The best of the X-coms, this is the one to get if you had to choose. The graphics are awful, and the interface frustrating since its a really old game, that shouldnt surprise you or deter you from getting it. The experience is worth it, there has yet to be a game that can match it.

This game was my favorite game when it was released. It still was my favorite game after 5 years, and 10 years of release. And it still is, maybe the best game that I have ever played.

If you can stand 90's graphics this game still has a LOT to give. And with price like this it's worth of buying.

With the upcoming Fraxis title, now is as good a time as any to pick up the classic X-Com titles. UFO is the first in the series of some incredibly intuitive and engrossing tactical turn based strategy. This game has it all from base and resource management, to nitty gritty on ground combat. Definitely not a title to be missed.

Amazing game that really made a genre of its own. Don't let the rushed sequels defer you from giving it a try. Once you've learned the UI, the game has a great mood and setting that makes you feel engaged and truly concerned about what happens to your squad.

This is probably my favourite game of all time. The graphics have not aged well but the game play is fantastic. Any uninitiated pc gamers should definitely give this a go ahead of the remake being released (I am referring to the turn based strategy remake not the fps).

Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo. This song will be stuck in your head forever once you play X-Com UFO defense. You are the last hope for the earth when the little green (and brown, and grey, and purple) men come to do very bad things to cows. The game is split between a sim, where you manage resources, weapons, bases and launch interceptor to take out UFOs. The other half you control a squid of men (and women) to take on the alien scum on foot (or hover tank). I first learned about this game from LPers Kikoskia and Necroscope86, after seeing them I had to get the game and I was not disappointed at all. The game plays in DOSBOX so all new OSes will be able to run it without problems. All and all, A great game that has tons of replay value and each game will be different.

Sure would be nice to add something new. But this is one game that lives up to the positives that have already been stated here. It's a classic oldie that is still fantastic in all the right places, and whatever has aged (such as the visuals) doesn't get in the way of fun one bit.

Bought this on my old Amiga. I remember it running kind of slow but it didn't matter, the fun came through the frustration that caused. Bought the PC version along with the sequel Terror from the Deep. Everything ran great and I played it endlessly. Now, all these years later I have the version the runs off DOSbox. Runs fine on my W7/64 PC.

Among the greatest games of all time. Would love a "proper" remake. Most of what I've played ranks as "kind of fun" at best.

One of the great old games. Superb and still holds up to this day. I must've played this game through a good 4 times and still enjoy it. An old game that stands the test of time. Can't recommend this one enough.

Classic which started whole X-COM enterprise. Outdated graphics by todays standard but it still has its charm.

An excellent game, that hasn't been topped in its genre. Though modern gamers might be put off by the dated graphics and clunky interface.

One of the best classsics available around. Almost Everyone remembers it and most love. So do I. Around 13 years later than I played it for a first time and I still love it. It has it quirks (odd shooting sometimes, clunky interface in some menus)but I enjoy it lot and it deserves 5 stars easily.

For whatever reason, this cautions against running on Windows 7, but I haven't had any problems whatsoever running it on Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (retail, not OEM).

Since at this point any review of X-COM simply goes over the same material, I'm just going to refer to the technical merits of this DOSbox configuration that allows you to run it.

1) The Geoscape runs at proper speed, 5 seconds per second, at the 5 sec time point.

2) The Sound Blaster emulation sounds almost perfect.

3) There is a brief stutter and delay when being presented with the language selection menu.

4) The intro video works! Tears of nostalgia, here.

5) Battlescape gameplay is smooth and accurate to the original early-nineties game speed.

And best of all... any mods that work on the original X-COM will work on this DOSbox version too. It also includes the Windows executable from X-COM Gold if you want to use that instead, although you lose the precision of the DOSbox emulator which was configured to match an old 386 processor as closely as possible. Or, if you want to use one of the drop-in Win32 executables from the mod community, you can do that, leaving the DOSbox emulator completely out of the equation.

All in all, this is an excellent buy for anyone interested in X-COM.

This game is a real classic and great game.... played it since it came out in the ninetees, and until now no game succeeded to pass it charm... its such a classic game you can play over and over .... for strategic people this is a must for their collection...

Old School and excellent still. Owned this game on the original Amiga platform. Chess style Turn Based Combat, Base building and Expansive Research tree. Would love to see a graphically updated version :D

Absolute classic, and for good reason. You do need to be prepared for extremely old-fashioned graphics, and a decent but not entirely polished interface. Excellent, groundbreaking strategy game.

