X-COM comes to Steam - bit-tech.net Forums

CardJoe · 5th Sep 2008, 11:01

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/09...mes-to-steam/1

If you're a fan of the old X-COM games then you'll be thrilled to know you can pick them up now off Steam.

Veles · 5th Sep 2008, 11:27

Oooo awesome

Bladestorm · 5th Sep 2008, 11:34

I already own them all in the original versions, but I think I'll purchase again just for the ease of use

It looks like they're releasing the early ones with tweaked versions of dosbox included so they can run in xp/vista. (though they've apparently not finished doing it for all of them yet)

I'd highly reccommend them to anyone who likes a bit of strategy and depth in there games, although feel free to forget enforcer exists

Denis_iii · 5th Sep 2008, 11:52

looks abit passed it.....to play old games again is kewl but to give an old game a chance hmm dunno, control system ok? Golden Axe is my baby!

and Deathtrack.

Tyrmot · 5th Sep 2008, 12:24

Hmm well i must have missed these but they sound worth a try...

Blademrk · 5th Sep 2008, 12:39

I bought the Boxset a few years back, excellent game and i wish Games Workshop would release a version of Warhammer 40k in the same style as this.

chicorasia · 5th Sep 2008, 12:41

I wonder if the old DOS prompt debug hacks still work for these new versions XD

Darth Joules · 5th Sep 2008, 13:51

Excellent! This game brings back very fond memories. The first two installments are the best IMHO. It may look very dated, but its a great tactical game. There's nothing better than leveling an entire level; buildings, fences, trees, anything to smouldering rubble in a heated exchange with the invaders. First game to have a destructable environment? A favourite tactic of mine later in the game when you got jet pack suits and those guided missles was to blow a hole in the roof of the alien spaceship, send a few guided missles in through the hole, and then storm in with your jet pack suited troops.

May buy the first two if I cannot find my original X-COM CDs.

impar · 5th Sep 2008, 17:28

Greetings!

Terror from the Deep... Great game!

My favourite tactic for finishing off alien bases was to send two soldiers equiped with the mind control device and four "tanks" as backups.
The soldiers would control the aliens and use them to kill other aliens, the tanks provided cover for the two soldiers and recon.

The terror sites in ships were hard!

johnnyboy700 · 5th Sep 2008, 18:27

Oh man, I can't believe that they are now on Steam, they are so superb! Yes I know the graphics look like they belong on the stoneage but its the gameplay that defines the brilliance of this pair of all time classics. If you have even a vague interest in strategy games you need to play both XCom UFO and Terror from the Deep.

XCom can be tough especially in the later stages of the game when you come under strong psionic attacks (and sheesh, the final assault on the offworld base!!) but TftD is murderously hard right from the start - the dreaded Lobstermen!! I also recall dealing with the Chrysalids from the first game was quite challenging as well, especially on terror sites when they used the civvies as hosts for the zombies.

Bu the way I agree with the destructable landscape mention above, the petrols stations were the best if you have large number of aliens in the area. It was also the best way to deal with those pesky Sectoid snipers, particularly during the early parts of the game when your weapons are fairly weak - a couple of H.E. rockets sorted the little buggers out. Although it was kind of hard to do an autopsy on a pureed corpse.

Skutbag · 5th Sep 2008, 23:31

Who says the graphics are terrible? They have got more style in their 16x16 pixels than most games have in their HDR, bump mapped Havok enabled wonderlands! No one complains that pac-man, mario or sonic is too 'blocky'- do they? It's a strange mash of anime, horror, scifi, comic book wonder- with a level of detail that rewards the patient eye. All I'm trying to say is that the game oozes atmosphere and style with such ease it makes you wonder what all that recent processor speed has been spent on.

It's easy to appreciate old skool action games with 'poor' graphics because the basic gameplay isn't miles away from a game with 'good' graphics.... but when it comes to strategy games, it's too easy to slate something by way of it's graphics style and forget that there is a great game beneath.

Sorry, I freaking love this game- at the time it was groundbreaking- like GTA3 x a million.

Amon · 5th Sep 2008, 23:46

Anybody else have the floppy diskettes for this game? Great stuff. Gave me more than a few chills when playing.

choupolo · 6th Sep 2008, 23:58

The Gollop twins were amazing. Also enjoyed Laser Squad and Rebelstar on the ZX Spectrum. *chuu puishk d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d wuwuwuw didl-tik* (sound of getting shot, spinning round and dying!)

