Been quite the day. I've managed country panic quite well, into the 5th month and no one is close to leaving. Wish I was as good with my team Lost my best sniper and some other good fighters assaulting the alien base. After that, it was a series of unfortunate events - did manage to squeak someone to Captain so I could get a 6 man squad. But that was followed quickly with my first full wipe trying to assault a large UFO that had landed, leaving me with a roster of all rookies and one Cpl, whom I promptly got killed as well on the next mission leaving me with nothing but rookies. Teched up some and am now slowly rebuilding team skills again. Love this game
Daaaaaamn. One of my highest ranked and best soldier got turned into a zombie and killed one of my other high ranked troops before I could to "exterminate" her. Despite the fact I won the mission with no more casualty, it was a sad day.
If you prefer small size and lower price, try Aliens versus Humans instead... XCom is on my AppShopper until I get another iPad. No space...
******Spoiler Alert********** Unlike most, it seems, I have not played this all the way through. I am really enjoying it and taking my time... I had no idea your soldiers could even get turned into zombies
Hey, guess what jake? One of the best things about Xcom, is just how many interesting ways your whole mission/ team can get blown to shit. And sometimes I mean that LITERALLY XD.
Sorry if its been answered to many times. Does this have or will it get a skirmish mode to play against the AI. I've just begun playing and it seems like its just play through the campaign. (Still that's good). Just would be cool if there was skirmish, but also if we could play as the aliens as I think you can in the pc version. Aliens add a whole new dimension such as having mind control. Will this being coming in an update along with the multiplayer? For those that are interested, below is a great demonstration of what it's like playing multiplayer on the pc version, and having the aliens to play as...so cool (ps not meaning to compare pc vs ios for frame rate etc as has been done to death already). Angry Angry Aliens - XCOM - AngryJoe vs. TotalBiscuit - Round 1 (strong language) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqkilQ_MfMg
Game Impressions Crap, where do I even begin? Seriously, I paid $20 for this. FOR THIS?!?!? Every other game I buy is a dollar here, a dollar there. Maybe I'll buy a game that hits $7 or MAYBE $10. MAYBE. But this? $20? You've got to be kidding me, right? Seriously, you have to. If you told me when Xcom launched on platforms that they were planning on bringing this to mobile, I'd have done a spit take in your face. Fast forward 8 months and here I have Xcom, in almost all its glory, on not JUST my iPad, but on my FRIGGING IPHONE. I have a console game.... ON MY PHONE. I realize in 10 years all this will be moot and I'll have been stupid for even considering how gobsmacked this all makes me - but today, damn... today I am indeed gobsmacked... in the best, possible, way. I think I made it clear many places that I'm a terrible TBS gamer. I love playing them, but something always gets in the way of me being able to really enjoy it. Generally it's the difficulty, I'm not a very good tactical planner and these games kind of rely on you knowing what the hell you need to do. Reading about Xcom and knowing how damn difficult it was when I played it back in the 90s did not imbue me with the confidence that I would not be throwing my $20 down the toilet. But this game has massive praise AND an Easy mode that 2K apparently worked to make a bit "easier" for, most likely, people like me. Did it work? Oh, yes. I think it did. I have spent all of my time that I'd be doing everything else playing this game. It causes me very little pain while playing it, and that's completely unlike any other game I've played. I don't know why, but I'm not as sore while playing it. Besides that, these are the things that take this game from being some empty "Here are your soldiers, here are the aliens, here's a planet. Land, kill, rinse, repeat" game: Holy hell the bunker is AWESOME. AWESOME. Some of the stuff you can do even mid game is bananas. It is such a feeling of awe when you zoom out and actually see all you've built. Your soldiers... actually, this is something that I didn't expect to get so engrossed in, but did. Sure, there's other games where you can name people, Warhammer is my most recent example, but here it just feels so visceral. These ARE your people. These people are fragile, and they are important and every promotion instills more confidence that you have the perfect soldier for the job. That's right, and I'm a nerd so I've got a Mal, a Zoe, a Arya and Sansa (Nymeria and Red for Nicknames, of course ), Dwayne Johnson, Steve Austin (not the wrestler, look it up kids) and so on. The story could simply be derivative and while it is in some ways, I actually care, even with our scientist's embarrassingly bad accent. PANIC LEVELS OMFG. Seriously right now China is on the verge of bolting and I'm crapping my pants because I have an alien abduction to deal with and I just shot down a UFO and I need to take care of that and GD it why does it take 20 days to built a satellite, I NEED ONE CHINA NEEDS ONE OMFG. That. The game is so accessible it's crazy. There's so much going on, and while there are some issues (how the hell can you tell who is poisoned and crap when I looked away I forgot where the alien went...?) but while Eclipse take the manual reading and a LOT of games to "get it", this doesn't. This throws you in and if you've ever played a TBS game, this will be at home for you - but in a GOOD way. There's so much more good to go into, there really is. This game is absolutely amazing. Honestly amazing. Forget the BS about the graphics and I swear to all that is holy if one more person mentions shadows I will devise a way to reach through their post and slap them. Seriously! The game LOOKS GREAT. The beginning is tough, because it's I think what, the ONLY time the soldiers you send down actually talk. Beyond that, sure if you compare it to the console versions, there's no debate. The consoles, and then PC versions, are better. Loads better. But if you compare the consoles to the PC, you'll realize how crap the console versions look. Then if you compare it to a super high end PC, it makes everything else again look worse. Stop comparing it. Right now the average price for the game around the world is around $45. Some places it'll sell for what, $30 USD? But a lot of places it is more. Personally, having it on the go at any time is worth the downgrade in graphics. And no matter HOW you look at it, right now the iOS versions are still