Are the older XCOM titles worth checking out?

smearyllama

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I am a HUGE fan of XCOM: Enemy Unknown. It was pretty much my game of the year for 2012, hands-down. Great gameplay, good graphics, a functional (if a little cliched) plot. Enemy Unknown seems to have it all.
But I've been looking around on Steam and GoG, and I was wondering if any of the older XCOM titles are worth checking out at all.
From what I've heard, they seem a little more freeform, with a larger focus on building bases and such, and they look a lot more difficult.
I'm certainly up for a challenge, but I don't want something that will ultimately end in frustration.

tl;dr- Are the old XCOM games worth a try for an Enemy Unknown fan, or am I better off spending my money elsewhere?
 

sextus the crazy

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Oct 15, 2011
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I have a friend who's owned and played both.

He says that the new XCOM was too simplified, while the old one was to clunking and Complex. I agree whole heartedly. the orginal game has not aged well at all and you're better off sticking to Enemy unknown.
 

Teoes

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Jun 1, 2010
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Xenonauts will be worth keeping an eye on. Old-school X-com at heart but hopefully less clunky by virtue of being a new game.
 

lRookiel

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Jun 30, 2011
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I have UFO Defense, it's fucking amazing. :3

You can have like 30 odd guys instead of 6 which is awesome and also terrifying when the recruits freak out and start shooting each other . :3
 

smearyllama

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lRookiel said:
I have UFO Defense, it's fucking amazing. :3

You can have like 30 odd guys instead of 6 which is awesome and also terrifying when the recruits freak out and start shooting each other . :3
How's the interface? I've seen screenshots and gamplay footage, and it seems alright, but there are a lot of buttons on that control panel.
All in all, though, it sounds pretty great, from what you and others have said.
sextus the crazy said:
I have a friend who's owned and played both.

He says that the new XCOM was too simplified, while the old one was to clunking and Complex. I agree whole heartedly. the orginal game has not aged well at all and you're better off sticking to Enemy unknown.
Do you know anything about the sequels? Did they improve any of what made the original age poorly?
 

The Madman

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I still prefer the old ones in terms of gameplay. How the hell a game approaching 20 years old still boasts more complex environments, gameplay, and even AI than a game released just last year blows my mind.

Dynamic destructible environments, an entire lighting engine for night scenario, and enemy AI that acts concurrent to the player as opposed to the new game where the AI only 'activates' when you get them in your line of sight.

In the original game you'd have absolutely horrifying (No, seriously, legitimately horrifying) scenario where it would be night in a corn field, you can barely see a few meters infront of you, and there's enemy fire coming from all directions. Or you'd have that one last alien cornered in a barn and you say 'fuck it, I'm not going in there. Burn it down around him!'.

The old game let you do that. The new game unfortunately does not. Still a fun game mind you, the new one that is, and there's no denying it's a much more friendly experience... but in terms of depth is still doesn't even come close unfortunately. So IF, and that's a capital bolded IF, you're willing to work past the ye olden game interface and take the time to learn its complexities the original is beyond doubt still worth playing.

Most new gamers however are most likely to be put off by the UI and aged graphics. Gameplay however is still rock solid if you can get past those.
 

lRookiel

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Jun 30, 2011
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smearyllama said:
lRookiel said:
I have UFO Defense, it's fucking amazing. :3

You can have like 30 odd guys instead of 6 which is awesome and also terrifying when the recruits freak out and start shooting each other . :3
How's the interface? I've seen screenshots and gamplay footage, and it seems alright, but there are a lot of buttons on that control panel.
All in all, though, it sounds pretty great, from what you and others have said.
It's confusing at first, and I never used half of the buttons, just the ones for crouch (To get behind chest high walls... xD) changing the view and escaping.

Side note on escaping here (If you get the game that is) keep one guy in your ship at the start of each mission because if you forfeit the mission, anything/anyone outside the ship is left behind and if you don't have a guy in your ship, then you lose the ship as well. Which sucks... I figured that out the hard way...
 

Bad Jim

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smearyllama said:
How's the interface? I've seen screenshots and gameplay footage, and it seems alright, but there are a lot of buttons on that control panel.
There are a lot of buttons, but they do simple things. It's not hard to figure them out.

Totally check out the first one - XCOM: UFO Defense aka UFO: Enemy Unknown.
 

MopBox

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The first Xcom game is a goddamned work of art, but it hasn't aged well, the controls are clunky, there are some nearly game breaking glitches in there, and it's incredibly hard to run on a modern computer.
 

smearyllama

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MopBox said:
The first Xcom game is a goddamned work of art, but it hasn't aged well, the controls are clunky, there are some nearly game breaking glitches in there, and it's incredibly hard to run on a modern computer.
Luckily, it's available on Steam, so it shouldn't have many compatibility issues.
 

lacktheknack

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smearyllama said:
MopBox said:
The first Xcom game is a goddamned work of art, but it hasn't aged well, the controls are clunky, there are some nearly game breaking glitches in there, and it's incredibly hard to run on a modern computer.
Luckily, it's available on Steam, so it shouldn't have many compatibility issues.
Even better, it's available on gog.com, which (in my experience) has fewer compatibility issues.

