This is my entry for the "Gaming in the '90s contest being run by @archdruid (judges being @veryspider and @elfranz).
When I was looking down the list of games that @veryspider had suggested to be representative of the '90s... I saw one very NOTABLE game missing! I couldn't believe it... perhaps my memory was playing tricks on me and I had the decade wrong?
THE ULTIMATE GAME (at the time...)
X-Com: UFO Defense was one of the iconic games (for me at least) of the '90s. Developed by the legendary Gollop Brothers and published in 1994 by the equally legendary Microprose as a sequel to the less well known Laser Squad. X-Com inspired many copycats and homages; the most recent of which was the incredible nearly perfect game, XCOM2 by Firaxis and the soon to be released spiritual successor, Phoenix Point by the Gollop Brothers.
The game coupled challenging turn-based tactical ground skirmishes with an equally challenging strategic layer. Fighting against an overwhelming alien invasion, set-backs and failure were to be expected and recovered from... or would lead to a downward spiral resulting in the capitulation of the Earth's last hope. This was a fight against overwhelming odds, and one where every step and decision on both layers would have lasting and potentially seismic impacts. Every small win and tiny glint of new technology was wrung from the jaws of a larger defeat... with expected losses, in the hopes of increasing the chances of survival in future encounters.
Interestingly enough, the game also spawned first person shooters (X-Com: Enforcer) and Space Flight Sims (X-Com: Interceptor) that tried to capitalise on the sudden surge in those genres. However, what the publishers failed to realise was that the core X-Com cult was only interested in the turn-based tactics combined with the strategic layer with a dash of masochistic difficulty. There were several sequels (Terror from the Deep and Apocalypse), but nothing came close to the magic of the first.
The game
This was a game that was designed to be challenging... nothing like the games of today. If you succeeded in besting the game, it was with hard fought grit and determination... and great dose of luck! The first level setting (beginner) was a walk in the park, but every step up from there was a huge increase in difficulty (remember, you were fighting an overwhelming alien invasion with an under-funded secret organisation...). The second difficulty setting was already serious enough for most gamers, if you went further... you could expect failure to sudden cascade upon your resistance!
The Geoscape was the home of the Strategic Layer... from here you would be doing your best to intercept UFOs with your incredibly outclassed fighter jets and then trying to bring in the loot with your ground team loaded upon a Skyranger. Or if you were lucky, you would be able to catch a UFO on the ground with much more advanced technological goodies ripe for capture... if only the aliens could be convinced to share...
You would start off the game with a single base from which you had NO hope of covering the whole globe. Thus, it was inevitable that some of the governments of the world would start to fall and be alien collaborators. TRAITORS!
From deep within your base, you oversee the logistical, scientific and engineering requirements of fighting a resistance war. In the beginning, your technology is a joke in comparison to the aliens. However, as scraps are collected from the battlefield... you do start to catch up a little bit... but the aliens start bringing out their reserves... and so it is a constant struggle to stay alive! You will need all the tools that your limited resources can bring to bear... Plus, knowing when to run away to fight another day!
Your soldiers... don't get attached. Of these starting 10 or so soldiers, you could probably expect four or five of them to survive the first contact with aliens. Your rifles and cannons are weak in comparison to the alien's plasma technology, you are woefully human in physique and the alien psionics devastate your morale. The best thing that you can do is to NOT name them after family members!
Even as your technology progresses and your soldiers get better... they can still fall to bad tactics or unlucky shots. They are only human!
The Strategic layer combat was always a weak point of the game (something that remakes have tried in various ways to address). Basically it only involved a one on one abstracted combat between your interceptor and the UFO, with few meaningful engagement settings. My interceptors are outclassed by the smallest UFO, if I send a pack of them to gang up on it... I don't want them engaging one by one... PILE ON! GO KAMIKAZE... just get it out of the air and on the ground!
Teehee... all the soldiers have this crazy Guile haircut! The inventory system was pretty decent for the time, but is by modern standards a nightmare. Likewise, the way of equipping each soldier individually was tedious and incredibly un-fun!
The on ground turn based tactical game was where the meat of the game was. Your soldiers were essentially cannon fodder at the start... and marginally crunchier cannon fodder later on! The initial rush out of the Skyranger was always a bit of a scary moment... You had no idea what was going to gun you down the moment that you stepped out!
Speaking of scary moments... hunting down the last stragglers on an map were always terrifying moments. You knew that there was at least one alien left out there... splitting up your forces was the best way to find it... but when a single alien could take down a handful of your soldiers, well... that was just asking for trouble! On the other hand, passing turn by turn in a methodical and safe search would also get quite tiresome!
My Memories
I played this game in University whilst living on campus. There were some nights when I would just lock myself in my room to play this in the dark! Sometimes, I would hear my friends knock on the door to see if I would join them at the pub or in a multiplayer LAN game where we would take over the University network... but no, I would stay quiet and keep at this!
Really, at the time... it was a stunning achievement of a game. A melding of tactics and strategy... in a realistic difficulty setting. Challenging, but never unfair... incredibly difficult, with wins being held onto by the skin of your teeth... with a slightest mistake spelling out a tactical disaster... potentially a recoverable learning experience... or the prelude to a death spiral of disasters!
Recently, I returned to the game to try out an interesting Pirate Mod (which I plan to review at some future date...). The game has NOT aged well in the two decades since I last played it... however, there has been a fan modernising of the game with Xenonauts. I have given it a go, but I think it is time that series moved forward. To that end, XCOM and XCOM2 have stepped in the right direction and those games are an absolute pleasure to play... Phoenix Point is also one my wish list... but is a stupid Epic Store exclusive... so I will just have to wait!
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