The evolution of The Bureau

[Azrael Strife]

As we suspected, in the Bureau, XCOM faces some of the original aliens (so far Sectoids and Mutons confirmed).

 

The evolution of The Bureau.

 

I'm very much still looking forwards to this, still sounds awesome, though I also liked the early gooey and geometric concepts, that's a shame on that part.

[NKF]

It's rather amusing to watch the evolution of the fans' opinions as well. Back when the original concepts came out, such a storm was kicked up over it because it just wasn't X-Com. Now that the developers have adjustments to bring it back to being an X-Com game, lots of fans are starting to get disappointed that they weren't getting the original concept. Ah, fans. Love, hate em, that's us.

 

It's been a slow cook project, so let's hope it was worth the wait.

 

- NKF

[silencer_pl]

What is strange that XCOM was/is International organisation Here we are operating only in good ol' U.S. of A.

 

Also why is that if it was FPS it was bad, but TPS is ok? Ok they added more tactical thing but I think it will resemble of something like last Brother in Arms game, rather than more tactical game like first Full Spectrum Warrior.

Though both were good games in BiA the player was 75% power horse unlike in first BiA.

 

 

Also maybe I am too picky, but mutons were just big soldiers, here they made them like space marines? Then the outsiders - they look different from Firaxis XCOM. I wish there was some kind of visible link between those two.

[Lt.Havoc]

Well, I think that The Bureau is a forerunner of X-con, so its a US Organization and the X-com project was started later after it was realized that the whole world is facing a threat and not just the USA.

[Azrael Strife]

X-COM is an international organization in the first X-Com game, nothing ever says that they did not start as an US-based organisation, who knows, we'll have to wait and see the story by ourselves.

[NKF]

There were possibly many local groups prior to X-Com with similar goals in mind that were later combined into an international co-operative,.Japan had the Kiryu Kai for example, though I'm not sure if they ever integrated into X-Com or just got mothballed. (Oh, and if you really want, England has S.H.A.D.O).

 

My new worry is just what my worry was for the Starwars 1 ~ 3 movies. Prequels with seemingly higher level technology than in the present-day continuity that we're familiar with. But I guess you've got to have that in games.

 

- NKF

[silencer_pl]

P-47 downing a UFO that would be a nice view.

[Sunflash]

I'm still wishing whomever is actually in control of the XCom name had kept it away from this. Blugh. Hopefully it'll flop hard and leave the OTHER new-game in charge.

 

Who am I kidding, wishful thinking.

[blackops]

I already hate it. I'm just gonna ignore this game completely. I won't trust another company to decide X-COM's origins. Fuck them.

[Ecthel013]

I find it interesting, but I'll defer judgement until I've actually played the game.

[Space Voyager]

Finally seen the whole movie and I like almost all of it. I'm sorry for the third person perspective, but I can live with that. All the rest seems to have gotten better and better.

[Thorondor]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aVslpAb17c

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW9FwFw5MyA

 

https://images.vg247.com/current//2013/05/The-Bureau-XCOM-Declassified-3.jpg

 

https://images.vg247.com/current//2013/05/The-Bureau-XCOM-Declassified-4.jpg

 

https://images.vg247.com/current//2013/05/The-Bureau-XCOM-Declassified-5.jpg

 

https://images.vg247.com/current//2013/05/The-Bureau-XCOM-Declassified-6.jpg

 

https://images.vg247.com/current//2013/05/The-Bureau-XCOM-Declassified-7.jpg

 

https://images.vg247.com/current//2013/05/The-Bureau-XCOM-Declassified-9.jpg

 

https://images.vg247.com/current//2013/05/The-Bureau-XCOM-Declassified-8.jpg

 

::

 

Welcome to the sixties, aliens.

[Thorondor]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Kz8G-zPrFY

 

::

 

There's quite a handlful of previews/interviews cropping up out there.

 

Here are a few links to some of the better ones:

 

- Eurogamer (with exclusive video interview)

- Polygon (with video)

- Strategy Informer (interview; Edit: and preview)

[silencer_pl]

My worries are getting stronger - it looks like a single man game where player does 90% of the stuff and the team are there to provide colorful sparkles.

 

And if this really will have connection to the Firaxis game, I would like to know where those colorful sparkles went. It looks like that in final mission carter will blow up aliens mothership while they will destroy Bureau HQ leaving no trace of their technology. Then aliens swear revenge and come back 50 years later.

[Thorondor]

You could at least have used *spoiler warnings*, silencer. But noooo...

 

::

 

[Azrael Strife]

This is not exactly like the strategy game, wheee wheee *baby cry*

 

Anyhow, is The Bureau an XCOM game?

 

Apparently it's been confirmed from the demo that there'll be no base building, no research, and no manufacturing.

 

I still think the game looks awesome, but I wish they had kept the original concept as well; the first person shooter seemed to be more focused in the horror aspect, and the aliens (the goo, the phantom, etc) were incredible and extremely original.

 

Fighting mutons and sectoids... well, at least it seems like it's going to be the Alliance game we never got to play

[Thorondor]

PC Gamer's Mr.Evan Lahti contemplates why this might not be the game he wanted.

[silencer_pl]

I'm not crying that it is not a strategy game. It's ok that they are making team tactical game. But currently what they show is like comparing Gears of War with Mass Effect 2. And I expected a little more than that (less shooting, more tactical).

