X-COM: UFO Defense

by Micropose

Product Features

• Battle aliens with soldiers and automated vehicles.
• Outfit your crews, research alien technologies, build new bases for operations.
• Award Winning Game Classic!
• PC: DOS, Windows 95 DOS Mode, Windows 98 DOS Mode, Windows ME DOS Mode

Product Details

• ASIN: B00069WBKM
• Media: CD-ROM
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,355 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

The UFOs are invading our skies! Reports of human and bovine abductions are increasing daily! Cities are terrorized! Something must be done! XCOM, or eXtraterrestrial COMbat unit, was founded as an international force to combat the alien menace. Start with one base, two fighters, one transport, and a few soldiers, you must stop the alien threat... once and for all. XCOM is essentially two separate games with interlinkage. On the strategic side, called GeoScape, you get a rotating view of the globe, where you see all visible UFOs (those that are within your detection range) as well as major cities and your base(s). You order movements from here, such as sending out fighters to intercept UFOs, transports with soldiers to assault/recover UFOs, and perhaps assault alien bases (if you find any). You also control your research, as you must find better weapons (the Terran weapons are just no match against the alien weapons) quickly, not to mention all the other cool tech you can recover from the aliens. You also need to control your budget, as you can't afford to overextend your reach. Researchers need to be paid, engineers (who build the new toys) need to be paid, base(s) need to be be built/expanded, planes been to be bought/maintained, supplies need to be replenished... Once you join a ground battle, the game switches to Battlescape, which is a 3D isometric view of the battlefield with realistic line-of-sight calculations and turn-based combat. Your mission is usually extermination of all aliens on the battlefield, though if you can capture a few it would surely help your research efforts. You also recover any alien artifacts left on the field if you win... Which can then be researched... Overall, the game is a true classic, as it successfully mixes strategic considerations, resource management, and tactical combat considerations, along with plenty of authentic UFO lore (made popular by the X-files)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kickin' alien butt for fun and glory!, May 29, 2005

By 

Ghost Tea (Orlando, FL) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: X-COM: UFO Defense (CD-ROM)

This is a turn-based tactical squad game that any strategy gamer would be happy to have in thier collection. It's creepy "X-Files" feel is a blast and a realistic AI keeps things interesting. The aliens will use cross-fires, ambushes, guerrilla warfare, hit-and-run, dog pile, and even hide-and-seek tactics. It's nice to play a game that DOESN'T NEED TO CHEAT in order to give you a challenge. Your enemies simply use tactics, superior numbers, and better equipment to take you down. Any stunts that they can pull, you can pull but not always right away, as you need to capture and interogate the punks in order to be able to research and develop all of the aliens cool stuff (which makes sense considering that your enemy is a faster-than-light space faring civilization). Eventually, the playing field will start to favor your own as humanity slowly gains the alien's gear but by then you won't care as you'll be having too much fun paying them back for earlier by watering the grass with thier blood. Of course when this happens, the cowards may actually turn tail and run in face of your might. They'll try to get away and may even resort to hiding in closets and such (that's not a joke, they WILL hide in closets if your power greatly exceeds thier own but this is what grenades and rocket launchers are for). X-Com is an oldie and may not even run on some newer machines but it's worth a look as many of it's ideas are finally starting to be embraced by gaming companies today.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ahead of its time, December 26, 2005

By 

Sammy "nuttycollege" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: X-COM: UFO Defense (CD-ROM)

This is one of the best games I have ever played. It always starts off slow in the beginning, you begin by tracking down small unidentified craft. Finding their stuff research it and find out how to use it against them.

The AI is very intelligent by hiding behind doorways, hiding in the grass, and if you kill off enough of them without losing your own troops, they may actually drop their guns to run in fear (at least until they remember what their grenade is for). It is made possible through the intelligent turn based rpg reminicient system. ("Morale" and "reaction" as a good example, in fact a soldier cannot move if he is carrying too much in his backpack and his "strength" is low.) Accuracy and the time it takes to shoot is determined by the stance, the skill of a soldier, and even the type of gun used. Real tactical squad tactics (as in real squad warfare) work suprisingly well.

Capturing a certain race (alive) around mid to late game will allow you to research something very useful and fun to master. (Hint, hint)

The ending isn't bad either, however, I don't want to spoil it for anyone and there is no cheap movie sequence at the end, just a good back story.

It is so much fun. There is even a bit of base management. You will need gather base defenses, guns (made by humans in the beginning), and a certain type of ultra rare element as the game progresses. Otherwise the aliens may actually attack the base with your pants down if you get too good at thwarting their offensive in the cities, farms, and such.

This game is a classic at the worst. It is a template for newer games at best. Not for people who like action. This is a more complex game for people who don't need the flashy graphics. Unlike the newer games, I have only found one very very rare bug in the game. (Let's just say my tanks should not be stuck in a certain door.) The only thing I would add is a random mutilated animal in space ships... o wait... they have that and a kitchen sink.