[360/PC/PS3] XCOM: Enemy Unknown

[Blackjack]

At official forums, this 15 minute multiplayer match video from PAX was mentioned (this one's via linked XBox 360s).

Jake the Lead Designer vs. Jeff the fan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBdaU_a9Tag&feature=youtube_gdata_player
*Jeff's dressed like he's speaking at a chamber of commerce meeting.  

Jake mentions most matches take about 15-20 minutes or so.

*He answered a question about the shield icon at on point, which indicates cover:
grey=a spot you can't reach on this turn
red=a spot where you would be flanked if you move there
fully blue=good cover
partially blue=weaker cover
==========================
As far as the bonus stuff, I guess what confuses me on Steam is whether your preorder on Steam INCLUDES that stuff, or if it's just "available for purchase" around the release date (as DLC, sort of). I just kept seeing answers that seemed to say "yes you can buy that on Steam," rather than "Yes, it's included in your Steam pre-order." It's not a huge dealio to me I guess.

If the boxed game comes with some sort of decent manual, I might do that afterall. Though I suspect not.

[Blackjack]

TwitchTV has a recording of, well, it seems to be 5 hours 45 minutes of PAX panels. If you're interested in the panel that Firaxis' XCOM lead designer Jake Solomon was on (PC GAMER MEGAPANEL: The Incredible, Uncertain Future of Storytelling), it's around the 4 hour, 58 minute mark or so (is when the speakers are introduced).

PAX PRIME 2012: KRAKEN THEATRE
http://www.twitch.tv/pax2/b/330600259

Kinda tough for Jake to get a word in edge-wise, but I think he talks a little about player choices having consequences and impacts on the storytelling in a game.

[jztemple2]

The game is now available for pre-purchase on Steam. Three levels of rewards are being offered if enough people preorder, including a free copy of Civ V. Since I don't have that game yet, this interests me.

[Blackjack]

I'll probably go for it, but a part of me really is tired of Steam trying to be Facebook (Like buttons! in Greenlight) and American Idol (deciding what games it'll offer via popularity polls) and now Kickstarter (You MAY get this bonus if enough of you send us money!). Is all that really necessary? It's like Steam is turning into Zynga Steam and they're trying to clone how various other services sites do things.

I think I'm going to look more closely into what's in the boxed versions and see whether I want one or not. Too bad they don't include some obscenely expensive statue to bookend my SWTOR CE. 

[Blackjack]

Here's info from official site on all the digital retailers participating (Steam, Amazon, Gamestop Impulse and Gamefly), and official PC specs:
http://www.xcom.com/enemyunknown/article/xcom-enemy-unknown-digital-pre-orders-and-system-requirements

Along with this announcement comes the finalization of the PC system requirements. A lot of our fans have been asking what these are so they can figure out if they need to upgrade before release day. Well wonder no longer for here they are:

Minimum Requirements:
OS: Windows Vista
Software: Steam Client
Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 20 GB free
Video Memory: 256 MB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT / ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT or greater
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

Recommended Requirements:
OS: Windows 7
Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or Athlon X2 2.7 GHz)
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 20 GB free
Video Memory: 512+ MB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9000 series / ATI Radeon HD 3000 series or greater
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

So do you need Steam installed regardless of where you get the game from.

[Blackjack]

New vid showcases the Sid Meier "big brain" soldier.  
http://videogamewriters.com/xcom-enemy-unknown-video-suits-up-sid-meier-pc-interface-shown-in-new-screens-54218
*NOTE: Look for Sid's cinematic arrival at about the 3 min 24 sec mark or so, and then his actual usage in the mission about 4 min 24 sec.  

*The video shows off the PC interface a bit more, and the blog item has some screen captures from it (I think).

