Classic Games Review

UFO: Extraterrestrials, a Microsoft Windows game developed by Chaos Concept and released on May 1st, 2007, is the long expected remake of the highly acclaimed Microsoft DOS game X-COM: UFO Defense (also known as UFO: Enemy Unknown and X-Com: Enemy Unknown), the best of the best classic fiction strategy games where you manage a global organization to protect the earth against alien invaders. Here the “remake” means it not only includes most of elements and the system of X-COM: UFO Defense such as semi turn-based team combats with war fog, research & manufacturing, recruitment & equipment and etc, but has much improvement in system, graphics, research projects and etc as well. You shouldn’t miss this remade classic PC game if you are a strategy game fan.

UFO: Extraterrestrials finally comes after the long road of X-COM series trying out all tastes of players.

X-COM: UFO Defense is the first installment of the well-loved X-COM series started by MicroProse in 1993. Soon after release, this 7 MB sized DOS-based game became very popular in North America and Europe. The combat system is “semi” turn-based, which means each side can reserve some action points to react while the other side is moving. For example, a soldier with high attributes of bravery and reaction can automatically shoot the enemies who moves into his sight in the enemies’ turn, while a low-bravery and high-reaction solder will run to hide elsewhere, as long as he has reserved enough action points in his previous turn. The maps of combats are in 3D with war fog. The cruelness of combat is like a real war, as every bullet may be fatal. It’s not losing “blood” little by little like the real time games such as C&C. In most cases in the early stage, when a soldier is shot, he immediately dies or falls unconscious bleeding on ground. You can research and develop armors to protect your soldiers better. But the bullets never have eyes. They always have a chance to kill a soldier by one head-shot. It’s unbelievable that all can be realized in a DOS-based game in just 7 MB size, but this game has really made it, because it’s “classic”!

X-COM: Terror from the Deep, released in 1995, is the second installment which is more difficult than the first. The combat fields change to under water and the maps are 4 times of those in the first installment. Although MicroProse added lots of fresh elements, it had lower rank of sales than the first installment, as players feel the first is better. X-COM: Apocalypse is the third installment released in 1997. Graphics are improved and a real-time combat option is added. But the combat difficulty is as low as a real time strategy game, as the soldiers have much less chance to die from a shot, probably because the players complained too much on the difficulty in the second installment. In addition to turn-based combat, other combat modes were also developed in the following installments. X-COM: Interceptor is developed as a flight simulation based strategy game. X-COM: Enforcer is a Doom-like game. And even there ever existed a game called X-COM: Email Games. More information about these installments can be found in the old site XCommand. But none of them was not as unforgettable as X-COM: UFO Defense. Fans even developed Windows Collector’s Editions to play X-COM: UFO Defense and X-COM: Terror from the Deep under Windows XP.

Now it’s UFO: Extraterrestrials‘ turn to reactivate our passion on anti-alien games in the most classic system. Thank you, Chaos Concept.

Finally, you are recommended to check out its Walkthrough by Shanrak. And remember to get the latest patch in the official website before playing it.

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