14 DAY TRIAL // During E3 2012 earlier this year, the developers at Firaxis chose to show off their upcoming strategy game via a presentation that featured their own leader, Sid Meier, as a powerful operative ready to save humanity from aliens.
Now, at Gamescom 2012, they are allowing players to actually get their hands on controllers, keyboards and mice and actually play XCOM: Enemy Unknown, something I have done with great delight.
The setup included a short look at the base that players will control and a mission to save Anna, a former abductee that could share important intelligence about the aliens and their abilities.
The base control looks deep and interesting, with each element introduced in turn and a lot of possibilities when it comes to research, weapon and item manufacturing and, most importantly, operative recruitment and development.
The characters that drive interactions in the research and engineering sections might be a bit of a stereotype, but I suppose that most players will likely jump over animated sequences and extended interactions as they progress through the new XCOM.
The tactical missions are a delight, even if the effort to rescue Anna is probably one of the early missions and is designed to teach gamers rather than challenge them.
The four-man squad was dropped in an urban landscape and I cautiously moved towards the abductee as Grey and Thin Men appeared from various concealed positions to take pot shots at my men.
I used Overwatch and overlapping fields of fire to make sure that I protected them and advanced at a steady pace and once I got Anna I pulled back a little quicker, fearing a massive alien response.
Even if the mission was rather easy one wrong move, which left one operative exposed in the field of fire of a Thin Man, cost me his life, which increases my hopes that the new XCOM will rise up to the reputation of the original.