[Appollo]

Here's info from official site on all the digital retailers participating (Steam, Amazon, Gamestop Impulse and Gamefly), and official PC specs:
http://www.xcom.com/enemyunknown/article/xcom-enemy-unknown-digital-pre-orders-and-system-requirements

Along with this announcement comes the finalization of the PC system requirements. A lot of our fans have been asking what these are so they can figure out if they need to upgrade before release day. Well wonder no longer for here they are:

Minimum Requirements:
OS: Windows Vista
Software: Steam Client
Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 20 GB free
Video Memory: 256 MB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT / ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT or greater
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

Recommended Requirements:
OS: Windows 7
Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or Athlon X2 2.7 GHz)
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 20 GB free
Video Memory: 512+ MB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9000 series / ATI Radeon HD 3000 series or greater
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

So do you need Steam installed regardless of where you get the game from.

Well thats me out, I got a good 6 months before I can upgrade, if I do at all

Got to the point where I use my PC for my flight sim but other games I have my new IPad for, I am on the move all the time lately so I just use it for a casual relaxing game.

[jztemple2]

Thankfully my year old computer will run this fine.

I have promised myself I will NOT watch any more of the preview videos. I'm getting concerned that I'm going to burn out on this game with still a month to go.

Now I just have to get everyone to pre-order on Steam so the Civ V reward is unlocked. Let's get to it people!

[Blackjack]

Here's another interview, this time more about roads not taken...

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Interview -- Terror From The Cutting Room Floor
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/xcom-enemy-unknown/1225995p1.html

GD: We made the first prototype, which was the original XCOM. And if you were a part of Firaxis, you'd have been like "Yes! Everyone loves it!" But we had people who didn't play the original, and they had a lot of questions. A LOT of questions. And I think that 18 years after the original came out, it behooves us and new fans to try to make the design a little bit more elegant.

And if that means oversimplifying it -- and I personally don't think that it does -- but you want things to be a little more intuitive so that you can get into it and enjoy the experience right away. We did go for a lot of complex things, but we filtered them down until it got to a point where you see people pick up a controller or mouse and keyboard, and they start playing on their own. And that's very powerful to me.

Really fascinating stuff.

[Blackjack]

Jake Solomon yaks endlessly and entertainingly, with RPS
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/09/07/xcom-enemy-unknown-preview-3/

RPS: I love that he really is this zen guru figure, like the Yoda of strategy.

Jake Solomon: Oh yeah. And this is how it was over the first couple of years of the project. In the past I always worked for him, and it’s much, much easier to be the guy who works for Sid, and you can play his games and say “that was shitty”, then he says “yeah, you’re right” and you think “woah, I’m a great designer.”

RPS: That sounds frighteningly like my job, except I say it into the void rather than to someone’s face.

Jake Solomon: Yeah, and you’re feeling good because it’s “I just told Sid Meier how he should change his game!” And then, finally, it’s “ok you’re the designer” and I’m thinking “I have no idea what the fuck I’m doing.” So I’d messed up these two strategy prototypes, and I had this incredible team who were working really hard, doing great work, and I was scrapping stuff time and time again. And I think people were legitimately starting to get a little nervous about what the hell I was doing. So I went to Sid and said “look, I’m lost. I’ve made two bad prototypes, they’re not working, they don’t feel like X-COM.” So he said “let’s just start over.”

So he and I started on paper – we drew the world, we had dice, we had little army men and he was saying “look, let’s just make a strategy game from the ground up.” We wanted it to be like X-COM so we used a few of the original rules, and we worked on it every afternoon for about two weeks, continuing to make this boardgame version of XCOM.

There came this point where he and I disagreed about the direction. He thought it should go one way and I thought it should go another. He’s a programmer and I’m a programmer, and it had sort of reached this point where we couldn’t do anything on paper anymore, so he said “you know what, you go away for the weekend, I’ll make my prototype, you’ll make yours and we’ll both play them.” So we got back together, and needless to say his was a little better than mine. At that point it stopped and I went on to develop a new strategy prototype that incorporated ideas from both, but that was one of those crazy moments. Looking back at it know I’m like “haha, isn’t that wonderful?” but at the time I was terrified. But if you had told the 13-year-old me that one day I’d be making boardgames in Sid Meier’s office, I would have been incredibly excited.

[Blackjack]

The game is now available for pre-purchase on Steam. Three levels of rewards are being offered if enough people preorder, including a free copy of Civ V. Since I don't have that game yet, this interests me.

