Goldhawk Interactive vient de mettre en ligne le site officiel de Xenonauts, un clone avoué de X-Com ayant pour originalité de situer l’invasion extra-terrestre à la fin de la Guerre Froide. Aux dires des développeurs, le concept se résumerait très bien par l’expression « simulateur stratégique de défense planétaire » (strategic planetary defence simulator).
Concrètement Xenonauts étendra le concept de combat aérien au niveau du géoscape. En ce qui concerne les combats se déroulant sur le plancher des vaches, il ne s’agira plus systématiquement d’éliminer tous les aliens. De nouvelles conditions de victoires feront leur apparition, variant ainsi les objectifs ou le déroulement des missions.
Cerise sur le proto-shoggoth, en plus d’un système de combat en tour par tour en vue isométrique, Xenonauts intégrera des décors destructibles et une gestion du couvert offert par le terrain.
Sur le papier tout cela est assez intéressant. Le site résume relativement en détail l’essentiel des mécanismes du jeu et devrait bientôt être mis à jour avec des screenshots ou vidéos. Vous trouverez ci-après quelques extraits et les deux premières images du jeu. La sortie de Xenonauts est prévue dans le courant de l’année, sans plus de précisions.
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1 October, 1979: Extraterrestrial forces begin their invasion of Earth. Panic spreads across the globe, and nations struggle in vain to organise their ill-equipped militaries against the alien threat. A clandestine organisation dubbed the ‘Xenonauts’ surfaces, claiming to have been preparing to defend the planet against alien incursion since its inception twenty years ago. Though distrustful, the major global powers reluctantly give their agents authority to operate in their territory and airspace.
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Xenonauts will feature advanced real-time strategic combat between your interceptors and alien UFOs. Air combat is initiated when both sides are within combat range of each other, and takes the form of a top-down view of the airspace in which the battle takes place. Both the human interceptors and alien UFOs are represented by icons showing the heading and speed of the unit, and with each weapon having different ranges and firing arcs there will be plenty of strategy in ensuring your interceptors are placed to inflict maximum damage on their opponents without exposing themselves to too much return fire. An additional level of strategy is added with the different characteristics of UFOs and interceptors, as battling agile alien fighters requires a completely different set of tactics to defeating the vast firepower of their ponderous battleships.
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The battlefield cover system allows soldiers to use the scenery to their advantage, giving the player the opportunity to protect his soldiers rather than simply praying that incoming enemy fire misses its target. With extraterrestrial weapons often powerful enough to kill human soldiers outright, this allows a player to even the odds through intelligent use of the his surroundings. Players will find the extraterrestrials equally adept at utlising the avaiable cover, so they will need to find ways to deal with dug-in extraterrestrial forces. As cover is directional rather than offering 360-degree protection, flanking maneuvers are one of the simplest methods to flush enemies out of their hiding places, but there are numerous other ways to deal with fortified positions. Equipment has been designed from the ground-up to work with the cover system, so everything from ballistic shields, flamethrowers and grenades to mechanised assault walkers will be available to ensure that dug-in troops can be shifted.
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