An all-time classic strategy game (UFO - Enemy Unknown)

Member Name: Burning_Darkness

Product:	UFO - Enemy Unknown
Date:	07/08/09 (33 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Amazing gameply, immense variety and detail, tense and exciting, full of character

Disadvantages: Ending is a let-down

UFO Enemy Unknown is an ancient but truly timeless game that requires you to defend planet Earth from an alien invasion through a mixture of shrewd resource management and tense and exciting turn-based combat. The main game screen shows a view of the Earth that can be rotated around at will- a feature that was extremely innovative and impressive when the game first came out way back in 1993 and still looks good today. From this screen you can hire scientists to research new weapons and equipment, engineers to build them and soldiers to use them against the alien invaders. You can also build new facilities such as stores, workshops, labs, living quarters, aircraft hangers and radar facilities, with which you can detect UFOs in order to intercept them with your fighter jets. Once shot down you must then send a dropship full of troops to the crash site to investigate, at which point the game switches to an isometric viewpoint of the battlefield as turn-based combat commences.

Starting initially with assault rifles, bazookas and standard-issue grenades, your men must emerge tentatively from their transport craft to engage with the aliens your fighters have shot down, and this tends to be an incredibly tense and exciting experience as your men are picked off by their otherworldly foes at every turn as you creep forwards towards their disabled UFOs across terrain such as desert landscapes, forests and farmland. If successful, all the alien artefacts are shipped back to your base for study, allowing you to develop new weapons systems and conduct alien autopsies to identify your foes' strengths and weaknesses. Aside from developing new guns and armour for your troops you can also slowly develop new forms of propulsion craft with which to hunt down UFOs and ferry your men about, as well as ways to mimic the aliens mindcontrol techniques during combat. Alien artifacts can also be sold off to other nations should you be in need of a quick cash boost. The aliens also launch terror attacks from time to time on major cities in an attempt to turn the people of earth against you (in which case countries will cut off their funding to you and eventually fall under alien control), forcing you to fight it out amidst populated town maps as the aliens try to wipe out as many civilians as they can. They will also launch direct attacks on your bases, and you can in turn infiltrate and destroy alien bases, if and when you are able to locate them, that is.

The resource management section is immensely enjoyable and engaging, and really draws you into the game's ever-expanding narrative as you slowly expand your influence around the globe and develop new weapons with which to fend off the alien menace. The turn-based sections are incredibly addictive and atmospheric, as you never know quite what is lying in wait for your men and will likely be both outnumbered and outgunned on the majority of missions. It plays much like a game of chess, with you and the enemy taking turns at moving your 'pieces', with movement and actions (such as firing weapons, reloading or throwing grenades) each taking a certain number of turn-limited 'action points' to carry out. The landscapes are all fully destructible, and both you and your enemy have a wide range of devastating weapons at your disposal, leading to some nerve-wracking battles as you lay waste to the countryside and buildings alike in an attempt to kill the alien combatants whilst watching your men getting wiped out before your eyes.

The alien craft and species are extremely varied and full of 50s B-movie charm, including bulbous-headed greys, mind-controlling Ethereals, cybernetically modified, hovering Floaters, green, musclebound Mutantmen, amorphous Blobs and Giger-esque Chrisalyds, who are all-but bulletproof andwho if allowed to get close enough will infect your men, who then turn into Chrysalids themselves. The game allows for detailed tactics and is full of cool touches- for example guns can be fired in snapshot, aimed shot and auto-shot modes, with each mode requiring different amounts of action points, and if a mission starts going really badly with lots of your troops getting killed your remaining soldiers will often panic, causing them to waste a turn by dropping their weapons and running around aimlessly or discharging their weapons out of fear, often with disastrous results.

The graphics, whist in rather low-res VGA, are nevertheless lovingly crafted and remain easy on the eye and full of charm and character, and are packed with subtle detail. This emphasis on detail and variety is present throughout the whole game, such as in the inclusion multiple ammo types (normal, explosive and incendiary) for your rocket launchers and cannons and the availability of Heavy Weapons Platforms or HWPS, miniature tanks which can be used as backup and armour for your troops. The combat is tremendously fun and packed will cool moments- for example when one of your troops is surrounded or is only a turn away from being turned into a Chrysalid you are sometimes left with no choice but to prime a high explosive and drop it at your feet, taking out both you and your enemies on a ball of (beautifully animated) orange flame.

Its an utterly addictive game that still looks beautiful and remains a joy to play today, and is one that I have fond memories of playing well into the early hours of the morning back in the mid nineties. The ending is a massive letdown after the nigh on perfect gaming experience that preceded it, and the developers had clearly ran out of time or were anticipating ending on a striking, heavily stylised cutscene such as the one with which the game opens, but other than this the game is pretty much flawless. Tense, thrilling and incredibly deep, UFO Enemy Unknown is a true gaming classic and easily one of the best computer games ever made.

Summary: A superb strategy game that is as much fun today as when it first came out