At last check, Reward 1 had unlocked, and pre-order sales were at 51% towards Reward 2.

[TiLT]

This reward system is pissing me off. It's so obviously an artificial way to trigger increased sales by cashing in on the Kickstarter phenomenon. The difference is that Kickstarter has rewards because the project owners actually get more resources to do their work with, allowing them the luxury of actually adding this extra stuff. XCOM on Steam? Not so much. These are rewards that they've carefully calculated so that they will be reached. It's nothing but theater, and it lessens the significance of what true indies are doing.

What pisses me off even more is the fact that a ton of people aren't going to be able to see the difference between Kickstarter rewards and this Steam reward system.

[Blackjack]

Yeah I'm not nuts about it. It's about 81% towards completing the 2nd rewards tier, fwiw.

RPS now has 40-hours of Hands On:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/09/13/hands-on-forty-hours-with-xcom/
*imho, a little spoiler-ish here and there. Ignore it if you'd rather stay in the dark.

I’ve been playing a preview version of XCOM: Enemy Unknown for the past few days. I haven’t really been doing anything else, except occasionally falling to sleep in front of my computer and dreaming about XCOM. I apologise in advance for the length and possible incoherence of what follows. I’m giddy, maybe I’m rambling, but I’m as excited about a game as I have been in a long time. No coy introduction here; XCOM is marvellous and now that I’m not playing it, all I want to do is talk about it, write about it, and jump up and down hollering about it.
...
I’ll finish by saying that my biggest concern has completely evaporated. I wasn’t sure how different the game would feel on each playthrough, whether it would be as replayable as the original. I’ll need to answer that when I’ve got the full game and spent almost two decades with it, but I’ve started from scratch at least ten times in the last week, and it’s felt like a different experience every time.

When I wrote about Crusader Kings II back near the beginning of the year, I said this: “If it doesn’t wind up being among my very favourite games of the year, spectacular things will occur in the next ten months.” Well, CK II will still be up there, but XCOM really is something spectacular. With all the burden of expectation and doubt, it manages to be both a hugely respectful reimagining and, all ties ignored, one of the best turn-based tactical games I’ve played in, well, forever.

He noted this isn't the full game, it's cut off at a certain point in the single player game.

[Blackjack]

Finally a bone for our PlayStation 3 players, courtesy a 2K community manager who was being harassed to track down some PS3 screenshots...

Get your PlayStation 3 Screenshots Here

Alright guys. You asked, and so I got them for you: here are 2 fresh new PlayStation 3 screenshots.

First though, I want to address a few concerns that have come up: No version of XCOM: Enemy Unknown is what people would call a "port" - we have been developing for all three platforms from the beginning simultaneously. They were developed and tested at the same time, and none of the platforms is considered the "lead" platform.

There is total feature parity between the versions, with the few slight exceptions that are always specific to each platform (such as a mouse and keyboard interface for the PC version).

[Blackjack]

A little Steam reward tiers update: It's reached 90% towards Reward 2.

I don't think we posted this yet; here's the video of the PAX panel focused on XCOM: Enemy Unknown:
http://videogamewriters.com/see-the-stupid-things-the-xcom-enemy-unknown-devs-did-to-get-to-a-good-game-54429

The panel features lead designer Jake Solomon, art director Greg Foertsch, lead producer Garth DeAngelis and lead programmer Casey O’Toole as they discuss “a thousand stupid ideas on the road to glory” with XCOM: Enemy Unknown. The hour long video is well worth the watch for those that have even a passing interest in game design as it demonstrates the sometimes painful process that a game design team goes through as they discover the ideas they put down on paper don’t necessarily translate into good gameplay.

One perfect example of this is shown when Jake Solomon introduced the “candy canes” that were displayed  to let players know the lines of sight for the soldiers in their squad in relation to enemy aliens. Sure, it sounds like an OK idea at first but it becomes a technicolor nightmare when displayed on screen with multiple enemies on different levels. Solomon stuck with the concept though and forced the programmers through multiple iterations before finally abandoning it.

