XCOM Series

Is now on Steam

By RonLugge on January 13, 2009 4:12:13 PM from

Now, for those of you have been gamers for ten years or more, the name 'XCOM' may bring up fond memories of mashing at your keyboard, screaming in frustration because the aliens just threw a grenade right into your gigantic clump of troops on the first turn.

If you're an utter newb, anyway...

./whistle

Anyways... for those of you who know of XCOM (or would like to learn), Steam has the complete series up for a mere 15$ total. I haven't mentioned it to you guys in the last few days (hence costing you 10$ because I grabbed it at 5$ total, sorry) because I've been busy... ah, 'testing' the compatability fixes they applied to XCOM Apocalypse -- I can get the first two working via DOSBOX myself, but I never managed to get a decent run of XCOMA since I stopped using '95 -- something like 10 years ago. I got it kinda-sorta working under 2000 and XP, but only kinda-sorta. Now, Steam is selling a 'fixed' version (some tweaking required: they include a .iso file for a CD image that you should open up and copy files out of to turn the install into a full install to avoid intermittent errors and being unable to use utilities like XED to fix the INSANE base starting designs) that works under Vista (again, some tweaking required -- go to program files\steam\steamapps\common\xcom apocalypse, find the 'dosbox.conf' file and chage output=surface to output=ddraw to avoid possible graphics corruption issues).

These games are incredibly fun, if a bit frustrating for a new player. They harken back to the 'good old days' of gaming, where games actually CHALLENGED you. Even on Easy, XCOM and TFTD are very difficult -- but quite winnable.

And at 15$, can you afford not to try it out?

+61 Karma | 20 Replies

Been playing this lately, brings back some old, old memories. I wish someone would do a true sequel to this and include multiplayer support. Back in the day, my friend and I would do ghetto hotseat multiplayer, each taking control of half the squad on missions.

The only other game we did that with was the first Civilization, and they eventually wisened up and put Multiplayer support in sequels

I've heard rumors that sid meier acquired the rights to xcom and has been tossing around remake ideas. Those rumors have existed for 2+ years, but no screenshot have ever appeared. Here's hoping.

I wish that they would remake them, better graphics but still the same gameplay.... hours I spent defeating those bloody aliens...

A spiritual successor to X-Com is the UFO series ( Aftermath, Aftershock & Afterlight ) Good graphics and gameplay but X-Com has just that little bit more. Aftermath is the best I reckon the other 2 not too bad but buggy...

I know I'm asking to be shot, but...

X-COM Apocalypse was my favorite X-COM game and, honestly, might be my favorite PC game of all time.

Quoting RogerSmith13,

reply 4

I know I'm asking to be shot, but...

X-COM Apocalypse was my favorite X-COM game and, honestly, might be my favorite PC game of all time.

I'm not sure about 'of all time', but Apocalypse is also my definite X-Com favourite.

Quoting RogerSmith13,

reply 4

I know I'm asking to be shot, but...

X-COM Apocalypse was my favorite X-COM game and, honestly, might be my favorite PC game of all time.

TFTD was my fav...but only because I liked the underwater aspect. I will definitely get over to Steam and get these (also need to get ready for the beta for DoW 2).

Like everyone else, I spent many, many hours on these games. God, every time I took out one of the main ships in TFTD, I thought I just had to be done. But NNNOOOOOO, there were more to kill. Gid, I loved that game. The whole series and the extensive research patterns, and everything else. Man, the memories.

Gotta love XCOM.

im very close to agreeing on choosing apocalypse as my all time favorite as well. I just played through it again a couple of minths ago, and no other game has come even close to reproducing the same flow of battle.

X-Com apocalypse, the game I spent the 2nd most time on in my life. Fighting for credibility with the gangs, air-vehicle combat, storyline, graphics... this game had it all.

There are quite a few other games on the same vein.

Fist there are the commercially made UFO: Aftershock, UFO: Aftermath and UFO: Afterlight, which are pretty decent.

Then there's the open source UFO: Alien Invasion which is free software and very nice to play (plus it gets improved all the time and this will never go away as long as there's a community around it)

Project Xenocide is one that tries to recreate the same exact game that XCOM was (but with improved graphics). It's free software as well but after 6 years of development It looks like it will never finish.

And then there's Microsoft's own UFO:Extraterrestrials which I haven't played but I read is supposed to have the same storyline as XCOM and the same gameplay.

The Commercerially Ufo Afterxxxxx Games are Real-Time based. They are not bad, but the best of them is in my sight Ufo Afterlight.

I have nothing more to say for Ufo Alien Invasion. db0 have all said already.

Ufo Extraterestials is commercially too like the Ufo Afterxxx games. The Original Ufo ET seems like the XComgames. But in XCom you didn´t had triggers. The Triggers give in Ufo ET the Aliens more powerfull Weapons and new Aliens are coming. There are 4 Triggers in the Game. The Triggers are make on by the Player on in a special Parts (like Plasma) of Research (be carfully there). If you play Ufo ET play it with the UNI-Mod, because in the normal Game only give the Triggers and some Parts of the Story Motivation to play on.

