🚀 go-pugleaf

Hey, Don't say I didn't try :)

Lawrence <Dontthrowspam@me.com> wrote in article
<cf8eir$5lh$1@news7.svr.pol.co.uk>...
> Been a few more posts than usual of late. And since I often view but hardly
> post I guess that means that some of you lot often do the same.
> 
> I have played a few of the xcom games and but my personal favourites are UFO
> EU and TFTD. the others I have tried, I like less although I commend the
> attempt to enhance the format.
> 
> Since you guys are far more hardcore, er,  'xcom-ers' (?!) I Just wondered
> how you rated the games in the series? I'll give mine and you give yours,
> yeah? And yes, this is a sad attempt to force more life into this ng :)

OK by me : )
 
> 1.    UFO Enemy Unknown 9/10
> loved this and played it on the Amiga 1200 and then bought it again on S1

9/10 too. I got it and TFTD in a trade based on reputation alone. After
installing, I was still "Just looking at it" 5 hours later.


> 2.    TFTD - 8/10
> more of the same in many respects but once again a solid engine and much fun
> for me on PS1

I Loved the undersea setting, but there was way too much psionics. 7/10

> 3.    XCOM Apocalypse - 7/10
> many peoples favoured game but I little too much going on and it seemed like
> 2 different games

9.5 out of 10 here. I like this slightly better than the original. There's just
more stuff in it. The art is excellent.

> 4.    XCOM Interceptor
> only played the demo and was left non-plussed with it so I didn't buy it.
> unfair for me to score it.

8/10 A complete success moving X-Com to a space sim. Even the difficulty curve
translates.

> 5.    XCOM Enforcer
> Never played it.

6/10 An FPS with no hint of imagination. The weapon balance is sad too. It does
give you the chance to pull the trigger on  classic X-Com enemies yourself.
This is a great game if you feel like killing 4-500 things in two minutes.

> 6.    UFO Aftermath 7/10

Haven't played yet.


Morgane

"Lawrence" <Dontthrowspam@me.com> wrote:
>Been a few more posts than usual of late. And since I often view but hardly
>post I guess that means that some of you lot often do the same.
>
>I have played a few of the xcom games and but my personal favourites are UFO
>EU and TFTD. the others I have tried, I like less although I commend the
>attempt to enhance the format.
>
>Since you guys are far more hardcore, er,  'xcom-ers' (?!) I Just wondered
>how you rated the games in the series? I'll give mine and you give yours,
>yeah? And yes, this is a sad attempt to force more life into this ng :)
>
>1.    UFO Enemy Unknown 9/10
>loved this and played it on the Amiga 1200 and then bought it again on S1
>2.    TFTD - 8/10
>more of the same in many respects but once again a solid engine and much fun
>for me on PS1
>3.    XCOM Apocalypse - 7/10
>many peoples favoured game but I little too much going on and it seemed like
>2 different games

It didn't seem like even one game to me. It was obvious that more depth
had been planned for corporate relations and competing forces and raids
and infestations.

>4.    XCOM Interceptor
>only played the demo and was left non-plussed with it so I didn't buy it.
>unfair for me to score it.
>5.    XCOM Enforcer
>Never played it.
>6.    UFO Aftermath 7/10
>Ok I admit I was genuinely excited about this one. When it came out I was
>more than a little disappointed but for all its failings and impossibly
>steep jump in difficulty I liked it because I got to play a half decent
>rewrite of UFO EU.  Yeah, I realise it is not a true xcom game but it is
>probably as close as we are going to get.  After hearing about the release
>of UFO: Aftershock and Altar finally allowing combat within buildings, maybe
>it will be even closer to what I'd hoped for the first time. Who knows?

I'm sure they will get better. It was only their first game in the
genre.

"Morgane" <ziamorg@rogers.com> wrote in message 
news:01c47fa9$4f583d40$ce007218@cr1001062-a.ym1.on.wave.home.com...
>> 5.    XCOM Enforcer
>> Never played it.
>
> 6/10 An FPS with no hint of imagination. The weapon balance is sad too. It 
> does
> give you the chance to pull the trigger on  classic X-Com enemies 
> yourself.
> This is a great game if you feel like killing 4-500 things in two minutes.

Just did a very bad thing and dl'ed it on emule. Flame me later.  I can 
honestly say it dilutes the franchise but I really loved the 'get off my 
planet' 'alien scum' 'I'm bad' type remarks.  Funny and mindlessly 
enjoyable.  Again I am sorry for the illegitimate method of ownership but I 
am glad I never paid for it. I would give it 5/10. 

"Lawrence" <Dontthrowspam@me.com> wrote in message news:<cf8eir$5lh$1@news7.svr.pol.co.uk>...

"Lawrence" <Dontthrowspam@me.com> wrote in message news:<cf8eir$5lh$1@news7.svr.pol.co.uk>...
> Been a few more posts than usual of late. And since I often view but hardly
> post I guess that means that some of you lot often do the same.
> 
> I have played a few of the xcom games and but my personal favourites are UFO
> EU and TFTD. the others I have tried, I like less although I commend the
> attempt to enhance the format.

I won't try to give them ratings.

UFO - The original classic.  Who doesn't love it?  Well, OK, but we
won't mention *those* people. :)

TFTD - I actually liked this more.  Sure, it was UFO with a different
skin, but I thought the new skin was really cool.  And I really liked
the idea of weapons that could only be used under water.  And the HTH
weapons changed the whole nature of the combat.  And the larger
variety of missions including 2-stage missions ... I could go on.  The
game was brutal, and searching out the last alien hiding on the
passenger ship wasn't much fun, but I'd have to pick this one just
slightly over UFO.

