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"The Jet Gamer" Game Review: X-Com: UFO Defense
10 years ago
A very old game for a change. Yeah, this one really is quite old, but it is also surprisingly something I played on STEAM! Yeah, me playing something on Steam is a shocker, but I was gifted this a long while back and never got around to finishing it, so I finally took the time to do so. Don't expect me to play downloadable titles too much, but I figured I would finish this up before I get more into my Christmas stack while will keep me busy for awhile with so many long games. Anyway, onto the review.
X-Com: UFO Defense
Ah X-Com. A series that I actually do quite enjoy and I fully credit the youtube lets player, Necroscope 86 for getting me into it. I have played this game before in the past on a copy of Dos Box that someone helped me get onto my computer. This however was on Steam where you can likely have more luck getting it these days to work more easily. It is an old PC and PS1 title, so it can be tricky to find. However, let's see if it is worth the hunt to get it shall we?
Gameplay
The gameplay for X-Com here is actually pretty decent. The whole point of the game is that you need to build your base somewhere on the planet earth and then over the course of the game defense the planet from a slowly increasing alien invasion. You can make your starting base ANYWHERE on the planet where there is land, but there are easier and harder to places to put it, and depending on where you put your bases during the game, they will cost more or less to build. You then have to build your base, team of soldiers up slowly during the game. You also have to balance your scientific research to get better gear and get to the end of the game while also manufacturing equipment with engineers. All of these need to be hired and also paid for at the end of the month. So you need to keep the other countries happy by attacking and keeping the aliens away or the other nations will leave the project and not pay you anymore. You can though get lots of money from selling excess stuff you get from missions, so the more you do the better. You have a main map, the geoscape where you use radars to watch for alien ships on the map in a limited area. You can either then shoot them down with your interceptors or when they land take them on with your soldiers. If the craft isn't destroyed when shot down you can assault those as well. The ground missions with the soldiers is where you will be spending most of your time as you move slowly around the maps to find the aliens and kill or stun them to end the mission and collect your spoils, be they guns, alien parts or elerium, an alien element that is very important. You will have to build your squad up over time if they can survive and even get them psychic powers to help you defend the earth until you can find a solution to the martian invasion. Though there is a bit of an exploit with the save feature where you can save and reload if you dont like the results. This is called save scumming and yeah I used it. You can opt not to use it, but be warned if you don't use it, this game is ALOT harder as you building up your soldiers is important and doing it normally means lots of soldier death and luck as you WILL lose lots of soldiers in this game. This is no easy game and you will need to save often to stand a chance. You never know when you will just get slaughter by a bomb or a rogue mind control that takes over one of your soldiers and turns on you. You have to be ready. Overall, the gameplay is pretty thought out, but difficult for a game this old.
Story
The story of this game is small and simple but pretty effective for what it asks you to do. Pretty much the planet is being invaded by aliens and you have to find a way to not only defend it, but find a solution to the problem and end the invasion before you are either destroyed, put deep into debt, or the aliens sign defensive pacts with a large number of the major nations of the world. If any of these happen, the aliens win and the humans are conquered. It is your job to find the solution while defending the Earth. It is a pretty simple explanation and there is not much else. There is a little story here and there, but most of that comes from the research you do during the game that will explain what things are, how to beat them and ultimately try and research how to solve the problem. Still, simple but effective for what it was needed to do.
Graphics
For an early nineties game, the graphics for this game are pretty decent. They aren't good as the current remake of this game, but for the time, these were pretty decent graphics. While a bit stiff at times, I really didn't see many problems here. You can easily tell what everything is on the map as it is moving around, where everywhere on the earth is on the geoscape, and what everything in your base looks like. There is a bit of sameness with some of your soldiers in how they look, but that is just limitations of the time. You can still change their names and even then each soldier is different. While there aren't a ton of pictures in the game, really, I don't see any problems with making out anything, and I'm not I saw one graphical glitch in the game. There was a bit of slow down from time to time, but some of that I think was in the settings of hold the Steam Dos Box was configured as I was able to change some things and speed it up a bit. Either way, it looked decent for the time to me.