One of the more challenging turn based strategy games, X-Com UFO Defence puts you in control of the X-Com organization, a top secret group set up to defend Earth from a horde of alien invaders bent on taking over the planet.

While at it's core UFO Defence is a turn based strategy it does incorporate some light base building and a ton of micro management to the mix, all in an open world that gives you alot of freedom. After choosing where to set up your first base of operations you'll put scientists to work researching alien technology and bigger and better weapons, manufacture devices to assist in the war against the alien invasion and recruit soldiers to neutralize any threat.

No two games of UFO will play the same as you'll deal with any number of random encounters like shooting down alien ships, investigating crash sites, saving locals from terror sites, defending your base from an alien assault and eventually taking the fight to the alien home world. The randomness also scales the difficulty of the battles, in particular the terror sights, where your squad of rookies may come face to face with some of the deadlier pairings of aliens, and believe me there are alot of different hostile species in this one and some far more deadly than others. At the end of each month you'll get a report stating how well you've done in protecting the Earth and see whether or not the world governments increase or decrease your funding, do a good job and all is well, a bad job however may see countries secretly side with the aliens and allow them to build bases on their soil.

At the end of the day X-Com UFO Defence is a great little game with tons to do and alot of replay value but ultimately is extremely challenging and very unforgiving should you make a bad move. Highly recommended for Strategy fans and those with alot of patients.

This is one of the games I have spent most time on, is a classic and still worth playing.

The graphics are a bit out dated, but still a game I enjoy even today. Works great even in Windows 7 64bit.

there's not much to add to this that others haven't. A long time in the distant past, I was a huge fan of Laser Squad (on the amstrad cpc 6128, no less), and it was enjoyable coming back to a game that is a direct descendent from that. If you've not played before, it is worth visiting the ufopedia website to make sure you've got any unofficial patches which balance out some of the bugs in the game.

be warned, this is a slow, patient game, and it takes time to get into how it works. it's not helped by an old and clunky UI. but don't let that put you off. it is genuinely rewarding, and really tough at the higher levels of difficulty.

Nothing sucks more than having your best soldiers blown to bits by one of their own, mind controlled by the aliens. Nothing is more gratifying then sending in one of the remote controlled bombs to blitz an alien hq, or get every last one of those goddam chrysallids.

It's a gaming classic, and well worth the time invested in it.

This is truly an interesting open sandbox real-time/turn-based hybrid strategy game, although it has no tutorial and the graphics are... well archaic in today's standard. But as an old 90s computer-gamer the blocky graphics never bothered me. The goal of the game is simply to build a network of bases to protect the earth from alien attacks and invasion by shooting down UFOs and killing/capturing their crews.

I highly recommend this game to any strategy nerds or hardcore gamers out there, but beginners and casual gamers may find the game daunting and somewhat hard to get a grip on.

The games largest problem is that it does not have a tutorial, and you do not get a manual buying it here (at least I did not) and it is very essential to get going, but this is easily remedied by searching for it on the web. The UI is very intuitive and never felt bulky or excessive.

The greatest strength of this game is the open game play, you have a very wide range of options and you control everything about these bases and the war effort against the aliens. Reaserch, base placement, all logistics, recruiting and so on.

This game was one of my favorites growing up. Although the graphics are out of date as can be expected given how old this game is, the gameplay can never grow old. Combining a real time global management of base construction/research/manufacturing/personnel management with a turnbased combat system that is similar to fallout 1 and 2.

This is a classic. I remember buying this when it first came out. Funny thing, even with the outdated graphics, it still plays great and a lot of fun. You've got to give this one a shot, even just to see what everyone's talking about. It's definitely fun.

Sure this game is old, 3d graphics were a dream in those days. But this game was something else, and before you say this is nostalgia talking, I was barely 4 when the game came out and I actually bought this game a few years ago.

This is a classic game from the era when brilliant gameplay and even challenging gameplay was the norm, I mean there is not just one alien species it a alliance of aliens forcing you to adopt different strategies and weapon usage to take on the enemy. This game is a challenge to say the least, you breeze through the first missions too easily, you will find the next mission there a new alien race waiting to take you on, or the aliens are using more advanced tech.

