So, any reviews yet?

[jonpfl]

All,

So for those who have the game, any reviews? Good or bad?

Thx
jonpfl

[Da_Junka]

Try here.

http://www.ufo-extraterrestrials.com/fo ... 04a07a6839

[siRkid]

Ok, I've played a few missions and can give you a short review. The graphics are ok, nothing great, but I can live with them. The user interface is a little clunky but that’s ok to. The intercept portion is not as exciting as the original because it never zooms into a tactical mode where you’re watching the missiles fly while holding your breath but again that’s no big deal. So far the best part is the tactical combat. The Ai appears to be pretty good. I've taken to saving the game at the beginning of each tactical battle because I've been wiped out more than once. Its true that your people don't die unless you lose everyone but it is something that can be lived with. The research is good; you find things and then set a number of scientists to research it. You can put all your researchers on one item or spread them out. Of course I have not read the rulebook so I'm not sure how you get more scientists. I'm building another lab right now. We will see when its built if I get more. Looks like you don't hire people. You don't sell things either but I kind of like not having to worry about that.

The tactical combat is fun and you have to use over watch tactics or you'll never survive. You get to blow things up which is like the good old days and when your people level you get to spend point adjusting their traits. You can drop things and pick them up. One major difference is it does not take any action points to equip things so you can throw several grenades a turn.

So far I’m enjoying the game and I feel my money was well spent. Is there room for lots of improvements? Yes, but its great to have a UFO game like the old days.

[orogogus]

so what's the point of not letting your guys die if you lose them all if you are totally wiped out anyway?

I thought it was to remove the 'reload if a guy is killed' phenom? Isn't that kind of the same thing?[&:]

[zulman]

I think people are taking the "guys not dieing" thing too far. Honestly how many of us don't reload when a guys dies? I know I almost always do. Also you can put an artificial limit on yourself so if a guy get's incap'd then simply consider him dead and never use him again.

The hospital stays are long enough that getting incap'd is a big penalty.

[Xenocide]

To those who want dying patched into the game....you better increase troop replenishment rates or you are just SICK.

I like it so far. Check out my AARs for more info. It feels like X-Com. I'm happy I bought it. So far I like the Tech Tree better. It feels less artificial than X-Com did. I actually prefer the air combat system in this game. It's much easier to coordinate a good team-up on a UFO. In the early game you need two fighters to have a good chance of taking down a UFO. The UFO's also can take the offensive. I've seen them run and I've seen them chase me. The scariest moment was when a transport heading for a landed UFO was caught off guard as the landed UFO took off at the last minute and attacked it. Had to scramble an escort and barely got the UFO to break off before the Transport went down.

[evilferretvictim]

So far it's almost exactly what I expected. There are a few things left out such as reserve APs, and not having the ability to build more than one full base It feels like I'm playing X-Com all over again, which is a great feeling. I give it a 9/10, it would easily be 10/10 if they had changed a few things and fixed a few bugs. Then again I suppose I'm a bit bias... I consider X-Com UFO Defense the best game ever made~ UFO:ET hasn't changed that, X-Com is still better...However with a few mods and patches...Who knows

[Hanal]

Just to make one minor correction to KID's post, you can sell items....so far I'm enjoying it and playing at normal setting, the AI is challenging....the "death debate" is really not an issue, now that I've played it, as I currently have about 9 soldiers in hospital and ony 3 available for missions. I like how you can increase a soldiers attributes yourself rather than it being done automatically. You can use the acquired experience points to increase different skills and attributes....limiting troops, researchers, ect. make the game more difficult than Xcom....

We need to divorce ourselves from the Xcom comparisons and simply enjoy this game on its' own merits........

[siRkid]

Ah I see this thread is getting some traction. I've not been able to play all day due to family commitments. I did notice that at the end of the month I got cash for selling things but I did not actually have to do anything. At least that I know of. Now to do my WitP PBEM turn then back to killing aliens.

[Airdrop01]

By reserve APs do you mean how you could reserve points for a snap shot, etc. in reaction phase? I've been looking for that feature.

Also, is there any way to go prone? (I can't remember if you could in X-Com, Terror from the Deep, etc.)

[Bromley]

ORIGINAL: orogogus

so what's the point of not letting your guys die if you lose them all if you are totally wiped out anyway?