Sound
While music and sound is limited in this game, it does the job effectively. There is a soft mellow music on the geoscape while you are searching for aliens to arrive. You then have the low humming and tense music of when you are on the ground actually fighting the aliens with the soldiers. You have the small bits of music when you start certain types of attacks as each one is a bit different. Then there is the crown jewel of music in this game, the music that plays when an interceptor is in a dog fight with a UFO. This music rocks and you often want to let it play for a bit just to listen to how good it is. While it is one of the only long songs in the game, it makes up for it as you do want hear it whenever you can. While there could have been more music, I'm not greatly disappointed either. You can still mute the game and not miss much in the music and sound department though.
Control
Hmm, for control, I have to say they are decent. While there is the occasion where you are going to misclick the mouse and a soldier will walk somewhere you don't want to, this is often your fault as there is a button that makes it easier to switch between soldiers, just not always the one you want. Really, I didn't have much trouble with the controls at all. I can't really say much about the controls here as they are pretty standard. I didn't have really much trouble with them. It may take some time to get used to them as the buttons at the bottom aren't labeled, but once you know what they are for, they do what you need them to do.
Replay Value
The replay value here is HIGH!!! I can't stress this enough because of how open the game is. The same thing is never going to happen twice on any playthrough. While the story is going to the same and what you end up having to do is the same, what is going to happen in your missions, what is going to show up, and your luck are always going to be different. While some people can find it boring to always be doing the same thing and be going on missions, the randomness of where things end up and how accurate your soldiers and the aliens are does sort of keep the missions fresh. While you may at times be wondering how much more you need to do to get to the end of the game, the game is always progressing, be it slowly at times. Still, the high amount of random things that could happen really does keep you wanting to keep trying for better things to happen, especially if you are brave and don't use the save scumming tactics I used. The game will be a lot harder, longer and also more random.
Overall, I would say the original X-Com still holds up decently today. While some people may not like the old timey graphics and how this game is so hard. The newer remake is still hard and pretty similar to this, just a lot more updated. If you aren't keen on the graphics of an early nineties video game, then go with the current remake of X-com, but if you dont mind an older strategy that makes you have to think and manage a base while defending the earth from aliens, I would definitely pick this game up. Steam will be the easiest place to find it, but you can find it online most likely, and also the old PS1 version if it is still out there.
Overall, in my opinion at least, I give X-Com: UFO Defense an eight out of ten
Gameplay: 8
Story: 8
Graphics: 8
Sound: 8
Control: 9
Replay Value: 9
Overall: 8.5
X-Com: UFO Defense
Ah X-Com. A series that I actually do quite enjoy and I fully credit the youtube lets player, Necroscope 86 for getting me into it. I have played this game before in the past on a copy of Dos Box that someone helped me get onto my computer. This however was on Steam where you can likely have more luck getting it these days to work more easily. It is an old PC and PS1 title, so it can be tricky to find. However, let's see if it is worth the hunt to get it shall we?
Gameplay
The gameplay for X-Com here is actually pretty decent. The whole point of the game is that you need to build your base somewhere on the planet earth and then over the course of the game defense the planet from a slowly increasing alien invasion. You can make your starting base ANYWHERE on the planet where there is land, but there are easier and harder to places to put it, and depending on where you put your bases during the game, they will cost more or less to build. You then have to build your base, team of soldiers up slowly during the game. You also have to balance your scientific research to get better gear and get to the end of the game while also manufacturing equipment with engineers. All of these need to be hired and also paid for at the end of the month. So you need to keep the other countries happy by attacking and keeping the aliens away or the other nations will leave the project and not pay you anymore. You can though get lots of money from selling excess stuff you get from missions, so the more you do the better. You have a main map, the geoscape where you use radars to watch for alien ships on the map in a limited area. You can either then shoot them down with your interceptors or when they land take them on with your soldiers. If the craft isn't destroyed when shot down you can assault those as well. The ground missions with the soldiers is where you will be spending most of your time as you move slowly around the maps to find the aliens and kill or stun them to end the mission and collect your spoils, be they guns, alien parts or elerium, an alien element that is very important. You will have to build your squad up over time if they can survive and even get them psychic powers to help you defend the earth until you can find a solution to the martian invasion. Though there is a bit of an exploit with the save feature where you can save and reload if you dont like the results. This is called save scumming and yeah I used it. You can opt not to use it, but be warned if you don't use it, this game is ALOT harder as you building up your soldiers is important and doing it normally means lots of soldier death and luck as you WILL lose lots of soldiers in this game. This is no easy game and you will need to save often to stand a chance. You never know when you will just get slaughter by a bomb or a rogue mind control that takes over one of your soldiers and turns on you. You have to be ready. Overall, the gameplay is pretty thought out, but difficult for a game this old.
