This game was brought up here: http://www.therpgsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9188

Some info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-COM:_UFO_Defense

I can not extol the virtues of this game enough. It's a memory I equate with early high school and a game that I have continued to enjoy even as its aged. Some games have that special place in my memory but I couldn't really replay them. (BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception is one, in particular, I was very fond of but no way could I try playing it now. That game, I want to point out, had the greatest twist of any game I've played. Just awesome.)

X-com had a lot of things going for it. It was first and foremost, a tactical, turnbased, squad combat game. Or whatever that's called now. And it included a LOT of genuine scares and raised heart-rates, each time you hit the end turn button. (And sometimes before!)

But the game was also a resource management game. As you built your base, you had to think about strategy since the base could be attacked and then you'll be fighting room to room in this base against aliens. And you need to have space for scientists and their labs so they could reverse engineer alien tech for you to use. But wait! Engineers need space and workshops, too, so they can build those items for you.

Oh man, I could go on forever. But not just me, in March, 2007, IGN called it the best PC game ever. (http://pc.ign.com/articles/772/772285p3.html)

Anyone else? Anyone here love this game as much I do/did? If you've never tried it, I think it's available as a free download. (I think its Abandonware, or something like that, so legal to share, unless I misunderstand this stuff.)

I think some diehard fans even remade the game with somewhat updated graphics.

X-COM is, as you say, one of the BEST and most detailed tactical games ever invented!

X-COM: Terror from the Deep is available on Valve's Steam right now (for cheap)! That was the final game in the series, and although it came from an age where more complicated=better! It's still an awesome game, as it was the final release of the tactical X-COM games.

Some of the developers made a GBA game called Rebelstar. It's pretty much X-COM turned into a tactical RPG. All the combat, none of the research, which is fun in it's own right, especially as an on the go title.

Oh, and you can play the Flash version of the game here!

Quote from: KrakaJakThat was the final game in the series, and although it came from an age where more complicated=better! It's still an awesome game, as it was the final release of the tactical X-COM games.

Just curious, why don't you consider X-com 3 "tactical"?

I loved that game!  I usually end up comparing any tactical game I play to X-com and find it lacking.  I played X-com and Masters of Magic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Magic to death back in the day!

I hate sounding like an old foggy, but where have all the good games gone?  Tactical games seem to have all gone RTS.  I can't be the only person in the universe who sucks at RTS.

Toriko: Age of Wonders was a pretty worthy MoM successor, although not quite as complex.

I almost pissed myself when I found this game for the Playstation.  I still pull it out from time to time.  My roommate and I would sit and fret over all of those poor Marines that usually got their ass handed to them.  The game gave you everything you wanted to project into it.  X-Com was one of the greatest video game RPGs I've ever played that was never supposed to be.  It scaled from playing the government down to the individual marines.  So much fun and still is.  I wish they would've made Terror from the Deep for the Playstation.

Quote from: PremierJust curious, why don't you consider X-com 3 "tactical"?

Apocalypse was far closer to an RTS than a Tactical game. Resource Management was more the focus of that game.

Gotta disagree with you there - tactical combat still had the same depth, if not more.

One, you could play it in turn-based mode if you wanted. Two, the same tactical options were still there even in real-time: lure the enemy into crossfire, have your troops cover each other, time and position explosives intelligently, use cover, etc. etc.

If anything, it was more tactical - for instance, you had to try and minimize collateral damage in dogfights as well as in ground combat, since bad relations with certain factions could hurt you in ways much worse than just reduced funding.

I have some official stories published for X-Com and TFTD, in case anyone is interested.