What are you all playing this evening?

Former_MSE_Andrea

Evening all!

What games are you all playing this evening (when you're not saving money on MSE of course!)?

Sparhawke

I was playing Skyrim earlier, right now though I am watching Wentworth (Prisoner Cell Block H retelling) so that when I tell my mum who loved PCBH I will know what to tell her it is like lol

Love Skyrim, thinking about making my own mod soon

Steve-o

My Xbox isn't connected to the 'net at the moment, so I'll be playing with myself. Probably some Xcom action.

Sparhawke

Steve-o wrote: »

My Xbox isn't connected to the 'net at the moment, so I'll be playing with myself. Probably some Xcom action.

Um okay...quickly avoiding the double-entredre what is Xcom like?

Nilrem

I've been playing some Borderlands 2 which is proving to be fun

Fleago

I was playing Far Cry 3 and liking it very much indeed.

Humphrey10

Sparhawke wrote: »

Um okay...quickly avoiding the double-entredre what is Xcom like?

lol
XCOM is great - I prefer it to previous versions. It's free with PS+ at the moment, if you've got that.
It's very atmospheric, you do find yourself getting very attached to your soldiers so it's nerve racking when they are exploring a level - you are always worried aliens are going to jump out from around the next corner and kill your guys!
It's got a good amount of customisation for skills, equipment and squad makeup, you're not forced into doing one specific thing.
Anyway, I'm off to play it now!

Chickabiddybex

Wow it's free on PS+? I know what I'll be doing tonight!

marlasinger

Hooked on Animal Crossing : New Leaf.

Prior to that, my obsession was Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 3.

Would like to play The Last of Us, but I just can't fit it in, timewise.

Al1x

I'd like to play Tomb Raider later.. I'm determined to get 100% in it ( currently at around 80%!)

Steve-o

Sparhawke wrote: »

Um okay...quickly avoiding the double-entredre what is Xcom like?

It's awesome on a screen!

It's based on an old game called UFO: Enemy Unknown (XCOM: Enemy Unknown in the US), on the PC/Amiga, which was in turn based on some older 8-bit games. It's slightly different from the old UFO/XCOM game, but keeps the spirit of it (and plays a lot faster).

The story is that the Earth is being invaded by a hostile extra-terrestrial force of aliens, and so you are put in charge of a secretly funded organisation to fight the incursion. There are two parts to the game: an isometric view 3D turn-based combat game, where your small unit land in a hot-zone and attempt to complete the aims of the mission (kill all aliens, rescue someone, keep the local population from being killed, etc); the other part is a minor management part where you get to research new (and alien) tech to improve your equipment, and grow your base how you see fit.

Your troopers gain experience during the combat part of the game, which you can then level them up with in various ways. There are 6 troop types in the game: SHIV (an automated weapon platform), squaddie (which every new trooper starts out as), heavy (heavy weapons specialist), support (medic, and other support skills), sniper (um, sniper), and assault (can use shotgun-like weapons). Equipment includes sniper scopes, new weapons, different armours, and other stuff, most of which needs to be researched as you go along. Each troop type has two skill options to choose from as they level up, on each of their new levels.

The countries of the world fund the XCOM Project, at least until there is so much panic in the country that they pull out of the project. Panic rises from alien activity in the countries, so you have to decide where you stick your scanning satellites for best effect. If you detect a UFO and shoot it down, you can launch a ground assault on it. There are other missions that get thrown up, where you have to choose which country you are going to help: the panic level in that country reduces if you are successful, and rises in the other countries that you ignored, so you have to decide which is the most beneficial to help. There are other rescue missions, city invasion missions, and probably some others I've forgotten.

The difference between the main platform versions (PC, Xbox, PS3) and the iOS versions is that the iOS versions have smaller maps (although I haven't really noticed), and no video cut-scenes for the research. The touch screen controls on the idevices works brilliantly, which was a surprise to me.

It's a great game.