I don't know if I'd play through the UFO series again though - the first game took me a few months to enjoy and complete, and I dont know if I have the time any more. These days games which take a few hours to complete, sadly, are more accessible to me.

UFO Enemy Unknown Intro

airchie · 7th Sep 2008, 13:29

This is awesome but are they compatable with Vista?
The TFTD page on steam says Vista is not compatable.

Bladestorm · 7th Sep 2008, 21:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by airchie

This is awesome but are they compatable with Vista?
The TFTD page on steam says Vista is not compatable.

The chap from 2K who is managing them has said that he plans to make the dos version of TFTD available alongside the current windows one so it can be run on vista through a custom dosbox shortcut as the first one is right now, but hasn't given an exact time/date for when it will happen. Getting them all working in vista seems to be one of there goals although they apparently don't actually have the source code for the games, so they're stuck with figuring out ways to emulate things to get them working.

Dreaming · 7th Sep 2008, 23:59

I'm sure I've got them working in Vista in dosbox before, but that was using the abandonware versions from places like the underdogs. I definately got apocalypse to work (my favourite one because it has more depth i.e. factions).

airchie · 8th Sep 2008, 00:56

I didn't realise they were using emulation to get it working.
Would be cool to see an open version created like OpenTTD.

IccleD · 12th Sep 2008, 18:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blademrk

I bought the Boxset a few years back, excellent game and i wish Games Workshop would release a version of Warhammer 40k in the same style as this.

Um... They did... it was Chaos Gate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warhamm...00:_Chaos_Gate

airchie · 18th Sep 2008, 23:50

I've been playing UFO:Afterlight a lot lately and its a great successor to the old games.

5th Sep 2008, 11:01	#1
CardJoe Player Character bit-tech Staff Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 7,977	X-COM comes to Steam http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/09...mes-to-steam/1 If you're a fan of the old X-COM games then you'll be thrilled to know you can pick them up now off Steam. __________________ this is joe's non-bit-tech blog

5th Sep 2008, 11:34	#3
Bladestorm Hypermodder Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 682	I already own them all in the original versions, but I think I'll purchase again just for the ease of use It looks like they're releasing the early ones with tweaked versions of dosbox included so they can run in xp/vista. (though they've apparently not finished doing it for all of them yet) I'd highly reccommend them to anyone who likes a bit of strategy and depth in there games, although feel free to forget enforcer exists __________________ Athlon 64 X2 3800+ @ 250x10 (1.475v) \| EVGA GTX 260 55nm SSC \| A8N-SLI Premium \| 2x(4GB) Corsair Twinx2048-PC3200C2 \| Asus Xonar DX \| Antec truepower 550w \| Akasa Eclipse-62 DDC12VPlus1, DD TDX, 3/8 tygon r3603 tubing, PA120.2, DD double floppy bay res

5th Sep 2008, 12:39	#6
Blademrk Why so serious? Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Here Posts: 2,358	I bought the Boxset a few years back, excellent game and i wish Games Workshop would release a version of Warhammer 40k in the same style as this. __________________ The Bit-Tech.net X-Box Live! Leaderboard My X-Box Live & X-Fire GamerTag: BladeMRK WII#: 0379 8536 3210 2060 My Flikr albums Twitter

5th Sep 2008, 13:51	#8
Darth Joules Supermodder Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: England Posts: 407	Excellent! This game brings back very fond memories. The first two installments are the best IMHO. It may look very dated, but its a great tactical game. There's nothing better than leveling an entire level; buildings, fences, trees, anything to smouldering rubble in a heated exchange with the invaders. First game to have a destructable environment? A favourite tactic of mine later in the game when you got jet pack suits and those guided missles was to blow a hole in the roof of the alien spaceship, send a few guided missles in through the hole, and then storm in with your jet pack suited troops. May buy the first two if I cannot find my original X-COM CDs. __________________ *MONSTRI MIHI NON STERCORUM* --------------- ~ ---------------

5th Sep 2008, 17:28	#9
impar 2n-1 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Portugal Posts: 843	Greetings! Terror from the Deep... Great game! My favourite tactic for finishing off alien bases was to send two soldiers equiped with the mind control device and four "tanks" as backups. The soldiers would control the aliens and use them to kill other aliens, the tanks provided cover for the two soldiers and recon. The terror sites in ships were hard! __________________ The recruitment of Militia is illegal. Militia-recruiters will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the applicable laws.

