Of course, if they gave it a new title, I wouldn’t have to include the year.

As I suspect was the case with most people who played the original X-COM games, the original announcement of a new X-COM game was a source of hope rapidly followed by a sense of disappointment. The problem being that outside of generally being about aliens and having “XCOM” in the title, it had almost nothing to do with the, and let’s just be honest here, better X-COM games (why have both new “XCOM” games dropped the dash?). By this I of course mean the first two. The funny thing about the series is that it isn’t really a game where you can say it was never really given a chance. The series had copious numbers of sequels and spin-offs. Whilst some of them had some redeeming features, for example, Apocalypse had its moments, and Interceptor’s management part was actually kinda fun – they just didn’t recapture the brilliance of the first game.

X-COM: Enemy Unknown - yes, there was a version called that.

What was the magic factor that made the game so great? Mostly, for me, it was the atmosphere. In many respects the original X-COM was a horror title with an oppressive sense of dread, the subtle ambient music score combined with the night-time terror missions grab your attention so thoroughly as to block out all other stimulus setting you up for that definitive moment you hear the sound of a Chryssalid zombifying a human. If that didn’t just send a shiver up your spine I would recommend giving the game a go. It’s on Steam (I believe they have it as X-COM: UFO Defense on there, but it’s also been called UFO: Enemy Unknown and X-COM: Enemy Unknown) and still very awesome, but a little hard to get into at first. I would recommend getting it for the original Playstation, but that’s not so straight-forward.

The recent news that there was going to be a new, new X-COM game mostly engendered confusion more than anything else. By Firaxis, who are, of course, the people behind Civilisation Revolution. And turn-based. Now, myself personally, I’ve been wanting an “HD remix” treatment of X-COM: Enemy Unknown for some time, add all the extras you want, but make them optional. However, a fully-fledged new game by one of the few companies successfully making popular, well-selling, and most importantly, very good, turn-based strategy games is possibly even better. By few, I mean they’re the only one I know of. So I’m delighted.

Of course, due to my recent articles, I’m wondering if XCOM: Enemy Unknown will be done with Gamebryo like the last few Civilisations.

N.B. The Playstation version has three big advantages. CD quality music rather than MIDI, MIDI is fine, but the software MIDI decoding that most modern computers will use does a terrible, terrible job. Proper cutscenes. Consistent fixed running speed. Best played with a Playstation mouse.