The quartet also have some fun stories to tell whether it is Solomon crying   in the office of Sid Meier over trying to design the strategic layer of XCOM, Foertsch’s squad of soldiers made up of 80s actions heroes, or DeAngelis screaming “My Mom died!” during one play session where he named one of his soldiers after his mom.

[KC]

I have a laptop w/ the newest Intel i5 processor, Intel graphics HD3000 integrated graphics, 8 GB RAM and Windows 7 64-bit.  Will this be ok to run?

[Blackjack]

I have a laptop w/ the newest Intel i5 processor, Intel graphics HD3000 integrated graphics, 8 GB RAM and Windows 7 64-bit.  Will this be ok to run?

You're being sarcastic, right?  Yes you're well above the requirements and above the recommended ones in some cases.

Steam preorders just unlocked Reward 2 and are 7% towards Reward 3 (free Civ V).

[KC]

I have a laptop w/ the newest Intel i5 processor, Intel graphics HD3000 integrated graphics, 8 GB RAM and Windows 7 64-bit.  Will this be ok to run?

You're being sarcastic, right?  Yes you're well above the requirements and above the recommended ones in some cases.

Steam preorders just unlocked Reward 2 and are 7% towards Reward 3 (free Civ V).

Thanks for the response.  I wasn't being sarcastic.  I was worried about my laptop integrated graphics not being up to the task.

[Blackjack]

I have a laptop w/ the newest Intel i5 processor, Intel graphics HD3000 integrated graphics, 8 GB RAM and Windows 7 64-bit.  Will this be ok to run?

You're being sarcastic, right?   Yes you're well above the requirements and above the recommended ones in some cases.

Steam preorders just unlocked Reward 2 and are 7% towards Reward 3 (free Civ V).

Thanks for the response.  I wasn't being sarcastic.  I was worried about my laptop integrated graphics not being up to the task.

I don't know if being integrated video matters or not -- your HD3000# is exactly what's listed in the Recommended System Requirements, so that sounds good.   I'm really waaaaaaaaaaay out of the loop on CPU naming conventions these days. I figure if the i5 is new, it must be better than what the requirements list.

Minimum Requirements:
OS: Windows Vista
Software: Steam Client
Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 20 GB free
Video Memory: 256 MB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT / ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT or greater
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

Recommended Requirements:
OS: Windows 7
Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or Athlon X2 2.7 GHz)
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 20 GB free
Video Memory: 512+ MB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9000 series / ATI Radeon HD 3000 series or greater
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

Aaaand I finally pre-ordered on Steam.

[CeeKay]

Green Man Gaming had an offer to trade in one of the free games they gave away a while back for an extra discount, so I jumped on it and got the game for $37.99.

[KC]

I have a laptop w/ the newest Intel i5 processor, Intel graphics HD3000 integrated graphics, 8 GB RAM and Windows 7 64-bit.  Will this be ok to run?

You're being sarcastic, right?   Yes you're well above the requirements and above the recommended ones in some cases.

Steam preorders just unlocked Reward 2 and are 7% towards Reward 3 (free Civ V).

Thanks for the response.  I wasn't being sarcastic.  I was worried about my laptop integrated graphics not being up to the task.

I don't know if being integrated video matters or not -- your HD3000# is exactly what's listed in the Recommended System Requirements, so that sounds good.   I'm really waaaaaaaaaaay out of the loop on CPU naming conventions these days. I figure if the i5 is new, it must be better than what the requirements list.

Minimum Requirements:
OS: Windows Vista
Software: Steam Client
Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 20 GB free
Video Memory: 256 MB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT / ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT or greater
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

Recommended Requirements:
OS: Windows 7
Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or Athlon X2 2.7 GHz)
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 20 GB free
Video Memory: 512+ MB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9000 series / ATI Radeon HD 3000 series or greater
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

Aaaand I finally pre-ordered on Steam.

I hope that this question does not sound stupid, but here goes: Is that ATI Radeon HD3000 the same as the Intel integrated HD3000?

