More randomness might have enhanced the tension in the game

Nov 30, 2012 00:41 GMT  ·  By

Julian Gollop, one of the original creators of the X-Com series, believes that the development team at Firaxis has done a great job on the modern XCOM: Enemy Unknown reboot and that all fans of the franchise should play and enjoy it.

The developer tells Eurogamer that, “I think Firaxis has done a great job. The game is addictive and absorbing, not to mention quite challenging on the classic difficulty setting.”

Gollop acknowledges that Firaxis needed to introduce a number of changes in order to bring the game up to modern standards and allow Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 gamers to engage with XCOM.

But he is also sure that none of the tweaked features affected the essence of X-Com, which lies in assembling a capable team of operatives and then equipping them in order to fight the alien threat via turn-based battles.

The developer criticized the fact that geographic options and choices have little impact on the gamer, starting with the location of the unique base and to the limited impact of the three abduction sites.

Gollop believes, “The original X-Com had significantly more pseudo-random elements. However, it is clear that they have been following Sid Meier’s dictum that games are essentially about making interesting decisions. They have strived to make every decision have some kind of trade-off.”

He also believes that the Men in Black-inspired Thin Men enemies are too comical for the game and that they could have benefited from a little more threat.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown was launched earlier during the fall on home consoles and on the PC and was well received by critics and fans, who praised its turn-based mechanics and attention to detail.

Firaxis is working on more content for the game, which will include more missions and more operatives delivered via downloadable content packs.