X-Com is (summarized quickly) a strategy based game. Part Civilization, Part Dungeon & Dragons and with a pinch of movie influence. You start with selecting a base of operations any where in the world. Your base then has the ability to add hangers (for air deployment) living quarters (solider living) and the multitude of science parts necessary to continue the fight against the alien threat. The plot comes down to aliens are attacking and subverting earth. World leaders have gotten together and decide that they cannot defeat this foe individually and must team up. So culling the best of the best from every nation, soldier and scientist to wage a war (unknown to the public) against the alien threat. You start with 8 soldiers and can equip them with various "normal" Terran weapons: rifles, pistols, body armor and such. You also use a monthly funding to buy different/more resources and have scientists to research new/undiscovered technology. Eventually, after each successful encounter you can take alien technology for inspection and hopefully, use against them. The combat is a turn based event with each soldier allotted only so much time units to use. Each action uses time units: moving, reloading and attacking. Fog of war is very active, so a hostile can attack you without you knowing the exact location and can even wipe out several men at the beginning of a campaign if you aren't careful. The only reason I didn't give this game a 10 out of 10 is the fact that it is very daunting in difficulty for the uninitiated. You cannot pop in to this game and expect to win. You have to invest time and patience in it and you cannot have a trooper go "Rambo" and eliminate the enemy because your men also have a "sanity" meter. More deaths on the team can "break" a team member to drop his weapon and flee. The second worst thing is to be two "spaces" away from an adversary and have a soldier miss with his weapon. All troops gain experience so it works in your favor to keep your guys alive. Later in the game you can branch out with bases all over the world and have teams of individuals that have mech-type armor and can fire weapons that can level an entire building in one shot, (almost since the idea that buildings would collapse if the level below them is destroyed didn't make it into the game code.) Overall if you enjoy a science fiction game that has heavy doses of re-playability and you aren't turned off by games that require time then it would be in your best interest in trying to find a copy of it somewhere. You can easily slap in the sequel if you can't find the original but avoid anything after that. The shooter and Apocalypse are pale shadows of what this game is.
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david_hardy23 November 2006
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The_Light_Triton31 December 2006OK, this is probably one of the last comments ever written for 2006...we're only an hour away...well, enough about the new year, let's talk about X-com.
I have not picked up this game and played it since 2001, when i was 11 years old. here we are 6 years later. The whole story, is that several Species of aliens are attacking earth and causing trouble throughout the countries.
Meanwhile, you have to keep things running smoothly and smartly and keep good graces with the world's countries, building bases, planes, transports, and hiring soldiers and discovering various technologies. you've got 3 years (starting in 1999) to make a good impression and do something. but beware...if you're not good enough, the various countries might just bail on you and join the aliens. can you hold this together?
I first began playing this game when i was either 9 or 10. It was my life for a while. i loved it. Even though i sucked at it, i knew how to play and i was having various amounts of fun. the demo version is just about anywhere, but you might have better luck and possibly the real deal on Amazon.com.
It's got sweet music, Not-so-random names (I once had a guy named peter parker) and awesome gameplay. for it's MS-DOS look and graphics, i recommend this anyways.
9/10. -
MafferDragonhand15 February 2003UFO - Enemy Unknown (or _X-Com: UFO Defense_, as it is called here in the U.S.) ... really is hard to describe accurately. I can and can't recommend this game. It takes hours of dedication, but once you get into it you will surely dedicate thousands of hours of your life to it.
The music is extremely beautiful; a combination of military beats with "techno" melodies to merge Earth-based music with "futuristic" music that might appeal to a Martian. You fight about 6 different hostile alien races: the famous Zeta Reticuli race is here (called "Sectoids" in the game); there are reptilian aliens ("Snakemen"); creepy death look-alikes with awesome mental powers ("Ethereals"); and tough jock-types ("Mutons").
You have armored vehicles at your disposal (but so do the aliens), and even though you start with puny Earth-weapons; as you shoot down, recover, and research alien technology you can build base facilities, aircraft, tanks, weapons, body armor, grenades, EXTREMELY high-explosive missile launchers--and even equipment for MIND CONTROL--based on alien technology.
At the end of each month, you're given a progress report. Nations decide if they should increase your funding, decrease it, leave it the same, or pull out of the alliance all together and try to strike a deal with the alien races.
The ground battles themselves are played in a chess-like state. The "board" is divided into (I think) 124x124 squares; each one square taking 4 "Time Units" to cross. The average soldier starts with 50 TU's. However, shooting takes between 15 & 45 (depending on weapons used & type of shot--aimed, auto, snap etc.). Basically, everything--reloading, throwing stuff, turning your soldier's head--takes TU's. But, as your soldiers see more combat, they can get as much as 81 TU's, which is quite helpful. They also gain health units, stamina, strength, bravery, etc--but keeping a soldier from the first mission to the final assault on the main ET base (in the Cydonia region of Mars) is pretty much impossible. You're fighting a well-trained enemy!
Each group of 25(?) squares is given it's own unique attribute, so you'll NEVER (I, in 6 years of playing had not) come across the exact same map twice. The aliens are positioned randomly through the map as well.
There are a few videos in this game, the two outstanding ones are when you win the game. The other being when you lose. When you win, no indication is given of Earth's future state. Do we achieve peace on Earth? Do we forget all that we've been through & return to our old ways? Unsure. You just see the Mars base exploding, and your brave soldiers flying back to Earth cheering. Then you are returned to the main menu. Did the designers intend to create such a profound ending?
The video when you lose is even more mind-boggling. Three alien battle-ships hover over the UN building. Inside, the floor is bare of representatives except for a few humans sitting at a table across from two "Ethereals" and a "Sectoid" commander. There is no talking, but the message is chillingly beautiful in it's clarity: most of the world has given in, and it looks like the last fighting nation is following. As the humans & aliens communicate telepathically, several aliens burst through the door, place a plasma rifle to the head of the human leader, and pull the trigger. The "sectoid" across from him is seen splattered in the man's blood. Proof that the aliens do not make deals--deals, in the sense that we know them--and a taste of what the aliens have always had in store for us: extermination.
This game is no longer in print, apparently because people saw it as "too intelligent." If you happen to find a copy on ebay...consider buying it. I make no promises that you'll like it. The "others" tell me it's a boring & tedious game. I consider it an highly intelligent work of art; one that shaped my teen years. I will always cherish X-COM.