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- X-COM: UFO Defense (1994)
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| X-COM: UFO Defense (1994) | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 9 2012, 07:29 PM (1,571 Views) | |
Cy-Fox
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Feb 9 2012, 07:29 PM Post #1 |
We are still watching
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 X-COM: UFO Defense a.k.a: UFO: Enemy Unknown (Europe) Data Sheet Developer: Mythos Games & Microprose Software Publisher: Microprose Software Genre: Turn-Based Strategy Release Date: 1994 (MS-DOS and Amiga), October 25, 1995 (PSX) Number of Players: 1 (normal play, multiplayer is available with special circumstances) Platforms: MS-DOS (reviewed), Amiga, Playstation, Microsoft Windows Minimum System Requirements Processor: Intel 386 or 486 (or compatible) Operating System: MS-DOS 5.0 or higher (Provided by DOSBox) System Memory: 4 MB Hard Drive Space: Approximately 10-20 MB available and uncompressed Graphics Card: VGA or higher (If you can't meet this requirement, you must be using some old monochrome IBM junker, LOL) Sound Card: Sound Blaster/Sound Blaster Pro, Ad-Lib, Roland MT-32 or Convox (DOSBox will generally emulate a Sound Blaster) Cy-Fox's System Processor: Intel Core i7 2630QM (clocked at 2.0 GHz, quad core) Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) System Memory: 8 GB Hard Drive Space: 1 TB Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M (2 GB) Sound Card: Realtek HD Audio Codecs Review I used to look down upon turn-based strategy games. Too much complexity, not enough time. For strategy, I was raised on WarCraft I & II and StarCraft. But on a friend's recent urging (Will Dixon from CRRPG), I grabbed a copy of X-COM: UFO Defense on Steam. -End Turn- Hidden Movement -several months later- Hooked, securely hooked. After work and during break, next to CRRPG you'll probably not see me play much of any other game. Not even Call of Duty 4 can tempt me away from this colorful in-depth gem. The premise is simple, you are in charge of a secret worldwide initiative that is to research and exterminate an alien threat that stems from Mars. You have from the beginning of 1999 onwards to complete this goal. Using special aircraft, captured and reverse-engineered alien weaponry and technologies, psionics and a strategic mind, X-COM's mandate rests squarely on your shoulders.     The game has two sections, the Geoscape and the Battlescape. You use the Geoscape in a semi real-time format to manage your bases, soldiers, aircraft, research, manufacturing, finances and storage. The Battlescape comes into play whenever you have a ground mission to undertake and is the main embodiment of X-COM's turn based mechanics.  The Battlescape formula is set to where both sides operate under the same rules with the same attributes. This creates a very good balance unlike other games that may give the computer an unfair advantage by giving them unlimited moves/ammunition/etc. This is evident when the player mind-controls an enemy unit in the later stages of the game. The statistics in the formula is as follows:  Time Units: A unit's Time Unit count is deducted from by different actions which have different costs. Everything from movement, reloading a weapon, different shot types and even transferring items in the inventory has a time unit cost. Energy: Energy also relates to actions, it relates to physical actions such as walking, changing altitude For X-COM units, energy is deducted by the half numeric value of an action's Time Unit cost. Health: Essentially, how many points of damage a unit can take before they are rendered dead or unconscious. Watch this bar carefully, for a constant drain each turn indicates a possible fatal wound that needs to be addressed by a medical kit. Bravery: Bravery acts to reduce the effects of morale dropping events. A higher rate of Bravery decreases the chances that a unit will go berserk (firing blindly and expending its Time Units) or panicking (dropping its in-hand items, moving randomly and expending its Time Units). Reactions: Reactions influence whether or not a given side can possibly fire upon another unit automatically during their enemy's turn. For instance, an X-COM unit with high Reaction levels with sufficient Time Units to carry out the act, could possibly shoot at and kill an alien in the Aliens turn before that alien can fire at him or her. Firing Accuracy: A measure of a unit's skill at operating firearms. Throwing Accuracy: A measure of a unit's skill at throwing objects. Melee Accuracy: A measure of how well a unit can hit another with a melee attack (such as a Stun Rod attack) Strength: Determines how much weight a unit can carry before penalties on Time Units and Energy are enacted. It also determines how far a thrown item can be thrown (along with Throwing Accuracy).  The objective in the Battlescape also differs depending on the mission type you are on: UFO Landing/Crash Recovery: Your squad must terminate or stun all aliens in the Battlescape so that X-COM may take advantage of the crash site. Alien Base Assault: If X-COM detects the presence of an alien ground base, your squad must terminate or stun all aliens in the Battlescape so that the base may be dismantled. X-COM Base Defense: If an X-COM base comes under attack by the aliens, your squad at that base with its stores of available equipment must clear the aliens from the base. If the aliens kill all X-COM units, X-COM loses that base. If this is X-COM's last base, the player loses the game. Terror Mission: Your squad must terminate or stun all aliens in an urban Battlescape and protect civilians before they are killed by the aliens. There are two alien types present, a master race and a terrorist race. The terrorists are specialized aliens whose races descend from the master race. (Snakemen are the master race of the Chrysalids, for instance).  