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X-Com Series

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 33 / 38
Date: December 08, 1999
Author: Amazon User

This game bundle is a must for anyone who enjoys a good turn-based strategy game. Fans of military strategy will also find the X-Com series appealing due to its extensive reliance on squad level tactics; When you move a soldier, it is imperative that at least one other soldier be placed in an overwatch or support by fire positon... failure to do so will greatly increase your odds of sustaining casualties. This is particularly true of missions in urban areas and aboard commercial naval vessels. (I find it helpful, whenever possible, to deploy my men in fireteams of 4 or 3 and ensure that they have complementary abilities and weapons. I also rely heavily on alien individual weapons, so that my soldiers can pick up spare ammo from the dead.) When not involved with a combat mission, the management of resources, research and bases provides an additional challenge. Regarding overall appeal and playability, my ranking of these three titles from best to worst would be 'Terror from the Deep', 'UFO Defense' and finally 'Apocalypse.'

X-COM - The best game I have ever played

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 17 / 17
Date: November 30, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I've been playing computer games for over twenty years now, and X-COM remains my favorite game ever. I loved the early missions where your soldiers struggle to stay alive, I felt joy when research turned up a powerful new weapon, and I loved the sense that your team is getting ready to attack the aliens back at their Martian base. I loved the turn-based combat, where you got to choose what your tactics would be (rather than clicking everywhere on the screen like a madman), but could still be surprised by a burst of gunfire from a second-story window.

I grew attached to the soldiers that had survived many combat missions, and was sad when a grizzled veteran lost the number of his mess when some rookie threw a grenade in the wrong place. I struggled to decide whether to pull back a squad that had already lost half of its soldiers, knowing that there were probably only one or two aliens left guarding a downed UFO.

X-COM 2: Terror From The Deep was nice because it gave you new things to see, but essentially it was exactly the same game, and as such was a mild disappointment. It was mildly pleasant to have to figure out the new technologies, and to see the new aliens....Still, I recommend you buy this game, simply to play the first X-COM. I envy those of you who are about to experience the thrill of this game.

X-com: a true Classic

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 18
Date: January 04, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I've played X-com time and time again, it is one of my all time favorites. Its kind of like an RPG in a sense, but is more interactive. The basis of the game is that Aliens are attacking Earth and X-Com, a new project set up to stop the Aliens, has to save the Earth. You recieve funding from various Contries, depending on how well you do you will get more, less, or no money. You reserch and develop the alien Technolagy and must later destroy thier base on Mars. I have not played X-Com 2 much, after I met my hirrendus fate at the hands of a industructable Lobster, but it is a fairly nice sequel. I have seen vary little of X-Com Apocolypse, but I know that it is vary different, there are new Aliens, some small, some Godzilla size. It is a vary difficult game, but is no match for skilled X-Com experts.

X-tremely cool

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: July 07, 2000
Author: Amazon User

i give this 5 stars for a varitey of reasons. i have played the original version of x-com, and it is still by far the best game i have ever used. what i find so interesting about it is all of the strategical planning that goes into it. you have to figure out where to put your bases, what to get, what to research, where and when to attack, set up certain attack methods while in a ground combat mission... i could go on and on. some people might think the graphics are too simple, but i prefer graphics that are not too lifelike. then it's just stupid. it also has a little bit of a chill factor when you play it in a dark room alone at two in the morning and have the sound effects on. the weapon equipment is also something that should not be taken lightly- especially my favorite- the HC-I rockets when used with the rocket launcher- total devastation. i also enjoy seeing the aliens killed by shrapnel from explosions. the main thing about any x-com game however, is the suspense factor. such as when you go out on a ground assault mission, and there are various buildings and structures- you don't know what could be lurking in the shadows just beyond that doorway... the last two things that i find most enjoyable are ground attacks on ufos and cities with gas stations. the ufo combat explains itself pretty much, i guess. i like the gas stations, because when you blow up the gas pumps, it has the same effect as a high explosive or a rocket... i would be very surprised if there were a lot of people out there who find this game uninteresting. sadly enough, however, there certainly are. oh, well. at least i know they wont sell out on me very fast. 5 stars, 2 thumbs up, an oscar. this game deserves all these and more!

thanks for your time, sincerely, joel d. larson :)

They just don't make them like this anymore

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: September 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I bought the original X-Com:UFO Defense when it first came out in 1994 after reading the sterling reviews for it in PC Gamer and Computer Game Review. But nothing prepared me for the addiction that awaited me and that still draws me back today, 8 years after the games initial release.

The premise is that in 1999, the governments of the world begin to see a heightened increase in cattle mutiliations, alien abductions and terror attacks from extra-terrestrial forces and form an independent international alien combat team to fight the invaders, steal thier technology, and bring the fight to them. The latest Earth-technology is given but soon after the game begins you'll start capturing alien ships, weapons and even a few of the ET's themselves. The graphics are dated by today's standards, but as with any great game the look of it is meant only to enhance a great plot and premise. The AI is fantastic as Sectoids, Floaters, and Muton Men will often exhibit good combat (albeit guerilla style) tactics.

After capturing enemy weaponry and UFO's, you can research them to discover how they work and add the info to the exhaustive UFOPedia, what has to be the greatest collection of Xenophobe's pleasuretime reading material. Aliens will discover your bases and attempt to destroy them, terror attacks on major cities and depending heavily on how well you defended them or didn't, the Host country will either lower or raise thier monetary funding to X-Com.

The most memorable moment for myself and probably everyone else that's ever played this game occurs soon after starting the game when you down your very first UFO and send in the squad to capture it, and one of your troops sees an alien for the first time (Remember that little red flashing "1" in the corner?). And the music and overall atmosphere is just impossible to describe as the combat that follows is often chaotic, sometimes resulting in the loss of key characters you've raised from the lowest ranks.

X-Com:UFO Defense is just an outstanding game in almost every respect, and I wish they'd resurface the idea and remake the game using modern technology. Or maybe not. It's sometimes best to leave a good thing alone.

Classic Strategy is never out of date

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: September 18, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This re-package of the original classic UFO:Defense (X-COM: Enemy Unknown) game and its first two sequels updates it to allow it to play under more modern operating systems, such as '95, '98, and XP. Aside from small issues(some users have to turn off hardware accelleration for graphics to get it to display correctly, and make no mistake - the 320x480 graphics in the first two games are NOT the most beautiful available) this is masterful. Classic strategic management married to turn-based squad-level combat insures that there's always something going on, always just one more thing a few turns away to get to - the old "I've just got to run ONE MORE TURN" addictive gameplay at its best!

The second game (X-COM:Terror From the Deep) is a Microprose make-over of the first, using the same game engine, with bigger levels.

The third is a completely new beast - set in the same universe with the same mix of strategic and tactical elements, but with updated graphics and an option for real-time combat, if you choose.

All in all, at current prices, this is one of the biggest bargins in gaming available today!

Best Turn-Based Strat Series Ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: December 31, 2000
Author: Amazon User

X-Com: UFO Defense is the single greatest turn-based strategy game ever made. Period. Ever feature of the game, from the pressures of maintaining economic success, to the intriguing research of the alien technology, to the slow-paced yet high stakes ground combat will have you playing through the night.By comparison, Terror from the Deep is a much weaker game which will only interest those that haven't played UFO Defense yet. It has the same basic story as UFO Defense, all of the same gameplay elements, and the same alien races and technology only thinly disguised with new names and graphics. TFTD is hardly worth playing.But Apocalypse is another story altogether. This is the first(and so far, only) X-Com sequel that deserves to be associated with the original; the several new gameplay options, most notably the real-time battle engine and a new, interesting race of aliens, mak this X-Com a worthy sequel to the original.So aside from TFTD, X-Com is an awesome series of games that no strategy fan should miss. If you haven't played at least one of these games yet, check 'em out.

The Best

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 06, 2001
Author: Amazon User

X-Com UFO Defense and Apocolypse are the best games I have ever played. UFO Defense had som much suspense and addiction that I played for three days straight without sleep just for one mission. I haven't played TFTD yet. Apocolypse is simply the best. With new aliens, a so-so story line and a new function: Real time. Once you use it, you will never go back to turn base. You can pause the game right before something hits you and dodge or find some way to block it. Plus the gravity factor is immense. I lost my best soldier from a collapsing building.

The Best Game Ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

When I first played Xcom, I was at my friends house. Even though I had a Mac then and could not play the game at home, I still would hang out at my friend's house just to watch him play that game. The suspense was awesome, and the story played itself out briliantly. We were pretty young at the time and we would both get pretty jumpy at 2am. I loved the game, even though I did not get to play it untill later on. For anyone who is searching for a classic all around great game, Xcom is the way to go. There is no other game that I have played that has sucessfully combined the components that are in Xcom.

Ufo Defense (the first Xcom) was my all time favorite. Terror of the Deep was a good sequal to Ufo Defense by combining the same ideas and graphics. This game is awesome! Dont miss out!

THIS GAME WILL TAKE OVER YOUR LIFE

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: June 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is one of the best games of it's kind. Without a doubt! I recently built an old computer just to play this game. It's got some compatability issues here and there, but the game play is great. 5 Stars, Must try. (This game almost made me fail my first semster of college - beware!!)

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