[MonkeyFinger]

I have a laptop w/ the newest Intel i5 processor, Intel graphics HD3000 integrated graphics, 8 GB RAM and Windows 7 64-bit.  Will this be ok to run?

You're being sarcastic, right?   Yes you're well above the requirements and above the recommended ones in some cases.

Steam preorders just unlocked Reward 2 and are 7% towards Reward 3 (free Civ V).

Thanks for the response.  I wasn't being sarcastic.  I was worried about my laptop integrated graphics not being up to the task.

I don't know if being integrated video matters or not -- your HD3000# is exactly what's listed in the Recommended System Requirements, so that sounds good.   I'm really waaaaaaaaaaay out of the loop on CPU naming conventions these days. I figure if the i5 is new, it must be better than what the requirements list.

Minimum Requirements:
OS: Windows Vista
Software: Steam Client
Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 20 GB free
Video Memory: 256 MB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT / ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT or greater
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

Recommended Requirements:
OS: Windows 7
Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or Athlon X2 2.7 GHz)
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 20 GB free
Video Memory: 512+ MB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9000 series / ATI Radeon HD 3000 series or greater
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

Aaaand I finally pre-ordered on Steam.

I hope that this question does not sound stupid, but here goes: Is that ATI Radeon HD3000 the same as the Intel integrated HD3000?

No, it's not so it actually isn't what is listed in the Recommended Requirements. According to a post over on Tom's Hardware "The HD 3000 is roughly equivalent to the AMD Radeon 5450, which is a $30 dollar graphics card". Checking the specs for both it seems to be at or just below the minimum requirements, so... hard to say. Might want to wait for a demo or for someone else with a similar system to take the first bullet if you are certain that is the integrated chipset that you have...

[EddieA]

I couldn't pass this up for $38.  Between the Greenman Gaming deals on PC preorders and Newegg's deals on console preorders, I haven't paid full price for a game at launch in months.

[Blackjack]

Meet the Aliens
http://www.perezstart.com/sony/ps3/meet-the-enemies-xcom-enemy-unknown/13693/

P.S. When I checked this morning, Steam preorders were 23% towards the final Free Civ V goal.

[Blackjack]

Official XBox360 Magazine posted three entertaining videos from their playthroughs of the preview build...

NOTE: May contain some Mission name/objectives SPOILERS

Part 1 [I think this is portion of tutorial mission] (at OXM's site)
Part 2 [1st half is mostly base-stuff, geoscape, etc.] (at YouTube)
Part 3 [some more base stuff as well] (at YouTube)

[USMC Kato]

Nice vids Blackjack, and the narrator is very entertaining....worth a watch.  Watching those vids cemented my choice for starting out in "Classic" Iron Man mode.

[TiLT]

Nice vids Blackjack, and the narrator is very entertaining....worth a watch.  Watching those vids cemented my choice for starting out in "Classic" Iron Man mode.

According to the devs you really don't want to choose Iron Man mode for your first playthrough, even if you're an experienced X-Com veteran. Save that for when you've won the game once. Classic difficulty should add plenty of challenge anyway.

[USMC Kato]

Nice vids Blackjack, and the narrator is very entertaining....worth a watch.  Watching those vids cemented my choice for starting out in "Classic" Iron Man mode.

According to the devs you really don't want to choose Iron Man mode for your first playthrough, even if you're an experienced X-Com veteran. Save that for when you've won the game once. Classic difficulty should add plenty of challenge anyway.

Yeah I hear you. You're probably right, I just don't like the temptation of reloading battles, it's a slippery slope for me

[Lockdown]

Nice vids Blackjack, and the narrator is very entertaining....worth a watch.  Watching those vids cemented my choice for starting out in "Classic" Iron Man mode.

According to the devs you really don't want to choose Iron Man mode for your first playthrough, even if you're an experienced X-Com veteran. Save that for when you've won the game once. Classic difficulty should add plenty of challenge anyway.

Yeah I hear you. You're probably right, I just don't like the temptation of reloading battles, it's a slippery slope for me

Me too.  If I know I have the option - I'll probably take it.  I'm much more inclined to play Iron Man - just on a slightly lower difficulty level.