Success in ground missions and success in the interception of alien crafts is crucial for X-COM's continued operation, not only because of the alien technology that can be exploited (pistols don't work against Chrysalids except in dumb-luck situations, bro.) but also because X-COM is accountable to a special body known as the Council of Funding Nations. At the end of each month, depending on X-COM's ability to handle events in the respective nations' locales, each nation will either: 1)Contribute a standard amount to X-COM's operating budget, 2)Increase funding to X-COM for this review based on positive actions in that locale (for instance, USA might give X-COM a million dollars instead of a half million because X-COM successfully shot down an alien Battleship, recovered three crash sites and cleared out a terror mission in Williamsburg, Virginia with no loss of life), 3)Reduce funding to X-COM for this review based on negative actions in that locale (for instance, Canada might give X-COM a reduced or no amount at all because X-COM ignored a terror mission in Calgary and let a Floater medium scout land on Justin Bieber's house) or worst of all 4)Cut off all funding to X-COM and sign a pact with the aliens. Your score by the Council of Funding Nations has several grades: Excellent, Good, OK, Poor and Terrible. If X-COM gets two Terrible scores two months in a row or operates in debt of a million dollars or more for two months, you lose the game. So the placement of bases and operations is crucial to keep the CFN happy. Of course the concept of humanity cutting its own throat because its being a skinflint on money to its extraterrestrial combat organization is kinda crazy. Overall, X-COM: UFO Defense is a great, in-depth game to where you will have many nostalgic memories. From naming your best soldiers after your friends and watching one kill four Chrysalids a square's distance away with the basic Pistol and ragequitting when he gets whacked by a far off Heavy Plasma shot (or alternatively, when he gets mind-raped by an Ethereal and ends up turning around and blowing up the contents of your Skyranger with a Blaster Launcher). Beating it in the end gives one a sense of immense accomplishment. Scores Interface: 8/10 – The interface, while it gives you many choices and functions to work with, could particularly benefit from a help system that could explain concepts to a new player who's used to things like tooltips that would explain a button. Graphics: 10/10 – The graphics, while they are dated back to 1994, are rich and colorful, harkening back to where game development was considered artistry. Graphic designers would taking a painstaking effort to make sure every model and tile had detail and a unique style. Beats the drab, dried out of colors of your average day space-marine based FPS. Gameplay – 10/10 – The combination of management in the Geoscape with the turn-based chess-like element of the Battlescape has a near perfect synergy. Story: 8/10 – There's no real backstory, you're in charge of an organization that's to identify, outfox and outmanuever an alien force from Mars. However, you don't have all of the cards in front of you on the table. Research projects slowly unfold everything, bringing you towards (hopefully) resolution. Sound: 9/10 – Some sound effects and voices are very basic but this is compensated for with the music. Catchy, electronic synthetic music coming out of a Sound Blaster 16 that could make a generic Hans Zimmer piece sound flat. The proportion of awesome to sauce is jacked up to 11 when you hear certain fan-remixes or music from the Playstation version. Total: 90% - It's a really good game, one of many Microprose classics and for the $5 pricetag on Steam, you really have no excuse to play it, unless there's an Ethereal that's got you under Mind Control and demanding that you do something like read Twilight. |
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| Phoenix-Saturn | Feb 10 2012, 12:47 PM Post #2 |
i just wwant to be beautiful for this one month
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Did you mention how miserably difficult it was? |
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i'm actually really sorry bout this unfashionably late as alwways          I... Am... THE WEREHOG SUPPORTER! MUHAHAHAHA! *Howl* | |
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Cy-Fox
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Feb 10 2012, 12:55 PM Post #3 |
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We are still watching
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I thought this was the main point of the review.  Have you tried it yet?
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| Markiegee50X | Apr 27 2012, 07:45 AM Post #4 |
Angel Island Act 2
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How weird, I was born in 1994, heard about this game on Game Informer or Wikipedia. here's the PSX version.  
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| Markiegee50X | |
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