It is now 2084. Earth’s environment has collapsed in the five decades since the war beneath the waves and as a result massive self-contained cities have been built. These have survived and prospered over time, relying on resources from colonised planets. X-COM Apocalypse takes place in Mega-Primus, the planet’s foremost megalopolis, built in a retro 1950s style. Inter-dimensional gates have opened above the city — at first they seemed benign, but they are in fact portals to another realm inhabited by an entirely new race of hostile and dangerous aliens. Strange creatures are reported with increasing regularity, and unidentified craft begin to appear out of the gates. X-COM must once again step up to investigate this new threat and protect the city from harm.
The same fundamental mechanics are involved in Apocalypse but with a lot of added complexity and detail. You still have to balance funding, equipment and research but now you must keep powerful corporations happy and alien-free instead of governments — should a faction become angry or infiltrated you face attacks from them as well as the aliens. And since you fight above a city you also have to minimise collateral damage, which affects your performance and funding.
Gameplay once again takes place in two main arenas. Cityscape is analogous to Geoscape and presents an overview of bases, research etc, and allows you to launch UFO intercepts. Tactical combat is similar but with much larger multi-level maps and the option to play out missions in either turn-based or real-time. While each requires a very different approach (which can be a lot of fun), real-time mode is well implemented and intense, and will appeal to players who prefer faster pacing. Fortunately, for those who prefer to think out every move, turn-based mode is just as good as the preceding games.
The overall style is less creepy than the two previous titles, being brighter and more colourful. The aliens themselves (and their unusual biotechnology) are almost cartoonish until they eat the brains of one of your valuable agents or wipe out a squad with a well-placed missile. The graphics are a large step up with much better detail and design — as you fight aliens throughout the city you will encounter a huge range of building layouts and interior art, and once you infiltrate the alien dimension there is a whole new set of places to explore.
Bottom line: While not as ground-breaking as UFO Defense, Apocalypse has the same satisfying gameplay with better pacing and broader appeal and is probably the most enjoyable of the X-COM series as far as modern gamers are concerned. 90/100
Interceptor takes place in 2067, before the events in Apocalypse. You control a space station charged with protecting the colonies and mining stations of human-inhabited space from the same aliens encountered in UFO Defense.
As with the other titles in the series, resource management and research are of primary importance and you must keep your funding secure. The main interface shows you a sector of space where you control and expand bases and dispatch probes, allowing you to monitor for alien activity. Your enemy will attack you, friendly ships, and the various outposts under your protection; to defend against this threat you have a fleet of starfighters at your disposal.
Once an interception or attack against an alien outpost is underway you find yourself behind the controls of an X-COM spacecraft with several wingmen to aid you, controlling it in typical space combat sim fashion. Over the course of the game you’ll pilot a variety of different fighters against an array of enemy craft and installations. Controlling your ship is what you’d expect from a space sim, with good support for both mouse and joystick operation. Space battles can get repetitive after a while, and it’s only the prospect of new research and equipment that keeps things moving. Radio chatter from your wingmen as they taunt the enemy can be entertaining – one pilot is fond of saying “This one’s for snatching Mulder’s sister!”.
Bottom line: Interceptor is a competent space combat sim with some good resource management. But despite its unique style there are better and more enjoyable titles from this era such as the excellent Descent Freespace. 61/100
During the global conflict which played out in UFO Defense, Professor Able Standard was hard at work in his secret underground laboratory. Desperately trying to combine advanced robotics with captured alien technology he created a super-soldier capable of effectively battling the extraterrestrial foe — the Enforcer.
X-COM Enforcer is a straightforward third-person shooter with little depth or complexity. While competent and fairly entertaining, it lacks the uniqueness and appeal of the various other X-COM titles, and besides gunning down hordes of alien critters it has little to do with the main storyline. There is a good variety of weapons and upgrades available but nothing remarkable or original.
Levels are varied but linear; including redneck trailer parks and bowling alleys, and some truly funny bonus areas such as a WWE-style tag-team Muton battle. The Enforcer will occasionally deliver taunts — hearing it utter “You have been enforced”, “Get off my planet” and “This is a game I need to buy” in a robotic monotone while blowing Reticulans into little green chunks will elicit some chuckles.
Graphics and sound are decent for a game this age, with resolution options going all the way up to 1600 x 1200. A notable downside is the lack of a save feature — failing a level means starting it from scratch, but since Enforcer is rather easy this is seldom a problem.
Bottom line: With no outstanding features, Enforcer is average at best, even for diehard X-COM fans. 56/100
All of the X-COM games are available from Steam at this link.
