If you were bummed out by the E3 XCOM trailer, don't fret too much -- fan project UFO: Alien Invasion (inspired by the X-COM series) has just hit a major update. Version 2.3 versions lots of new content, an overhauled rendering engine, and improvements to practically the entire campaign and battle system.
While it does still look rough around the edges, the gameplay is all but sure to make up for it.
Some highlights of the release:
- Complete overhaul of the campaign system, so that alien activity changes depending on the player's actions
- New capabilities for the rendering engine, including bumpmapping, specular lighting, glowmapping, flare support, texture blending and more
- A new tactical overhead map
- Alien bases have been added and the player can mount an assault on them
- Support for crashed UFO missions
- Overhauls of the map editor
- Loads of new maps and new tiles for existing maps that are randomly generated
- New weapons
- New music and sound effects
- And loads of behind-the-scenes optimizations and tweaks for everything from the pathfinding to the user interface
While this is a major and extensive release, the open source team is already planning features like special mission objectives and expanded maps for 2.4. And if you happen to be a designer or artist of any sort with a passion for X-COM, head here to sign up while the gettin's good. You can also head to the source to donate hardware for the project, or just to download it.
