July
27
Remember the survey this site featured a while ago?
Well, anyway I've collected all the entries, and put together
a summary of your opinions stated in facts and numbers.
I would like to thank all of you that did the survey,
it was most appreciated. So, here we go:
About 65% favoured Ufo Defence / Enemy Unknown to the other
X-COM games, while 25% held Apocalypse as their favourite,
and 10% was uncertain.
60% of the XCOManiacs that answered the survey,
had bought X-COM: Interceptor
2/3 of those who had not bought Interceptor, claimed that if
they were going to buy a flight sim, they would not buy this game.
The rest were just sitting on the fence thinking about it.
Those that did buy it generally liked it, though stating that
it was kind of short, and maybe a bit easy.
In the question of if there will ever be done a makeover,
and re-release of the first X-COM game, it was almost a tie,
although the majority think that it will not.
The average age of all those who answered the survey was 21.
19
I found something quite interesting today while going through some
netbased gaming sites. A new X-COM: Alliance preview has surfaced!
Oh ok, I'll admit it, there are not an awful lot of new info there,
and the same four now "so old" screenshots, but still..
From the bases of this short but accurate preview,
X-COM: Alliance will feature this (and more):
* A first person shooter based on the Unreal Engine
* A 15-mission fight to annihilate the enemy
* Command a first person view of up to four troopers
* Handpicking squads
* Controlling resources between missions
* Developing new weapons/equipment
18
Did you know this about Apocalypse?
A lot that originally should have been included in X-COM: Apocalypse,
were left out due to various reasons. Read this excerpt from
the History section, and see what you missed in this title.
Don't get me wrong now.. I enjoyed Apocalypse,
but imagine what game it could have been with these options included:
After three years of hard work and five different producers
X-COM: Apocalypse finally hit the streets. The initial game
design was definitely too ambitious and too complex.
The aim was to recreate in some detail the events,
organisations and personalities within a futuristic megalopolis.
Each corporation had a leader who could be tailed, arrested,
interrogated or assassinated. Organisations could buy and sell
buildings as their financial fortunes changed. X-Com agents
could spy on other organisations to gain valuable information.
A sophisticated diplomacy display allowed the player to instigate
aggressive or defensive alliances with other organisations.
There were multiple alien dimensions, generated pseudo-
randomly, and the aliens gradually expanded their empire
as the game progressed. The game also featured a scenario
generator and multiplayer options using a hotseat turn based
system or a real time LAN option. Most of these features were
implemented to some degree, but were finally stripped out due to
the horrendous amount of work involved in QA and debugging.
15
And finally, Azek is back online with his X-COM site.
This time he's back for good with Planet | Xcom
As most freshly opened sites, his sections are somewhat empty.
Still Azek's page looks very promising, and will surely become
one of the major ones out there.
14
I have done quite some changes on my page since yesterday.
The font-size has been reduced, and I've added an Author Section.
The left side frame now includes "top of page",
and a "last update" info down there at the bottom.
13
Yes, I know. I have not bought X-COM Interceptor yet.
You may find this strange, but I have my reasons.
One reason is that Interceptor has not been shipped
to these parts yet. Until today. Having my usual strawl
through one of the very few game retailers around here,
I saw this Interceptor box, pretty nicely sitting there
on the shelf. My immediate thought was to just grab it,
get my card, run it through the slot, and then take
the first shuttle home. Then I started thinking silly me.
At this place it would have costed me $59.
While the nearest city of some size, offers it at $45.
In addition I would need one of those flight sticks..
$ + $ + $ makes $$$$$$$$, and so on.
Also I've heard that the game is not all that great either.
And I do not have a graphics 3D accelerator to boost with.
Ok enough already! Stop whining like Scrooge McDuck!
Here's finally some good news. There is a patch out
for Interceptor. This Update as Microprose calls it,
deales with quite a few issues, specially related to
joysticks, and sensitivity.
X-COM Interceptor Update version 1.2 ->Files section.
7
Look in my Reviews section for lots of brand spanking
new Interceptor Reviews. I have also added a couple
of Apocalypse, a TFTD and an X-COM review to the section.
I can recommend reading them all, but two of them stands out.
This review has a negative attitude towards Interceptor,
and quite frankly I have to agree with some of the argumenting.
Here is a great review of the first X-COM game.
Always fun to read about "the good ol` times".
And thank you: Traigus, Ribbed and Charlatan,
for doing my Survey.
Still need some more resonses though folks.
5
I have made a little survey with some questions,
for the purpose of finding you X-COM folks general opinion
on different stuff. When I have gotten some responses,
I'll post the results here.
Go, have a try.
3
There is an Interceptor patch on it's way now,
so watch Microproses web page closely.
This patch will address the following issues:
1. Joystick over-sensitivity
2. Joystick drift
3. Uncontrollable joystick roll
4. Problems with players being dropped on IGZ
I found two other interesting notes about Microprose today.
Their new SuperHeroGame, Guardians of Justice,
has been cancelled for now. This is due to a financial
setback, and the fact that the game has been
under development for over 3 years, and got outdated.
They did not rule out starting all over again with
the same project at a later time.
Also, Pop Top Software are making a sequel to Transport Tycoon.
So far it looks great. See for yourself.
Here's another Interceptor review.
This time at Online Gaming Review.