X-COM (Collector's Edition)

List Price: $29.99 Discount Price: $114.95

Features:

• Includes: X-COM: UFO Defense / X-COM: Terror from the Deep / X-COM: Apocalypse

Accessories:
PC Gamer (1-year)	Alien: 20th Anniversary Edition [Award Series]	Aliens (Special Edition)

Customer Reviews:

Time tested and Ready for addiction [Posted on 2004-04-04]
X-com really is a carbon copy of cocaine. Once you have had a little, you will do just about anything for another fix.

Although the X-com games came out in the late 90's and are arcaic by todays standards, they are still a benchmark on which all squad based games are tested. Few games then or since have included and in depth turn based mission play with base building and RPG elements. The closest game recently to the X-com genre is probably Warcraft 3, although there are definate differences.

The mission style game play which all three games share is based around a squad of varying size, from as few as one or two to assault teams of 24 men. Each squad member is a unique induvidual with differing levels of health, stamina(number of move points) and accuracy. As members of the squad survive, their abilities grow, meaning that losing a squad member can be a damaging possibility. These squaddies are sent into a mission area that is totally dark except for the small area around the dropship itself. And until you start moving around, you have no idea what is out there. This makes for some tense playing with questions like, should I go around that corner and run out of move points or should I stay and throw a grenade. The missions themselves vary greatly, with base attacks, defenses, capture, and terror missions, where your teams must protect civilians while clearing out a location. The maps themselves are fun if somewhat canned. Each area also hase numerous levels, meaning death can come from above too.

The base building is also devistatingly fun as you must work hard to earn enough money to expand, start new bases and buy interceptors. EVery detail is here, from buying ammunition to running out of storage. And this part of the game takes on new meaning when later in the game your bases get assaulted by alien forces. Did you build in good choke points? did you have enough defenses? Altogether Brilliant.

For me, Terror of the Deep was where I started and therefore I actually prefer it. The graphics are slightly crisper and the difficulty greater. No longer do alien ships simply "dissapear" into the ocean, meaning every thing you shoot down can be attacked. But really the biggest change is that in UFO Defense, the pen-ultimate weapon has a burst fire command and in TFTD it is single shot. Trust me, it is a BIG difference.

Appocolypse, on the other hand, never really grew on me. Unlike the older games, both Aliens and Humans start the game being highly resistant to damage and thus fear of enemy fire obliterating your squad is much less. I also did not enjoy the new look of the game as much as I thought I might. But overall, if you simply cannot stand turn based combat, Appocolypse gives you a real time option (although the game difficulty ramps up greatly if you use it...).

The best reason to buy these games is that this was the last time X-com ruled the world. Most of the follow up games were either unimpressive or buggy or went unnoticed. But if you ask any serious game from the old days, all of them will fondly recount hours spent with sore eyes watching their men sweep dark alleys for an elusive alien.

Best of the best [Posted on 2004-05-01]
I first played xcom while on my first six months criuse while in the navy. We were out to sea with nothing to do but watches and sleep ,that got old quick I'd gotten loss in the ship by exploring and found the ships libary. There where a couple of guys playing a rloe playing game called magic I think. But after a while I noticed computers so I watched them for a while. I was like the graphics were kind of crappy, but the noise the people were making was distracting the people in the role playing game. I decided to investgate. There were people playing x-com and a coach for each player so I watched for 5 days trying to get on and when I did! My god it consumed my entire day. If I wasn"t playing it I was thinking about playing it. I not only was caught but got friends and family hooked. When I got out I bought x-com collecters editions. After a while games got missing and damaged me and my brother have been looking for this games ever since, I hunted it down and bought it today. I'm not going to say any about the games but there isn't another close I've checked. They don't need to make another one, just expand the ones that here.

THIS GAME WILL TAKE OVER YOUR LIFE [Posted on 2004-06-23]
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!!)

REPEAT- BEST GAME EVER [Posted on 2006-10-17]
I was once a promising student in college... That was, until I discovered my roommate's X-COM. Since that day I have been searching in vein for anything that even closely resembles X-COM. STILL LOOKING! This game is not only the best ever made, but by far the best ever not to be duplicated! I blame and thank my future on this game. BEST GAME EVER!!!

The best of gaming - even to this day. [Posted on 2006-12-14]
Original x-com (ufo defense / enemy unknown) is perhaps the best computer game ever created. Back in the day (round abouts '93), the graphics were pretty good, but that was not what made it great. The struggle that game developers face in a turn-based, tactics & strategy game is pace. If you move too slow that game is boring. If you move to fast, the game is frustrating. In addition, people have their own preferred pace. How can any company overcome this challenge?

X-COM did it - and few have done it again. It is the most additive and fun game imaginable. Just read the other reviews - they all say the same thing. To add my 2 cents, I once spent 24 hours straight playing the game. I even ordered pizza and brought cereal to the desk. Frightening.

Tactical level combat is slow and eerie, you must use your head and unsure your troops always cover each other. Finding a reliable strategy for weaker troops often works well. Once strategy is to clear the area around a ship, position your troops outside the entrance, then wait for the enemy to rush the door. We all know it - we all did it. Eventually you need to take some alive. Getting close enough to use that stun rod (which takes a lot of TU's on it own) can be tricky - and dangerous. Sometimes one use won't be enough. Then you don't have enough for a second OR a burst from your rifle. You had better hope that little sectoid is a very poor shot.

Strategic level organization is just as important. I never relied on base defense facilities - they have to be very powerful to have any chance at all. Rather, just make sure you always have troops and weapons available in every base - even if the base does not have 'mission' capability (i.e., a skyranger).

You will find that you end up paying for much of your stuff through alien loot. This you want both the missions AND the global interface. In this game they actually support each other.

Even 13 years later, I still play once in a while.

Best idea - Buy a good vintage PC, such as a 486 or Pentium I, format the disk, install DOS 6.22 (windows 3.11 if you like), install a KVM switch with your new machine and viola, you have a true DOS machine that uses your new monitor, keyboard, and mouse (AKA KVM). I did it and it is great. I have all my old favorites installed and never have to worry about 'DOSboxes' or such nonsense.

Terror from the deep is essentially the same game. However, I find it to be less addicitve. They messed up the pacing. The missions are painfully long. This is where the failure came. It just got boring. To tell the truth, I eventually installed a soldier editor to give me more TU's just so I could get through the missions before I lost consciousness. I also did not like the color schemes as much. he original game had vibrant contrasty colors, TFTD's are muted and a little boring. I think they would have done better to give some add-ons to the original.

Apocalypse: I actually like the game. The interface has a steep learning curve, which has put-off a friend or two of mine, to the extant that they stopped playing. However, when you get used to it (a long time) it works very well. I think missions and strategy are well-paced, like the original. However, the AI is much, much better. The aliens are very clever and seem to have a lot more TU's than doe your troops (at the beginning). Playing in turn-based mode is fun, but only for the x-com veteran. Real-time play seems easier, but for me it is not as fun. Suggestion - stay dedicated to learning for a while and it will pay off. It is a good game.

About this collection: This collection is prepped for 95-ME. My suggestion is just buy the originals in pure DOS format. If you have that old DOS machine (maybe 30 bucks) and a KVM (cheap these days too) you can solve all of your DOS game problems in one fell swoop.

Enjoy.

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