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X-Com Collector's Edition

X-Com Collector's Edition

List Price: $29.99
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: They just don't make them like this anymore
Review: I bought the original X-Com:UFO Defense when it first came out in 1994 after reading the sterling reviews for it in PC Gamer and Computer Game Review. But nothing prepared me for the addiction that awaited me and that still draws me back today, 8 years after the games initial release.

The premise is that in 1999, the governments of the world begin to see a heightened increase in cattle mutiliations, alien abductions and terror attacks from extra-terrestrial forces and form an independent international alien combat team to fight the invaders, steal thier technology, and bring the fight to them. The latest Earth-technology is given but soon after the game begins you'll start capturing alien ships, weapons and even a few of the ET's themselves. The graphics are dated by today's standards, but as with any great game the look of it is meant only to enhance a great plot and premise. The AI is fantastic as Sectoids, Floaters, and Muton Men will often exhibit good combat (albeit guerilla style) tactics.

After capturing enemy weaponry and UFO's, you can research them to discover how they work and add the info to the exhaustive UFOPedia, what has to be the greatest collection of Xenophobe's pleasuretime reading material. Aliens will discover your bases and attempt to destroy them, terror attacks on major cities and depending heavily on how well you defended them or didn't, the Host country will either lower or raise thier monetary funding to X-Com.

The most memorable moment for myself and probably everyone else that's ever played this game occurs soon after starting the game when you down your very first UFO and send in the squad to capture it, and one of your troops sees an alien for the first time (Remember that little red flashing "1" in the corner?). And the music and overall atmosphere is just impossible to describe as the combat that follows is often chaotic, sometimes resulting in the loss of key characters you've raised from the lowest ranks.

X-Com:UFO Defense is just an outstanding game in almost every respect, and I wish they'd resurface the idea and remake the game using modern technology. Or maybe not. It's sometimes best to leave a good thing alone.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: BEST TURNED BASED STRATEGY
Review: I first played X-com UFO defense when I bought an issue of PCGAMER last year, and it was so addicting that I didn't touch anyother game till i let my friend borrow it,

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best of the best
Review: I first played xcom while on my first six months criuse while in the navy. We were out to sea with nothing to do but watches and sleep ,that got old quick I'd gotten loss in the ship by exploring and found the ships libary. There where a couple of guys playing a rloe playing game called magic I think. But after a while I noticed computers so I watched them for a while. I was like the graphics were kind of crappy, but the noise the people were making was distracting the people in the role playing game. I decided to investgate. There were people playing x-com and a coach for each player so I watched for 5 days trying to get on and when I did! My god it consumed my entire day. If I wasn"t playing it I was thinking about playing it. I not only was caught but got friends and family hooked. When I got out I bought x-com collecters editions. After a while games got missing and damaged me and my brother have been looking for this games ever since, I hunted it down and bought it today. I'm not going to say any about the games but there isn't another close I've checked. They don't need to make another one, just expand the ones that here.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best of the best
Review: I first played xcom while on my first six months criuse while in the navy. We were out to sea with nothing to do but watches and sleep ,that got old quick I'd gotten loss in the ship by exploring and found the ships libary. There where a couple of guys playing a rloe playing game called magic I think. But after a while I noticed computers so I watched them for a while. I was like the graphics were kind of crappy, but the noise the people were making was distracting the people in the role playing game. I decided to investgate. There were people playing x-com and a coach for each player so I watched for 5 days trying to get on and when I did! My god it consumed my entire day. If I wasn"t playing it I was thinking about playing it. I not only was caught but got friends and family hooked. When I got out I bought x-com collecters editions. After a while games got missing and damaged me and my brother have been looking for this games ever since, I hunted it down and bought it today. I'm not going to say any about the games but there isn't another close I've checked. They don't need to make another one, just expand the ones that here.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: X-tremely cool
Review: i give this 5 stars for a varitey of reasons. i have played the original version of x-com, and it is still by far the best game i have ever used. what i find so interesting about it is all of the strategical planning that goes into it. you have to figure out where to put your bases, what to get, what to research, where and when to attack, set up certain attack methods while in a ground combat mission... i could go on and on. some people might think the graphics are too simple, but i prefer graphics that are not too lifelike. then it's just stupid. it also has a little bit of a chill factor when you play it in a dark room alone at two in the morning and have the sound effects on. the weapon equipment is also something that should not be taken lightly- especially my favorite- the HC-I rockets when used with the rocket launcher- total devastation. i also enjoy seeing the aliens killed by shrapnel from explosions. the main thing about any x-com game however, is the suspense factor. such as when you go out on a ground assault mission, and there are various buildings and structures- you don't know what could be lurking in the shadows just beyond that doorway... the last two things that i find most enjoyable are ground attacks on ufos and cities with gas stations. the ufo combat explains itself pretty much, i guess. i like the gas stations, because when you blow up the gas pumps, it has the same effect as a high explosive or a rocket... i would be very surprised if there were a lot of people out there who find this game uninteresting. sadly enough, however, there certainly are. oh, well. at least i know they wont sell out on me very fast. 5 stars, 2 thumbs up, an oscar. this game deserves all these and more!

