But highly doubtful I'll get as much play as I did from the original.
"as much play" can mean one of two things:
- more game time, ie longer campaign
- more replay
This game does not have as long a campaign as the original. I am of the camp that this is not actually a bad thing per se. The playtime of the original game, as with many older games, was artificially lengthened through a variety of means. If the original X-Com were released today a lot of people would be complaining about that artificial length.
Replay value is another item altogether. I think it's too soon to say how much I will be replaying this new game. It is worth noting that you can lose the new XCom game, which is a nice change of pace from many contemporary games where the only penalty is having to restart a level.
Regarding it being "dumbed down," I don't have an opinion about that specific to this game, but I can tell you that I am just done, generally, with being challenged intellectually by most video games. If I want an intellectual challenge in a game, I will go play chess, Scrabble, ASL, or do a crossword puzzle. Those activities are vastly more intellectually stimulating, to me, than playing nearly any video game. I play video games to have fun and I don't care how many braincells die as a result.
That said, I do want to note that the Classic difficulty mode is immensely challenging. There's bound to be a lot of replay value in trying to beat the game in Classic and Impossible, with or without the one save "Ironman" mode.
Regarding the inventory system, which is a major change from the original and a major reason people say this new one is dumbed down, I like the new streamlined system. I am so over playing paperdoll Tetris with my little video game avatars. The only inventory system that is compelling, to me, in video games is NetHack's, partly because inventory in that game is very important and nearly a game in and of itself. Otherwise, I'd rather have a streamlined inventory, as in the new XCom, or an unlimited backup that I never have to empty out, as in Kingdom of Loathing.
Furthermore, the inventory choices in the original X-Com weren't that compelling. Yeah, you'd outfit your guys a heavy weapons guys or scouts or whatever, but once you assigned those roles the equipment was a foregone conclusion. Now the inventory selection process is much less detailed, but that makes it more meaningful in some ways. In the new game, if you give every guy a medpack you miss out on other options, options which can be important.
What's more, while the inventory system has been streamlined (or dumbed down, if you like), the resource and global strategic levels have been ramped up. You can no longer mass produce laser cannons (or whatever) and sell them on the market to make your money.
Thinking about it, I'd say that the new focus on the global strategic level more than makes up for any dumbing down in other ways.
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