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What happened to my XCOM FPS?!?!

When I heard of the announcement of an XCOM FPS, I didn’t realize how many people would be so upset over this concept. Mind you I knew little about the XCOM PC series so I didn’t understand the cries of “Betrayal” when it came from the mouths of PC gamers. Instead I was more focused on those that were getting tired of so many FPS style games being releases as of late on gaming consoles during this gaming generation. It seemed that everyone had an idea on how an FPS should be made. We were so oversaturated by FPS’s that it seemed that most gamers were getting burned out over trying to find the cash cow equivalent of Modern Warfare.

I myself can’t say I grew bored over the whole FPS explosion we’ve enjoyed over the course of the years. Being a “virtual reality sociopath” it was like a buffet of pure gun down pleasure. For me it was like a renaissance of FPS’s that I’d never see the likes of again. Yet don’t take me for some mindless dolt that goes for any “spunkgargleweewee” title that shows off big guns and even bigger explosions. I am also the type that craves FPS’s that try to offering something that few are able to deliver one: a decent plot and theme setting. And as news slowly came forth about the details of this XCOM FPS I was growing intrigued.

Original indications suggested that once the initial pitches for the game was worked out, it was determined the game’s concept was to be like "the original X-COM meets The X-Files, set in the 1950s to 1960s." Though the “original X-COM” statement went over my head, 2K Games had me at the mention of the X-Files set in the 1950’s. I was already excited as it is that the same company that brought us the Bioshock series was having a hand in creating this fascinating concept.

 

I got even more excited when I learned that this game was being described as being a survival horror themed game focusing more on cerebral horror than a simple run and gun horror game. I’ve always known this type of gameplay could be possible upon seeing what prior alien horror themed games like “Area 51” and Blacksite: Area 51 could offer. There was even an initial plan to have a multiplayer mode that was akin to “Alien vs. Predator”.  It didn’t bother me in the least that the game wouldn’t focus on strategy-type gameplay like the original X-COM titles but instead focus more on being an FPS with secondary stealth features and possible CSI-like investigation modes of gameplay like what’s been seen in the “Condemned” series. As the release date for this game drew closer, my mind was reeling that I could soon be playing a survival horror type title that could finally do justice to the concept of an subtle alien invasion like we’ve seen in period dramas like “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”. The footage seeing in 2010 looked very promising.

 

But for some odd reason when gamers saw the same game footage they cried “betrayal” that the game seemed to miss the point entirely of what makes an X-COM game an X-COM game. They wanted the game to be more akin to what was associated with the PC strategy game than with an FPS, as if they didn’t realize that FPS and strategy game elements don’t quite go hand in hand. Even though 2K games said they’d try to work those features into this game I couldn’t see how that would be accomplished given how the style of an FPS was completely different to that of what the PC XCOM games offered. Add to that the trouble that the various 2K studios were having in crafting this title didn’t help matters any either. What later followed was a total revamping of the original game. Whether this was done to appease XCOM PC fans or to make the game more relatable to XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the game was starting to look less and less like the game I had been hoping for and more and more like a game I wasn’t expecting. Gone was the survival horror elements, gone was the CSI investigation type gameplay, gone was even the FPS style of gaming only for it to be replaces with a third person shooter style of gameplay then with a squad based tactical gameplay like SOCOM.

My hopes for this game really started to reach a low point when 2K Games was talking about releasing this title as a downloadable only game. It was bad enough they killed the original concept behind this game but now they were going to give it the “I Am Alive” treatment by just finishing up what they had done in hopes it could be something worth selling. By the time the delays for this game had passed, it had been renamed The Bureau: XCOM Declassified and had finally be given a release date as a full priced disc based title. By the time this game was released I pretty much gave up all hope that this game would be anything but what it originally started out as.

 

And was I disappointed.

What could’ve been a new, unique take on not just the XCOM franchise but the whole concept of the alien survival horror theme in general, had been reduced to nothing more than a “Mass Effect Clone”. And judging from the reception this game got upon release that’s not a good thing to have going for it. I’m sure there are some out there that are okay with this game, but given that I don’t hold Mass Effect in high regard only helps to pour salt on the wound in me not getting the game I expected. Though I’m sure I’ll grow to enjoy this game over time, I can’t help but wonder why, WHY couldn’t I have MY XCOM FPS that promised survival horror with aliens. Why did people hate this concept? Are PC gamers so uptight over their beloved franchise that they can’t stand to see it be turned into something radically different?

 

Why could they not let this happen? Why couldn’t 2K games keep the game like it was instead of trying to keep it relevant to XCOM: Enemy Unknown? Did they not see what happened to Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City when they tried the tactical shooter route? Did they not remember what happened when Metroid was taken into the FPS realm? Despite popular belief there is a possibility that a game not originally meant to be an FPS could still work as an FPS. Sure there is obvious IPs that might not work, Mega Man FPS: Maverick Hunter for example, but who’s to say others wouldn’t do as well as an FPS. I guess we’ll never know when it comes to XCOM nor do I know who to blame for this radical change to its original idea. I was really looking forward to having this game in a future Halloween Gaming List too. Perhaps it will be one day but for now I need to get use to this “Mass Effect Clone” of a game. Better luck next time I suppose. All I know is that its $60 that 2K Games isn’t going to get out of me. Give me survival horror game to tactical squad based game any day. Especially if the game in question can’t seem to get both the FPS and tactical gameplay styles right.

Ta-ta

“N”