Picked it up yesterday and.....

IT..... IS......EPIC!!!

Brings back so many memories of long sleepless nights playing the old original PC version. Really great game so far and I'm eager to check out the multiplayer too if anyone else picks it up.

Seriously though. Great fucking game. I'm glad Firaxis picked it up, their experience with the Civ series definitely helped them to nail the classic feel of XCOM and yet bring it mainstream.

Can't wait to go home and play more!

Right now my main 6 person squad consists of:

Leeroy Jenkins - Heavy class (charges in the with big guns right off the bat, figured Leeory was a good fit lol)

Chuck Norris - Sniper class (eh, he became on sniper on his own. Would have rathered assault)

Lo Mein - Sniper class (White haired kung fu sniper master)

Red Sonja - Support class (kind of a healer, smoke grenades, weird stuff)

Goku Kickass - Assault class (Hyper muscled Americanized version of Goku, but at least he has the crazy Saiyan hair)

Simo Hayha - Sniper class (Seriously the most badass sniper is history)

Yeah, I like my snipers in XCOM games. Mostly always keep them all on Overwatch as Leeroy and Goku bounce around the field. Also I finally have Laser weapons for all my most dudes, still working on plasma and stuff.

Thanks for posting this!! I am definitely getting it tomorrow. Love these kind of games and there is not enough of them.

I played the demo. It looks nothing like the previews from a couple years back. I thought it was going to be an FPS? Personally I don't think anything can top the original two PC games.

I played the demo. It looks nothing like the previews from a couple years back. I thought it was going to be an FPS? Personally I don't think anything can top the original two PC games.

Dude, this IS basically the original PC game just with updated graphics. The demo does it no justice. Once you play the first like 5 missions or so it really opens up, can get up to 6 man squads, chasing down UFOs, all the stuff that made the original amazing.

Seriously Em. If you liked the original you'll LOVE this.

There is another XCOM game which is coming out in 2013 which is supposedly an FPS. That is the one everyone bitched about as blasphemy. This one is completely different and made by Firaxis, and from what I've played the have absolutely fucking nailed it.

Almost have some badass Power Armor for my squad! Woot!

*edit* Also Snipers are crazy overpowered when you get them to max rank. You can unlock "Double Tap", which lets you take two seperate shots in a row if you don't move. Brutal....

I played the demo last night and loved it! Reason being is because you can just tell this is going to get deeper as you play. We need more good turn-based strategy games on the xbox!!

Getting this tonight for sure. Only thing I could not figure out in the demo was on the last mission they let you play they wanted me to capture the aliens but never really said how that works. I also heard you can personally name each squad member. Its going to be sad when you get attached to them and they go down but that is what makes this game seem so fun. Every choice is dire.

I can't stop playing this game. It is so well done. I love strategy games and am a big Civ fan but I have not had a treat like this for some time. It is like a perfect mix of strategy and tactical combat. On one side you have to manage the XCOM facility making sure things get researched and built. Money is low and decisions have to be carefully made. I can go into particulars but there is a lot going on here.

On the other side you get to command your soldiers on the field when they get called out. The turned based tactical battles are fun! I like all the different classes. They can rank up and get more powers. You can rename them with first names, last names and even nicknames! I like how they start out as rookies with nothing. No rank or class. After a soldiers first mission they pick what they have a liking for. You don't pick it for them at first which makes it more realistic for me. I am getting really attached to my squad. The only thing is I still only have one assault guy. None of my recruits are picking assault for some reason. I like having at least two of everything so when someone is wounded for a few days I can rotate them out. Like an A-Team and B-Team

Had some really cool stuff happen to me in a battle the other night. We downed a UFO with one of our fighter jets. We go to investigate the crash so I decide to take a few rookies and the rest are soldiers I have been using a little bit so they have some experience. Early on I make a mistake and one of my rookies gets exposed and brutally killed by some Floater Aliens. Two of my other soldiers nearby go into panic mode. A little monitor comes up showing a spike in their heart rates. They both start firing blindly in a panic and some friendly fire hits one of my good soldiers! Damn noobs hehe!! I rush over there with my support guy and he heals them up. I get control of the group and everyone calms down. I then proceed and stomp the alien team with some good decisions The one girl soldier who panic fired on the team wanted to become a Heavy class. I kept using her and has turned out to be one of my best soldiers now. She has rarely been wounded.

Another mission last night I took all my best soldiers into a UFO crash. They were mostly Captains now. A bit tougher this time since the aliens are coming at me with more advanced enemies. I go in and did not notice a pathway that left one of my guys exposed. He got flanked by a Muton and hit hard. All his life bars were gone but instead of dying right way he fell to the floor in critical condition!! First time I have seen this. There was a heart beat but it looked like he was bleeding out and fast! I rush over with my support medic, also now exposed, and stabilize and revive my guy. My sniper gets a bead on the offending alien and BAM! Critical hit! All mended the team regroups and puts the hurt down with a successful no lives lost mission! A couple were hospitalized for a few days needless to say.

This is one gem of a game for me! Going to be hooked on this for a long time. The best part is I never saw this game coming.

I can't stop playing it either man. Last night I completed the game a second time (yeah, I've been playing it that much. It's not like it's a super short game lol). Second playthrough was more of a "for fun" run through the game to finish up some of the easier achievements (research all, complete all foundry, kill aliens with exposives, etc).

Funny story for Kev if he ever reads this thread:

So on my first playthrough (with the dudes described aboved) eventually you get to a point where you need to nuture a solder with Psionics. You have to "test" them. This basically takes 10 days of game time where they're in some Psionic chamber and you can't use them. The only person on my whole team, and I tested a total of 8 people, was.....

Goku!

Go figure that he's the only one with the mind powers lol. Since I can't give him Nimbus I gave him the flying archangel armor

Still love my snipers though. Having three snipers, all with Plasma sniper rifles and Double-Tap, is amazing. You could easily run through levels with two snipers like that probably and clear them.

That is awesome! I have not got the Psionics yet. Still on play through 1. I envision going through this a second time for sure. I hope they extend this game its awesome!

Yeah, to "beat" the game you HAVE to have a strong enough psionic dude wearing psionic armor. You'll get there.

I just thought it was hilarious that the only dude who could use it just happened to be Goku.

KAMEEEHAAAMINDBLAAAAAASSSSSSSTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Only Goku would be able to sit in a recuperation tank for half a season and come back stronger for it. Ha, that's hilarious.

First play Classic Ironman, 14 hrs lost

Second play Classic Iron man 6 hrs lost

Third Play Classic Iron man WON!!! man there were alot of tense and exciting moments this game rocks they did a good job. Love the missions and it isnt forgiving on the tougher difficulties I am going to try impossible mode but I am not doing Ironman on that.

Edit: at the end I had 8 Col with 5 Psi soldiers they rocked! Only lost 9 soldiers on my winning playthrough.

I am still loving this game. I have to be close to the end by now. I have put what feels to be quite a few hours into the campaign but still not done. I think I made some critical mistakes early like not putting up satellites fast enough so it slowed down my progression for a bit because I had no money to really work with.

Then, I slacked on getting the Firestorm built for some reason. It is cool though, now I have 5 Psi soldiers and 6 Col with two others rapidly approaching that. I never really lost too many soldiers just early on when I was getting my crew together.

I am so attached to a couple of my soldiers that if they ever go down I will reload and try again. I love how this one Heavy solider I have came up the ranks out of no where to being one of my favorites soldiers. She has quite a history now and was the first solider to come back from Psi testing as gifted.

Finally finished the game on Normal. Loved every minute of it. The ending was great. I am now starting on a Classic Ironman play through. Wish me luck!