XCOM: The New One (meaning the reboot, not the sequel which is coming out soon, why is this so difficult, maybe they should have named it something else? At least it's not as bad as Prince of Persia)

A long while ago, I played the XCOM reboot. If you were to look back through the various posts on this blog, you'll perhaps notice one of the first games I played through was in fact X-COM, or UFO: Enemy Unknown, the first and best game in this long-running and now rebooted franchise (at least until the reboot sequel comes out, in which case I'd have to consider that one, but let's be honest I'm probably going to always prefer that classic version from my youth).

The "ant farm"

What I meant to say in that previous paragraph was that I'd covered the first X-COM, and I've played through Xenonauts more recently too. The reboot XCOM was less appealing to me, and although I also did play it, I gave up on it a long while ago. Well, this past few weeks I decided to reinstall it and try to finish it before the reboot sequel comes along. I really feel like I should give it a fair chance, since it's very popular apparently. Word is that XCOM2 is much better and so on, but XCOM1 was widely praised at the time.

Xenonauts: I Want To Believe

Previously on this blog, I've written at length about my feelings towards UFO: Enemy Unknown (also known as X-COM: UFO Defense). It's a great game, that should have spawned more sequels and imitators than it did. Of those that have been made, Xenonauts is perhaps the purest of those successors.

It's entire reason for existing is due to the love for that original game, truly a game made by fans for the fans, and it certainly shows. It doesn't blindly recreate, nor wildly re-imagine it's ancestor, but rather seeks to create something very similar and yet with a myriad of improvements and refinements.

X-COM: Mars Attacked

So this is Mars, the red planet. The alien base is surrounded by an atmospheric bubble, and with no noticeable defences we landed without incident. Odd, considering how well armed my bases are, and with retro-fitted alien technology to boot! I guess they underestimated our ability to attack them here.

Always a risk, keeping soldiers this close together

The battle on the surface of Mars is just  the prelude, and involves a scattered selection of Sectoids. They've never been the most fearsome of aliens, and now that I've got a squad of my strongest Psychic soldiers they pose even less of a threat. Since I have no need for their technology at this stage, I decide to use a few Blaster bombs, and level a few of the pyramid buildings.

A bit more spread out here, searching through these pyramid structures

X-COM: The Avenger, Assembled

It took a lot of time, a lot of money and a lot of resources, but I'm ready. My soldiers are suited up with the best armour, the best weapons and an interplanetary spacecraft. Our target is the Alien's Martian base, and we either destroy it or we perish in the attempt.

Get your ass to Mars!

With no requirement to salvage any technology from the base, I'm in an explosive mood. I've been hoarding some Blaster launchers and bombs, with this being the perfect opportunity to unleash them. Capable of smart targeting and massive damage, these have hindered my progress when the Aliens have used them. Now it's my turn to use their devastating force against them.

Here's the one I fit onto my Avenger

X-COM: Open Your Mind!

On a few occasions, I'd had soldiers become panicked, go berserk and generally be affected by the punishing situations they have to deal with. However, there were also times when individuals were affected despite being in a relatively secure position. This indicated a new form of alien attack, and my fears were confirmed once we'd researched the Sectoid brains and their Mind Probes.

It seemed the elite Sectoid soldiers, the Leaders in particular, had an amazing psychic ability. They used this to undermine the mental state of my soldiers, and in some cases even control their minds. I had to respond in kind, discovering the means of this attack and finding a way to protect my troops. First I had to capture one of their Leaders, to gain more information.

X-COM: Muton Mischief

Slow going at the moment, but I do have a few bits to talk about. I've been keeping busy with the UFO missions, up to number 60 in fact. While most of these had been fairly standard, the last couple introduced me to the best soldiers the aliens could throw at me: Mutons.

A Muton soldier, in a corn field

I'm sure you're supposed to feel abject terror when faced with genetically-modified super soldiers, but these luminous green brutes are no match for my power-armoured and heavy-plasma-toting troops. If they had appeared earlier in the game, I might have had more of a significant problem, but I think I can handle them right now.

X-COM: Interface Investigations

I've decided to take a little break at this point, since I haven't got very much new to discuss about my playthrough. So I thought I'd spend a bit of time discussing the X-COM interface. It's often criticised, but perhaps it would be helpful to go through what it does well, and what it does badly. It's also important to remember that the game was released in 1994, and interface design has come a long way since then. In a future post, I'll be comparing and contrasting to the modern XCOM reboot.

The first part of a new game: Selecting your first base location

 So here's the first point, and it's a crucial one. This game has almost nothing in the way of in-game help, no tool-tips to tell you what a button does, no in-game tutorial, no in-game manual or wiki. These sorts of things are more commonplace now, but they just weren't a priority back in the 90s. Disk space was expensive, and it was far more common to put together all this information in a single helpful place: The manual.

X-COM: The Martian Solution

With the Brazilian base destroyed, it was time to interrogate the captured leaders and find out a way to end this once and for all. I kicked the research team into overdrive, and began to build more power armour and base facilities. I knew I'd be needing some more heavy weapons, and some base defences in case the aliens came knocking.

