Defend the Earth from a sinister alien invasion! Form an elite squadron of fighting men and women to deploy on the ground! Build a planet-wide network of bases and take the battle to the skies! Learn the aliens' secrets! Turn their own weapons against them! Protect the human race!
(In the metric system, this game is known as UFO: Enemy Unknown. [EDITED])
- Deploy your troops across dynamic battlefields
- Build covert bases from which to launch your operations
- Intercept and destroy UFOs in the skies and on the ground
- Research and manufacture new alien technology
- Budget your expenses
- Appease your allies at the U.N... or go after them when they sign on with the enemy
The high-gloss, conspiratorial sci-fi setting is lots of fun -- a nice change from the usual post-apocalyptic drudgery. I feel like a secret power player on the world stage. It's like being the Smoking Man instead of being Mulder and Scully. And I don't even have to smoke!
X-COM perfectly balances the competition between action and conservation. If I move too fast, I'll over-extend and end up dead. If I move too slow I'll be overwhelmed and just as dead. This philosophy covers gameplay in time units, base building, and support activities like research. It highlights the value of my personal leadership.
The John Woo "blaze of glory" moments make for a great story inside my head. Turn a corner, see an alien, empty the clip at the last moment ... who will be left standing?
- Gamer's Gate
- Direct2Drive
- Steam
- Sorry folks ... no GOG yet. Maybe someday.
- UFO: Alien Invasion - an Open Source alternative with fancy graphics
- UFO2000 - Another Open Source game that focuses on multiplayer
- UFO Aftermath - a trilogy of professionally developed games with simultaneous action on the battlefield
- Wikipedia entry on spiritual successors in general
- Hints on running X-COM better in WinXP using DOSBox, Turbo, and VDMSound
- More hints on running the Steam version of X-COM, such as improving sound quality and running in windowed mode
- Running Steam XCOM in your own version of DOSBox. Cuz Libre is Libre, y'know?
ALSO: the blowdart isn't so outmoded after all. Laser-Scoped Pea Shooters
Fri, 09 Oct 02009 - 18:33
Personally, I think the laser-scoped pea shooters are more than enough justification for this entire review.
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Thu, 29 Oct 02009 - 21:39
This is really cool, and I want to play, but I see myself getting caught up too much in the spreadsheet part of it.
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Fri, 11 Dec 02009 - 02:19
Actually, it's known as UFO: Enemy Unknown in the europe, no X-COM at all in the title.
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Mon, 21 Dec 02009 - 09:07
I knew that. I actually knew that. And now I feel dumb for not having transmitted that knowledge from my brain to my fingers. Thanks for the correction!
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Wed, 30 Dec 02009 - 09:19
Wow! Great job! I reinstall X-COM every so often, it's just such a great game. And yeah, it still runs fine on my computer.
One thing I loved about the original game was the clever use of UFO mythology - like the little, gray, big-eyed aliens. The cattle mutilation on the alien ships was especially funny. And yeah, flying in to rescue a city from alien terrorists - and leaving it a smoking ruin behind me - was wonderful. What a game!
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Thu, 18 Feb 02010 - 11:26
The original game was more enjoyable due to the use of UFO mythology, and I also think that the original title - "... Unknown Enemy" was cooler. Great post, thanks!
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