X-COM

X-COM
Genres	Strategy Simulation Action First-person shooter
Developers	Culture Brain (1993-1997) MicroProse (1994-1996, 2001) Atari (1998) Hasbro Interactive (1999) 2K Marin (2012-present)
Publishers	Atari (1993-1998) MicroProse (1994-1997) MediaQuest (1997) Hasbro Interactive (1999) Infogrames (2001) 2K Games (2012-present)
Creators	Julian Gollop
Platform of origin	PC
First release	UFO: Enemy Unknown December 31, 1993
Latest release	XCOM March 6, 2012

X-COM is a series of strategy games created by Julian Gollop. In 2010 2K Marin announced the official reboot of the series, entitled simply XCOM. The original game has a cult following.

Original series

The premise is a hostile extraterrestrial invasion; the player charged by a coalition of nations with their removal. The player must: capture and research alien technology, manage personnel, maintain military installations, combat hostile aliens on the ground and manage relations with the member nations. Inspiration taken from the TV series UFO, and Timothy Good's book Alien Liaison.^[1]

The X-COM main series included the following games:

• UFO: Enemy Unknown (1993, developed by Culture Brain and MicroProse)
• X-COM: Terror from the Deep (1995, developed by Culture Brain and MicroProse)
• X-COM: Apocalypse (1997, developed by Culture Brain)
• X-COM: Interceptor (1998, developed by Atari)
• X-COM: Enforcer (2001, developed by MicroProse)

The first game is the most popular and the most successful. It was often voted as a best video game of all time, such as first on IGN's list of "Top 25 PC Games of All Time" twice in 2007 and 2009, second in "Best Video Games Since 1992" by Pelit in 2007, third and 11th in "Top 50 Games of All Time" by PC Gamer in 2001 and 2010, and third in "Best Games of All Time" by CGW in 2001. Apocalypse took several new directions with the series: it introduced a real-time combat system, in addition to a modified turn-based system, and the aesthetics were shifted to a less grim and more futuristic style. Despite being developed by the original creators of the first X-COM (Terror from the Deep was developed by MicroProse's internal team), it failed to repeat its success.

After Interceptor, Hasbro Interactive purchased MicroProse and acquired the X-COM brand. In 2001, Hasbro Interactive released a poorly-received action game named X-COM: Enforcer, loosely based on the events of Enemy Unknown. There was also a budget range multiplayer game em@il games: X-COM, released in 1999.

Two more titles were planned for this series: X-COM: Genesis, a strategy game, and X-COM: Alliance, a tactical first-person shooter. Both projects were aborted when Hasbro shut down Hasbro Interactive studios in 2001.

There were also four compilation releases: X-COM (Collector's Edition) (1998), X-COM Collection (1999), X-COM: Complete Pack (2008) and 2K Huge Games Pack (2009).

Series reboot

Main article: XCOM

On April 14, 2010, 2K Marin announced a PC and console re-imagining of X-COM (relabeled as XCOM).^[2] Though it will be a first-person shooter, they said they will try to keep some main concepts from the original game, such as the fictional energy source called Elerium, but not playstyle or setting. XCOM will be released for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 with a planned release date of March 6, 2012.^[3]

2K Games now expects to release XCOM during fiscal 2013.^[4]

Novels

There are two X-COM novels: Diane Duane's X-COM: UFO Defense - A Novel in 1995 and Vladimir Vasilyev's Enemy Unknown in 1997. Both of them are based on the first game in the series.

Intellectual property rights

The trademark for the X-COM name was filed on May 25, 1995, by MicroProse Software. Following the acquisition and subsequent merger of MicroProse with Hasbro Interactive, the X-COM intellectual property was also transferred to Hasbro Interactive on August 19, 1998. Due to financial difficulties, 100% of Hasbro Interactive was sold to the French concern Infogrames Entertainment SA on January 29, 2001; as part of this transfer, the X-COM IP was legally transferred to Infogrames on December 21, 2001 (shortly thereafter, Infogrames was renamed Atari Inc., able to do this since acquiring several Atari IPs from Hasbro Interactive). In 2005 Atari transferred several IPs to Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.^[5] and X-COM was transferred with them on June 12, 2005. The X-COM IP is currently owned by Take-Two and its subsidiaries;^[6] in 2007 there were unconfirmed rumors that Irrational Games (who are owned by Take-Two) were developing a new X-COM title.^[7]

In May 2007, a representative of 2K Games (a subsidiary of Take-Two) declared on the Steam forums that they had inherited the X-COM franchise. In light of this, 2K Games re-released Terror from the Deep on Steam with support for Windows XP only (in October 2008, an update was released through Steam, which enabled Windows Vista support for Terror from the Deep). In September 2008, UFO Defense, Apocalypse, Interceptor, and Enforcer were re-released with support for Windows XP and Windows Vista available on Steam and Gamersgate among others. As of September 2011, 2K Games subsidiary 2K Marin is developing XCOM.

Spiritual successors

Because of the series' popularity, other game developers have created games similar in theme and tone of the X-COM games. The level to which they borrow from the original series varies.

