The Wargamer

An Icon Reborn

Landmark titles are few and far between, but when they are released they create an indelible impression in the collective conscious of the gaming community. These icons often make such a strong impression that merely mentioning their name will evoke pleasant memories of a title that have never been surpassed. StarCraft, Steel Panthers, Panzer General. And X-COM. For those gamers who have never had the pleasure of playing X-COM it is one of those classic games that have left a permanent high water mark in the gaming industry.

The premise was simple: the Earth was being scouted and attacked by aliens. Their technology was superior to Earth’s, and the player was given a budget, build facilities, hire scientists, engineers and soldiers in order to research new technologies, manufacture them, and deploy them. Deployment took place on a tactical map where fog of war where the aliens could appear at any time and wreck havoc on the player’s team. The atmosphere in the strategic game was one of constantly playing catch up, and the atmosphere of the tactical game evoked an eerie, sometimes frightening uncertainty as the player fought off the powerful extraterrestrials.

It has been a very long time since I played my last game of X-COM, so my memory might be clouded by time, but the best I can tell UFO: Extraterrestrials matches X-COM’s gameplay stride for stride. Cosmetically it is different. Instead of taking place on Earth, the player is on a planet called Esperanza. The ships, buildings, aliens, and people look different, but where it counts the gameplay is virtually indistinguishable from the original. That really sums it up. Although UFO: Extraterrestrials was created by a different developer and had to adopt its own unique style to avoid infringing on the intellectual property rights of the original, the gameplay unfolds in a way that made me feel at home from the start.

Previews are often tricky to write. By definition a preview isn't the final version of the game. Often it is 80% or 90% completed, but technically almost anything about the game can change, so writers often have to be somewhat circumspect in dishing out praise for something that shows promise. In this case, however, an exception is warranted. Unless something goes drastically wrong with game as it comes to release, it will be the spiritual successor to the X-COM series. So X-COM fans rejoice! If you are a fan of the original series you won't be disappointed.

About the Author

Jim Zabek started playing D&D in high school when a group broke off of the Chess Club seeking more interesting gaming material. Already an avid wargamer, having bought his first Avalon Hill wargame at age 10, D&D provided an alternative form of entertainment from the hexes and counters he was accustomed to. Though he briefly played the original version of D&D, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons was released not long after as he started playing with a group, and that was the version that he played until chasing girls became his primary hobby. Fast forward a couple of decades and he started playing version 3.5 at the invitation of a fellow wargamer, failed his Will save and now buys almost anything with the Wizards of the Coast logo without checking for price or content, including D&D, D&D Minis, Star Wars Minis, Axis & Allies Minis, and then there are those new Star Wars Space Battles Minis…