First Details of XCOM Emerge

The first real details of forthcoming FPS XCOM have appeared in Official Xbox Magazine, courtesy of NeoGAF.XCOM is a reboot of the X-COM franchise, begun in the early 90s with X-COM: UFO Defense (or UFO: Enemy Unknown in Europe) and quickly followed up with X-COM: Terror from the Deep and X-COM: Apocalypse, before veering into slightly rubbish territory with space sim X-COM: Interceptor and then taking a nosedive into truly rubbish territory with third-person shooter X-COM: Enforcer.2K‘s FPS reboot will cast you as as Carter, an FBI agent with a “chequered past” who’s housed in a secret base, run by Dr. Goldberg, underneath a hangar in the US. From here, you check out a planning map to decide where to head to. You’re after evidence of extraterrestrial activity, either in terms of Elerium – a mysterious alien power source that powers the facility you’re in – or in terms of, well, aliens.The game works in pseudo-realtime, so venturing off on one mission may cause you to miss out on others. Once there, you’re accompanied by other agents as you go about your investigation, but there are apparently no squad controls. In the missions proper you have the option of how you want to go about things – if you want to fully explore the entire area you can, but likewise, you can leave at any time. If you want to go in and do a tiny amount of work before fleeing, it’s up to you, but you’ll miss out on the opportunity to gather more precious, precious Elerium.On the mission mentioned, the enemy spotted is a big black blob of goo which, when shot, merely dispeses into smaller bits of goo that then reform. The solution is to use a Blobatov grenade – a mix of alien and retro-futuristic technology that manages to ignite and destroy the beastie.Sadly, while searching, a vortex opens in the sky and a Titan Monolith – presumably a spaceship – appears, and starts trying to vaporise Carter with a beam weapon. While dodging it, the team continues to explore and hunt for Elerium using a hand-held scanner, and after a few more battles against blobs, the team locates some, kills the blobs protecting it, and gets the hell out of Dodge.Once out, the Elerium can be taken back to base – along with photos of enemies – to create all sorts of shiny new equipment for Carter.XCOM currently has no release date, but it’s in the works for both PC and 360. While the X-COM diehards at IncGamers remain a little concerned, we’re nonetheless cautiously optimistic and looking forward to hearing more.