Hey Giantbomb. New to this forum, but I've followed the site a bit in the past and know you guys are all fucking awesome.

Anyways, I just recently played the demo for the upcoming XCOM game on steam. I fell in love with the gameplay. I guess you would call it "tactical" or a "tactical rpg" but that ends up throwing it under the same category as Fire Emblem and FF tactics.

Not saying I don't like FE, Advance Wars, or FF tactics - I love those games. But they are MUCH more rpg-ish and honestly the RPG aspect is a huge part of your performance in the game. I felt like XCOM: Enemy Unknown weighted your decision making and positioning a lot more.

I dunno, I had a blast. I'll probably buy the game but until then, can anyone recommend me any other really good games that play similar that I might enjoy? For PC, by the way. I guess give me some 360 or PS3 recommendations if you want, but odds are, unless the game looks fucking amazing, i am not even going to bother. PCPCPC =)

Thanks doods

The original XCOM. Boom.

@ArbitraryWater said:

The original XCOM. Boom.

I did look at it. I'll try it out, but I have no guilt in saying that very outdated graphics is a huge con in my mind when it comes to games.

Valkyria Chronicles weird/anime WW2 greatness.

@akaps said:

@ArbitraryWater said:

The original XCOM. Boom.

I did look at it. I'll try it out, but I have no guilt in saying that very outdated graphics is a huge con in my mind when it comes to games.

Then you're kinda screwed, because pretty much every game I would recommend to you came out in 2004 or earlier.

@akaps said:

@ArbitraryWater said:

The original XCOM. Boom.

I did look at it. I'll try it out, but I have no guilt in saying that very outdated graphics is a huge con in my mind when it comes to games.

Do make sure that you read the manual for that one or you're going to be pulling your hair out. It's from back in the days when Reading was FUNdamental and in game systems and controls were not explained in game.

@ArbitraryWater said:

@akaps said:

@ArbitraryWater said:

The original XCOM. Boom.

I did look at it. I'll try it out, but I have no guilt in saying that very outdated graphics is a huge con in my mind when it comes to games.

Then you're kinda screwed, because pretty much every game I would recommend to you came out in 2004 or earlier.

Doesn't mean im not willing to check it out! I'll take any recommendations :D and I definitely still appreciate the guy who recommended the old XCom.

@AngelN7 said:

Valkyria Chronicles weird/anime WW2 greatness.

I'll definitely check this one out. I remember picking up an art book for the concept art of Valkyria Chronicles a while back and just drooling over some of the art in there. Always kinda digged the game's looks / feel from what I have seen of it, but I totally spaced on it when I started this thread. Definitely will check this game out! Not a fan of a lot of anime shows out there, but I defnitely love the style visually. Thanks for this recommendation man

Do you have a 3DS?

Julian Gollop, creator of the original XCOM, worked on Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars. I never played it, but I heard pretty good things about it.

Definitely play Valkyria Chronicles. Old Quick Look here. Amazing game.

Can't vouch for them but Frozen Synapse and Jagged Alliance should be worth a quick look.

@akaps said:

@ArbitraryWater said:

@akaps said:

@ArbitraryWater said:

The original XCOM. Boom.

I did look at it. I'll try it out, but I have no guilt in saying that very outdated graphics is a huge con in my mind when it comes to games.

Then you're kinda screwed, because pretty much every game I would recommend to you came out in 2004 or earlier.

Doesn't mean im not willing to check it out! I'll take any recommendations :D and I definitely still appreciate the guy who recommended the old XCom.

Alright then. S2: Silent Storm and Jagged Alliance 2 are both on GOG.

@akaps: Its really great , the anime stuff is moslty in the style and some of the tropes but the story is really good so no need to worry if you don't like that stuff (I don't like anime all that much either) is kinda cheesy sometimes but the good right amount ... charming that's the word! it's a really charming game. There's a sequel on the PSP wich is also pretty good but the first one on PS3 is the one you're looking for.

Civilation

Its not a tactical game in the ways you said, but its still amazing and a time waster.

@samsara said:

Can't vouch for them but Frozen Synapse and Jagged Alliance should be worth a quick look.

Supplemental to that is Fallout 1 and 2.