[Azrael Strife]

Nothing is going to be 100% like you wanted it to be. Still, you could be positive and think that while this game may not be the game of your dreams, it can still be a decent X-Com themed game (in case you childishly refuse to consider it an X-Com game), and a decent shooter, and enjoy it when it's released.

 

I think X-Com deserves a good first person game (tactical or plain shooter), and this one has potential, whether they waste it or not.

[NKF]

To look on the bright side of, well, the bright side: This is definitely going to show up Enforcer big time. That alone will makes up for any of its sins - even if it's not quite what we're after.

 

- NKF

 

NB: I'm saying that from the perspective of someone who did enjoy Enforcer.

[Space Voyager]

I'm loving what I see. I admit, I'd like the base strategy, too, but this would make it almost identical to XCOM:EU, with the exception of personal involvement.

[Space Voyager]

IGN scoops its thoughts on the changes in the upcoming game.

[Thorondor]

[Thorondor]

(...) your job is primarily focused on managing battlefields across the US as your squad of ordinary agents struggles with the extraordinary occurrence of Earth’s first contact event.

 

::

 

The resulting impressions of IGN's Stace Harman's so-called first contact with The Bureau can be read here.

[The Veteran]

How can any of you say you would rather play the game they originally pitched??? This isn't about originality, it's about an X-Com game that STILL DOESN'T EVEN HAVE THE HYPHEN!!!

 

Seriously, if they can't even spell the name right after so long in development there will NEVER be any hope for this game. Especially after the excellent effort that was the recent Firaxis turn-based strategy game...

 

We should be absolutely delighted that 2K are heeding the fan community and at least TRYING to make amends for their blasphemy but instead, even the people who cursed the original release are now saying it's a shame they changed it?!?! And let me point out that changing to a TPS still doesn't make it a strategy game, it just makes a slightly more turn-based FPS...

 

So they're listening, sort of... What difference has it made so far?

 

Issues resolved?

Sectoids are in the game now along with other recognisable foes

Wierd black ghosty monsters are possibly gone?

There are attempts to tie this into actual X-Com timeline and Mythos (even though there shouldn't be)

 

Issues unresolved?

No base management, save for research and personnel

The aliens only invade America (as usual...)

Highly developed shield and plasma technology is introduced forty years before UFO, but they lose it all...

The initial invasion devastates large parts of the US but goes completely unnoticed by EVERYBODY ELSE

The stupid black obelisks and weapon systems are still in, despite a genuine UFO being shown in the teaser

Only fielding a 3 man team (with a roster maximum of 8) against possibly dozens of aliens

Everything else not mentioned so far...

 

One of the things that REALLY bugs me is that they go so far as to say the alien invasion was DEVASTATING and every single battlefield in the game is completely devoid of human life. But then they try and tie it into the original mythos? How? Was every shred of evidence of the invasion miraculously destroyed everywhere all at once? And all of the decimated American towns were suddenly rebuilt and their slaughtered inhabitants revived? Really? Noone who saw or heard any of this stuff survived? Or even wrote something down? Phone call to a loved one? Telegram to colleague in scientific community? Possibly PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORITY???

 

Not only is it absurd to imagine such a crippling invasion going completely unnoticed in the rest of the world, it's also illogical that such a serious extraterrestrial attack would fail to cross the borders into even Canada and Mexico, let alone cross any oceans (in their intergalactic spacecraft...)

 

On top of all of this nonsense, there are also the strange and seemingly immensely powerful obelisk weapons that just seem to be discontinued by the invading aliens in favour of floaters by the time they invade again in the 90s... What happened to the Mutons too? After the invasion failed in the 60s and they realised that only the heavily armoured plasma powered ape-monsters had actually had any success at all, they must have decided to do away with the armour and growth hormones in favour of a skin tight green onesie...

 

Seriously I could rant about this all day. Sure, they listened to the fans hating on the game, but not to WHY the fans are hating! We weren't screaming out for you to add sectoids, change the era or move the camera. We just wanted you to release the game WITHOUT THE XCOM NAME ON IT!!! At least in 2010 we could all accept that it just wasn't even remotely X-Com and the name on the box was just a typo. Now though? They've gone out of their way to include recognisable aliens and link it into the pre-existing X-Com universe. But they've done such a half-arsed job of it they would've been better off doing nothing at all! All they needed to do was CHANGE THE NAME!!!

 

What is this game even meant to be a prequel too by the way? I presume the Firaxis one? In which case forget the onesie comment... In actual fact though I don't really care that much if it's only trying to tie in with the new re imagining. That means it isn't trying to sully the original franchise after all!

 

And for what it's worth, I don't think this game will be even remotely comparable to Enforcer. No it wasn't even the least bit tactical and had nothing at all in common with the original. But you know what it was? Canon... Like it or not, Enforcer DID happen in the X-Com universe... There are a lot of people out there (possibly a majority) who refuse to acknowledge Enforcer as a true X-Com title but the truth is, we don't get to decide that. The people who own the rights do... Right now it seems the people who own the rights are incompetent and unsympathetic buffoons. They should've cancelled this game years ago and just used the assets elsewhere. It'll no doubt still be an entertaining game (as it would've been for different reasons in 2010) but it STILL won't be an X-Com game...