2K Games has announced today the re-imagining of XCOM in development exclusively for the Xbox 360 and PC. The game is set in a first-person perspective, where the player, an FBI agent, has to identify and eliminate the growing threat. More information plus a screenshot and an artwork inside.
Press Release:
Award-winning developers set their sights on re-imagining the suspense, tension and fear of one of gaming's most beloved franchises only on Xbox 360 and Windows PC
Windsor, UK – April 14, 2010 – 2K Games announced today that XCOM®, the re-imagining of one of gaming’s most storied and beloved franchises, is currently in development at 2K Marin, the studio behind the multi-million unit selling BioShock® 2. Currently in development exclusively for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows PC, XCOM combines the strategic core of the groundbreaking franchise with a suspense-filled narrative and distills it into a tense and unique first-person shooter experience.
“With BioShock 2, the team at 2K Marin proved themselves as masters of first-person, suspenseful storytelling, and with XCOM they will re-imagine and expand the rich lore of this revered franchise,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “Players will explore the world of XCOM from an immersive new perspective and experience firsthand the fear and tension of this gripping narrative ride.”
XCOM is the re-imagining of the classic tale of humanity’s struggle against an unknown enemy that puts players directly into the shoes of an FBI agent tasked with identifying and eliminating the growing threat. True to the roots of the franchise, players will be placed in charge of overcoming high-stake odds through risky strategic gambits coupled with heart-stopping combat experiences that pit human ingenuity – and frailty – against a foe beyond comprehension. By setting the game in a first-person perspective, players will be able to feel the tension and fear that comes with combating a faceless enemy that is violently probing and plotting its way into our world.
XCOM is not yet age-rated. For more information on XCOM please visit www.XCOM.com
2K Games is a division of 2K, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO).
All comments (32)
If they say they're making a Bioshock-like game when talking about the story line and gameplay elements, I'm glad to try it out.
Well a heretic X-Com game (like C&C: Renegade is to C&C Franchise. Which I kinda liked) beats No X-Com game, I guess.
It's not surprising then that games are trending towards the *experience* type deal, but it's a bit of a kick in the balls specifically when games that used to pride themselves on being tactical and outright strategy games turn into one of those games. Syndicate is bound to follow suit aswell.
They're both interesting universes and it's definitely possible to re-imagine their respective themes and re-apply them with a different approach. X-Com shared a lot of its fascinating allure with Bioshock, "Terror from The Deep" especially, and Syndicate's bleak, "clean" futuristic outlook will make for at least a visually interesting experience. It's also easy to imagine how the tactical elements of both can be stripped down and converted into more immediate upgrade mechanics akin to how Bioshock streamlined SS2's skill tree business to the point of near insignificance.
I suppose to experience something akin to the real X-Com and Syndicate, one will have to await the "Torchlight" equivalent of both. The wheel will turn eventually I'm sure.
thank me later .
The only TPS that really sucked me in it's immersion was Dark space.. it always helps when they dont allow the character to talk, or have their face shown - two things that will be thrown out of the window in the second.
:(
I think third person games across the board should be used to give the player a degree of control that first person games lack, and it's also a useful tool for sculpting an iconic main character. If you don't desire either of those, there's really no reason to just place a camera behind a dude. That's how you end up with Brute Force. For all intents and purposes a first person shooter, but there's a dude running around blocking your view.
Sadly this looks to be a FPS with some minor strategi included, but one can only hope, that some of the magic from the old games will rub off on this new installment.
The X-Com franchise deserves a good game after Aftermath, Aftershock and the third I can't remember the name of...
I want to control something and make that something perform awesome things or kill things,I dont want to pretend that Im the one doing that stuff because it doesnt work with me,I been playing close to 25 years now that it is impossible to me at this point doing that.
But oh well thats why there is defferent genres for diff people I guess we all get our entertainment.
If you think of your on screen avatar as a beacon more than a character, it's easy to identify why things attacking/gravitating towards/interacting with that beacon puts it outside of "yourself". It's happening to an on screen representation of you.
The first person perspective places that beacon INSIDE OF YOU. That... came out a bit wrong.
But still! It kinda does. Enemies in the game are responding to the guy behind the screen. In Fatal Frame/Project Zero, the perspective switches to first person when you use the photo camera for one specific reason; to have things attacking *YOU*, instead of an on screen representation of you. The effect is, when you go into the only mode you have of attack, you're exposing yourself in the process.
There is a reluctancy to let go of the clearly defined protagonist, especially if you're coming from consoles instead of PC. It's actually pretty much a western design philosophy to let you inhabit the main character as opposed to putting a fully voiced, fully designed dude in your lap. As you say, though, it is a different philosophy and it is a different genre, and it complements the ideas perfectly. Bioshock lives and dies by your sense of "self" and perspective, and all the truly great first person shooters have capitalised on that sensation.
Thinking back to the execution scene in Modern Warfare sends a shiver down my spine every time. That and the Jenny thing in The Darkness are both incredibly powerful plays on perspective, scenes that would've been rendered absolutely pathetic in third person.
I do like games like Bioshock though I loved it start to finish and I never felt I was him nor I felt I was there experiencing those things,I was just a person behind a camera controlling him and enjoying the things he went trough and nothing more,maybe its the fact that I play like that and maybe the wrong way the reason FPS are not my cup of tea even if I enjoy them.