Xenonauts
Encyclopedia
Xenonauts is an upcoming turn-based tactics
Turn-based tactics
Turn-based tactics , or tactical turn-based , is a computer and video game genre of strategy video games that through stop-action simulates the considerations and circumstances of operational warfare and military tactics in generally small-scale confrontations as opposed to more strategic...

 science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 video game in development for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

. It is the maiden title of Goldhawk Interactive, a London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

-based independent game studio, in development since 2009. The player takes the role of the commander of a clandestine organisation known only as the Xenonauts, attempting to defeat an ongoing alien invasion
Alien invasion
The alien invasion is a common theme in science fiction stories and film, in which extraterrestrial life invades Earth either to exterminate and supplant human life, enslave it under a colonial system, harvest humans for food, steal the planet's resources, or destroy the planet altogether.The...

 of Earth.

Development

The game is heavily influenced by the X-COM
X-COM
X-COM is a series of strategy games created by Julian Gollop. In 2010 2K Marin announced the official reboot of the series, entitled simply XCOM. The original game has a cult following.- Original series :...

series, and is considered by some to be its spiritual successor. The game was announced in response to the official first-person reboot XCOM
XCOM
XCOM is an upcoming first-person shooter video game in development by 2K Marin for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The game is a reboot of the X-COM video game series originally created by Microprose.-Story:...

, however is described by the development team as neither a remake or a clone, but rather "a re-imaging". It is marketed as a Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

-era (starting in 1979) based "planetary defence simulator" answer to 2K's XCOM which has already alienated many fans due to its FPS-based gameplay.

In November 2010, the project launched a revamped website and announced that they were accepting pre-orders. Pre-order benefits include early beta access and a discounted price over planned release pricing. A provisional release date was set as April 2011.

As of June 2011, the game has still not been released and a final release date has not been announced. However, the team is releasing regular updates on their site, and press coverage suggests that final release is likely to be an unspecified date towards the end of 2011.

Gameplay

It has been confirmed that the game will retain the 'fundamental mechanics' of X-COM, in this case considered to be a real-time global air control and strategic management / research component of the game, coupled with turn-based ground combat where the player controls a squad of soldiers and vehicles against the alien forces. Soldiers will develop their attributes through combat experience, and it has been confirmed (and demonstrated) that terrain in the ground combat maps will be destructible.

Features advertised by Goldhawk as 'enhancements' to the original X-COM model include the following (although many have appeared in other spiritual successors):
  • An improved pausable real-time air combat model that allows combat between up to three aircraft/UFOs on each side.
  • A more detailed soldier background system.
  • Soldier equipment loadouts are saved between missions.
  • The starting position of infantry and vehicles can be arranged inside the dropship.
  • The ability to change the weapon loadouts of ground vehicles.
  • Semi-random map generation for ground combat.
  • The inclusion of a directional cover system in the ground combat.
  • Friendly local military and law enforcement NPC infantry present in ground combat.
  • Alternate victory conditions for ground combat missions (rather than simply exterminating all alien forces).
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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