Also you should actually played Jagged Alliance 2. It is a far more stable and mechanic implanted game.

I would also say Valkyria Chronicles was an amazing brilliant game.

There was the UFO series that was heavily based on XCOM. The closest description is XCOM with updated graphics. However they were terribly buggy and didn't do anything good. That was three games all terrible.

I cant help but think there is more. Super Robot Wars? Warhammer 40k Squad Commander for the DS?

@akaps said:

Hey Giantbomb. New to this forum, but I've followed the site a bit in the past and know you guys are all fucking awesome.

Anyways, I just recently played the demo for the upcoming XCOM game on steam. I fell in love with the gameplay. I guess you would call it "tactical" or a "tactical rpg" but that ends up throwing it under the same category as Fire Emblem and FF tactics.

Not saying I don't like FE, Advance Wars, or FF tactics - I love those games. But they are MUCH more rpg-ish and honestly the RPG aspect is a huge part of your performance in the game. I felt like XCOM: Enemy Unknown weighted your decision making and positioning a lot more.

I dunno, I had a blast. I'll probably buy the game but until then, can anyone recommend me any other really good games that play similar that I might enjoy? For PC, by the way. I guess give me some 360 or PS3 recommendations if you want, but odds are, unless the game looks fucking amazing, i am not even going to bother. PCPCPC =)

Thanks doods

In what sense is Advance Wars an rpg? Isn't it a pure, turn-based strategy?

The old Commandos games may scratch that itch. I could never get them to run on my modern PC, but I played a demo of one of them that I got in an issue of PC Gamer again and again and again as a kid. They are CRAZY hard though, so go in with a ton of patience. If all you mean is squad turn based gameplay, then the Disgaea series, Front Mission series and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance games are great as well.

http://www.xenonauts.com/ is pretty much a re-make of the original. Going into beta soon but you can buy access to it now.

I do love Valkyria Chronicles. Even as someone who doesn't like anime it had a great story and art design. There's no overworld involved, just missions based on book sections to go through, but it was still engrossing.

http://ufoai.org/

UFO: Alien Invasion. Any guesses regarding by which game series this open source project was heavily influenced?

It's X-COM: UFO Defense made understandable to a layman, and it doesn't look to bad considering it's open source.

@oraknabo said:

Do you have a 3DS?

Julian Gollop, creator of the original XCOM, worked on Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars. I never played it, but I heard pretty good things about it.

I've played Shadow Wars, but not XCOM or the demo (but I left it downloading last night) and I love that game. Even on the normal difficulty, that game is punishing. Make one wrong move at the wrong time and game over. From everything I've seen, XCOM does share quite a few traits with Shadow Wars, but it's far more complex. At the end of each mission, you usually given a few points to level up your dudes, but not as fully as XCOM.

I picked it up at a time when I was playing Civilization 24/7 and wanted a turn based strategy game with some meat to it on the go. It's more challenging than Advance Wars, and has been living in my 3DS since that Sid Meier XCOM video came out and I started getting really excited for XCOM.

There are surprisingly few games that are structured similarly to XCOM. Prior to the announcement of the new game from Firaxis, I did sort of view Valkyria Chronicles as the closest thing we'd ever get to a modernization of that formula.

Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars and the old GBA release Rebelstar: Tactical Command were both worked on by some of the same people that were involved in the original XCOM, and it is very apparent when you play them.

S2: Silent Storm and Jagged Alliance are pretty similar.

The upcoming Kickstarted game Xenonauts is extremely faithful to the XCOM formula as well.

If you're looking for really good games similar to X-COM I think you're out of luck. One of the main reasons of all the hype behind Enemy Unknown is that there haven't actually been anything like it, that's good, in quite a while.

Valkyria Chronicles is really the best recommendation here. Personally, I don't really like Jagged Alliance.

Fallout

@oraknabo said:

Do you have a 3DS?

Julian Gollop, creator of the original XCOM, worked on Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars. I never played it, but I heard pretty good things about it.

This. Shadow Wars is surprisingly awesome, and it feels similar to XCOM in terms of basics.

Check out UFO: Afterlight on Steam. I recommend it.

I never played XCOM, but from the quick look it kind of reminded me a bit of Frozen Synapse

Hunters on IOS is a pretty great XCOM-ish game.

