I tried picking this up again after I initially bought it, tried it, and put it back on the shelf in February. While I've definitely developed a newfound appreciation for the inherent difficulty of the game (my pride won't let me play below Veteran
), I find myself taking issue with the way it was done, and I've come to realize: the things I really dislike, are what makes it Xcom.
Simply put, as far as my tastes are concerned, the game experience relies too much on probability and not enough on the execution of correct strategy versus a complicated AI. And as a result, rather than reveling in the challenge like I might in, say, a cooperative shooter- I just feel cheated and stressed out when I get the short end of the stick. The whole "Trained soldiers with automatic rifles missing enemies in close proximity and out of cover, unarmored foes surviving explosive rounds, high caliber rounds not just removing sectoid limbs when they miss, seasoned veterans panicking from the relative safety of full cover" thing, just strikes me as so much bullshit and filler mechanic. I know that's thee entire game for some people out there, and I respect that, but for whatever reason, the neurons it fires just don't do anything for me. Probably for the same reason I can't stand most tabletop games. ^^'
What I would be interested is a similar squad-based game with a much more profound tactical interface, wherein executing the correct strategy resulted in a firefight that played out in your favor about 90% of the time, and by the same token, a single wrong step could get half of your men gunned down before they could even react. Whether or not a soldier who isn't under fire hits his target within a reasonable range, or even what gear he is wearing over a relative threshold (come on, sectoids look like they should be torn to ribbons in a single barrage!) should barely be a factor, and position and maneuvers should trump all. Luck be damned.
Oh well! *puts back on shelf*
I, uh, don't suppose anyone knows of any games like that..?