XCOM – E3 Impressions

The preview demo starts off in the X-Com base, where we’re able to walk around and discuss current situations with other team members, check on various weaponry, technology, and upgrades, as well as train team members. During discussions with other NPCs a dialogue box pops up, giving us several choices for responses in a similar fashion to games like Fallout: New Vegas . However, at the moment it is unknown if your choices will have actual repercussions in the story line, or if it is merely an aesthetic choice. When ready to embark on a mission a large map of the US can be consulted, which depicts the current situation in the war. It appears that the eastern third of the US has been taken over, and four different missions in that territory is available, each with their own reasoning for selection and strategic outcome. The southernmost location gets picked in the demo, since there is a scientist in the region requiring rescue, and he could help us immensely for developing new ways to fight the enemy. Before we load out though we need to pick two team members, and review their skills, where one receives a special shielding upgrade that will come in handy later.

So far everything has stuck to the 1950′s US theme fairly well, and it’s hard not to think of Resistance go out the window. We start off encountering a quiet camp, with dead bodies of soldiers strewn about. As our characters wonder aloud about what’s happened here, we encounter a soldier hastily rummaging through files on the table, while surrounded by more dead bodies. Needless to say, he’s immediately suspicious ands cary when he jumps at our character while screaming and transforming into a insane looking blue alien menace. Our teammates help us out and dispatch the threat, who appears to be made of cubes, but still has a humanoid shape as the inform us it was an ‘intruder’. There isn’t much time to examine the body though, and our team moves on to find the scientist.