2K: XCOM “Doesn’t Look Anything Like X-Com”

In another curious PR move involving 2K’s “re-imagining” of X-Com, creative director Jonathan Pelling has told VG247 “You said that it [XCOM] doesn’t look anything like [X-Com]. I agree with that.”

Pelling insists, however, that “it does feel a lot like it.” But when he attempted to explain how XCOM will recapture this ‘feel’ he only succeeded in sounding rather vague: “I loved the tension and the fear and mystery [of the original X-Com] … It’s a game where you’re in charge. You’re gonna make decisions. You’re gonna go out into the field and face really deadly enemies.”

Those blob-based enemies, Pelling says, were chosen because the team didn’t want to “play to existing stereotypes of what aliens might be like … we’ve come up with a really unique direction for these enemies.”
Perhaps nobody at 2K ever played Super Mario Sunshine, or saw a certain classic 1950s b-movie starring a young Steve McQueen.?
“A lot of the people who have seen the game are really positive about it” Pelling said, “The people who don’t know too much about the game – you know, big fans of the original – just assume the worst.”

Maybe he really is correct there, but it’s difficult to form accurate opinions when the developers themselves are barely able to divulge any information in interviews. All we have to go on are vague, evasive answers, an uninspiring trailer and, now, an admission that the game doesn’t look anything like the title it is supposed to be named after.

The initial press release announcing XCOM’s development stated that it would be “True to the roots of the franchise.” If that means the original, I’m yet to be convinced. If it means the not-so-terrific sequels, those aren’t really roots that anybody should be aiming to stay true to.