Thoughts so far on Xen2 (from a long time player)

[ooey]

Hi all,

I started with Rebelstar (one of Julian Gollup's first games for the ZX  Spectrum way back in the mid 80s) which is really where this type of game all started. Loved Lazer Squad and UFO:Enemy Unknown and always will. Xen 1 was terrific too and one of my all-time favourites. I can equally say that MW2 (multiplayer) on the x-box 360 is also tremendous, so I do like a wide style of games (but turn-based strategy is my fav).

I've been playing for a few days now and the only thing I notice so far in relation to X-com is that the only thing missing  is the striking scary/panicky/weird art of Xcom. Nevertheless things are looking great so far, but my fear is that 30-or so missions on a playthrough may just be too short. I'm playing Ironman on second level from the top.

Is there anything anyone else misses from X-com that hasn't been replicated here? 

Edited May 13 by ooey

[ooey]

Geez - this doomsday mechanic at that level made sure that I got my bottom kicked pretty quickly so I have dropped down to Soldier! Xen 2's interface is so slick. I'm wondering if you get a bonus for capturing the General in the first mission rather than killing him. Can you capture him? The abduction mission - I didn't realise that was a dash and touch mission (nice variation) so I only managed to rescue 2/10 (not good for the doomsday counter!).

If you are a methodical alien eliminator this kind of mission really throws you out of your comfort zone. It's also a lot more risky for your soldiers. I dread the latter game where such a mission probably has Chrysalid-type aliens.

Edited May 13 by ooey

[mclang]

I'm not sure if I miss anything from original UFO: Enemy Unknown, it has been so long last time I played.

Maybe the possibility to blow holes in the UFOs to create second entrance, which might be possible also in X2 when you get better explosives.

But yes, you can capture general and other important enemies alive.

[ooey]

Hmm... Thanks for that snippet! I may have to start again just to do that. I would assume that you CAN blow holes in UFOs as a breech point. I think you can certainly "blow the bloody doors off!" but I haven't tried that yet.

 

Note that I'm not trying to pick faults with xen 2 here. But if you do something right it doesn't really get talked about (only the little things you might miss or you think might have been a bit better implemented get reported on). Cracking game so far, and I'm sure it will continue like this. There's a lot of complexity in the game. Just what the doctor ordered really - I only wish we hadn't had to wait so long for it. Hopefully if Chris decides to do another game he has a larger dev team to work with. Xen2 deserves to do well to justify that.

 

I just loved the cartoony art from UFO (see below).

Edited May 13 by ooey

[odizzido]

The thing I miss about the original x-com is the better shooting mechanics. Bullets just don't behave properly in xenonauts.

Xeno2 has a lot of good going for it too though. Better interface, better missions, better story, better polish.

 

I wonder if someone could make a mod to give the game proper ballistics.

[ooey]

I'm sure they will!

I've noticed a few minor things it would be convenient to have. 

1) There's no reason not to have the ability to build a new lift-shaft for the original base so the old one can be destroyed to make the base more defendable from attack.

2) It would be nice to have an "empty skyhawk" button where it puts all your soldiers back into the base rather than having to do it 1 by 1. This is especially important now the missions are more varied.

[Oldsmobile]

There's an option for you to choose extended campaign when you start a new one.

[ooey]

This is true, but I still don't think that's going to be enough. I'd rather have a much longer game than have a 30+hr play through and start again. Perhaps mods will extend things. I may have a look at modding myself actually. Kudos to Chris for letting the community mod his creation; it can only add to its greatness.

Kudos to Chris for putting a bit of alien weirdness into the game in the form of the floating squid creature with 1 eye!

I'm wondering how the aliens keep pace with your tech upgrades. It would be logical that if you fail a mission, they examine the equipment you were using on the mission and upgrade accordingly, as the player can do with them. This is usually how war works.

Edited May 22 by ooey

[ooey]

I was in a fight to the death to capture a destroyer and my last man dies but there was an enemy bleeding out. I was annoyed to find that although I had a slightly knocked out guy what would have recovered, the game ended with an alien victory! I would have loved to have seen him recover and save the day! I thought that was a bit unfair.

I would say as well that at the level I'm playing at, the snatch raids where the enemy get unlimited reinforcements are very tough on their time-lines. I think these would need to give you perhaps an extra 4 turns at least before the reinforcements arrive. Anyone else agree? I never get to see all 10 captured civilians/data disks, capturing at most 6/10 before they are whisked away or reinforcements turn up.

I like the way if your MARS gets destroyed but you win the battle, you can rebuild it at half-cost, but I think that's a carry-over from xen1.

Another thing I miss is General Burt Reynolds not being on the title screen to help your organisation to fight the aliens - everyone needs a Burt Reynolds in their army (but Chris knows that already ;-})

Edited May 24 by ooey

[ooey]

The "die" mechanic. I think this was also in Xen1. I think it works like this:

If a soldier dies in combat and you have a medical centre, the longer you stay on a mission the more chance of them bleeding to death (providing they wern't blown up by explosives). An alien killed one of my elite cadre in the dropship so I immediately aborted the mission, and he survived!

The mission or the man? A good mechanic!

[ooey]

Base defense missions: although it says the chrisolid-type aliens can enter the base in any room I haven't experienced it, but I think that's unfair if they can. If you take the time to build a base defensive structure in a spiral etc. the benefits of doing so compared to just plonking structures anywhere are then totally negated...