Xenonauts.

X-Com

Ogre Tactics

Fallout Tactics

Frozen synapse rules, check it out

Valkyria Chronicles all day

Thanks for all the replies guys. You are awesome.

I am DEFINITELY checking out Valkyria Chronicles and will probably go buy it asap! I'm really interested in Shadow Wars too, and yeah, I have a 3ds - i never use it, so it would be nice to dust it off.

Would be nice to dust it off. Not impressed with Jagged Alliance and I am not hearing good things online about it - same goes for UFO. Maybe I'll check out Xenonauts.

And yeah, Frozen Synapse is amazing - I have played that game a lot and absolutely love it. Wish more people were playing it online though.

"Shadow wars" for 3DS is great!!!! Tad short... But gets mega hard in the end! Well worth it. There is another called i think "Feild commander" for the PSP. It's like advance wars for the GBA/DS/DSL. I have no idea how i originaly found it.. but its a load of fun. "Mytan wars" for the PSP is also a mech type turn based statagey. I love it to.. Never finished it yet... There is "mech commander" for PC.. Never played it.. but worth a look.

Shadow Wars on 3DS is pretty cool.

Valkyria Chronicles, which is a fantastic game and really shares a lot of tactical DNA with new XCOM.

Also, the first and second Metal Gear Acid games. Those are absolutely fantastic (especially the second one) but require you to have a PSP.

I always felt bloodbowl had a lot of simularities to xcom.

OR Necromunda, but i don't think there is a game version of that, just tabletop.

Fallout Tactics? It's on STEAM and GOG.

@akaps: Jagged Alliance 2 ... best fucking TBS game ever.

(don't get the "Wildfire" version though, it's not as good)

Greed Corp, if you're looking for something on the simpler side.

Frozen Synapse, if you're looking for something so complicated that your brain will freeze.

@akaps said:

Not impressed with Jagged Alliance and I am not hearing good things online about it - same goes for UFO.

I hope you are talking about the new Jagged Alliance game, because that is indeed rubbish.

Jagged Alliance 2, however, is the undisputed king of the genre. No Valkyria Chronicles, Frozen Synapse or whatever comes even remotely close the greatness of that game. Do yourself a favor and play it.

Like the people above said.

Jagged Alliance 2 is AMAZING. Silent Storm and Silent Storm:Sentinels are not quite amazing, but they come closer than any game since that's not the new xcom.

Cheap on GoG too.

@AngelN7 said:

Valkyria Chronicles weird/anime WW2 greatness.

Imma endorse this one.

Can't vouch for them but Frozen Synapse and Jagged Alliance should be worth a quick look.

The Silent Storm games are some buggy, Russian as hell, games but they really are something people should play. Getting them to run on modern machines can be kinda tricky because the publisher's gives 0 shits about supporting the game now.

Glad to see other's suggesting them.

@ArbitraryWater said:

@akaps said:

@ArbitraryWater said:

The original XCOM. Boom.

I did look at it. I'll try it out, but I have no guilt in saying that very outdated graphics is a huge con in my mind when it comes to games.

Then you're kinda screwed, because pretty much every game I would recommend to you came out in 2004 or earlier.

Not true, Frozen Synapses, CIV games.

That there are so few games like XCOM: Enemy Unknown proves how important it was that Firaxis decided to make it.

@cyraxible said:

The Silent Storm games are some buggy, Russian as hell, games but they really are something people should play. Getting them to run on modern machines can be kinda tricky because the publisher's gives 0 shits about supporting the game now.

Glad to see other's suggesting them.

Oh yeah, they're extremely russian. And I had some issues with the first silent storm, but Sentinels has been running perfectly both on my main machine (win7x64, nvidia card) and my laptop(win8 consumer preview, amd graphics). Not sure if gog did something to it or I just got lucky, but I've not had a single crash or other issue thats not just because the game is hella russian and weird in about 100 hours playing it.

Add another vote for Valkyria Chronicles. That's a great game.

I second Rebelstar: Tactical Command. It's created by Julian Gollop. Cool little GBA game!

Commandos 2 isn't turn based, but for evokes similar feelings for me with small squads cleaning up.