X-Com Enemy Unknown, the first shock gaming announcement of 2012 will be a "re-imagining" of the original X-Com game and will play as a mix of real-time and turn-based strategy, according to the first tantalizing details revealed by Game Informer magazine today.




The upcoming fall 2012 console and computer game, which is being made by the legendary Civilization strategy game studio Firaxis and which is decidedly not like the upcoming first-person shooter X-Com in development at BioShock 2 studio 2K Marin will harken back to the original PC classic, but with some tweaks.


"Firaxis is undeniably streamlining aspects of the game and removing no small amount of micromanagement," GI's Adam Blessener writes on the magazine's website today, "but from what I've seen I wouldn't call it 'dumbing down' the game so much as getting rid of tedium and uninteresting mechanics. Soldiers still die permanently, fog of war and line of sight are hugely important in combat, and you absolutely can lose the game if you screw up too badly."

The game plays out in real-time at the global level, charging players with tracking UFOs and abductions. In player's bases, where management and research is done, time is paused. Battles are turn-based.

GI's writer is "personally thrilled" about this game. We'll know more about it as the month rolls along at the magazine doles out more coverage.


First Screens And Details Of XCOM: Enemy Unknown [Game Informer]