Star Wars XCom? Sign me up!

So, news is trickling out about Star Wars: Zero Company, and I gotta
say, it's looking good. Actual information (not to mention gameplay
footage) is scant on the ground, but what has been shown indicates it
will play similar to XCOM. That combination of a galaxy far-far-away
and tactical-strategy combat sounds right up my alley. It's been too
long since we've had a Star Wars strategy game (the last one was
"Empire At War" from 2006!), despite that genre once upon a time being
one of the central pillars of Star Wars gaming.* "Zero Company" is a
welcome return to strategy, I say!

Plus, Star Wars games tend to be a bit more accessible, what with
their aiming more at the mainstream. As much as I loved XCOM, its RNG
was just fucking annoying (shooting point-blank at an enemy with 95%
hit percentage, only to miss, was just bad design as far as I'm
concerned), and I expect a lot of that nonsense will be streamlined
and polished into a game that's well... more fun. Easier, certainly,
but less nonsensical.**

My only concern is that once again the game will feature Jedi. I am
so, so tired of Jedi. Some of the best games in the series ("TIE
Fighter", the original "Dark Forces", etc.) focused on non-Jedi
characters. Laser swords are flashy crowd-pleasers, but I like the
grittier, more grounded stories*** that don't involve super-powered
space-samurai. "Zero Company" is also set in the prequel era, which
isn't a fan-favorite of mine (but at least it isn't set post-Return of
the Jedi. That would just suck).

I know I'm a Star Wars dweebo who probably gets more excited about
this sort of stuff than most. But its news like this that makes me
happy. Of course, now I have to wait a year for the game to come
out...:(




* anyone else have fond memories of the 4X "Star Wars Rebellion"? No,
just me?
** well, as nonsensical as you can get in a universe with space
wizards
*** see previous note