The radial wheel is one of those strange oddities of PC porting. There's nothing particularly wrong with having one - a benefit of the mouse as an input device is that we can click anywhere on the screen, including on a slightly too big wheel of abilities that has no real correlation to our control setup. But it is one of those telling markers of the care - or potential lack of - put into a conversion. So it's nice to see that XCOM spin-off The Bureau will ditch the circular eyesore in favour of a flat row of bars to click/hotkey through.
You can see the PC control scheme in action over at ShackNews . Presumably, the UI will shift based on whether a controller is detected - so those lounging in Big Picture mode won't have to squint their way across the tight bars of information.
If that wasn't reason enough to celebrate, a recent developer diary explains some of the features of the upcoming tactical third-person shooter. Among them is an explanation of how permadeath will ensure a continuation of the series' tradition of punishing ill-thought or risky actions.
This is all sounding intriguingly faithful. The graph charting my interest in the game has been on a slow and steady climb of late. Let's hope it doesn't sharply drop off come the August 23rd release.
