Which X-Com/UFO games are worth playing?

[LookingGlass]

So we have two spiritual successors to the X-Com/UFO series coming out later this year... Xenonauts and XCOM: Enemy Unknown. But before those arrive, I'm wondering what the rest of the series has to offer. My assumption is that most people would say that the original (UFO: Enemy Unknown / X-Com: UFO Defense) is the best game in the series/genre.

We have, according to wikipedia:
- X-COM: Terror from the Deep
- X-COM: Apocalypse
- X-COM: Interceptor (I beleive this is more of a space combat sim)
- X-COM: Enforcer (A third person shooter)
- UFO: Aftermath
- UFO: Aftershock
- UFO: Afterlight


Which ones are worth playing? Are there any major differences?

FYI, the UFO series is currently 50% off on GOG.

 

[II2]

I was lead to believe that the original (UFO: Enemy Unknown [UK] / X-Com: UFO Defense [US]) is the golden standard and I've been meaning to start there... That said, most people who like that will also vouch for Terror From the Deep, but regarding the others, opinions get less consistent and more patchy...

Also, on the UFO games, they're not developed by the Mythos / MicroProse / Hasboro Interactive teams that MADE the brand. I've heard they're OK, but generally only to be explored once your active XCOM games have been sufficiently MINED to death...

I dunno how apt this is, but it seems like the UFO games are to XCOM fans what "Dungeons" is to Dungeon Keeper fans... Appreciated for it's existence in a comparable alternative to a specific experience, but not actively desirable on it's own merit.

 

[Windcaler]

Terror from the deep an apocolypse are both good but I havnt played the other X-Com games or the UFO ones so I cant comment on their quality.

For me the original X-Com is a timeless classic thats hard to reimagine. Ive played xenonauts a lot and its a great spiritual successor but it doesnt feel the same as X-Com: Enemy unknown. Still I would rather have it then not have it. As for the firaxis one I cant comment since I havnt played it except to say some of their changes greatly concern me

 

[Savagezion]

We have, according to wikipedia:
- X-COM: Terror from the Deep
- X-COM: Apocalypse
- X-COM: Interceptor (I beleive this is more of a space combat sim)
- X-COM: Enforcer (A third person shooter)
- UFO: Aftermath
- UFO: Aftershock
- UFO: Afterlight


Which ones are worth playing? Are there any major differences?

I scratched out the ones I didn't like. UFO Aftermath was good but I didn't like the ones that followed.

 

[Antari]

About the only other one worth playing is Terror from the Deep aside from the origional. If you want to stick to the style. The others wander off the path a bit.

 

[Bostur]

I concur with the rest that the original and Terror from the Deep are the best. Apocalypse and Aftermath are playable but not as good.

I just want to add a little warning about Terror from the Deep. It is best suited for hardcore fans, so skip it until you have played through the first and decided you need more. The setting is contrieved and has an almost sadistic difficulty curve in certain aspects. The positive aspect is that the scenarios are more elaborate and it has a few more story encounters.

Other than that, if you like the original X-Com I also recommend Jagged Alliance 2.

 

[LookingGlass]

Is the original the best place to start? My understanding was that it was pretty tough.

 

[Antari]

Yes the first is the best place to start. Both games are unforgiving. Make sure to save often.

 

[daveman247]

I was browsing through similar games on steam earlier. I came across a game called "UFO extraterrestrials" which many seem to regard as almost x-com with a graphics update.

Apparently it was a shambles when released but quite good once it was saved by modders.

The gold edition is on steam with aformentioned saving-mods coded into the game itself.

 

[Jandau]

Well, none really...

Terror From the Deep is likely the best of the bunch, but that's mostly down to it being practically a reskin of the original game with minor changes. Also, it's brutally hard, to the point where all fun stops.

Apocalypse recieved a lot of praise, but I never managed to get into it and therefore I can't really reccomend it. However, a lot of people consider it to be almost as good if not better than the original game, so I'd say it's down to my taste on this one.

Interceptor and Enforcer are poop. This is pretty much the general consensus. Skip them.

Aftermath, Aftershock and Afterlight are low budget games by a minor developer and it shows. Rough around the edges, unpolished, but with some decent ideas. Personally, I had fun playing Aftermath, but it's a deeply flawed game, so I can't objectively reccomend it. The other two I tried for a bit and flat out didn't like. They were cluttered with crap and needlessly convoluted.

EDIT: Oh, and a word of warning regarding TFTD difficulty. The original game had a bug which always set the game to the easiest difficulty. This led people to belive that the game was easy even on the hardest setting. When TFTD was being made, the devs took those cries of "TOO EASY!" to heart and made a game that was HARDER than the HARDEST setting of the original game (which nobody really played due to the aforementioned bug). Then TFTD bugged out and defaulted to the its own HARDEST setting no matter what you selected at start...

 

[King of Asgaard]

UFO is pretty good, but Terror from the Deep is amazing, and both of which will make you want punch any living creature in your close proximity after losing your dream squad due to those bastarded mind controllers.

 

[paislyabmj]

XCOM-UFO defence is the gold standard to which anything of any form made by anything ever has to be measured by.terror from the deep is decent but if you finished ufo defence and want something similar but fresh you relay need to be playing jagged alliance 2.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Original is the best especially with third party utils.

Terror from the deep is just a re-skin of the first with worse game design like horrible difficulty spikes and hours of your life lost searching giant maps for a monster hiding in one of several closets. Only buy it if you have a major thing for stuff happening under water and like to bore people senseless with talk about lovecraftian horror tropes.

Apocalypse is sort of an ambitious unfinished mess that has a setting that is harder to relate and to and somehow has worse graphics and ui than the original. Buy it if you like ambitious unfinished games or absolutely hate to play in turn based mode.

Anything else isn't the genuine article.

 

[Zhukov]

Just go for the original.

It has a clunky interface and is terribly repetitive, but is otherwise a good game that has aged well.

 

[Iwata]

I like the first three games (X-Com, Terror From the Deep, Apocalypse). The rest, not so much.

 

[Bostur]

Is the original the best place to start? My understanding was that it was pretty tough.

It's worth noting that in typical MicroProse fashion they all have 4-5 difficulty settings and that the lower levels are quite easy.

The middle difficulty option makes a good benchmark setting, and is typically quite a lot harder than modern games.