XCOM: Enemy Unknown Details Emerge

Thanks to the combined transcribing efforts of the folks at NeoGAF and the 2K Games forums those of us who didn’t have the chance to get GameInformer’s February issue can take a look at the XCOM: Enemy Unknown information contained inside it, in the tried-and-true format of bullet points. Here are some of the most interesting ones:

‘¢randomly generated missions, terrain. Developer says you’ll never play the exact same mission twice outside of a few story missions which feature in-game cinematics
‘¢fog of war is confirmed. area starts off with darkness everywhere, and the average soldier can’t see shit
‘¢enemy spawns are randomized

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‘¢You have 16 countries in the funding council you need to keep happy. Some provide more money, but others, like Africa, provide more raw resources

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‘¢Firaxis designer states that the PC version will have an enhanced interface. He cites Dragon Age: Origins on PC and console as a big inspiration

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‘¢Destructible environments
‘¢In the scenario they showed, one member died. Because of this the other squadmates didn’t get an experience bonus
‘¢Without the bonus, the sniper leveled up still. He was able to choose from two abilities. Either Squad Sight(which means he can shoot anything a squadmate can see) and Snap Shot(which lets him shoot after moving. Something snipers aren’t normally allowed to do)
‘¢You can’t recruit specific classes. You can only recruit rookies and then level them up to become specific classes

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‘¢No action points. The game uses a move-and-shoot (or move-and-move) dynamic. They don’t want people piddling around counting individual action points. Some will call this a concession to consolitis; others will call it useful streamlining.

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‘¢Soldiers can still panic, but not to the point of wiping the squad. Likewise, you’ll never get plasma-bombed right out of the carrier. They want to make the game more fair, and those were specifically mentioned.

‘¢The strategic layer is extremely robust. You still need to choose which countries to send missions to, which offers of aid (in exchange for more protection) you’ll accept from which countries, which alien technologies you’ll research, etc. The back-and-forth between tactical and strategic play remains at the heart of the game.

‘¢Overwatch, duck-and-cover, etc. are all still very much present, tactically.

‘¢You can research vehicles, which take the place of a squaddie. They don’t gain XP and when they are destroyed they are lost for good, but they provide serious cover and firepower. One example given is a mobile heavy weapons platform that serves as a good overwatcher for a tactical advance.

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Reloading costs an action, so it is a tactical consideration. Ducking into cover is the main positioning mechanic they mention. They also mention supppressive fire as another mechanic — your heavy weapons guy can lay down a barrage that can paralyze pinned units (e.g. remove their actions). Grenades are in, wounding is in. Generally it doesn’t sound like there are fewer tactical options, but rather that the bookkeeping is simplified.

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Ammo is abstracted. You’re assumed to be carrying enough clips to reload as much as you want, but it takes a turn to do so. Suppressive fire is crazy awesome, for instance, but it burns through ammo like a mofo so you’re borrowing turns down the road to kick ass now.

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So yeah, you only have one base. Building different bases has been removed, but you still buy satellite coverage (the new radar) and build hangars for interception in different countries. Your single base is like way more crazy awesome than any base from the original, though, and presents lots of opportunities for more decision-making in terms of digging deeper as well as what kind of expansion facilities you add on (see the screenshot of the “ant farm” that we put online Monday).