You have to play it with the XCOM wiki open in another window, but it's still great fun to play.
 

gigastar

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Sep 13, 2010
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I would say to check out UFO Defence (the original) and Terror From the Deep (its expansion).

Everything else? Avoid it as if it yould give you necrotic HIV.
 

Bostur

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smearyllama said:
But I've been looking around on Steam and GoG, and I was wondering if any of the older XCOM titles are worth checking out at all.
From what I've heard, they seem a little more freeform, with a larger focus on building bases and such, and they look a lot more difficult.
XCOM UFO Defense is actually a little easier because there are more options available for the player. And there are several difficulty levels. The sequel "Terror From the Deep" is brutal, sadistic, tedious and very good.
The base building is more complex and there will be a bit of a learning curve figuring out all the available gear and the economy.

smearyllama said:
How's the interface? I've seen screenshots and gamplay footage, and it seems alright, but there are a lot of buttons on that control panel.
The UI is not the best. The button layout is ok and have some very useful functionality, but the cursor movements can take some getting used to. It's easy to give the wrong commands by mistake. The low resolution also makes it harder to get an overview of the situation. It's true that it didn't age well, but if you can get used to the UI it is a very good game.

There is a lot more depth to the strategic layer, although the tactical combat isn't nearly as well polished. It's not as strictly balanced either, some of the equipment is rather overpowered, but that goes for the aliens too.

When comparing XCOM:EU with Ufo Defense, I think the new one is very good, but also very disappointing due to the limitations.

smearyllama said:
Do you know anything about the sequels? Did they improve any of what made the original age poorly?
The first sequel "Terror from the Deep" uses the original engine with some minor improvements. The maps are generally larger and more elaborate. It's also much harder.

The third game was called "XCOM: Apocalypse". It had a very elaborate strategic layer with a more advanced economy. The new setting and graphical style was also very interesting. Unfortunately the actual tactical battle just didn't feel good, partly due to the AI lacking somewhat.

Several official and unofficial spinoffs were made later, some were ok others not so good.

There is an unofficial clone called UFO: Extraterrestrials that is very true to the original and quite decent. It does suffer from some bugs and weird UI choices though.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/37030/
 

Eric the Orange

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Apr 29, 2008
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smearyllama said:
I am a HUGE fan of XCOM: Enemy Unknown. It was pretty much my game of the year for 2012, hands-down. Great gameplay, good graphics, a functional (if a little cliched) plot. Enemy Unknown seems to have it all.
But I've been looking around on Steam and GoG, and I was wondering if any of the older XCOM titles are worth checking out at all.
From what I've heard, they seem a little more freeform, with a larger focus on building bases and such, and they look a lot more difficult.
I'm certainly up for a challenge, but I don't want something that will ultimately end in frustration.

tl;dr- Are the old XCOM games worth a try for an Enemy Unknown fan, or am I better off spending my money elsewhere?
It depends, how much patience do you have for learning a game. because the originals are much more dense and the game has absolutely no tutorial to teach you. There fine games but most modern gamers would probably quit them out of frustration or boredom trying to figure them out.
 

Master_Fubar23

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I personally still love the original xcom. I don't find it too complex but the only problem I have is that the interface is slow and clunky. If someone went and updated the interface so it doesn't take several seconds for the game to respond to a click then the game would be near perfect from that buff alone. Also has better endings than the new xcom :mad:
 

Bad Jim

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lacktheknack said:
Even better, it's available on gog.com, which (in my experience) has fewer compatibility issues.
It is not on GOG. It is on Gamefly though.

http://www.gamefly.co.uk/Download-X-Com-UFO-Defense/5001197/
 

lacktheknack

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Bad Jim said:
lacktheknack said:
Even better, it's available on gog.com, which (in my experience) has fewer compatibility issues.
It is not on GOG. It is on Gamefly though.

http://www.gamefly.co.uk/Download-X-Com-UFO-Defense/5001197/
Oh Lawd. I could have SWORN I saw it there...

WTF, brain?
 

F-I-D-O

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Feb 18, 2010
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As long as you get XcomExtender, you should be fine.
It fixes a lot of the graphical errors, as well as the "always default to easiest setting bug"
It also lets you run in a window larger than a postage stamp
If you get it, follow these instructions, and use the Dropbox link (that's Extender)
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1146530
I liked the new one, and the old ones. They are very different games, but share enough connections and a universe.
While some of your knowledge from the new ones will hurt you in the original (chryssalids are much worse, and never bite), it's not a terrible learning curve after the first two or three missions.
However, the originals are a LOT more random, and you're have to figure out some stuff on your own.
Also, buildings are fully destructible, terror missions are much worse, people miss by miles, and gas stations are terrifying.
I would recommend the Xcom classic pack on steam, as it has all of the strategy games and Interceptor (which I liked).
There's no such thing as Xcom: Enforcer. Never happened.
 

smearyllama

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Master_Fubar23 said:
I personally still love the original xcom. I don't find it too complex but the only problem I have is that the interface is slow and clunky. If someone went and updated the interface so it doesn't take several seconds for the game to respond to a click then the game would be near perfect from that buff alone. Also has better endings than the new xcom :mad:
Yeah, the ending to Enemy Unknown was a load of crap, and the last level was terrible. A shame, too, what with the game being as incredible (albeit repetitive) as it was leading up to that point.