X-COM: Terror from the Deep

The Good
This game continues the storyline of the original X-COM. The underwater theme definitely brings something new to the game. The new graphics are decent, if a little worse than the original.

The Bad
Put simply, this is the same exact game as the original. They did bump up the difficulty, though they might have gone a little too far. In the original, if you made a few mistakes early on, you could eventually come back. In this X-COM, one mistake can mean an early demise.

Have you ever tried throwing something underwater? Watch the next granade you throw.

The Bottom Line
This is basically a rehash of the original X-COM, because it did so well. If you are a big X-COM fan, get it to add to your collection. Otherwise, stick with the original. It is more fun, and a little more forgiving.

The Good
Well, it's pretty much the same as UFO: Enemy Unknown, its prequel. This game is based underwater though, so the graphics and sound effects are a little different. Not better or worse, just different. Particularly appealing are the rivetted brass look of the alien ships, just like the Nautilus in "20,000 Leagues under the Sea". I also loved the footstep sounds, especially over the metal decking of the ships. And some of the underwater scenary is very cool.

The Bad
This game is much bigger than the first game. But that's not really a good thing. The orignal's leaness gave it a certain appeal, whereas this just gets repetetive and dull real quick. The ship attack missions are real fun the first time, but you soon get really hacked off having to search every single cabin for that last alien - this alone can take over an hour.

During the game you have to destroy 8 large alien bases. Each one of these is a nightmare situation - four floors of alien landscapes, and you never have enough men to cover the ground properly.

The Bottom Line
I don't know how this game ends, since I got bored and frustrated long before I got that far. However, I do have a ZIP file with all my last saves in, so maybe one day I'll go back to it. Maybe...

If you loved the first game, you'll probably like this as well. Whether you'll have the perseverance to see it through is another matter.

The Good
TFTD Requires a heck of a lot more patience, you have to remember that some weapons dont work on land, only in water. Capturing Aliens is now a requirement to get the good techs, like armour and new ships.

The Bad
Seems a bit sam-ee until you get severel months into the game

The Bottom Line
TFTD is another excelent XCOM Game.

40 years later, Humans are in a LOT of trouble. The Erelium115 supply from the last war has gone dry, and, humans kinda grew a little too depenent on it, thus meaning tech-wise your essentaly back in the 90s. Humans have become Complacent (as we most certainly do), and X-COMs funding has been cut.

Enter the Shipliner Hyperion. Unknown forces have attacked this superliner, the last reminants of XCOM (Now owned by a private company that salvages Submeged Crashed UFOs) respond, but the only message that is returned by the responding team is "I think they're back".

The UN has a crisis meeting, and a motion is passed, XCOM is back in action. Old hands are called back as technical advisors, and the newbies are trained up with what little they can be given, except this time, the aliens arent extra-terrestrial, but they sure do come from an alien world.

XCOM2 expands on XCOM a lot. Destroying an alien base is now a 2 or 3 step process. You can whipe out (or just get to the exit bit) on the "Exterior Base" map, then go in for the kill (going for the control station, or whiping out all the aliens), then, if you didnt kill em all on the exterior, its a run to the sub.

There are also "Alien Activity" sites,. where the aliens seek to re-activate long dissused devices that were built not long after they crashed into the earth, which incedently, was also the time the dinosaurs died.

Plus, Terror sites now not only occur in cities (or, ISlands, and Ports), but on ships! Saving a cruseliner is easy, but a cargo ship, which has 2 maps is a lot harder.

The alien list is for the most part revised. Sectoids make a new appearence, as the cloned "Aquatoid" race, but all others are new. Bio-Drones replace the Cyberdisk, but are much smaller, but still go boom! Large Things that look like Meteroids (from the NES and SNES Games) threaten to take control of minds, there are also "Gill-Men" and "Lobster-Men", and a swarm of others.

this is much longer than the first.