Reimagining X-Com with XCOM: Enemy Unknown

A look at how the aliens and vehicles of X-Com evolved for XCOM.

It has been a long walk in the desert, as XCOM: Enemy Unknown lead designer Jake Solomon puts it.

Fans of UFO: Enemy Unknown, an unforgiving turn-based strategy game from the mid 90s, and X-COM: Terror From the Deep, an even more unforgiving sequel, have had a long wait for a worthy new title. Due out this fall, XCOM: Enemy Unknown's reimagining of that first, great game could finally end that wait.

We had a chance to check out a short demonstration of the game during PAX East over the weekend and came away impressed by how it tweaked and revised some of the gameplay while leaving the core experience relatively untouched.

Those tweaks include a detailed, cut-away "Ant Farm" view of the XCOM headquarters that gives you a chance to see all of your soldiers and scientists working, eating, sleeping, living within the underground base. Other tweaks include a slew of new abilities for your units, varying cover, suppression fire, stealth movement and the ability to grapple to roof tops for a better line of site.

The most notable tweak has to be the new look of the game, which retails the isometric perspective. During a PAX East panel, the team went through what some of the characters and units of the game looked like back in 1994 and what they look like now. You can see how they evolved for yourself in the gallery below.

Grid View

• Original Sectoid Original Sectoid
• New Sectoid New Sectoid
• Original Muton Original Muton
• New Muton New Muton
• Original Interceptor Original Interceptor
• New Interceptor New Interceptor
• Original Skyranger Original Skyranger
• New Skyranger New Skyranger
• Original Cyberdisc Original Cyberdisc
• New Cyberdisc New Cyberdisc
• New Cyberdisc Opened New Cyberdisc Opened