X-Com - what to buy?

I remember playing X-Com UFO Enemy Unknown (which I believe was sold as UFO Defense in USA/Japan) years ago and being very taken with it. I still have it, although I've not installed it on any current PC and it's years old now.

I hear that the version offered by Steam has a number of bug fixes etc plus I suppose it's more likely to run without problems on up-to-date kit?

I really fancy playing the game again. So just wondering ...

1 Is it worth spending just £3 to buy X-Com from Steam for the fixes etc.
2 Is it worth buying the whole set from Steam? I know some of the follow-ups were not considered that great but I think they are asking about £9 or £10 for 4 games, which seems a bargain if there is just one other game, apart from Enemy Unknown/Defense, which is worth having.

All advice much appreciated

Sometimes the X-Com Collection goes on sale on Steam for usually £2, but it depends if it goes on sale again.

That would be a bargain indeed Have you played any of the later games and are they worth having? Or are they so disappointing that I'm better off just sticking with the original and saving a few pounds?

It depends on your point of veiw. Xcom 2 and 3 are usually hated(Xcom2 was a just Xcom1 underwater, and 3 doesn't really feel like a Xcom) but I like both.

They have their own little quirks and neat features. Xcom 3 has gravity(shoot out a wall and the building will start to fall down) and the option to have real time combat and not turn based. And Xcom2 has some really hard aliens to kill, ones that may have you kicking and screaming at the computer for "cheating" and a somewhat harder research tree.


But I'm just a big fan that can see past several glaring faults in the sequels. Basically if you can get the whole set for a good price(I got mine for $15) I recommend buying the set(but I would spend $15 just to get my hands on Xcom1)

Ok, here's my take.

1.) X-Com UFO Defense (a.k.a. X-Com 1) is great. Everyone knows this. It's well worth the $5.

2.) X-Com Terror From the Deep (a.k.a. X-Com 2) is basically X-Com 1 reskinned and with a few more options. It's not all that different, but you get to play anew and discover some new species and such. It's fun. Also worth an additional $5 in my opinion.

3.) X-Com Apocalypse (a.k.a. X-Com 3) is very different from the first two, but I still found it enjoyable. It takes some getting used to, though. Again, worth another $5, in my opinion. Even if you only find it mildly entertaining, it's $5! You can get a meal from Taco Bell for $5 that you'll find "mildly entertaining" at the start and which may leave you....less entertained about an hour later. And X-Com Apocalypse won't have you making a run to the border an hour after you play.


Now, as for X-Com Enforcer and X-Com Interceptor, I've not heard good things about either game. But consider the following:

Each of the first three X-com games is about $5 a piece.


The package of all FIVE X-com games is about $15.

So, if you planned to get 1, 2, and 3 anyway, you might as well get all 5 for the same basic price.

Misotu said:

I remember playing X-Com UFO Enemy Unknown (which I believe was sold as UFO Defense in USA/Japan) years ago and being very taken with it. I still have it, although I've not installed it on any current PC and it's years old now.

I hear that the version offered by Steam has a number of bug fixes etc plus I suppose it's more likely to run without problems on up-to-date kit?

I really fancy playing the game again. So just wondering ...

1 Is it worth spending just £3 to buy X-Com from Steam for the fixes etc.
2 Is it worth buying the whole set from Steam? I know some of the follow-ups were not considered that great but I think they are asking about £9 or £10 for 4 games, which seems a bargain if there is just one other game, apart from Enemy Unknown/Defense, which is worth having.

All advice much appreciated

Click to expand...

I'd say go for it! I just bought it from Steam and am having a wonderful time with it. That is the original X-Com, not any of the sequels. I believe they have improved the AI intelligence; the aliens are not so easy to ambush as they used to be.

Really helpful - thanks for taking the time to reply Solo, Esckey and Ojevind.

I will take your advice and hand over my dosh for the whole bundle

Solo4114 said:

2.) X-Com Terror From the Deep (a.k.a. X-Com 2) is basically X-Com 1 reskinned and with a few more options. It's not all that different, but you get to play anew and discover some new species and such. It's fun. Also worth an additional $5 in my opinion.

Click to expand...

It is also a heck of a lot harder than #1, mainly because of the larger combat maps. And some tougher opponents.

Misotu said:

Really helpful - thanks for taking the time to reply Solo, Esckey and Ojevind.

I will take your advice and hand over my dosh for the whole bundle

Click to expand...

I brought the bundle even though I already had all the games!!!!

The bundle's worth it, even if the last two games suck, in my opinion. You basically get the old games, but made to run on modern rigs. That's easily worth $15. Hell, the first game alone is worth the $15.

I'm running the steam version. (of the original) it's very easy to use, opens it's own dos window, doesn't need the computer to be slowed down etc. You can't minimize it, or it will freeze, but other than that you can play as normal.

I played one full game when I got it, and I'm in the middle of another game right now. I alternate between that and Fallout New Vegas.

I never played any of the other X-coms, they seemed vastly inferior to the original.

I tried to buy the bundle today using PayPal - there's some kind of problem, not to do with my account which I know is fine.

I should just have used a card, might have known PayPal would be a problem. Now I have to wait as it seems like it is trying - but failing - to get the payment. No response from Steam support either so far ...