[TiLT]

Nice vids Blackjack, and the narrator is very entertaining....worth a watch.  Watching those vids cemented my choice for starting out in "Classic" Iron Man mode.

According to the devs you really don't want to choose Iron Man mode for your first playthrough, even if you're an experienced X-Com veteran. Save that for when you've won the game once. Classic difficulty should add plenty of challenge anyway.

Yeah I hear you. You're probably right, I just don't like the temptation of reloading battles, it's a slippery slope for me

Me too.  If I know I have the option - I'll probably take it.  I'm much more inclined to play Iron Man - just on a slightly lower difficulty level.

You guys have a somewhat skewed opinion of what "difficult" means. What you're suggesting is simply to reduce the overall difficulty but increase the punishment for failure. In other words, you're removing challenge (ie. fun) and having the game punish you (ie. not fun) when you fail. Doesn't that sound a bit wrong to you? Is the game going to get more enjoyable to you when you can "breeze" through missions only because the consequences are bigger for failure (which is now much less likely to happen)?

Just increase the difficulty, leave Iron Man alone, and force yourselves to only reload when you experience catastrophic mission failure. You're supposed to make the game more fun, not less.

[Turtle]

I plan on my first play through with a lot of reloading. But, I will definitely go iron man on my second play through to make up for that.

But, I'm definitely not touching higher difficulty settings.

[TiLT]

I plan on my first play through with a lot of reloading. But, I will definitely go iron man on my second play through to make up for that.

But, I'm definitely not touching higher difficulty settings.

Wuss! If the road to victory isn't paved with the corpses of your brave but futile soldiers, it's not a real victory!

[Lockdown]

You know, I come in here everyday excited for my daily Blackjack update on X-Com, and for two days now.... nothing!

WTF is going on!?!

[Lockdown]

I'm "hearing" rumors that a demo is being released today.  I'm at work, and have to be careful how I surf.
Anyone know for sure if this potentially awesome news is true?

[Clanwolfer]

I'm "hearing" rumors that a demo is being released today.  I'm at work, and have to be careful how I surf.
Anyone know for sure if this potentially awesome news is true?

Does this pass the filters? http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/09/24/xcom-enemy-unknown-playable-demo-available-today-f/

[lex]

I'm "hearing" rumors that a demo is being released today.  I'm at work, and have to be careful how I surf.
Anyone know for sure if this potentially awesome news is true?

Does this pass the filters? http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/09/24/xcom-enemy-unknown-playable-demo-available-today-f/

There is a download demo button on steam, but clicking it does nothing for the time being.

Edit:  Looks like it's working now.  6 gigs downloading !!

[TiLT]

The demo is officially out on Steam. Downloading now.

[TiLT]

And done! Time to play!

[Lockdown]

Thanks for the great news!

[TiLT]

Just completed the demo, which consists of two missions (one tutorial, one relatively free). Got through the second mission with no dead, but my guy from the tutorial was heavily wounded and would require 11 days of rest before he could return to service.

You get to look at your base, but you don't get to build anything (you do get access to a new facility so you can see how that looks at least). You get to try research (but you don't get to see the results). You get to customize and upgrade your squad (the one that survives the first mission at least). I was pleased to receive a Norwegian soldier among my crew.

I believe the demo is running at Normal difficulty, so for those of you who think this thing will be easy, just wait and see how you'll do in the second mission. I ended up using grenades to kill multiple aliens twice, just because I didn't want to risk getting attacked. Grenades are powerful, at least this early. This mission also demonstrates how even ample amounts of cover can feel insufficient when trying to advance, particularly when very little of the cover is of any reasonable height.

The PC interface works well. I never did any accidental actions. For some reason you can't seem to spin the camera freely, but spin it in 90 degree turns. The PC version lets you zoom out much more than I expected, to the point where you're seeing the map top-down and can barely see your soldiers.

The demo rocked! I can't wait to play the full game. No, seriously! It's being released in Europe three days after the US gets it. Fuck that! I'm using VPN.