X-COM: UFO Defense
UFO: Enemy Unknown | ||
---|---|---|
Composer(s) John Broomhall | | |
Series | X-COM | |
Platform(s) | DOS, Amiga, CD32, PlayStation, Windows | |
Release | ||
Single-player |
UFO: Enemy Unknown (original European title), also known as X-COM: UFO Defense in North America, is a 1994 science fiction strategy video game developed by Mythos Games and MicroProse. It was published by MicroProse for DOS and Amiga computers, the Amiga CD32 console, and the PlayStation. Originally planned by Julian Gollop as a sequel to Mythos Games' 1988 Laser Squad, the game mixes real-time management simulation with turn-based tactics. The player takes the role of commander of X-COM – an international paramilitary and scientific organization secretly defending Earth from an alien invasion. Through the game, the player is tasked with issuing orders to individual X-COM troops in a series of turn-based tactical missions. At strategic scale, the player directs the research and development of new technologies, builds and expands X-COM's bases, manages the organization's finances and personnel, and monitors and responds to UFO activity.
Despite its troubled development, including having been almost cancelled twice, the game received strong reviews and was commercially successful, turning into a runaway
Plot
The story of X-COM, set in the near-future at the time of the game's release, begins in the year 1998. The initial plot centers on increased reports of UFO sightings as tales of abductions and rumors of attacks by mysterious aliens become widespread. The nations of the world come to perceive this as a threat and attempt to form their own forces – such as Japan's Kiryu-Kai force – to deal with the crisis, but these efforts are unsuccessful. On December 11, 1998, representatives from some of the most powerful nations in the world secretly meet in Geneva to discuss the issue. From this meeting is born the clandestine defense and research organization Extraterrestrial Combat (X-COM), over which the player assumes control at the start of the game.[3]
In the beginning, the player will only have access to conventional weapons, but as the game progresses, the player learns more about the enemy, their species, mutated creations, and technology. It is ultimately revealed that the "leaders" behind the alien invasion are a race known as Ethereals which possess powerful mind control abilities and enslave other races of aliens to perform their bidding and that their main base in the
The game may end in several ways. If the player's performance is poor or worse for two consecutive months, the player runs a deep deficit for two consecutive months, all the player's bases are captured, or the player mounts an assault on the aliens' Mars base and loses, the game ends in defeat (in the PC version, the funding nations sign pacts with the aliens promising peace, but the aliens instead destroy every city and poison the water and air to destroy any resistance, the remaining survivors are put in slave camps to help reverse-terraform Earth for future alien colonization; in the PlayStation version, the council of funding nations makes a futile attempt to negotiate with the aliens, who violently murder the negotiator). If, however, the player is victorious in the final attack, the game ends in mankind's victory.
Gameplay
The game takes place within two distinct views, called the Geoscape and the Battlescape.
Geoscape
The game begins on January 1, 1999, with the player choosing a location for their first base on the Geoscape screen: a global view representation of Earth as seen from space (displaying X-COM bases and aircraft, detected UFOs, alien bases, and sites of alien activity). The player can view the X-COM bases and make changes to them, equip fighter aircraft, order supplies and personnel (soldiers, scientists and engineers), direct research efforts, schedule manufacturing of advanced equipment, sell alien artifacts on black market to raise money, and deploy X-COM aircraft to either patrol designated locations, intercept UFOs, or send X-COM ground troops on missions using transport aircraft.[6][7]
Simultaneously, the aliens may run various activities, from research missions designed to collect data about the Earth and its inhabitants, to searching for and attacking X-COM bases, to establishing their own bases, to terror attacks on cities with the aim of convincing governments to reduce X-COM's funding. The escalating alien activities need to be uncovered and countered, mostly by detecting and shooting down the alien crafts and sending ground troops to investigate and salvage the UFO landing and crash sites.
Funding is provided by the 16 founding nations of X-COM. At the end of each month, a funding report is provided, where nations can choose to increase or decrease their level of funding based on their perceived progress (or failure) of the X-COM project, in particular the UFO activities in their areas.[8] Any of these nations may quit if the nation's government has been infiltrated by the invaders.[5] Through reverse engineering of recovered alien artifacts, X-COM is able to develop better technology to combat the alien menace and eventually uncover how to defeat it.[6][7]
Battlescape
Gameplay switches to the tactical combat phase whenever X-COM ground forces come in contact with aliens.
The Battlescape's
The combat is highly unpredictable and often challenging, especially for new players. Soldiers are vulnerable to alien attacks even when armored (a single shot from an alien has a good chance of bringing a soldier in perfect condition to death), and the features such as night-time combat (when the battlefield needs to be illuminated by flares or fires or else the soldiers can only spot an alien at a very short range), fog of war, and Opportunity Fire allows for alien sniper attacks and ambushes.[8] The enemy comes in numerous forms, and the players that are new to the game will run into new kinds of aliens without any knowledge of their characteristics and capabilities beforehand. The course of skirmishes is also dictated by the individual fatigue and morale levels of their participants on both sides; a low morale can result in them either dropping their weapons and fleeing in panic or going berserk and opening fire indiscriminately.[5] Smoke obscures vision and drains stamina, and fires are a hazard for both sides. Injuries may be sustained to different body parts, differently affecting the wounded soldiers' statistics (and thus performance), and often result in the states of unconsciousness or bleeding, the latter leading to death if they are not treated or if the mission is not finished in time.[3]
One of three mission outcomes is possible: either the human forces are eliminated, the alien forces are neutralized, or the player chooses to withdraw. The mission's score and the result are based on the number of X-COM operatives lost (either dead, unconscious, or under alien control), the
Recovered alien artifacts can then be researched and possibly reproduced. Captured live aliens may produce information, possibly leading to new technologies and even an access to psionic warfare.[6] In it, some aliens possess mind control abilities that can be used to temporarily take control of human soldiers or cause them to panic. After capturing a mind control-capable alien, the player will be able to train soldiers in using these same abilities against the aliens.
Development
The game was originally conceived by a small British independent video game developer, Mythos Games – led by Julian Gollop – as a sequel to their 1988 science fiction tactical game Laser Squad,[10][11] "but with much neater graphics using an isometric style very similar to Populous."[12] The initial 1991 demo presented a relatively simple, two-player tactical game then known as Laser Squad 2 (or Laser Squad II), which ran on the Atari ST.
Due to bad experiences with Blade Software in selling their previous game,
"When we first got the contract with MicroProse we were very pleased but concerned about what they might require us to do. We did have a few arguments in the beginning because they didn’t understand the game design I had written. [...] I had a tough job trying to explain it, and I had to produce a few more documents and attend a big meeting with their in-house designers, producers and head of development."
Although supportive of the project, the publisher expressed concerns that the demo lacked a grand scale in keeping with MicroProse's hit strategy game Civilization. The Civilopedia feature of Civilization also inspired an addition of the in-game encyclopedia, called the UFOpaedia. All that and the UFO theme was suggested by the MicroProse UK head of development Pete Moreland.[1][15] Julian Gollop's personal inspirations included several traditional games, in particular, the board wargame Sniper! and the tabletop role-playing game Traveller.[1]
Under MicroProse's direction and working at its Chipping Sodbury studio,[12] Julian Gollop said that while the research and technology tree somewhat emulates the role of advances in Civilization, "it also helped to develop the storyline."[15] He changed the setting to modern-day Earth and expanded the strategy elements, among them the ability to capture and reproduce alien technology.[10] He has cited the 1970s British television series UFO as one of the influences for the game's storyline, in particular, an idea of an international counter-UFO organization and the psionic powers of some alien races,[10][14] even as the series itself was "a bit boring".[16] A book by Bob Lazar, where he describes his supposed work with recovered UFOs at Area 51, inspired the concept to reverse-engineer captured alien technology.[14] Timothy Good's 1991 book Alien Liaison provided inspiration for several of Julian Gollop's revisions, such as the notion that world governments might seize alien technology or secretly conspire with the invaders (a negative result which can occur in-game).[10] His sources of inspirations for the game also included Whitley Strieber's book Communion and other "weird American stories",[16] as well as the Alien film series.
MicroProse UK graphics artists John Reitze and Martin Smillie provided what MicroProse described as "popular 'manga' look and feel"[17] visuals. Julian Gollop credited Reitze, who also designed the alien races,[18] with "a distinctive comic book style", and Smillie with "very detailed environment graphics".[1] MicroProse musician John Broomhall, inspired by Bernard Herrmann's score in the film Psycho,[19] composed the original soundtrack of the PC version while Andrew Parton handled the sound effects. Besides Moreland, there were other MicroProse employees not acknowledged in the game's credits despite having been major contributors to its development, such as assisting designers Mike Brunton and (especially) Steve Hand.[18][20] Hand, a Laser Squad fan who helped the project get signed, put input into the "big game" concept by inventing the Geoscape interface, actually came up with the name X-COM (derived from Brunton's initial idea of X-CON, where "CON" originally stood for "contact"), and helped to define the comic book-like art style.[1][18] Hand thought the initial artworks showed by Julian Gollop had aliens that were too "boring or comical",[18] and that the original design document was poorly written, especially regarding the initial, more interactive and action-oriented UFO interception system; nevertheless, the final game turned out to be very close to it.[1] Certain creature types deemed boring were removed during the development, as were the Men in Black, who have been left unused due to a perceived conflict with MicroProse's abortive project to make an MIB-themed standalone game.[1][20]
A public demo of the game was released under the North American version's working title X-COM: Terran Defense Force.
The original contract was for the game be completed within 18 months,[1] granting the Gollops £3,000 per month.[18] In the course of its development, the game was nearly canceled twice: in the first instance due to the company's financial difficulties, and the second time under the pressure from the American combat flight simulator company Spectrum HoloByte after it had acquired Bill Stealey’s shares in MicroProse in 1993.[12][22] Julian Gollop said the MicroProse quality assurance team (testers Andrew Lucket, Phil McDonnel and Jason Thompson) helped save the game from its first would-be cancellation; their enthusiastic feedback also helped to polish the game.[1] At one point, the game was in fact even officially ordered to be cancelled by Spectrum HoloByte. According to Moreland, Spectrum head Gilman Louie personally insisted on this order and rejected Moreland's objections.[23] However, Moreland held a meeting with other MicroProse UK bosses Adrian Parr and Paul Hibbard, where they decided to ignore it and would simply not inform the Gollop brothers and others involved in the project about any of that. Thus, the development team continued their work without any knowledge of the parent company's executives.[1][20] MicroProse producer Tim Roberts, assigned to oversee the game, was described by Julian Gollop positively as "very laid back" and for most of the time allowed them to work on the game without any interference and schedules, only checking in once in a month to conduct meetings in a pub.[1]
During the final three months, after Spectrum HoloByte was eventually informed of the game still being in production, the Gollop brothers were forced to work 7–12 in order to finish it before the end of the fiscal year.[1] The game was completed in March 1994,[10] after 30 months in development since the initial contract and 12 months behind the schedule. The overall development of the PC version cost £115,000,[1] alike vastly exceeding its budget.
Release
The finished product was marketed as UFO: Enemy Unknown in Europe, Quebec and Australia and as X-COM: UFO Defense in North America.[24] The latter features a different box cover, faithful to the game's contents (the original cover of UFO: Enemy Unknown depicts the aliens and their spacecraft design that are unlike anything actually seen in the game[25]).[24][26] In Japan, the game was renamed by Culture Brain as X-COM Michi Naru Shinryakusha (X-COM 未知なる侵略者, X-COM: Unknown Invaders)[27] and released with a cover using a different art style and better reflecting the actual game content.[24]
Ports and re-releases
The Amiga conversion in multiple version was quickly created by Julian Gollop's brother Nick and "it was quite tough because the Amiga wasn’t quite as fast as PCs were becoming at that time."
The 1995 PlayStation port, released in Europe as X-COM: Enemy Unknown, has retained most of the original PC graphics due to time restraints (adding only some textured 3D models as illustrations for the UFOpaedia) but features much higher quality music than the
The game was re-released as part of the compilations X-COM: Unknown Terror by MicroProse and
Novelizations
Another novelization of the game, Враг неизвестен ("Enemy Unknown") written by Vladimir Vasilyev, was published in Russia in 1997. The book tells the story of one of the original eight X-COM troops from beginning of the conflict to the final raid on Cydonia.[40]
Fan-created content
OpenXcom is an
Reception
Immediate
Aggregator | Score |
---|---|
GameRankings | PC: 94%[47] PS: 93%[48] |
Publication | Score |
---|---|
Computer Gaming World | PC: [49] |
Electronic Gaming Monthly | PS: 8.8/10 (9.5/9.5/8.5/8.0)[50] |
Game Informer | PS: 8.5/10[29] |
GameSpot | PC: 9.0/10[7] |
IGN | PC: 9.4/10[6] PS: 9.0/10[30] |
Next Generation | PS: [31] |
Amiga Action | Amiga: 9.2/10[51] |
Amiga Format | Amiga: 9.0/10, 9.0/10[52][53] |
Amiga Power | Amiga: 3.6/10 & 6.6/10[54] Amiga (AGA): 7.5/10 & 8.5/10[55] |
CU Amiga | Amiga: 8.5/10, 9.3/10[56][57] Amiga (AGA): 8.9/10[58] |
The One | Amiga: 7.3/10[59] Amiga (AGA): 8.9/10[60] CD32: 8.6/10[61] |
The game was released to very positive reviews and commercial success, selling more than 600,000 units (a large number at the time) on the PC
Computer Gaming World rated the PC version of X-COM five stars out of five. Describing it as "one of those rare and dangerous games capable of drilling into your brain, putting a vice-grip on your imagination, and only releasing you when it has had enough," the magazine praised its detailed and varied combat system and lengthy gameplay, concluding "
Amiga ports received lower ratings than the PC original (holding an average score of 93.60% at
Electronic Gaming Monthly stated of the PlayStation version that "any person who likes strategy games will fall in love with this title ... if you could afford to buy one game for the PS over the next year, X-COM would be it. It has it all and then some!"[50] A reviewer for Next Generation criticized the PlayStation version for being little more than a straight port, arguing that the game could have been improved if the console's capabilities were used. However, he praised the game itself for sophisticated, enjoyable gameplay, and concluded, "X-COM was a smashing PC title, it's lost nothing of practical value in the translation, and makes a marvelous addition to the console market."[31] GamePro disagreed: "You have to be a major sim-freak to enjoy X-COM. It's an interesting and complex game about planet colonizing, [sic] but the extensive manuals and one-dimensional music really bore you to alien tears after a while."[69]
Computer Gaming World gave X-COM its
Retrospective
The first X-COM has often appeared in top video game lists by various publications. Computer Gaming World ranked it as the 22nd (1996)[76] and third (2001) best computer game of all time; the magazine's readers also voted it for tenth place in 2001.[77] It was also ranked as the 48th game of all time by GamesMaster in 1996,[78] as the 35th best video game of all time by GameSpy in 2001 ("stellar game design can withstand the test of time"),[79] as the second best video game since 1992 by Finnish magazine Pelit in 2007,[80] and as the 78th best video game "to play today" by Edge in 2009.[81]
IGN named it as the number one top PC game of all time in 2000 while calling it "the finest PC game we have ever played", and 2007 ("there's still no PC game that can compete with the mighty X-COM"),[82][83] as well as ranking it as the second top "modern PC game" in 2009.[84] IGN also included it on several lists of the best video games of all time on all platforms, including it at eighth place in 2003 ("a game that will live on in the annals of computer gaming history"),[85] at 12th place in 2005 ("for us 1994 will always be remembered as the year of X-COM"),[86] and at 21st place in 2007 ("one of the most memorable and perfectly executed strategy games ever seen").[87] PC Gamer ranked it as the seventh (1997),[88] eighth (1998),[89] third (2001),[90] eighth (2005),[91] tenth (in both 2007 and 2008, as a "truly groundbreaking game" that "still plays fresher than almost anything else that begs passage through these pages"),[92][93] 11th (2010, the editors adding that everyone who would not vote for this game is "dead" to them)[94] and 12th (2011, describing it as a "brilliant game whose individual elements have been copied many times but whose charm has never been duplicated") best PC game of all time;[95] it was also voted at 15th place by the magazine's readers in 2000.[96]
Polish web portal
One reason for the game's success is the strong sense of atmosphere it evokes.
Legacy
The success of the game resulted in several sequels and spin-off games, as well as many unofficial remake and spiritual successor titles, both fan-made and commercial, such as UFO: Alien Invasion and UFO: Extraterrestrials. Julian Gollop himself designed the third game in the X-COM series, 1997's X-COM: Apocalypse, which was also developed together by Mythos Games and MicroProse. The game also received an unofficial sequel in the 1997 expansion set Civ II: Fantastic Worlds for MicroProse's Civilization II, in a scenario set on the Phobos moon of Mars.[108]
Mythos Games' and Julian Gollop's own original spiritual successor project, The Dreamland Chronicles: Freedom Ridge, was cancelled in 2001 and later partially turned into UFO: Aftermath by another developer. Gollop's new X-COM spiritual successor project, Phoenix Point, was released by Snapshot Games in 2019.
An official remake, titled
The game also had a big influence on the development team of the role-playing video game Fallout. Project director Tim Cain said they "all loved X-COM" and that the original version of Fallout (known as Vault 13, before the game was redesigned after they lost the GURPS license) had a very similar combat system.[113]
Further reading
- David L. Craddock, Monsters in the Dark: The Making of X-COM (BookBaby, 2021)
References
- ^ CBS Interactive. Archivedfrom the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
- ^ "X-COM: Collector's Edition". MobyGames. Blue Flame Labs. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
- ^ a b c UFO: Enemy Unknown user manual.
- ^ a b "Top 25 PC Games of All Time". IGN. March 16, 2007. Retrieved May 10, 2011.
- ^ a b c d Kat Bailey, Enemy Unknown: An X-COM Retrospective, GameSpy, Jan 19, 2012
- ^ a b c d e f "PC Retroview – X-COM: UFO Defense – PC Feature at IGN". Pc.ign.com. September 1, 2000. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e Dulin, Ron (December 31, 1993). "X-COM: UFO Defense Review for PC". GameSpot. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
- ^ a b c d Steve Butts, The Escapist : Why X-COM Is the Greatest Game Ever, The Escapist, 17 January 2010.
- ^ Nevertheless, screenshots of it as seen from the perspective of currently selected soldier can be made by pressing F10 in OpenXcom.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "The Making Of: X-COM: Enemy Unknown | Edge Magazine". Edge-online.com. May 15, 2009. Archived from the original on October 26, 2011. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
- ^ "XCom UFO creators strategy game Laser Squad Nemesis". Lasersquadnemesis.com. Archived from the original on March 8, 2009. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
- ^ a b c "Mythos Games Ltd – UFO Enemy Unknown". June 6, 2001. Archived from the original on June 6, 2001. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
- ^ Craddock, David L. (March 9, 2021). "How a Publishing Nightmare Set the Stage for the Original 'X-COM'".
- ^ a b c d e f Interview With XCOM Creator Julian Gollop, NowGamer, Aug 30, 2011.
- ^ a b "The Story of X-Com". Eurogamer. November 28, 2010. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
- ^ a b c d Amiga CD32 Gamer 5 (October 1994)
- ^ Readme file from the X-COM: Terran Defense Force demo, StrategyCore
- ^ a b c d e Staff, Ars (March 9, 2021). "Developing the distinctive look of the original X-COM: UFO Defense". Ars Technica.
- ^ Mat Paget (September 9, 2021). "New X-COM book explains the special kind of terror that made the first game a classic". PC Gamer – via www.pcgamer.com.
- ^ a b c Dan Griliopoulos, Julian Gollop interview: on X-Coms old and new, the Ghost Recon strategy game that never was, AI, auteurs and "Fork My Fruit", PC Gamer, April 29, 2013.
- ^ Demo, StrategyCore.
- ^ "Julian Gollop reveals how the original X-Com was nearly cancelled - twice". Eurogamer. March 28, 2013.
- ^ Craddock, David L. (March 9, 2021). "X-COM: UFO Defense Would Have Been Canned If Its Creators Hadn't Secretly Revolted". Kotaku.
- ^ a b c d Game Versions, StrategyCore.
- ^ Alec Meer, Why X-COM Matters (To Me), Rock Paper Shotgun, April 14th, 2010
- ^ X-COM: UFO Defense, MobyGames
- ^ XCOM: 2K MarinがX-COMの新作を開発中 « GAME LIFE ニュース (in Japanese)
- ^ Imagine Media: 133–4. December 1995.
- ^ a b c X-COM: UFO Defense, Game Informer, April 1996 (archived)
- ^ a b "X-Com: UFO Defense – PlayStation Review at IGN". Psx.ign.com. November 26, 1996. Archived from the original on September 1, 2009. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
- ^ Imagine Media. February 1996. p. 158.
- ^ "X-COM: Unknown Terror –". Gamespot.com. December 31, 1969. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
- ^ "X-COM: Collector's Edition –". Gamespot.com. November 24, 1999. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
- ^ "X-COM Collection for Windows (1999) – MobyGames". Mobygames.com. January 13, 2001. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
- ^ Nick Breckon, 2K 'Huge' Steam Pack Bundles 20 Games for $54, Shacknews.com, Jul 02, 2009
- ^ "X-COM Collection". GamesRadar. May 6, 2010. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
- ^ "X-COM: Complete Pack on Steam". Store.steampowered.com. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
- ISBN 0761502351.
- ^ Meer, Alec (November 9, 2012). "Wot I Read – X-COM UFO Defense, A Novel". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved November 9, 2012.
- ^ "Владимир Васильев – UFO: враг неизвестен – скачать из библиотеки Фензина".
- ^ Xcomutil Homepage Archived January 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Scott Jones Homepage
- ^ "XcomUtil Under New Management". Bladefirelight.com. March 5, 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
- Rock, Paper, Shotgun(2015/08/16)
- ^ "About". OpenXcom. Retrieved August 22, 2013.
- ^ OpenXCom renews the original OpenXCom renews the original UFO Defense as a valid option for terror by Phil Savage PC Gamer (May 09, 2013)
- Rock, Paper, Shotgun(March 30th, 2016).
- ^ CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
- CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
- ^ a b Lombardi, Chris (August 1994). "It Came From Britain". Computer Gaming World. pp. 108–110.
- ^ a b Electronic Gaming Monthly Jan 1996 (issue 78), p.38
- ^ a b Amiga Action 60 (August 1994)
- ^ Amiga Format 65 (November 1994)
- ^ Amiga Format 73 (July 1995)
- ^ Amiga Power 51 (July 1995)
- ^ Amiga Power 56 (December 1995)
- ^ CU Amiga Magazine (June 1995)
- ^ a b CU Amiga Magazine (February 1997)
- ^ CU Amiga (December 1994)
- ^ The One Amiga 82 (July 1995)
- ^ The One Amiga 75 (December 1994)
- ^ The One Amiga 77 (February 1995)
- ^ Asher, Mark (March 24, 1999). "Game Spin: The MicroProse Skinny". CNET Gamecenter. Archived from the original on August 17, 2000.
- ^ Coleman, Terry (March 1997). "Winter Wonderland". Computer Gaming World. No. 152. pp. 209, 210.
- ^ Computer Gaming World 148: The Top 15 Sleepers Of All Time.
- ^ "UFO: Enemy Unknown Amiga – HOL database". Hol.abime.net. December 14, 2002. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
- ^ "UFO: Enemy Unknown Amiga – HOL database". Hol.abime.net. December 14, 2002. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
- ^ "UFO: Enemy Unknown Amiga – HOL database". Hol.abime.net. December 14, 2002. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
- ^ Amiga World 3/95
- ^ GamePro 91 (April 1996), p.88.
- ^ CGW 158: "Alien is Sheep's Clothing: Where Are All the X-COM Clones?"
- ^ Staff (March 1995). "The First Annual PC Gamer Awards". PC Gamer. 2 (3): 44, 45, 47, 48, 51.
- ISBN 979-8-7052-0094-8.
- ^ "CGW's Hall of Fame". 1UP.com. March 23, 2005. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved August 9, 2009.
- ^ "The Greatest Games of all Time". Archived from the original on March 29, 2010. Retrieved November 17, 2010.
- ^ "IGN Videogame Hall Of Fame: X-COM: UFO Defense". IGN. 2007. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. Retrieved November 25, 2010.
- ^ "150 Best Games of All Time". Computer Gaming World. November 1996. pp. 64–80. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
- ^ Computer Gaming World, 20th Anniversary Issue, March 2001.
- ^ "Top 100 Games of All Time" (PDF). GamesMaster (44): 76. July 1996.
- ^ The GameSpy Staff. "GameSpy's Top 50 Games of All Time". GameSpy. Archived from the original on September 14, 2004. Retrieved March 20, 2007.
- ^ Pelit 8/2007, page 64. (in Finnish)
- ^ "The 100 best Games To Play Today". Edge. March 9, 2009. Archived from the original on March 25, 2012. Retrieved November 17, 2010.
- ^ "The Top 25 PC Games of All Time". IGN. July 24, 2000. Archived from the original on April 21, 2002. Retrieved June 20, 2008.
- ^ Adams, Dan; Steve Butts; Charles Onyett (March 16, 2007). "Top 25 PC Games of All Time". IGN. Archived from the original on March 19, 2007. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
- ^ Ocampo, Jason; Steve Butts; Jeff Haynes (August 6, 2009). "Top 25 PC Games of All Time". IGN. Archived from the original on October 4, 2010. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
- ^ "IGN's Top 100 Games of All Time". IGN. 2003. Archived from the original on June 8, 2010. Retrieved November 17, 2010.
- ^ "IGN's Top 100 Games". IGN. 2005. Archived from the original on April 19, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2010.
- ^ "IGN Top 100 Games 2007". IGN. 2007. Archived from the original on November 30, 2007. Retrieved November 17, 2010.
- ^ PC Gamer, May 1997.
- PC Gamer US. 5 (10): 86, 87, 89, 90, 92, 98, 101, 102, 109, 110, 113, 114, 117, 118, 125, 126, 129, 130. October 1998.
- ^ PC Gamer, October 2001.
- ^ PC Gamer, April 2005.
- ^ "PC Gamer's Best 100". PC Gamer. August 13, 2007. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
- ^ "PC Gamer's Top 100". PC Gamer. August 5, 2008. Retrieved November 16, 2010.
- ^ "PC Gamer's top 100 PC Games of all time". PC Gamer. February 5, 2010. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
- ^ "The 100 best PC games of all time". PC Gamer. Retrieved May 10, 2011.
- ^ PC Gamer, April 2000.
- ^ 13. UFO: Enemy Unknown – 30 najlepszych gier na Amigę – Imperium gier, WP.pl. (in Polish)
- ^ 3. UFO: Enemy Unknown – Gry, które zabrały nam dzieciństwo – najbardziej uzależniające produkcje sprzed lat – Imperium gier Archived 2013-02-22 at the Wayback Machine, WP.pl (in Polish)
- ^ (in Polish) Michał Wierzbicki, Dziesięć najlepszych gier na Amigę Archived May 30, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Chip.pl, 23.02.2010.
- ^ Next Generation 21 (September 1996), p.60.
- Imagine Media. February 1999. p. 75.
- ^ Dan Ryckert, Things You Didn't Know About Ken Levine, Game Informer, May 30, 2012.
- ^ Smith, Adam. "The 50 Best Strategy Games Ever Made". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on April 26, 2015. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
- ^ UFO: Enemy Unknown review (94%), Pelit 4/1994, page 22 (in Finnish)
- ^ The Best Monsters in Gaming: Chryssalid, GameSpot, Oct 4, 1999.
- ^ "1UP's Essential 100, Part One". 1up.com. Archived from the original on May 13, 2013. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
- ^ Kat Bailey, The Essential 100, No. 90: XCOM UFO Defense, 1UP.com, July 16th 2012.
- ^ Michael E. Ryan, Civ II: Fantastic Worlds Review, GameSpot, December 18, 1997.
- ^ Meer, Alec (February 2012). "Know Your Enemy: Firaxis On XCOM, Part 1". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved October 12, 2012.
- ^ Alec Meer, UFO: Enemy Unknown retrospective, Eurogamer, 14 October 2012.
- ^ Dan Stapleton, XCOM: Enemy Unknown Review: Terror, tension, tactics, and triumph., GameSpy, Oct 8, 2012.
- ^ Julian Gollop: «I have no firm plans after Chaos, but I certainly want to stay in the games industry» Archived 2016-03-09 at the Wayback Machine, GameStar.ru, 5 December 2012.
- ^ Fallout Classic Revisited, GameSpot, 9 March 2012.
External links
- Official website (MicroProse) (archived)
- Official website (Mythos Games) (archived)
- X-COM: UFO Defense at MobyGames
- UFOPaedia, an extensive wiki containing information, analysis, strategy, and other resources for Enemy Unknown and other X-COM games