Xcom Alliance: Microprose Hunt Valley tried to merge Xcom game play with the Unreal engine in the first person perspective. The programmer on the job could never get the team make AI to work and ended up leaving the company at a critical time. They ended up taking the art assets creaded for Alliance and within 9 months pumping out Xcom Enforcer which was quickly forgotten.
Microprose gets sold to Hasbro, at Hasbro…
Xcom Genesis : Probably the best attempt to bring the classic game to modern times. It was looking good but then Habro closed Microprose Chapel Hill and the game bit the dust.
Hasbro sells its software division to Infogrames who spin it off inro a seperate company called Atari. At Atari…
Atari states several times that they have no interest in making another Xcom. There were conflicting reports that Firaxis was at one time working on a sequel to Xcom and was attempting to buy the rights. Sid himself even teases the name a few times during the 2002/2003 time frame but for whatever reason, it didn’t work out.
That said, Atari is selling IP in order to stay afloat and maybe someone will snag Xcom and give it a decent sequel.
I’ll admit that I considered getting this game for the Xbox but after thinking about the costs - both financial and in terms of self respect should any of my non-gamer friends stumble across the size of that joystick - I decided against it.
And so when I look at that picture, I think, “For the grace of God…”
Caption bubble for the young woman in the picture: “This is EXACTLY why I married him.”
X-wing v. Tie Fighter was way ahead of it’s time. Well the time is NOW and replaying XvT just wouldn’t hold a candle to a remake that gave it any justice.
I really don’t understand why this hasn’t been even attempted. :/
This thread has too little Brian in it. Where is our resident space sim guru?
As it stands, I never played Freespace 2. I still want to, so maybe I will install it this week and try it out…supposedly the best ever and all, and I really liked the first one. Never tried I-War 1 or 2 either, and I have both of them. I feel shamed.
I’m risking being called a heretic, but I don’t see why these games couldn’t be updated and released for consoles.
On the 360:
the right trigger = lasers
left trigger = missle
left stick = steering
shoulder button right = increase speed
shoulder button left = decrease speed
A button tap = 1/3 speed; 2/3 speed
A button hold = match speed
x button = target enemies
x button hold = nearest enemy
y button = adjust shields
y button hold = shift shields to lasers
b button = adjust lasers
b button hold = adjust lasers to shields
right stick = cockpit POV
right stick click = hyperspace
D pad up = Link Weapons
D pad down = eject
D pad left = hud view on
D pad right = hud view off
Actually, I won’t. I loved XCom, and I’ve tried to go back to it a few times. I failed because the graphics literally hurt my spoiled eyes. Okay, okay, so I’m a graphics who$%#. Sue me.
As it stands, I never played Freespace 2. I still want to, so maybe I will install it this week and try it out…supposedly the best ever and all, and I really liked the first one. Never tried I-War 1 or 2 either, and I have both of them. I feel shamed.
IWar would be pretty hard to go back to. It looks pretty awful now adays and you’d need to run it with a Glide emulator. The second one still looks quite good and the gameplay holds up well. Freespace 2 just incredible though… you really should install it.
Rogue Squadron kind of did it already, and you can’t hope for the masses to adjust to those complex controls, can you? Plus the graphics would really suck.
I would totally buy a graphically updated XvT, with better net code, scenario/campaign sharing, and a map editor though. Hahaha, that’s asking for a lot but then again people can just play XWA Upgrade for better graphics only ;).
I actually mapped Independance War 2 controls to my Thrustmaster Dual Shock gamepad, as my Ch flightstick at the time wasn’t up to the task… it worked surprisingly well.
The first analog stick controlled pitch/yaw, the other analog stick directional thrusters, triggers for thrust, and the d-pad took care of the navigation, systems and communications menus.
StarLancer for Dreamcast did a very similar thing.
However, a gamepad functioning for these games is largely dependant on an auto-aim system (such as both games had) … I tried a similar setup with Xwing alliance and I couldn’t get the pinpoint accuracy I needed… and for games like IL2, where the wind is buffeting your plane and you’re getting shaky from the stress of a hard turn, there’s no way you could get off a clean shot , or keep from stalling out early and often with the limited sensitivity of an analog gamepad stick… It’s what got me to buy my Evo Cyborg joystick setup after my CH stick died years earlier.
Yeah, I loved both Freespace games. The marathon sessions would sometimes overheat my Dual-Voodoo2 cards. I War 2 was a completely different animal with realistic physics and far more depth, but just as fun. It would be great to play games like those and the various Mech games of my youth without having to build a retro computer or installing an old OS.
The Jagged Alliance games were my favorite examples of the kind of combat in the kind of game I am talking about. I’d also really love to see Darklands redone.