• The 1997 tactical PC game Incubation: Time Is Running Out was considered a spiritual successor to X-COM and "what X-Com Apocalypse should have been".^[8]
• The Dreamland Chronicles: Freedom Ridge was a canceled game for PC and PlayStation 2 by Mythos Games (the authors of the original game), claimed to having been "essentially a remake of the first X-Com with 3D graphics".^[9] It was however canceled in 2001 and Mythos Games ceased to exist.
• UFO: Aftermath is a 2003 singleplayer PC game which was heavily influenced by the X-COM series and used elements of Freedom Ridge project; during its development, the developers solicited comments from the X-COM fan community. It has since been followed by two sequels: UFO: Aftershock in 2005 and UFO: Afterlight in 2007.
• In 2005, developer Codo Technologies (key former members of Mythos Games) and publisher Namco released Rebelstar: Tactical Command, very similar to the X-COM's battle system, for the Game Boy Advance.
• UFO: Extraterrestrials, released in 2007 for PC, aimed to be an unofficial sequel to the X-COM series.
• UFO: Alien Invasion is a free open source PC strategy game heavily influenced by the X-COM series.
• Xenonauts is a PC strategy game presently in development by Goldhawk Interactive, again heavily influenced by the X-COM series. It is marketed as a Cold War-era (1979 instead of 1999) re-imagining of the original UFO: Enemy Unknown and an answer to 2K's XCOM which has already alienated many fans due to its FPS-based gameplay.^[10]

Reception

Aggregate review scores
As of November 17, 2011.

Game	GameRankings	Metacritic
UFO: Enemy Unknown	(PC) 93.60%[11] (PS) 92.90%[12]	-
X-COM: Terror from the Deep	(PS) 100.00%[13] (PC) 86.00%[14]	-
X-COM: Apocalypse	(PC) 87.00%[15]	-
X-COM: Interceptor	(PC) 70.12%[16]	-
X-COM: Enforcer	(PC) 65.13%[17]	(PC) 65[18]
XCOM	(PC) -[19] (PS3) -[20] (X360) -[21]	(PC) -[22] (PS3) -[23] (X360) -[24]

See also

• Laser Squad: a science fiction tactical game by the developers of X-COM; immediate predecessor of X-COM.
• Laser Squad Nemesis: a multiplayer game from the original creators of X-COM.
• Rebelstar series: precursor games to the Laser Squad and X-COM series, created by the same developers.

References

1. ^ "The Making Of: X-COM: Enemy Unknown". Edge. 2009-05-15. http://www.next-gen.biz/features/making-x-com-enemy-unknown. Retrieved 2009-05-15. 
2. ^ "XCOM" (official 2K Marin site)
3. ^ "XCOM gets 2012 release". http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/xcom-gets-2012-release. 
4. ^ Take2Games.com
5. ^ Trademark Assignment Details for Atari from the United States Patent and Trademark Office
6. ^ Trademark Assignment Abstract of Title from the United States Patent and Trademark Office
7. ^ "Irrational Games Developing X-COM Title?" article from Shacknews
8. ^ "Incubation Reviews". Blue Byte Software. http://www.bluebyte.net/eng/products/incubation/p_reviews.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-23. 
9. ^ "XCom UFO creators strategy game Laser Squad Nemesis". Codo Technologies. Archived from the original on 2009-03-08. http://web.archive.org/web/20090308022717/http://www.lasersquadnemesis.com/AboutUs.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-26. 
10. ^ Andrew Yoon. "Xenonauts capitalizes on XCOM rage". Joystiq. http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/16/xenonauts-capitalizes-on-xcom-rage. 
11. ^ "X-COM: UFO Defense Reviews". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/pc/199362-x-com-ufo-defense/index.html. Retrieved November 17, 2011. 
12. ^ "X-COM: UFO Defense Reviews". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/ps/572590-x-com-ufo-defense/index.html. Retrieved November 17, 2011. 
13. ^ "X-COM: Terror from the Deep Reviews". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/ps/573917-x-com-terror-from-the-deep/index.html. Retrieved November 17, 2011. 
14. ^ "X-COM: Terror from the Deep Reviews". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/pc/199361-x-com-terror-from-the-deep/index.html. Retrieved November 17, 2011. 
15. ^ "X-COM: Apocalypse Reviews". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/pc/36014-x-com-apocalypse/index.html. Retrieved November 17, 2011. 
16. ^ "X-COM: Interceptor Reviews". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/pc/53729-x-com-interceptor/index.html. Retrieved November 17, 2011. 
17. ^ "X-COM: Enforcer Reviews". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/pc/370443-x-com-enforcer/index.html. Retrieved November 17, 2011. 
18. ^ "X-COM: Enforcer Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/x-com-enforcer. Retrieved November 17, 2011. 
19. ^ "XCOM Reviews". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/pc/995202-xcom/index.html. Retrieved November 17, 2011. 
20. ^ "XCOM Reviews". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/ps3/632699-xcom/index.html. Retrieved November 17, 2011. 
21. ^ "XCOM Reviews". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/xbox360/995203-xcom/index.html. Retrieved November 17, 2011. 
22. ^ "XCOM Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/xcom. Retrieved November 17, 2011. 
23. ^ "XCOM Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-3/xcom. Retrieved November 17, 2011. 
24. ^ "XCOM Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/xcom. Retrieved November 17, 2011. 

External links

• X-COM at MobyGames
• X-COM at TV Tropes
• UFOPaedia: an extensive wiki containing information, analysis, strategy, and other resources for the X-COM series of games
• X-Com: the oldest X-COM website still on the web (has been dormant for years, but still hosts unique content for the original three games)
• XCOM: UFO Defense: another X-COM fan site with numerous resources and patches for the Windows versions of the X-COM games
• StrategyCore.co.uk (formerly X-COM.co.uk): news, fan-fiction, files and forums
• X-COM Trilogy UFOpedia: the original in-game encyclopedias of the first three X-COM games
• OpenXcom: an open-source reimplementation
• Xenowar: an Android and Windows open source game, focusing on simplicity, and playability.
• Linux/Windows port of X-Com: Apocalypse