I thought it was to remove the 'reload if a guy is killed' phenom? Isn't that kind of the same thing?[&:]

Anyone have any comments on this? I've been wondering if the loss of a single mission is so disruptive that you can never really recover from it and are forced to reload. That's been my main concern with the whole no-death issue.

[Sti]

So, I finally had some time to try it out... and I like it.
On my first mission, only one of my guys (well, it was a woman, actually) survived, 3 got injured and one killed (tank). The tactical AI sure knows what it is doing. That was on "easy", btw.
I managed to assault some of the aliens before they could coordinate their defense, but then the AI sent two of those mech-alike aliens towards where two of my soldiers were standing on the roof to give sniper support. I tried to reinforce with my tank but in the ensuing battle, the aliens took it and two of my soldiers out before my heroine of the day managed to finish the last alien off.
Meanwhile, another pair of soldiers was attacked and one of them wounded by a weaker alien. I took cover behind a wall and tried to heal him with the heroine-to-be when another of those mech-like things came from the other side. While trying to run away (erm... "retreat strategically"), my wounded soldier got hit again and went down, leaving only said heroine who was then able to kill their persuers from behind cover and proceeded to take out the last alien as mentioned above.
Oh, and it was a winter map. Very nice.
 
The strategic part seems very basic (research stuff, build stuff, buy and sell stuff and upgrade your base(s)) but that's completely fine, it's the tactical combat and the technical gadgets I'm here for anyway. Tech tree seems fine as well.
 
Now, about the interface so many are complaining about: It's not as bad as some make it sound. Sure, tooltips would have been nice, but not really necessary.
 
Some things are a little questionable (not being able to see or shoot out of windows, the slow speed of bullets, having to select the weapon each time you shoot...) but it's nothing I care too much about. It's just the way it works and I can live with it easily.
 
Summary: Of course I haven't played enough to have an opinion on long-term gameplay or whether some ugly bugs are lurking under the hood  but so far it indeed feels like good old X-COM.
 
 
(Note: "feels like" as in "is fun and immersive", not as in "is a carbon copy and has exactly the same features")
 
 
 

[Sti]

ORIGINAL: Bromley

ORIGINAL: orogogus

so what's the point of not letting your guys die if you lose them all if you are totally wiped out anyway?

I thought it was to remove the 'reload if a guy is killed' phenom? Isn't that kind of the same thing?[&:]

Anyone have any comments on this? I've been wondering if the loss of a single mission is so disruptive that you can never really recover from it and are forced to reload. That's been my main concern with the whole no-death issue.

I'd say that you can recover from a total loss. In the beginning you have 8 soldiers so if you lose most of them, you surely are in trouble, but later on you should have enough to recover from losing some of them.

Also, the feature that all soldiers are killed when wiped out makes sense:

Assume that they can't die at all: Your mission goes horribly wrong and only one or two of your guys are left standing. What do you do? Well, they can't die anyway, so you just continue the mission and hope to be lucky.

Now, with the feature in, it looks different: If you lose those last soldiers as well, *all* your soldiers on the mission will die permanently. So the best thing to do in such a case is what would be done in reality as well: You pull out and forget about the mission, saving your men.

So basically the feature forces you to think about retreat.

Of course you can always reload, it's your choice, play it the way you like it.

[Hanal]

I'm not certain yet that if you retreat you automatically bring those incapacitaed with you because there is a warning prompt asking if you are sure you want to leave them behind? I know one thing, if you fail a mission your transport ship does not return to your base, so if you are down to one man, get out of there whether you actually bring back the others or not as the ship is very costly to replace....

[Sti]

ORIGINAL: J P Falcon

I'm not certain yet that if you retreat you automatically bring those incapacitaed with you because there is a warning prompt asking if you are sure you want to leave them behind? I know one thing, if you fail a mission your transport ship does not return to your base, so if you are down to one man, get out of there whether you actually bring back the others or not as the ship is very costly to replace....

Oh, good point, actually. I assumed that they will be brought with you when you retreat, but I haven't done that yet.

Shame on me. Well, in that case you only save the ship. Which is better than nothing, I suppose. Would be nice if you could at least try to carry the incapacitated back to the ship.