Apocalypse - Tried it the "real" way ... turn based ... it was
unbearable.  The levels were too large ... TFTD sometimes suffered
from this but with Apoc it was just too much.  Made a half-hearted
attempt to play real time but just didn't like it at all.  Then a long
time later, I made a serious effort to play this via real time, and lo
and behold, I "got" it.  Had a lot of fun.  Totally different feel
from the others but just as good in it's own right.

Interceptor - Bought it, never played it.

Enforcer - Vaguely heard about it, didn't care and never bought it. 
Still don't care.

Aftermath - I'm not really sure how I feel about this one.  It's not
all bad, but I just don't get as excited about it as the earlier
games.  Maybe it's because of the lack of base building and economics.
 I know it was intentional, but it left a whole lot out of what X-Com
was all about for me.  I really liked some of the stuff ... more
skills, training, other mission objectives, etc.  There is a lot to
like about it, but in the end, it just seemed lacking.  Never did make
it to the part where the difficulty jumps exponentially, I don't
think.

It's not X-Com, but ... Jagged Alliance 2 is the best thing since
X-Com.  The dual time system with real time until enemy contact at
which it becomes turn-based, is the best ever IMO.  I'd kill for any
of the earlier X-Com games to be re-written to use this combat engine.

There's my $.05.

Warren

lawrence <crivens@th.at> wrote in article <cgb15p$8i0$1@news8.svr.pol.co.uk>...
> Just did a very bad thing and dl'ed it on emule. Flame me later. 

You'll get no crap from me about pirating.

 >I can 
> honestly say it dilutes the franchise but I really loved the 'get off my 
> planet' 'alien scum' 'I'm bad' type remarks.  Funny and mindlessly 
> enjoyable.  Again I am sorry for the illegitimate method of ownership but I 
> am glad I never paid for it. I would give it 5/10. 

My favourite is "Unhandled exception!" It's a fun game every once in a while.
It's nice because you can play one or two maps, or play through the in a few
hours.

There's a skinpack for the enforcer out there too.

Morgane

wsmithjr001@yahoo.com (Warren) wrote:

>Apocalypse - Tried it the "real" way ... turn based ... it was
>unbearable.  The levels were too large ... TFTD sometimes suffered
>from this but with Apoc it was just too much.

On many missions (inside city buildings), level size seems to be
determined by squad size.  When I started playing with a self-imposed
limit of 4 soldiers per mission, I noticed a big difference.  TFTD is
far worse in this respect, IMO.  You *need* lots of soldiers in TFTD
because they die so easily, and moving all those soldiers around those
monstrous maps is often more tedious than fun.

wsmithjr001@yahoo.com (Warren) wrote:
>"Lawrence" <Dontthrowspam@me.com> wrote in message news:<cf8eir$5lh$1@news7.svr.pol.co.uk>...
>
>"Lawrence" <Dontthrowspam@me.com> wrote in message news:<cf8eir$5lh$1@news7.svr.pol.co.uk>...
>> Been a few more posts than usual of late. And since I often view but hardly
>> post I guess that means that some of you lot often do the same.
>> 
>> I have played a few of the xcom games and but my personal favourites are UFO
>> EU and TFTD. the others I have tried, I like less although I commend the
>> attempt to enhance the format.
>
>I won't try to give them ratings.
>
>UFO - The original classic.  Who doesn't love it?  Well, OK, but we
>won't mention *those* people. :)
>
>TFTD - I actually liked this more.  Sure, it was UFO with a different
>skin, but I thought the new skin was really cool.  And I really liked
>the idea of weapons that could only be used under water.  And the HTH
>weapons changed the whole nature of the combat.  And the larger
>variety of missions including 2-stage missions ... I could go on.  The
>game was brutal, and searching out the last alien hiding on the
>passenger ship wasn't much fun, but I'd have to pick this one just
>slightly over UFO.
>
>Apocalypse - Tried it the "real" way ... turn based ... it was
>unbearable.  The levels were too large ... TFTD sometimes suffered
>from this but with Apoc it was just too much.  Made a half-hearted
>attempt to play real time but just didn't like it at all.  Then a long
>time later, I made a serious effort to play this via real time, and lo
>and behold, I "got" it.  Had a lot of fun.  Totally different feel
>from the others but just as good in it's own right.

The main problem with Apocalypse is that it was still tile based. So you
had to wait for an agent to finish crawling into a new tile before you
could make him do anything else.

>Interceptor - Bought it, never played it.
>
>Enforcer - Vaguely heard about it, didn't care and never bought it. 
>Still don't care.
>
>Aftermath - I'm not really sure how I feel about this one.  It's not
>all bad, but I just don't get as excited about it as the earlier
>games.  Maybe it's because of the lack of base building and economics.
> I know it was intentional, but it left a whole lot out of what X-Com
>was all about for me.  I really liked some of the stuff ... more
>skills, training, other mission objectives, etc.  There is a lot to
>like about it, but in the end, it just seemed lacking.  Never did make
>it to the part where the difficulty jumps exponentially, I don't
>think.

The sequel will surely be much better. Julian Gollop's first turn based
strategy games didn't have the base building stuff either.

>It's not X-Com, but ... Jagged Alliance 2 is the best thing since
>X-Com.  The dual time system with real time until enemy contact at
>which it becomes turn-based, is the best ever IMO.  I'd kill for any
>of the earlier X-Com games to be re-written to use this combat engine.

The source code has been released so maybe someone will do just that.

>There's my $.05.

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noctrnl@swbell.net wrote in article <cgdn65099u@news4.newsguy.com>...
> On many missions (inside city buildings), level size seems to be
> determined by squad size.  When I started playing with a self-imposed
> limit of 4 soldiers per mission, I noticed a big difference.  

I think it scales up per every 4 Agents or fraction thereof. So a lone Agent
gets a 4 agent map. 

Morgane