X-COM: UFO Defense Game Info
   
B A C K G R O U N D

It is the year 1999. Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) have started appearing with disturbing regularity in the night skies. Reports of violent human abductions and horrific experimentation has struck terror into the hearts of millions. Mass public hysteria has only served to expose Earth’s impotence against a vastly superior technology.

Many countries have attempted to deal independently with the aliens. In August 1998, Japan established an anti-alien combat force; the Kiryu-Kai. Equipped with Japanese-made fighter aircraft, the Kiryu-Kai certainly looked like a powerful force. However, after 5 months of expensive operations they had yet to intercept their first UFO. The lesson was clear: this was a worldwide problem which could not be dealt with by individual countries.

On December 11, 1998, representatives from the world’s most economically powerful countries gathered secretly in Geneva. After much debate, the decision was made to establish a covert independent body to combat, investigate and defeat the alien threat. This organization would be equipped with the world’s finest pilots, soldiers, scientists and engineers, working together as one multi-national force.

This organization was named the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit.

   
There are two different modes of interface in XCOM. First, there is the Geoscape, which is basically a picture of the Earth that shows alien and XCOM activities. The light blue squares represent XCOM bases. Pink squares are alien bases. Yellow plus signs, or crosses, are XCOM ships and red crosses are alien ships. In the menu bar to the right side of the screen are buttons that let you intercept craft, go to the Base View, check your statistics in the graphs, look up details on aliens in the UFOPaedia, go to the options menu where you can save, load, and quit, and another where you can check your current funding.
 
Within the Geoscape is the Base View. Here, you can look at the overview of your base and perform tasks such as equipping your crafts, inspecting soldiers, researching, manufacturing, transferring, selling, and buying. You can also add additional facilities to your base. As you progress through the game, you will be able to build more facilities. From the Base View, you can also create additional bases.
 

The second interface mode is the Battlescape. This is where the actual fighting goes on. In the Battlescape, you can do everything from shooting aliens, running around, blowing up buildings, laying ambushes, sieging UFOs, killing your own guys, and simply aborting the mission. Obviously, there's a wide range of activities to indulge your demented mind in.


 
Before you depart from your craft, you will be given the opportunity to equip and rearrange your soldiers' weapons to your heart's content.
 
This is a clip of a few of my squaddies making a quick assault on a medium UFO. Apparently I accidentally shot the this UFO down with a bit too much overkill, cause the power source detonated upon impact, destroying valuable Elerium and other materials.
 
This ship, the Avenger, marks the hallmark of your XCOM engineers' creativity. It combines alien technology and human ingenuity to create the fastest, baddest, and most economical assault craft.
 
The flying suit is also a great innovation. I wish I had one of these at home. Not only is it extremely strong and able to withstand direct hits, it also enables your trooper to fly up and drop into a UFO from above.
 
This is another clip from the UFOPaedia that shows a few details of the classic bug-eyed sectoid. It is usually the first alien you encounter, and one of the easiest to kill.