Btw. I had read, that a new XCom Game will be planed and produced. But don´t ask me, who produces it.

i loved the first Xcom; UFO defense..

only played on basic difficulty (and it was HARD.. and FUN)so many fond memories of my troops getting utterly owned,demoralised, blaster'bombed, zombified, and me managing to get a victory with a bunch of rookie soldiers..

Or when i invaded mars with 4 basic tanks and two soldiers.. and won. losing only the tanks at the surface combat.

I did a little research and have come to find out that Take2 now owns the rights to the XCOM franchise and one of their subsidiraries (sp?), namely Irrational Games, is working on a new "Secret" project. It is widely suspected that this project is a new sequel to the XCOM game. HOWEVER, this has not been confirmed. But, if you would like to read an interesting article, then check out this link...

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/45797

I think IMO that this is a strong possibility for the secret project to be what a LOT of people out here want to see happen.

A NEW XCOM GAME!!!

I want one.. like the first, but with an user interface that dont make my eyes bleed and an alien force that dont have magical factories that build battleships by the hundred for free at the endgame..

Hey, man... do yourself a favor and please download X-Worlds to plunge right back into the greatest *tactical combat* simulation PC game(s) of all time (between the 80's to mid 90's - that is!).

Right now, i'm actively developping Interceptors, Mantas, Avengers, Annihilators (etc) for this mod, let's just say that i kept the best for last. General Stores, Cydonia, zRbite, Dimension Gates -- it's all in there already, with plenty of major Races to spare.

DosBox was a miracle in my miserable floppies life... i've since gone to Vista gimmicks, but i still pop in a Geoscape, MegaPrimus or two once in awhile if only for the yet-to-be-matched-by-others thrill rides.

(About Meier's claim to the franchise; unless someone actually DOES work --and releases it-- on a worthy successor to the Legend, it's all b***it as many situations proved it to me in the notsofar past. Too bad the Gollop Brothers are still stuck with their very own little jewel of a similar game; LaserSquadNemesis.)

I heard someone in Europe has something called "Cydonia's Fall" in the gutter, though. We'll just have to wait (again) and see! Here's an Interview link for it...

http://www.strategycore.co.uk/pg/ufocfinterviews

I have the original version when it was called UFO-Enemy Unknown on the Commodore Amiga

While not involving aliens a great game in its' own right is Silent Storm and the sequel Sentinels. Imagine X-com tactics with teh ability to take out half a building.

Very cool tactical game. Combined realtime/turnbased kind of a mix of X-Com and Jagged Alience. It uses the havoc engine and you can get some very realistic battles. I heard an enemy on the 3rd floor (I was on the 1st) so I had my heavy weapons guy shoot up through the floor and get him. It aslo did enough damage to the floor the body came crashing down to teh 1st floor.

I was playing Silent Storm yesterday and shot a guy with my handgun point blank in the chest, head, arm and then 1 more in the chest and he was still standing! My last shot was in the leg which caused him to fall back and out a window to his death but of that I am not sure. I lost site of him after he fell through the window.
I sent all my guys/gals to the basement of the house and had them line up against the far wall facing the stairs. I could hear the Nazis on teh floor above walking around and one was coming down the stairs. In the corner by the stairs there was 2 barrols of gas so instead of waiting for the soldiers to come down the stairs I shot the barrols. *KA-BLAM!!* i took out the stairs and about 1/2 of the floor above killing the Nazis on the 2nd floor as it dissapeared and they fell to their deaths.

The first trainging mission instead of shooting through the window at the soldier I aimed for the propane (??) tanks against the far wall and it blew out 1/3 the wall and roof. The blast threw the soldier flying through the window and head first into a telephone pole across the road.

If you have Windows mobile, I suggest you to download the russian remake of this game. It is free and it is the first XCOM, Enemy Unknown. You cannot set the difficulty level (it is something between normal and hard), but it has the same look and feel and gameplay as the original game. Here are the details

Lol at lugge....you keep popping up in the same places I do (you are just more nickname loyal then me )

Quoting MooiNiet,

reply 17

Lol at lugge....you keep popping up in the same places I do (you are just more nickname loyal then me )

I don't always go by Ron Lugge, though

yeah, I took the step to try it out. I don't know what all the features are yet ; I have just been playing by finding what buttons DO work and using only them (like when the aircraft nears aliens, there are like 10 buttons, and I only have found a use for like 2 of them)

Gotta love UFO:Enemy Unkown (EU name for XCOM:UFO Defense btw) dunno how many times I've played that through
Got the original 3.5" FDD disks, box and manual somewhere around here ^^

Man those games deserve some serious respect

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XCOM Series

Is now on Steam