Misotu said:

I tried to buy the bundle today using PayPal - there's some kind of problem, not to do with my account which I know is fine.

I should just have used a card, might have known PayPal would be a problem. Now I have to wait as it seems like it is trying - but failing - to get the payment. No response from Steam support either so far ...

Click to expand...

My poor friend! I'm in the middle of a game now and having a real ball.

Don't use PayPal, EVER. They are a horribly unreliable and inconsistent company.

Just recently they shut down the account for an indie developer because "they don't shi pa physical product" when 100s of other buisness sell digital products using PayPal too and aren't being investigated.
http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showpost.php?p=25865&postcount=56

Leifmk said:

It is also a heck of a lot harder than #1, mainly because of the larger combat maps. And some tougher opponents.

Click to expand...

Nah, that's because X-COM1 has a bug that sticks the player with the beginners difficulty, no matter what they choose (http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Known_Bugs#Difficulty_Bug). TFTD is more difficult because, well, there are actually different difficulty levels.

regardless of difficulty, those crab/lobstermen guys are freaken tough.

EDIT: http://ufopaedia.org/

Those of you who have not bought X-Com yet are in luck!

X-Come Complete is on sale on Impulse for $5.07 (Canadian, USD price is probably $4.99).

t0mme said:

Nah, that's because X-COM1 has a bug that sticks the player with the beginners difficulty, no matter what they choose (http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Known_Bugs#Difficulty_Bug). TFTD is more difficult because, well, there are actually different difficulty levels.

Click to expand...

That's emphatically not my experince. On the higher diffficulty levels in X-COM 1, the aliens come more frequently and are nastier, bolder and more intelligent. I promise you.

Son I'll be going to Cydonia! I only need an alien Commander and some trained telepaths first. I prefer a crew which has all been tested for resistance to psionic attack. And at least two of them should be skilled at taking over the minds of the aliens and make them do your work for you.

All the same, the Cydonia ending is the most boring party of the game, IMO.

I started a new game on a higher difficulty level. There are a few rather annoying bugs I don't remember, but the game is definitely harder than before. Simply attacking everything in sight and getting rich and building bases everywhere with all the goodies you want just isn't an option any longer. Yesterday, I fought an extremely nasty battle at at terror site (Novosibirsk) Of my 12 man squad, 7 were killed by cyberdisks or by each other, because there was a sectoid leader who took over several guys time and time over, or made them panick or go berserk. I was firmly resolved to capture the sectoid leader and succeeded, but by then I was left with 2 soldiers who had proved themselves completely immune to psionic attacks (one of them fortunately, was the Colonel herself), one who panicked and ran away when his squaddies were all slaughtering each other, but he recovered and sneaked back to fetch his weapons - and his running away probably saved his life - and two squaddies who had been almost permanently under alien mind control until the sectoid leader was finally knocked out of the fight with a stun rod. Most of the squaddies not killed in heaps around the aircraft by each other or by the three cyberdisks on Main Street to the tail end of the aircraft were killed fighting some sectoids in a shopping mall across another street while being shot at by their own mates from beind, but they managed to take three of the four sectoids there with them. The fourth one lurking in the shopping mall had a small launcher and knocked one of the few trustworthy soldiers out of the game until quite late - and this soldier was at the extreme opposite end of the battlescape - outside a villa adjoining Main Street north of the aircraft. There he lay while my Colonel and a few trusty men were trying hard not to get killed (with mixed results, to put it mildly), and to find the sectoid leader. The Colonel fortunately had a heavy laser and killed one cyberdisk and a sectoid with it; the other two cyberdiscs were taken out with a high explosive by a squaddie before he was killed by someone who had been taken over by the aliens. I didn't know there was a *third* cyberdisk; there being two of them killed by the explosive was a nice surprise. In the end, another good man (who survived the battle) took out the sectoid leader with a stun rod, and then the two squaddies who had been constantly under psionic influence for most turns served as sqouts locating the last sectoid while my Colonel revived the good man who had been knocked out by a small launcher. The two squaddies who had been under psionic control sniffed out the one remaining sectoid in the ruins of the mall. (I sacked them both once back at the base, though.)

My squad was cut to pieces, but it did perform its stated goal. So I was a bit annoyed at the game declaring my rescue of Novosibirsk "poor"- granted, most of the inhabitants were dead, as were most of my squad - but I got a sectoid leader in May! Researched him at once. Building a psionic lab now. Would build one at the other garrisoned base too if I had the money.

Still - 7 squaddies dead out of 12, and two of the others had to be sacked imemdiately afterwards as complete patsies for alien mind control. And one of those two was one of my elite soldiers, apart from his complete susceptibility to alien mind control. Oh, well. I wish the game included a roll of honour at the end - all the good soldiers killed or "missing in action" during the game, and a special list of survivors with enlistment dates, rank and stats. (I amways take care to rename the squaddies - easier to remember them and their skilll and weaknesses that way.)

Now, towards the end of the same month of May, there is *another* terror site- in Casablanca. Sending my first squad there (I have a backup squad at another base by now for cleaning out minor business), but if it's sectoids this time too, I think I'll pull my First Squad out again. Still, this time they have a laser tank with them. We'll see.

Loving it.