XCOM: Enemy Unknown - Demo Released

I like them both atm, but I think Xeno is gonna be the better of the two.


-Carn

I heard a developer in a video say they got rid of action points to "clear up headspace" for the gamer. You know, action points really don't take up that much space in my head. I want a game to occupy my head some. As Dart said better than I would, it really is a dumbing down of tactical potential.

I'm so tired to developers assuming I'm an idiot. But I'll probably get this, despite the consolized camera that almost makes me motion sick and all of the dumbing down, because I'm a sucker for Xcom and….well….maybe I am the idiot the developers think I am. I think I'm going to buy the game, after all, even though I know I'll enjoy Xenonauts far more. I bet Xenonauts will be on my hard drive 30 times as long as this…and at 1/3 the cost.

All major publishers are financing development for consoles only. And this is a console title.

For a console game, XCOM:EA is very good. Imagine the nightmare trying to shuffle your rifle magazines from backpack to the fast pockets with a gamepad. Or running somewhere and realizing that there are not enough AP to shoot. You actually have to select that button (save AP for snapshot).

If you look at it with a 10-years old in mind, you would agree that it has a very decent gameplay complexity. At least it will engage their brains somewhat and introduce them to the genre.

So I've been playing around with the demo and thanks to these hacks the demo isn't as bad as it first seems. Thanks to Zaphod for the links to the demo editor.

The demo editor can give you different enemies to play against while this other hack lets you skip the first mission and just play the second mission directly which is killer as the first mission is just annoying.

Play only second mission

Another hint to remove the dropship movie at the start of the second mission is to change the following in XCom-Enemy-Unknown-Demo\XComGame\Config\DefaultMaps.ini from:

Maps=( MapFamily=URB_PierA, Name=Act2_Pier, DisplayName="URB_PierA_Rescue Tutorial 2 (Abduction) Pier", MissionType=eMission_Special, CouncilType=eFCMType_None, bInRotation=false, TimeOfDay=eMissionTime_Night, ERegion=eMissionRegion_NorthAmerica,StreamingMaps[0]=(MapName=CIN_DropshipIntros, Loc=(X=0,Y=0,Z=0), Rot=(Yaw=0)), StreamingMaps[1]=(MapName=Act2_Pier_script, Loc=(X=0,Y=0,Z=0), Rot=(Yaw=0)) )

to

Maps=( MapFamily=URB_PierA, Name=Act2_Pier, DisplayName="URB_PierA_Rescue Tutorial 2 (Abduction) Pier", MissionType=eMission_Special, CouncilType=eFCMType_None, bInRotation=false, TimeOfDay=eMissionTime_Night, ERegion=eMissionRegion_NorthAmerica )

This may also require the "-LoadAllContent" option as described in the previous link.

After playing through with other weapons and seeing the other creatures I think I may preorder but I'm just hoping that those weapons and enemies is not a complete list. Anyway I had a couple of kick ass battles where I one the last battle with one guy and one hp left but a few where I just lost everyone.