Apocalyptic (X-Com - Enemy Unknown (PC))

Member Name: B0nfire

Product:	X-Com - Enemy Unknown (PC)
Date:	01/07/00 (11 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Game with loads of depth

Disadvantages: Ropey graphics

The last game in the X-Com series takes us even further into the future – where the human population of the Earth is concentrated in one large city. X-Com is resurrected in order to deal with an Alien threat from another dimension, and have to keep all of the different corporations and political parties happy in the process.
This game marked quite a radical shift from the previous two. Thankfully the designers have learnt from Terror from the Deep and really worked on the game dynamics, to the extent that it now takes place in real-time <sharp intake of breath from the readers>. That’s right, all of your little guys run around and fight in glorious real-time, although purists can choose to retain the original turn-based design.
The main game sees you trying to shoot down craft as usual, but you can do some interesting things. These range from stationing tanks and troops in normal buildings to attack the aliens (there are a few interdimensional portals dotted about, so you know more or less where the attacks will come from) to attacking hostile groups to reduce their political influence. You can even watch where the aliens are dropping troops off, wait until the UFOs have cleared off, then send the boys round to ‘sort em out’. If you let things get out of hand the different parties will get infiltrated and turn against you – not a good thing.
The combat sequences are excellent too. The graphics are a bit poor (in fact, one of my mates can’t stand to play the game because of them – although I think this is a little excessive), but they do their job nicely. Your soldiers can have their AI set to react in different ways, and they usually react how you would hope (stand their ground, seek cover if attacked etc.).
Eventually you find a way to follow the aliens back through the portals and can take the battle into the alien dimension. This adds an extra element to the gameplay, as you can send supplies ba
ck and forth to your men on transports and destroy different alien facilities.
However it still falls foul of the same problem as it’s predecessors; the game begins to drag. I accept that there’s no way around this, but I still begin to lose interest as the game wears on. I probably have myself to blame slightly for not expanding my facilities as quickly as I could (if you have more research stations you can pump out advances faster), but still I couldn’t face playing it all the way to the end. The alien dimension bit breathes fresh life into the game, but by the time I reached it I was already getting fed up.

Summary: