

I played a xcom like game back in the late 90s. I cant remember the name but the story revolved around this demonic little black statue and sort of turned people into The Thing like monsters. Anyone have a clue?