ALMOST bought XCOM:EU today...

[thothkins]

I've not really played a great deal of EU2012. So, a little disappointed to have bought it at the full pre-order price really. Well, I say bought, but I got it as a present, so someone in my family paid full preorder price for it.

Ah Steam sales. Bright, shiny purchases I will never get round to looking at.

[Moonshine Fox]

It's a game that stands on its own and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Still play it occasionally. I'd say you'd be a fool not to pick it up. It's not THE XCOM but it's a good game regardless.

[ls35a]

I really like 'X-com' styled and themed kind of games so I support them with my dollars.

If you don't buy them we won't get more.

[Beanchilla]

Have to say I think you're missing out. I'm an avid player of the original, and have it extensively modded with Xcomutil, UFOextender, custom uniforms etc and love the gameplay at a deep level. I enjoyed beating it at superhuman with heavy restrictions such as no blaster bombs/psionics for myself.

Let me just say that the new XCom had me planning turns for a good 10 minutes at times. True tactical moves, considering fewer troops as we all know, and therefore much more satisfying. This is at the impossible/ironman difficulty, which is by FAR harder than the afore-mentioned vanilla game I describe above. Much better with not having to artificially restrict myself aswell. The most satisfying victory I've had in any game.

Anyone who says it is dumbed down need only boot up impossible ironman and see how that works out. The reviews are by people who play it once on normal, or even classic, and decide it's not as punishing or involved as the original, when it is in fact better in so many ways.

There are certainly downsides, the interception is just you sitting there watching it, but really how involved is the OG interception? The strategic layer is bland/obvious and far too punishing on the highest difficulty, but still doable. Anyway, you know the downsides I'm sure so I wanted to mention how great I found the game, in the end, having been very skeptical to begin with aswell.

The best way is (would have been) to try yourself for a reasonable price!

I agree that difficulty wasn't a problem. Impossible was extremely difficult. I still haven't beat it on ironman impossible. Classic difficulty was great though and I felt rewarded when I beat it.

My main issue with the game is lack of map variety. I am so tired of seeing the same handful of maps over and over again. I miss being able to blast through the environment without just using grenades. I wish I could micromanage my soldiers more and not just have them play as classes.

The new Xcom was great but I think it's shortcomings is that it isn't as replayable as the old one. I've managed to struggle through superhuman with mods a couple times but only because I was willing to throw myself at it over and over again. I loved seeing the pyramids, the cities, the farmland, the arctic levels, the jungles and more.

It was just much more exciting to me. The levels were much larger as well and made me feel like I have more freedom.

I've already gotten that feeling from Xenonauts. It makes me damn ecstatic.

[ladlon]

Hi, guys. Thanks for the feedback. I think some of the responses here are under the mistaken idea that I decided to pass on EU because I feel it's a bad game. Really, it was more about the reported lack of randomization/variety (and, assumedly, the resulting reduction in replayabilty), and also because I simply passed on the game just as a current decision (I have plenty of other games right now, I'm getting Xenonauts, I'm busy with stuff, etc), as opposed to me outright banning the game from my library due to what I heard from reviews, or because I think it's bad or that I wouldn't enjoy it.

I think the reports of it being dumbed down were more about the strategy level (non-ground battle). Even if it isn't as 'complex' as the original, I don't personally see that as a downside, as I'm not a hard-core fan of the original, and recognize that a simplified or modified version of the original's concepts could still be a really fun game. The stuff I heard just tipped the scale on my decision whether to buy it NOW, and whether it would be redundant (considering I'm getting Xenonauts, and have other turn based tactics games already).

If it had a skirmish mode against AI (as opposed to just against another human), I'd get it in a second. I've been on the fence about other games, too... like The Walking Dead (which I'm finally grabbing now, as it's on sale for less than $5). I wasn't holding off because I thought it was bad, but questioned whether I would enjoy the game myself.

I've been too busy working on animations and stuff to play anything anyway!

Cheers!