5th Sep 2008, 11:52	#4
Denis_iii Hypermodder Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 874	looks abit passed it.....to play old games again is kewl but to give an old game a chance hmm dunno, control system ok? Golden Axe is my baby! and Deathtrack.

5th Sep 2008, 12:24	#5
Tyrmot Multimodder Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: London Posts: 204	Hmm well i must have missed these but they sound worth a try...

5th Sep 2008, 12:41	#7
chicorasia Multimodder Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 84	I wonder if the old DOS prompt debug hacks still work for these new versions XD

5th Sep 2008, 18:27	#10
johnnyboy700 Hypermodder Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 788	Oh man, I can't believe that they are now on Steam, they are so superb! Yes I know the graphics look like they belong on the stoneage but its the gameplay that defines the brilliance of this pair of all time classics. If you have even a vague interest in strategy games you need to play both XCom UFO and Terror from the Deep. XCom can be tough especially in the later stages of the game when you come under strong psionic attacks (and sheesh, the final assault on the offworld base!!) but TftD is murderously hard right from the start - the dreaded Lobstermen!! I also recall dealing with the Chrysalids from the first game was quite challenging as well, especially on terror sites when they used the civvies as hosts for the zombies. Bu the way I agree with the destructable landscape mention above, the petrols stations were the best if you have large number of aliens in the area. It was also the best way to deal with those pesky Sectoid snipers, particularly during the early parts of the game when your weapons are fairly weak - a couple of H.E. rockets sorted the little buggers out. Although it was kind of hard to do an autopsy on a pureed corpse.

5th Sep 2008, 23:31	#11
Skutbag Supermodder Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: England Posts: 308	Who says the graphics are terrible? They have got more style in their 16x16 pixels than most games have in their HDR, bump mapped Havok enabled wonderlands! No one complains that pac-man, mario or sonic is too 'blocky'- do they? It's a strange mash of anime, horror, scifi, comic book wonder- with a level of detail that rewards the patient eye. All I'm trying to say is that the game oozes atmosphere and style with such ease it makes you wonder what all that recent processor speed has been spent on. It's easy to appreciate old skool action games with 'poor' graphics because the basic gameplay isn't miles away from a game with 'good' graphics.... but when it comes to strategy games, it's too easy to slate something by way of it's graphics style and forget that there is a great game beneath. Sorry, I freaking love this game- at the time it was groundbreaking- like GTA3 x a million. __________________ I'll take this opportunity to list some great games that may have missed your attention: Alpha Centauri, Max Payne 2, XCOM 1, Supreme Commander, a Rogue-alike of some description, Open Transport Tycoon, Psychonauts, Beyond Good and Evil, Homeworld 2. At least Google one- It'll be worth it.

5th Sep 2008, 23:46	#12
Amon inch-perfect Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: cannoning into the reds, Toronto, Canada Posts: 2,456	Anybody else have the floppy diskettes for this game? Great stuff. Gave me more than a few chills when playing. __________________ Defunct Socket 939 San Diego 4000+::2GB PC3200::Radeon 9600 SE 128MB::200GB HDD::24" Dell 2407WFP-HC::WinXP x64/x86 dual boot Dell Vostro 1500 laptop::Socket P Merom T7100::2GB PC5400::Go 8600m GT 256MB::660GB HDD::15.4" WXGA+, 24" Dell 2407WFP-HC::WinXP::Fanatec 911 Wheel+Pedals

6th Sep 2008, 23:58	#13
choupolo Minimodder Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Leeds,UK Posts: 39	The Gollop twins were amazing. Also enjoyed Laser Squad and Rebelstar on the ZX Spectrum. chuu puishk d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d wuwuwuw didl-tik (sound of getting shot, spinning round and dying!) I don't know if I'd play through the UFO series again though - the first game took me a few months to enjoy and complete, and I dont know if I have the time any more. These days games which take a few hours to complete, sadly, are more accessible to me. UFO Enemy Unknown Intro

7th Sep 2008, 23:59	#16
Dreaming Supermodder Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: The University of York Posts: 502	I'm sure I've got them working in Vista in dosbox before, but that was using the abandonware versions from places like the underdogs. I definately got apocalypse to work (my favourite one because it has more depth i.e. factions). __________________ Dreaming C2D E6300 @ 2.8 \| \| Abit IP35 Pro \| \| 4GB Corsair XMS2 800 \| \| BFG 8800GTS OC2 320MB \| \| 500GB Western Digital for OS + 1500GB Seagate for Storage \| \| Antec NeoHE 550 \| \| Lian Li PC A05B \| \| Samsung 226BW 22"