If you weren't playing sci-fi games on the PC/Amiga around 1993, the chances are you may not have heard of the XCOM series. A collection of sci-fi games with an emphasis on strategy, X-COM's storyline (dropping the hyphen is obviously no small part in how they're intending to modernise the series) drew heavily from Gerry Anderson's UFO series, pitting the human race against an alien invasion that was far more technologically advanced than anything mankind had seen before. With every battle mankind won, the scientists scrambled to salvage whatever alien equipment they could, to understand, and eventually make use of the technology and use it against the invaders.
The series died out in 1998, due to several companies inheriting the license, and then promptly going bust, but today it was announced that XCOM will be making its return on the Xbox 360, courtesy of 2K Marin - the same developers who bought us the tense and atmospheric underwater first person shooter, BioShock.
It all looks very War of the Worlds-y. But that's not a bad thing.
Where previous games cast you in the role of a general, overseeing a map of the world, choosing where and when to deploy your troops and technology to counteract the alien invasion from afar, the new, re-imagined XCOM is taking a much more direct route, by putting you right on the frontline, as an FBI agent.
While it's unclear exactly what your role can be, if the studio's previous games are anything to go by, you can expect a gripping, immersive sci-fi thriller, with a strong focus on an epic story, and a believeable world.
Fans of sci-fi should continue to watch the skies, as currently XCOM has no set release date. Expect more to come out of the Electronic Entertainment Expo around June.
