by Tim Peters

Created on: April 16, 2009

After 15 years, X-Com: UFO Defense (AKA Enemy Unknown in Europe) remains one of the best turn-based strategy games of all time. It doesn't look anywhere near as good as anything made in the last 15 years, and the audio is terrible on most modern soundcards, but that's not why it's a great game. UFO Defense is a great game because it can suck you in right from the first harrowing firefight. Add an incredible amount of depth outside the battles, and it's easy to see why so many people still play this game 15 years after its release.

X-Com, AKA the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit, was created on December 11, 1998 by the UN to respond to increased alien activity around the world. In 1999, X-Com is finally ready to take on the aliens. That's where you come in. As Director of X-Com, your job is to send the aliens back to wherever it is they came from. You do that by sending out interceptors to shoot down UFOs and soldiers to secure them. You can also research new weapons, equipment, and the aliens themselves at your base, in addition to building workshops, radar bases and other facilities. And you'll need it all to tackle the aliens.

You start out fighting Sectoids, bug-eyed, big-headed aliens that resemble classic descriptions of alien abductors. You and the aliens take turns moving troops around battlefields. Initially, they will most likely crush your first platoon. The AI is competent, can snipe at you from all sorts of hiding places, and will blast you with a quick shot whenever they spot you. With some practice, you'll learn to duck behind cover, destroy troublesome terrain (the UN must cover repair costs in the field) and raid alien ships like a pro. That's good, because eventually they'll start attacking major cities.

In terror missions, aliens will kill as many innocent citizens as they can, while you have to stop them. This is where you'll probably see floating creatures that can pick you off from the air and huge cannon-mounted beasts of burden... if you're lucky. UFO Defense seems to have a penchant for stepping up alien attacks and throwing in newer, deadlier species just as you get used to dealing with one. Even at the lowest difficulty level, you are hopelessly outmanned and outgunned, and only through capturing and assimilating alien technology is it possible to strike them down. It's also where the fun really kicks up a notch.

Long before you research alien weaponry and technology, you have a plethora of weapons to play with. From pistols and rifles to

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