Try UFO:AI if you love the original

[jules4cartoons]

Before this rehash came out I had a yearning for the original Xcom game. After searching through ebay I found a copy but was amazed at how much it had aged. Then I stumbled across someone selling a game called UFO:AI for £5.

After buying it I was mighty impressed with the amount of depth to the games structure as it was a TRUE copy of the original but with enhanced graphics and sound. I did notice quite a few bugs in it though so I went looking for answers on the internet on their forum page. To my delight I discovered the game is actually FREE to download and was community driven. I also discovered that I had an older version of the game and when I dowloaded the most recent version, many of the problems had been fixed.

You can build up to 8 bases worldwide and they DO get attacked by the aliens from time to time. You can hire and fire soldiers, scientists and engineers. The scenarios are HUGE and actually reflect the part of the world you're in. For example, african maps have huts, Russian missions often have snow etc. You are also able to pick up items dropped by comrades and use alien weaponry (if researched beforehand).

Although the game is massive it is also quite easy, I played over 500 missions and never lost a battle, although many soldiers were killed. This ease of gameplay is mainly due to the fact when attending a UFO crash or landing the majority of the aliens are still inside the ship. There were a number of missions where the aliens were scattered throughout the landscape making it far more exsciting and challenging. Money is also far too easy to come buy as you can freely sell and buy back alien artifacts. These items are slighly more expensive to buy than sell but you will find that each mission yields 100s of items.

However, on their website there is a new version due very soon and the news page promises it to be more difficult and warns users to expect more soldier deaths.

Have a go and let me know what you think.

[rane]

Last time I played AI, it was a clone with ugly UI that was too focused on being a clone, rather than a game in its own right.

[HoboRed]

Let me play this and tell everyone about it.

Maybe we can develop a Mod for this game and start something epic.

[HoboRed]

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥!!!

This game...clone as it is...is actually pretty damn cool. I'm looking over it with a friend and, though I have yet to play I am so far very interested.

Not too impressed about it being easy, but the graphics upgrades are sweet!

Now here's the amazing part...... its COMMUNITY DRIVEN....omg people who actually care about making a fun game instead of money! Its a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ miracle!!!

[HoboRed]

Hey OP can you change your thread title to "Original Xcom Remake Already Exists" so that everyone who is looking for a game like this can save their money and go download this FREE game.

Then all the new Xcom lovers will be happy that we aren't complaining in this forum anymore.

[Bindal]

Originally posted by HoboRed:

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥!!!

This game...clone as it is...is actually pretty damn cool. I'm looking over it with a friend and, though I have yet to play I am so far very interested.

Not too impressed about it being easy, but the graphics upgrades are sweet!

Now here's the amazing part...... its COMMUNITY DRIVEN....omg people who actually care about making a fun game instead of money! Its a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ miracle!!!

Unfortunally, they never got around to fixing the flaws of the original game, either.

[HoboRed]

Yes they did. This latest update is freaking amazing. This is a game that I will be playing for a very very long time. Thank you OP for this!!!!!

[Milk]

Originally posted by HoboRed:

Yes they did. This latest update is freaking amazing. This is a game that I will be playing for a very very long time. Thank you OP for this!!!!!

Yeah...

[chollirem]

Ummm you shouldnt pay for a free game dude...Ufo AI is free
Go to UFO:AI.org or just google UFO: AI
Release 5 is about to come up with better ai and bigger maps

[FireStorm20]

So anyone actually ifnished or made it to late game? does it offwer any challenge on most difficult setting? As much as i love xcom eu after nearing 500 hours, starting to get bored...

[HoboRed]

Havent finished the game, not even close. But the AI is good...they will sometimes just bum rush you, they flank you, they use cover...they have pretty damn good reflexes too....but the AI is supposed to be greatly enhanced, something from the dev team about "We are increasing the AI dramatically....expect great loss of soldiers on highest difficulty"

But if you give this dev team ideas...they will actually consider them. Which is why we are gathering ideas. Graphics on the battlescape are very bland...sometimes its just plain white (to represent snow) but just one good texture artist can fix that.

The difficulty is based on the physics of the game during actual gameplay. Each shot is give a hit % in the moment, nothing is Pre-Seeded so you can reload and get a different outcome. Some people do cheat like this by keep reloading the saved game until it hits the alien, but it simply proves that the game is actually rolling the dice "On the spot" as you shoot.

[HoboRed]

Here's UFO:AI in a nutshell, as far as missions and hit %.

Lets say you save a game right when a mission starts. You complete the mission. Good score or bad.

Then you reload and start the mission over. Even if you make the exact same moves, and the aliens make the exact same moves, and you make the exact same shots, and the aliens make the exact same shots....you will have a different outcome.

The hits and misses will be decided in the moment each time. Even from behind the exact same cover, you will miss from that spot...or maybe hit...on a reload of the same mission. There is nothign for the AI to exploit. Unless it's dark and because the aliens can see you better, they will hit you from darkness from farther away.

Its just like old Xcom games, and even though a cheater can just keep replaying until they get a good score....so what.....let them cheat. They are breaking the game by their own choice. Also, in a multiplayer setting, you cant reload so multiplayer for UFOAI would be even more random and fair.

[Kiesel]

Try Xenonauts, it's the original UFO and has EVERYTHING one did love about the first part, but also some enhancements that are really positive (for example more intense jet fights). I stopped buying UFO games after UFO Apocalypse. That was the last good one, since then they are just boring food for the masses.

[FireStorm20]

yea i plan to buy xenonauts, but from what i know its still alpha stage , so i guess it i will have dumb ai and incomplete game atm....Have any personal experiance with it?

[CrimsonKing]

Its almost beta for Xenonauts. I advise it. Use Desura.

[Joe Stracke]

I still have X-COM: UFO Defense with its original printed manual... that game consumed more of my time in college than my COBOL class load. I tried UFO: AI, and it was just as lacking as all the rest who have tried and failed to re-create the magic.

To be honest, I think the entire 'reboot' concept is an abject failure, regardless of the medium, and should be outlawed before we end up with a new Mona Lisa painted in pastels and sporting vampire teeth while clutching an Xbox game pad.

Perhaps Xenonauts will be different, but every description makes *very* explicit mention of the fact that it's not X-com... the overall effect being that every description gets to have the term 'X-Com' plastered all over it without ever having to deliver the gameplay they so shrewdly imply.

That rant aside, I'm still just another schmuck handing my scratch over every time someone yells 'X-Com' ::rolls eyes::