the cheapest option and it's stupid simple switching between the iPad, another iPad, the iPhone and so on. SO please, people, please realize that while the graphics do matter to a degree, not once in my playing did I have the disappointing feeling like I did at the start with the lack of lip syncing. Not once did the lack of shading and higher end graphics make me feel regret. For those people who are saying this game isn't really so crazy advanced and that there's not a lot going on under the hood and during the gameplay, you've not played the game. Or have blinders on. Who knows. I don't. I won't understand those people and that's fine. As for the issues, there are some and I'm not going to pretend like there aren't. I'm running the game primarily on an iPad 4, my wife hasn't yet gotten into it on her iPad 2 yet. These are some of the issues I've seen: Crashes. The game has yet to eat my save file, and I try to save like a maniac, but I've had a fair few crashes in my ~8ish hours of playing. One time it was while I tried to send off a party to investigate a crash JUST as a mail message came through (ironically it was a notification about this thread...). The other times were generally random. I remember just going to open the pause menu save option and poof. If I switch away and go back, even with minimal things open, often times it will still crash. Again, no corrupted saves but I STRONGLY urge everyone to save like their lives depended on it, something that everyone should be doing anyway. I would love to get these fixed, but they're too minor to be a detraction to the game. UI/Interface: It is so close to being perfect, it really is. But FFS sometimes when I try to rotate, or when I try to send someone up to a higher vantage point it will take me way longer than necessary. It can, and I mentioned this above, be impossible to see who has been poisoned if you looked away and then moved the soldier, or there was another planted near the poison cloud. Simply put, it's just more challenging to move around than I'd like it to be. Is it the price to be paid for the platform? I think so. I've heard some pretty monumental complaints about the controls on the console version and I can imagine I'd have issues there, too. Graphics: There are a few issues, they are very minor but I would hope to see some refinement as time goes on assuming the game keeps doing this well. I'd like to see a bit more detail at least on the static soldier view. Really I think that's all I can expect to ask for in a game like this. All in all, and I do not write reviews often and rave about games equally as infrequently (although lately... lately there has been a LOT of good on the app store) so when I tell you how freaking awesome this game is, I truly mean it. The best comparisons to make for this would be Warhammer Quest and Final Fantastic Tactics. Honestly, this game puts those to shame. It really does. I know that they are different games, and there's a lot more to compare when looking deeper, but if we boil it down, the games are very similar but Xcom REALLY stands tall above those two games. WQ is much more basic and it's the board game made electronic. It will always have a very special place in my heart because of that. But that said, after just about the same amount of time playing, I find that WQ is feeling really samey. Not a ton goes on with your heroes, and it's a very static experience. Taking Xcom out of the picture and looking at it just as a board game, it's still amazing. It's easy to get into and it requires no extra money. But considering with the expansions (that I impulsively purchased straight away) I paid, what, $21 for WQ? Yeah, Xcom wins this one HANDS DOWN. Hands down. Does that mean I'll be deleting WQ from my phone or iPad? Nyet. They scratch different itches, and if WQ add MP, it'll become a family ordeal to play. I look forward to that. I'll play that with my kids versus Xcom which is very different. FFT: This is probably the closest comparison. If you're considering simply how long it takes to complete the game, FFT would win by a nose I think. It's at least 30 hours there, from my experience. I think there's a much more FF experience there, with lots of fancy spoken English. I know from playing the original FFT just how engrossing it can get, although I don't feel that nearly as much in War of the Lions. But I've not played much at all, I find the game throws you in and explains nothing. You start a battle that you don't really control with skills that aren't explained and stuff just goes on like crazy. It's a very weird start to the game, and I ended up stuck in a loop with the following battle the first few times... Anyway, I'm trying to say that I think from a depth level, the two games are on par. If you are looking to stick with a more twisty Japanese style story, FFT. If you want a more modern alien story with more modern weapons and grenades and constant "OMG OH SILT THIS IS OFF THE FUNKING CHAIN!"... yeah, Xcom. My final rating before my hands fall off... This silt gets turned up TO 11!!! ... out of 10. Just to relieve any confusion. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, maybe go buy an iTunes card - but BUY THIS GAME. Seriously. So good....
Are you just being funny or sarcastic? I can't tell. Maybe you're just trolling. Regardless, this game is worth every penny and any other opinion, at least here, is wrong. And to be honest, the size is part of what's wrong here. It SHOULD be larger. If Apple didn't have limits imposed, they could have included more. Now, you comment about sizes of devices and such - I have a 32 gig iPhone 5. I've found ways to make room for my pictures, select music, Xcom, Warhammer, FFT, Carcassonne, Poker Night, and still a huge slew of other games. If I had a 16 gig device, I would have made room there, too, because it's awesome for being awesome, simple as that. but the absurdity of what you've said makes me truly hope you are trolling, especially with your embracing of Phoenix Wright. Seriously, isn't that close to $20 when you unlock the whole kit and caboodle?
I generally like Scottish people. You, I don't. Did your parents forget to teach you how to act like a human?
@andsoitgoes well that was a heartfelt review..I would respectfully disagree though with Xcom putting FFT to shame.But I liked that youv've compared both games.Since the professional game analyst made statements that this game is the most riveting tactical game since FFT.. It took a decade for something to match FFT's brilliance..Though they have different characteristics and sub genres..Both games are absolute masterpieces.. I guess there will be some preference on which game they like better..For me though I'm evenly impressed..
