Monday 28 September 2020

Last Man Standing

Thanks to OpenXCOM (https://openxcom.org/) I have been replaying the XCOM 1 (UFO - Enemy Unknown) and XCOM 2 (Terror from the Deep) games from 1994 + 1995. Thus, with the aid of 25 years further gameplay experience, an improved game engine, bug fixes, mods and only modest amounts of save scumming I have completed XCOM 1.

It is done on Windows - the first time in 20+years the home PC has not been a Mac or a PC running Linux. The cost effectiveness of buying a Mac is simply no longer there, and who wants to administer a Linux system any more or try to diagnose why power management is not all it could be? So far, Windows has not been majorly annoying. It is certainly convenient that a Steam install of the XCOM games is easily found by OpenXCOM.

The reviews of TFTD have rarely been positive in comparison to its predecessor. It has been suggested that the preference for TFTD depends on playing it first, before XCOM. I may agree; I played TFTD before I ever got a copy of XCOM, and found XCOM somewhat lacking in comparison to TFTD for various reasons.

Firstly, TFTD is a reskin of XCOM except with a decent budget for art - both graphics and sound. It has a larger range of animations, more varied level terrain, richer artwork in research reports, and crucially, an oppressive, brooding sound track that provides eery punctuation to the murky depths of underwater combat - combining cautious exploration and reckless attack. The graphics are basic by todays standards, but not spartan or cartoony, as could be said for some of the XCOM artwork.

Both games had bugs as shipped, which are now forgotten and fixed in the remade game engines (and patch releases made in the 90s, too). Yet, the interface of TFTD added one important aspect; opening a door without immediately entering the room or area behind it. This is quite important when the next room can be empty or full or heavily armed aliens...

The difficulty of TFTD is a response to the infamous bug of XCOM where all the save games reverted to "easy"; thus, the difficulty levels actually work, and are harder, too. The increased difficulty of TFTD leads to consequences, and tension, in the game that are not so evident in XCOM. There is not an agreed on set of tactics applicable in nearly all scenarios for TFTD, as there is for XCOM: and those tactics that do exist are not as certain as for XCOM. It is not unlikely to suffer heavy casualties on even small missions. The game does not become a walk in the park in the same way that XCOM does.

TFTD seems to be able to break the routine of XCOM missions, which could be described as first disembarking, then scouting and locating the UFO, before finally storming the UFO in an assault to end the mission. This seems to be done by various means. One is by having the landing site close to the downed alien craft, leading to a choice: to start an assault, and risk being flanked, or to attempt to contain the aliens within the sub while clearing the area? 

Clearing the area is made considerably more difficult by more complex and 3d terrain - its no longer an option to have every soldier in the squad, even without line of sight, shoot at each spotted alien in a massive firestorm to mow them down one by one. Instead, line of fire is often blocked, and the encounters are often down to one or two soldiers versus one or two aliens.

Larger levels lead to an increased risk of being outflanked: tougher aliens also lead to more re-awakenings of stunned aliens that were not killed outright. 

An emphasis on hand to hand combat requires the fragile soldiers to get close to the monstrous creatures to battle them; no more merely hanging back and relying on volleys of automatic plasma fire to prevent proximity. The scariest alien of XCOM (the Chrysallid) is back, except this time it flies (swims!) and no flying suit will save you from it now. The most powerful weapons are not available for all missions (above vs below water) so cannot be leant upon as crutch.

In any case, the games are both now entirely moddable, so you can turn off aspects of the game that irritate (PSI! money worries!) and add fun new behaviours (spherical explosions, better base layouts) and enjoy the bits of the game you want.

Now, I have to salvage the situation of 70% casualties on the first encounter with Lobster men! Back to saving the world