My interrogation turned up something very important. It appears that the local base of operations for the alien invasion is Mars. The base is well hidden, and must surely contain all the equipment required to control the numerous attacks on Earth. Finding this base, and destroying it, is the only hope for mankind. At the core of this hive-like alien society, must be a "queen bee". This is our final target.

X-COM: Alien Base Assault

I guess I couldn't wait any longer. They had been taunting me for months, knowing I was scared to send my squad into their South American base. Their secret pact caused Brazil to withdraw funding for the X-COM project, and since I wasn't feeling a huge amount of threat from them I decided to leave it until I was more prepared.

I still don't feel prepared, but I'm going for it anyway! Alien base assaults are a tricky proposition, full of dark forbidding rooms and awkward corridors. It can be too easy for them to overwhelm you, especially if you are ill-equipped. There's also a slight chance that I might walk into a Sectoid base, in which case there would be psionic aliens present. Psi-attacks can cripple any force, and I have yet to do the appropriate research in order to find out which of my soldiers are vulnerable.

X-COM: The Alien Menace

Finally saved up enough money to build another base (called Shapeir of course!) and put it in North America. This should mean I get good coverage of all the highest funding countries. I've also managed to research the stun launcher, so I should be able to research all of the aliens I come across. In my workshops, I'm beginning construction of a Firestorm, which should hopefully boost my ability to shoot down larger and faster UFOs (or at least it will once I get Plasma Cannons researched too).

It's apparent I'm in the third phase of the alien invasion now, it began with grey Sectoids, moved to purple Floaters, and now the Snakemen have arrived. There's nothing particularly remarkable about the snakemen themselves, they are just generally better armed and armoured than most of the other races.

X-COM: Research & Development

My first month in charge of X-COM was a busy one, with four UFOs and a terror mission to keep me busy. While this has cost me the lives of many soldiers, it has also resulted in the capture of a variety of useful alien technology. From Alien Alloys to Mind Probes, all of this stuff will require careful research back at base before it can be put to use.

The research tree in X-COM is of great benefit to the game. It allows you to make a judgement call on what you'd like to research, opening up different benefits depending on your choices. In the early game, these choices can be very important. With few scientists to begin with, your progress will be slow on any items of alien origin, but there are a few other options to begin with.

X-COM: Terrorized

My first terror mission, something I was not looking forward to. Most missions you have a certain advantage, even when you are using inferior equipment. On a terror mission, everything changes. They have a massive effect on how the X-COM project is viewed by funding nations, and it's a very bad idea to ignore them. On the other hand, a successful mission can give you a vital boost when you receive your monthly funding.

My first problem was the time of day, it was midnight in Russia, and that's generally a very bad thing when you are considering a mission. The aliens have far better night vision, which puts your soldiers at an even greater disadvantage. I attempted the mission three times at night, but found my squad getting annihilated within a few turns. I decided to reload, and wait until daylight. Terror missions are time limited, so you have to gauge this accurately, but I did manage to get my Skyranger and fourteen soldiers to land during the day. This time, I would succeed!

X-COM: UFO Defence

Here begins my attempt to beat the classic UFO: Enemy Unknown (1994). It's a task I think I've only completed by cheating, so this time I'm going to be giving it a more honest attempt! For those interested, there's a variety of interesting things you can change with a hex-editor, with instructions only a quick web-search away (I may post about it later). I've started the game on the easiest difficulty, because strategy games aren't my forte.

Spielburg base, Turkey. In the far future of 1999!

I've decided to start my first base in Turkey, as it gives me good coverage of a large number of countries, and named it after the Quest for Glory starting town, Spielburg (all soldiers will be named after characters from that game). Obviously the next base will be for North America, as the USA is the biggest backer of the X-COM project (many people also consider it the best place to start, but I'm playing on easy, so it shouldn't be a problem).

Kickstarting: Xenonauts

I've already talked a bit about UFO: Enemy Unknown on this blog, and it's recent reboot XCOM. But there is another contender for UFO's crown, and that is Xenonauts. I was aware of Xenonauts before the Firaxis XCOM, and had been watching it closely as the small indie team worked hard to produce something amazing. When the Kickstarter revolution got underway, Goldhawk Interactive decided to try their luck, and they ended up raising over $150,000, three times what they'd asked for.

All pictures from Xenonauts.com

For their interpretation of the turn-based strategy classic, they decided to set their game in during the Cold War. It's certainly an interesting premise, and I really like the idea of the setting being in a little-used historic period rather than some of the mainstays of gaming (like WW2 or near-future). The uniting of the Cold War superpowers to combat a common enemy is a particularly nice touch.

Enemy Unknown

There are certain games that stick with you for many years, evoking strong emotions. Those games are the ones that you'll go back to time and time again, not just for the nostalgia but also because they were some of the best of their kind. UFO: Enemy Unknown (Also known as X-COM: UFO Defense) was one of those games for me. Released in 1994 by Microprose, it put you in charge of mankind's last hope of defence against an alien menace that threatened to enslave and destroy all of humanity.

A true classic, anyone that played it at the time will tell you stories of how they struggled against hidden aliens, panicked soldiers and night-time terror missions. The difficulty made the victories all the sweeter though, and the real fightback begins when you research the alien technology and turn their weapons against them.