X-COM

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X-COM is a series of computer games, started by MicroProse in 1994. The first three titles were strategy games while the fourth was an action-based space combat/strategy game. The first installment, UFO: Enemy Unknown in Europe (also known as X-COM: UFO Defense in North America) was written by a team led by Julian Gollop. MicroProse had admired the Gollop brothers work, but wanted something 'bigger'. After the success of X-COM: UFO Defense, The Gollop brothers went straight to work on X-COM: Apocalypse, which would end up being the third in the series when released in 1997. MicroProse quickly had an internal team create the sequel X-COM: Terror From the Deep in under a year as a quick cash in (hence the amount of uncanny similarities between the first two games). These first two games also show strong similarities to games such as Rebelstar and Laser Squad for the ZX Spectrum, including names of organisations such as Marsec.

All titles were developed for the PC, with a few less-successful ports to the Sony PlayStation and Amiga. The first three titles were originally developed to run under DOS, and have subsequently been ported to run under Microsoft Windows using DirectX. X-COM: UFO Defense was the best selling computer game of 1995 and is considered a true classic, and despite its age, still has a large following.

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Series standards

The premise for the series is fairly simple and straightforward, with variations among them: armies of hostile aliens have begun invading the Earth, killing and enslaving the human race. The mise en scene and trappings of the game closely mirror those of the classic BBC television series UFO.

Despite the cliche setup, the implementation is serious and carefully detailed to give an "authentic" impression:

Regardless of game, the player is put in command of "X-COM," the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit. By defending countries from enemy invasion, the force gains monetary support. Any nation may quit, if X-COM's service is deemed unsatisfactory or the nation's government has been infiltrated by the invaders. Through research of recovered alien artifacts, X-COM is able to develop better and more powerful weapons, armor and vehicles to combat the alien menace and eventually uncover their true nature.

The game takes place within two main views: the Geoscape and the Battlescape, a dichotomy that's the hallmark of the entire series. The Geoscape is where the player waits for enemy alien activity and makes strategic decisions.

While in the Geoscape, the player can view the X-COM bases (located in various locations on Earth), make changes to them, equip X-COM craft, order supplies and personnel, direct research efforts, schedule manufacturing of advanced equipment and sell alien artifacts to raise capital. The Geoscape is continuous and not turn-based.

Gameplay switches to the isometric combat view of the Battlescape whenever X-COM personnel come in contact with alien units. This can result from investigating downed enemy crafts, combatting alien terrorist activities or attacking alien bases discovered during play. Aliens may also be encountered if they manage to attack and infiltrate one of the X-COM bases.

In the Battlescape view, X-COM combatants are put versus the alien enemies. In addition to personnel, the player may have vehicles such as heavy weapons platforms outfitted with powerful lasers or rocket launchers. This mode is turn-based and each combatant has a number of "time units" which can be expended each turn. When all alien forces have been neutralized, the mission is scored based on number of X-COM units killed, civilians saved, aliens killed or captured and the number of alien artifacts obtained.

The X-COM series is known for its difficulty. Third party programs have been developed to modify the game files to make playing the game less frustrating, and to increase replay value. Those third-party programs can also make the game more difficult for highly skilled players. The most complete of these tools is xcomutil, freely downloadable from http://xcomutil.scotttjones.com/ .

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The series

Image:X-COM-Cover.jpg The complete series includes these titles:

The first two games are undeniably the most popular and most successful of the series, and the first was named Game of the Year by many gaming magazines. Apocalypse took some strange twists that disappointed many fans of the series. It introduced a real-time combat system, in addition to a modified turn-based system that was close to useless, and the creepy atmosphere was almost no longer present. After Interceptor, Hasbro Interactive purchased MicroProse and acquired the X-COM brand. Interceptor and especially Enforcer are widely considered utter rubbish by X-com fans.

Two more titles were planned for this series. Both were aborted when Hasbro shut down Hasbro Interactive in 1999 and 2000.

Hasbro sold all of its Hasbro Interactive intellectual property to Infogrames (now Atari) when it shut down the studios. Atari now owns the X-COM label, but according to insiders, never plans to revive it.

On the other hand Cenega / Altar Interactive have created UFO: Aftermath(2004) and UFO: Aftershock(2005)(a sequel based on a key decision made in UFO:Aftermath). These games use the same setting and gameplay: The earth is in great danger by an extraterrestrial threat. However, these add an RPG element, where soldiers gain 'skill points' that the player assigns to gain new abilities, the ability to increase skills in-base(by training), and faction loyalties(As XCOM: Apocalypse, however this feature only appears in UFO:Aftershock)

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"Spiritual" successors

Because of the game popularity, other game developers have created games similar in theme and tone of the X-COM games. The levels in which they borrow from the original series varies.

UFO: Aftermath is a 2004 singleplayer game heavily influenced by the X-COM series. During its development, the developers solicited comments from the X-COM fan community. But they emphasized that their game, though similar, is not an X-COM game. It takes place in the aftermath of UFO attacks on Earth.

UFO: Aftershock, the sequel to Aftermath, released in 2005, is a very similar game with upgraded graphics and some minor and major improvements. Like the last, it is not an X-COM game by name, and differs quite a bit in strategy. It takes place after man has been forced off of Earth, and details the effort to retake it.

In 2005, developer Codo Technologies (made up of several members of the original X-COM team), and publisher Namco released Rebelstar: Tactical Command for the Game Boy Advance. Though not officially part of the X-COM series, the combination of its turn- and squad-based combat system and alien invasion theme has caused many fans to embrace the game as the spiritual successor to X-COM.

Codo Technologies also released Laser Squad Nemesis in 2005, which has gameplay similar to the first three games in the X-COM series.

A scenario/mod for Civilization 2 had the same situation and units as X-COM, but it was based on Phobos, and it was fairly simple compared to the real game.

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See also

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External links

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General

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Fan-made games

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Newsgroups

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