Those damn Aliens is at it again, they have already attacked us in movies like Alien, Independence Day and computer games like Alien vs. Predator and Duke Nukem. UFO Defense (also named UFO: Enemy Unknown) is perhaps one of the more renowned games about our enemies from outer space.

As UFO sightings start to get frequent the world community joins forces to deal with the Alien plague once and for all. A new organization, Xcom is founded. The idea is that Xcom should serve all the member countries, which in return give financial aid.

You have been summoned to lead this formidable organization, and with wits and skills humankind can perhaps overcome those Alien bastards, once and for all.

In the early stages of the game the background story is presented with a cut scene, a pretty good one with beautifully hand-drawn graphics. The main-view in the game is a world map, from the view you select sites for your bases, UFO sightings is reported on the map and also Alien attacks on cities.

Another important view in the game is the base view. Here you select what to build and how you want to design your base. You also recruit soldiers, scientists and engineers, equip them and assign them to different task forces or projects.

The third view of the game is the action-view. This view emerges when you send your forces to an Alien landing or attack. This is where X-Com suddenly goes Jagged Alliance. A lot of planning has to be behind your operations, you have to make sure that the right kind of weapons are brought into the field and also that your units are positioned in a good way.

All the tactical operations are turn-based which makes positioning even more important. Actually if you do not plan with care and move with care you will end up failing the mission, even on the easiest level in the game. This might appeal to some and turn-off others, it depends on what kind of player you are.

The Aliens are really a pain to go up against since they always have the upper hand when it comes to technology. However as the game progress you might be able to capture some of the Aliens alive during the missions, if an alien containment room is built at base it’s possible to do research on them. The research provides more knowledge that helps when developing weapons and other technology.

Much of X-Com is about funding from the member countries. Failing to respond to Alien encounters in the member countries will get the funding cut from those countries. Another huge part of the game is equipment. Both ground troops and fighter jets are needed, usually the fighter jets intercept the UFOs and shoot them down, then the ground troops are sent in to try to capture surviving Aliens and terminate the rest.

UFO Defense is a great game, even though 12 years have passed since the original release of the game it is still as addictive and fun to play as it used to.

Requirements:
N/A
Tested on:
Pentium 4 2.4 GHz, 512 MB RAM, ATI Radeon Graphics Card