thanks for your time, sincerely, joel d. larson :)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: These games are awsome!
Review: I love the X-Com series. They are the best. They are easy to learn and easy to master. I've enjoyed them and i hope you will, too.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: X-COM - The best game I have ever played
Review: I've been playing computer games for over twenty years now, and X-COM remains my favorite game ever. I loved the early missions where your soldiers struggle to stay alive, I felt joy when research turned up a powerful new weapon, and I loved the sense that your team is getting ready to attack the aliens back at their Martian base. I loved the turn-based combat, where you got to choose what your tactics would be (rather than clicking everywhere on the screen like a madman), but could still be surprised by a burst of gunfire from a second-story window.

I grew attached to the soldiers that had survived many combat missions, and was sad when a grizzled veteran lost the number of his mess when some rookie threw a grenade in the wrong place. I struggled to decide whether to pull back a squad that had already lost half of its soldiers, knowing that there were probably only one or two aliens left guarding a downed UFO.

X-COM 2: Terror From The Deep was nice because it gave you new things to see, but essentially it was exactly the same game, and as such was a mild disappointment. It was mildly pleasant to have to figure out the new technologies, and to see the new aliens....Still, I recommend you buy this game, simply to play the first X-COM. I envy those of you who are about to experience the thrill of this game.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Xcom is a rockin game
Review: Ok, I went out and finally bought this pack a couple of days ago. Reliving my early boyhood gameing days, I started to replay Xcom. Its a fun-great game for all ages. I like it alot and would suggest it to any gamer who is willing to try turn based combat. This game is super hard and will keep the expert gamer struggling at the beginners level. Because XCom is turn based, the game is a little hard to get used to. But after a few days of game play, The average gamer will be throughly engrossed in the story line and missions. I really hope that all of you buy this game.

BUT!! There IS a problem with this game. Because Xcom and its predecessors were written early on in windows history, the first and second Xcoms do not run correctly on AGP graphics cards. If you are going to buy this game, be sure to have a PCI graphics card handy in order to play.

Have fun! And Enjoy the Game!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: One near-perfect game...and 2 others
Review: The original X-Com is one of the greatest games ever. You could run the old DOS version on a 386-processor computer, and I'm still playing the Collector's Edition port to Windows on my 1.3GHz notebook years later.

It's not a perfect port, though. The opening cutscene is missing some of the sounds from the original, like the British woman saying, "Warning...warning..." The sound files for the aliens seem to have been randomized, so some of them sound pretty weird. (The Sectoids have surprisingly deep voices when they die, and one of the pink-blob aliens makes a huge explosion noise as it moves...) The Blaster Bombs go off in random directions if you try to change altitude. And when the aliens invade your base, sometimes a large part of your defending force just doesn't show up for the fight...I once had to hold off a bunch of Ethereals and Sectapods with nothing but various HWPs, despite having a dozen Squaddies stationed at that base.

Despite all that, it's still fun as all get-out. I love to rename all my Squaddies after friends and relatives. It makes the fights a lot more nerve-wracking. (Oh no, they got Kevin!)

There are the two mainline sequels on the disk too. Terror from the Deep is OK, but it's just more of the same--not really original or much of an improvement. X-Com: Apocalypse was a fun game, but never quite as fun as the original, IMHO. Oddly, I've never been able to get it to work on a recently-built computer, though. I've found myself just playing this slightly-flawed version of the old original X-Com, over and over.

I don't want another sequel to X-Com--I want the original, updated, with more aliens and technologies and suprises, multiplayer options, and all that, great graphics, a better interface--but all with that original humor and horror.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: X-Com Series
Review: This game bundle is a must for anyone who enjoys a good turn-based strategy game. Fans of military strategy will also find the X-Com series appealing due to its extensive reliance on squad level tactics; When you move a soldier, it is imperative that at least one other soldier be placed in an overwatch or support by fire positon... failure to do so will greatly increase your odds of sustaining casualties. This is particularly true of missions in urban areas and aboard commercial naval vessels. (I find it helpful, whenever possible, to deploy my men in fireteams of 4 or 3 and ensure that they have complementary abilities and weapons. I also rely heavily on alien individual weapons, so that my soldiers can pick up spare ammo from the dead.) When not involved with a combat mission, the management of resources, research and bases provides an additional challenge. Regarding overall appeal and playability, my ranking of these three titles from best to worst would be 'Terror from the Deep', 'UFO Defense' and finally 'Apocalypse.'


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