Story
The story of this game is small and simple but pretty effective for what it asks you to do. Pretty much the planet is being invaded by aliens and you have to find a way to not only defend it, but find a solution to the problem and end the invasion before you are either destroyed, put deep into debt, or the aliens sign defensive pacts with a large number of the major nations of the world. If any of these happen, the aliens win and the humans are conquered. It is your job to find the solution while defending the Earth. It is a pretty simple explanation and there is not much else. There is a little story here and there, but most of that comes from the research you do during the game that will explain what things are, how to beat them and ultimately try and research how to solve the problem. Still, simple but effective for what it was needed to do.
Graphics
For an early nineties game, the graphics for this game are pretty decent. They aren't good as the current remake of this game, but for the time, these were pretty decent graphics. While a bit stiff at times, I really didn't see many problems here. You can easily tell what everything is on the map as it is moving around, where everywhere on the earth is on the geoscape, and what everything in your base looks like. There is a bit of sameness with some of your soldiers in how they look, but that is just limitations of the time. You can still change their names and even then each soldier is different. While there aren't a ton of pictures in the game, really, I don't see any problems with making out anything, and I'm not I saw one graphical glitch in the game. There was a bit of slow down from time to time, but some of that I think was in the settings of hold the Steam Dos Box was configured as I was able to change some things and speed it up a bit. Either way, it looked decent for the time to me.
Sound
While music and sound is limited in this game, it does the job effectively. There is a soft mellow music on the geoscape while you are searching for aliens to arrive. You then have the low humming and tense music of when you are on the ground actually fighting the aliens with the soldiers. You have the small bits of music when you start certain types of attacks as each one is a bit different. Then there is the crown jewel of music in this game, the music that plays when an interceptor is in a dog fight with a UFO. This music rocks and you often want to let it play for a bit just to listen to how good it is. While it is one of the only long songs in the game, it makes up for it as you do want hear it whenever you can. While there could have been more music, I'm not greatly disappointed either. You can still mute the game and not miss much in the music and sound department though.
Control
Hmm, for control, I have to say they are decent. While there is the occasion where you are going to misclick the mouse and a soldier will walk somewhere you don't want to, this is often your fault as there is a button that makes it easier to switch between soldiers, just not always the one you want. Really, I didn't have much trouble with the controls at all. I can't really say much about the controls here as they are pretty standard. I didn't have really much trouble with them. It may take some time to get used to them as the buttons at the bottom aren't labeled, but once you know what they are for, they do what you need them to do.
Replay Value
The replay value here is HIGH!!! I can't stress this enough because of how open the game is. The same thing is never going to happen twice on any playthrough. While the story is going to the same and what you end up having to do is the same, what is going to happen in your missions, what is going to show up, and your luck are always going to be different. While some people can find it boring to always be doing the same thing and be going on missions, the randomness of where things end up and how accurate your soldiers and the aliens are does sort of keep the missions fresh. While you may at times be wondering how much more you need to do to get to the end of the game, the game is always progressing, be it slowly at times. Still, the high amount of random things that could happen really does keep you wanting to keep trying for better things to happen, especially if you are brave and don't use the save scumming tactics I used. The game will be a lot harder, longer and also more random.
Overall, I would say the original X-Com still holds up decently today. While some people may not like the old timey graphics and how this game is so hard. The newer remake is still hard and pretty similar to this, just a lot more updated. If you aren't keen on the graphics of an early nineties video game, then go with the current remake of X-com, but if you dont mind an older strategy that makes you have to think and manage a base while defending the earth from aliens, I would definitely pick this game up. Steam will be the easiest place to find it, but you can find it online most likely, and also the old PS1 version if it is still out there.
Overall, in my opinion at least, I give X-Com: UFO Defense an eight out of ten
Gameplay: 8
Story: 8
Graphics: 8
Sound: 8
Control: 9
Replay Value: 9
Overall: 8.5
