XCOM creator calls FPS direction ‘disappointing’

XCOM creator Julian Gollop talks about his disappointment with the shooter XCOM, and his hopes for XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

January 20, 2012 10:45 AM43

Julian Gollop, creator of the original X-COM game, hasn’t had a hand in the XCOM first-person reboot from 2K Marin, nor the more recently announced strategy game, XCOM: Enemy Unknown from Firaxis. It’s clear which one he prefers though, sharing his thoughts on the strategy game and calling the shooter direction “disappointing” for its departure from the series’ roots.

“I thought it was a great shame because it was going down the same route as some of the previous X-COM sequels, like Interceptor and Enforcer – in other words, going completely against turn-based combat,” Gollop said.

“It was a bit disappointing from my point of view and for many fans of X-COM. When from out of the blue we heard that Firaxis are doing a turn-based version, it’s as if 2K are trying to cover all their bets,” Gollop told Edge.

He laments that turn-based games are being perceived as a “completely niche market,” after real-time strategy games boomed in the mid-90s. He says games like Advance Wars and Valkyria Chronicles impressed him as good examples of modern turn-based strategy. “There’s room for innovation there, but I don’t know what Firaxis are going to do,” he said. “How faithful it is to the original game, I don’t know.”

He certainly isn’t shy about chiming in on what Firaxis should do, though. He shares a broad range of ideas, from teaching the player about tools through the game interface, to developing better AI and terrain generation than the team could accomplish in the original game.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is due in the fall, while the shooter XCOM is set to hit in fiscal 2013.