Should X-Com Have Stayed Turn-based?
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Has turn-based gaming really fallen completely out of favour, or is the current FPS status quo just giving silent orders to its partisans again? You could argue that it was always a niche brand of gameplay, but then, you'd also be hard-pressed to explain why Final Fantasy I through to X are so legendary. The very first Final Fantasy even has the distinction of bringing Square (when they were just 'Square') back from the brink of bankruptcy. The irony of that piece is, Square-Enix as they are now, has felt the need to do away with the very mechanic that spearheaded its greatest triumphs.Did I mention that I like the Australian branch of IGN?
Front Mission: Evolved, for instance, bears no gameplay relation to the slow-moving brilliance of the first five games in that underrated series. It fared poorly. Meanwhile, Front Mission 3 remains a cult favourite and Final Fantasy Tactics - recently released yet again in its War of the Lions form for iOS - continues to sell like the hottest of delicious cakes despite the fact it's almost 15 years old. Inexplicably or tellingly, it's also one of the most expensive games the App Store has ever seen.
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The industry's perception of what gamers want right now is wrong, blighted by billion-dollar concerns and based on an uneducated bias they help to create themselves. In the same way that Metacritic is deceptively misrepresentative of how good or bad a game actually is, so too are the sales charts incorrect when it comes to quantifying who's enjoying what out there and why. The reality is, we're not being given the choice. We're being given shooter after shooter, year after year, because one company hit it out of the park one time and big money fell in line. How many turn-based games has the mainstream actually received this generation? Even if you're missing a few fingers, you can count them on two hands. It's a snowball effect only made bigger and rollier by the surface appraisals of guys like Harmann.
Turn-based gameplay doesn't have the same limitations as point 'n' click. It's capable of modernisation. Unencumbered by the demands of a bottom-line and the need to juggle advertising budgets between titles, indie developers aren't giving up and therein lies broader hope. Some turn-based entrepreneurs like Mode 7 Games have even begun to experiment with compromise, aware that the mechanic is considered a corpse in need of new life. Apart from having the coolest music in the universe, their recent offering Frozen Synapse is also one of the first 'simultaneous' turn-based games ever made. It works on both levels; it's been a hit but it's not attractive enough to make it on the consoles. With a slavering extraterrestrial makeover, it just might work. What if the vintage X-Com: Enemy Unknown formula was given the Frozen Synapse treatment instead of an unrecognisable and potentially ho-hum FPS overhaul?
