Bureau is a classic example of someone REALLY not getting their customers. The original preview looked rather interesting, with bizarre aliens that occasionally were also non-euclidean constructs that had no place in out reality, a good 1960s feel to it, and so on. The only problem I had was that the X-COM name felt a bit out of place.

And then the head producer came out and said they only used the name because they had the rights to it, and it might lure in old fans of the old series. When asked if it had any actual connection to X-COM, he essentially rolled his eyes and said 'no one cares about that old crap.' Which is the kind of attitude that made me lose interest in the game, because fuck you too buddy.

So they discovered people did care about the old games, and they were getting a lot of negative backlash because of this, so they tore stuff out and replaced it with random X-COM stuff, without really giving any actual thought to how well it would actually work.

Then Enemy Unknown came out, and it was good. So they took more XCOM crap and rammed it in, while still never stopping to go 'we never actually intended to make a squad command game, is this going to work?'

The end result, a cobbled together mess that just doesn't work, having pissed off the fanbase they wanted to buy the game in the first place, and a new contender for the franchises biggest shame. Although I still think Enforcer holds that title.

It's a shame. I still want to see the original game they were making. It wouldn't have been XCOM, but it would have been fun.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter