X-COM: Terror from the Deep
| X-COM: Terror from the Deep | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | MicroProse | ||
| Publisher | MicroProse | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
MS-DOS: 1995 Playstation: 1996 Microsoft Windows: 1998 |
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| platform | MS-DOS , PlayStation , Microsoft Windows | ||
| genre | Turn-based strategy game | ||
| Game mode | Single player | ||
| control | Mouse and keyboard | ||
| system advantages preconditions |
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| medium | Floppy disk , CD-ROM , download | ||
| language | German , English , French , Spanish | ||
| Age rating |
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X-COM: Terror from the Deep is a turn-based strategy game by MicroProse and the second game in the X-COM series. It was released in 1995 for DOS and was ported to the PlayStation in 1996 and to Microsoft Windows in 1998 .
Gameplay
X-COM: Terror from the Deep takes place largely under water, where the base construction and the fighting take place. This scenario is also used to make the plot seem logical, since the technologies developed in the predecessor UFO: Enemy Unknown are unusable in salt water and the player is thus forced to research new technologies.
Just like in UFO: Enemy Unknown , the game consists of two parts. The first is the so-called "GeoScape", in which the player can view, build and expand his own bases in a global view in real time , hire and fire personnel, as well as buy and sell vehicles, weapons, ammunition and other items. The second part is the "BattleScape", in which he fights aliens in the form of a turn-based battle in an isometric view .
The underwater battles use the same physics as the ground battles. The game contains some missions that consist of several parts, e.g. B. Alien terrorist attacks on shipping routes, where the first part involves a battle in the upper floors of the ship, while the second part takes place in the lower decks of the ship. All parts must be completed for these missions to be successful. Soldiers who died in earlier parts do not appear in later parts.
An innovation compared to its predecessor were the melee weapons , which were desired by many players.
action
The action takes place in 2040, four decades after UFO: Enemy Unknown . After the destruction of the alien brain on Cydonia, a transmitter remains active, which awakens a group of aliens who have been in deep sleep in the sea for several million years. These begin to terrorize ships and ports and kidnap people for bizarre genetic experiments. The X-COM, which was dissolved after the events of the first part, is being re-established to prevent the aliens from awakening their leader, who would then be invincible.
Finally we learn that the extraterrestrial relatives of the "Sectoid" alien species from UFO crashed 65 million years ago with their spaceship T'Leth in the Gulf of Mexico , which led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. (See also: Chicxulub crater )
To win the player must destroy T'Leth , which accidentally causes a global climate catastrophe, which is then part of the plot of the sequel X-COM: Apocalypse .
Development and publication
MicroProse commissioned the developer Mythos Games to complete a sequel to UFO: Enemy Unknown within six months . Julian Gollop was of the opinion that this could only be achieved through new graphics and minor changes to the gameplay . Ultimately, Mythos Games licensed their code to MicroProse, who developed the game within a year, while Mythos Games was working on the sequel Apocalypse .
Microprose artist Terry Geer said, “One decision was to use the original engine , redesign the graphics and write a new story. By keeping the changes to a minimum, the sequel was ready in a few months. In addition, by foregoing the development of new game functions or technologies, one could concentrate entirely on the development of assets - which made it much easier to estimate schedules and dates. ”Parallel to the development of the console port of X-COM: Terror from the Deep , MicroProse UK started working on X-COM: Alliance . The game is much more difficult than its predecessor, as many players complained that it was too easy. However, MicroProse was not aware that this was due to a bug that automatically set the simplest difficulty in the game.
X-COM: Terror from the Deep was originally released for PC DOS on June 1, 1995 . In 1996 it came out for the PlayStation and in 1998 it was released for Windows 95 as part of the X-COM Collector's Edition along with its predecessor. On May 4, 2007, the game was published on Steam by 2K Games , which had taken over the franchise (initially only for Windows XP , later also for Windows Vista ).
The game was part of the X-COM Collector's Edition of MicroProse in 1998, the X-COM Collection of Hasbro Interactive in 1999, the X-COM: Complete Pack by 2K Games of 2008 and the 2K Huge Games Pack of 2009. The by fans founded project OpenXcom , originally a modernized version of the first game, also added support for X-COM: terror from the Deep added in some bugs fixed, and the original game such. B. has been improved by a stronger AI .
reception
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Together with its predecessor, X-COM: Terror from the Deep had sold more than one million copies by March 1997. PC Gamer UK called it "not only a great sequel to UFO, but an excellent game in itself". On the flip side, GameSpot noted that "aside from new graphics and a handful of new combat options, this is exactly the same game as UFO Defense, just a lot harder," while Next Generation said, "In the end, X-COM 2 is still a phenomenal game and rated as such, but it seems like so much more could have been done to make this game more than just a copy of an old game ”.
Julian Gollop criticized MicroProse for "some classic mistakes in turn-based games that make the difficulty too difficult and the levels too big, long and arduous". According to Jake Solomon, chief designer of XCOM: Enemy Unknown , MicroProse did few new things with the sequel "except it got brutally harder and the cruise lines were four times longer than a human could have made them in reality," and yet the game was "fantastic".
literature
- David Ellis: X-COM Terror from the Deep: The Official Strategy Guide. Prima Pub., 1995, ISBN 0-7615-0074-X .
Web links
- X-COM: Terror from the Deep at MobyGames (English)
- Ufopedia - Encyclopedia of the games based on the Wiki principle
Individual evidence
- ↑ Official Mythosgames website. Archived from the original on April 11, 2001 ; accessed on June 12, 2019 .
- ^ Al Bickham: The Story of X-Com. In: Eurogamer . November 28, 2010, accessed June 11, 2019 .
- ↑ XCom Terror from the Deep. Retrieved June 11, 2019 .
- ↑ X-COM: Terror from the Deep at MobyGames (English)
- ^ A b X-COM: Terror From the Deep Review. In: Gamespot . May 1, 1996, archived from the original on October 16, 2012 ; accessed on June 10, 2019 .
- ↑ a b PC Gamer , April 1995
- ↑ X-COM: Terror from the Deep. In: PC Gamer . July 1995, archived from the original on December 11, 1999 ; accessed on June 10, 2019 .
- ↑ a b "Dé Jà VU". Next generation. Issue 7. Imagine Media. July 1995. page 74.
- ↑ PC Zone , May 1995
- ↑ Coleman, Terry (March 1997): "Winter Wonderland". Computer Gaming World (Issue 152)
- ↑ Alex Wiltshire: Julian Gollop on XCOM. In: Edge. January 20, 2012, archived from the original on January 23, 2012 ; accessed on June 10, 2019 .
- ↑ Alec Meer: Know Your Enemy: Firaxis On XCOM, Part 1. In: Rock, Paper, Shotgun . February 1, 2012, accessed June 10, 2019 .