Silent Storm kicks ass. Well, at least that's my opinion from trying the demo last night. Finally a game that takes the X-Com genre (*) to another level. They managed to put it into 3D while still retaining the tactics and refrain from being just a third-person shooter.

* Note: I call it the X-Com genre because that's the most recognizable game in this genre. In actual fact it's the Turn-Based Tactical Squad genre, or as the developers of Silent Storm put it: Tactical Turn-Based Role-Playing-Game or TTRPG. Yeah, I know, sounds like technobabble, which is why I say X-Com genre.

Sure, Silent Storm still has much of what I complain about with the other X-Com-like games, the organization and micromanagement of your squad. I suppose that's the RPG element, but I haven't seen many leaps and bounds to make it interesting since Jagged Alliance or Wages of War.

What it has got is a great interface, amazing 3D environments, much better use of height (multi-storied buildings were a pain in X-Com), good AI and an involving story.

Unfortunately there are no multiplayer options. Apparently the designers decided that long turns would bore people to wait for, but I wish that they would have taken into account play-by-email turns.

They do support making mods (a map editor is included with the full game) so I wonder if it's possibly to hack in some sort of turn files for multiplayer. If I had the time, knowledge and resources I would seriously look into it, because I can think of a ton of multiplayer uses for their engine.

Maybe the UFO: Alien Invasion folks should consider switching engines.