I can't really give this game justice, I mean the game is nearly 20 years old and t still gets listed in top 100 pc games of all time, if you haven't played this game, my suggestion is just to buy it so you can get to experience this game at least once in your life.

One of the first games I owned on my PlayStation was this title. I remember fondly how addicting it was, and how great the game play was in this little jem. I'm so glad I found this now on GG, as finding a working copy for W7 is not very easy.

Though the graphics are outdated and the controls can get a little frustrating at times, its a classic that still can be good fun after all these years. I still get spooked out when an alien comes out of the Fog of War...lol

This still is the best game ever, even over a decade old. (the graphics are very "retro", after some getting used too, I even started to enjoy them again)

For even more immersion in the game, name one soldier after yourself and go on alien hunting, but game over when you die :) Get your squad levelled up quickly to stand a chance against those sneaky aliens and prepare for a lot of tactical clearing of the areas. Dont let one of them turn up from behind and mind-control your squadmembers.

For the 2nd time this game got me for 100+ hours of playing.

X-Com: Enemy Unkwon was an awesome game. All right, the graphics were fairly bad, even in the late 90s, and I always found the strategy to be really difficult, but that didn't stop me spending ages fouling up, time and time again. The Dosbox version even makes it possible to play on XP!

They don't come much better than this.

By todays standard it's not what i'd call graphically pleasing, but it's gameplay is still top notch. Why there's so "few" games from one of the most brilliant series ever made is beyond my comprehension (not including interceptor and enforcer).

It runs a dosbox version and you may experience some trouble getting this to run on win 7. However since it's a classic there is a good fan-made patch available and quite good support on the dosbox forum.

This is a very old game, but it is still a fun one. Personally I think it would have been better without the tactical combat (which I have found I am poor at) but even that is relatively fun. All around it is a very cheap game that even if you are not very good at it you can still have some fun with.

First,I played this game on my Amiga 500 and was delighted.One year later showed the game up to Psone that I bought in order to compare with the Amiga version.

Anyway,it is still exciting and extremly difficult,depending on the hard severity you choose but also the eastiest grades can be tricky.

I bought this game just to experience the old gaming memories from 1994/95 when the game came out.

The graphics are archaic and game control can be difficult at times but on the whole,this is a classic that will never be forgotten.

Awesome game. Everything is just perfect. Building bases is fun, hunting alien ships is fun, investigating crashing sites is most fun and also main part of the game. The isometric view of the landing sites, the turn based combat and the tactical challenges from an enemy who sometimes shoots back were so exciting then and now.

Of course the graphics is outdated and the interface lacks modern usability features like tooltips... and in the end the combat missions are somewhat repetetive and boring, but the rest is simply excellent. One of my favorite. A true classic which inspired many open source remakes.

This is my favorite game of all time.

Gameplay is divided into two parts, taking place at your base and in battle. At your base, you conduct research into the aliens' technology, replenish men and materiel, manufacture weapons and components, and build further bases and facilities as needed and as technology allows.

Combat is conducted by your individual soldiers of your squad, turn based in an isometric 2/3D manner. This is the heart of the game and the fun. There are several different alien types and "companions" with unique weapons, abilities and death rattles. There's a variety of terrain, from Arctic to Jungle, and combat can take place within UFOs, Alien Bases, and even your own bases themselves.

The turn based combat is seamlessly intergrated with the base activities. After each (successful)combat mission, your squad returns to the base with aliens' weapons, components, and corpses which can be researched to give humanity the technology to survive this threat from another world. Surplus items can be sold, and eventually must be sold, to make room at your base and provide income to allow up to eight bases operating at once.

I could tell you more about the game, but it's better you find out for yourself. This version works best on modern rigs if you slow it down a bit, using slo-mo or turbo. The only negative thing about this game are the now outdated graphics, but don't let that stop you from playing one of the greatest games of all time.

In my 25+ years of computer gaming, no other game is so fun, addictive, and worthy of just one-more-turn. I have bought four versions of it since its release, just to be sure that if one copy failed I'd have another. Now with Gamersgate, I can have a copy anytime at my fingertips. There is no reason anyone calling themselves a gamer to not have this terrific game in their collection.

A seminal classic in the squad-level tactics genre, the indomitable X-Com:UFO Defense was the progenitor of such later classics as Jagged Alliance, Chaos Gate, Commandos, and many more.

In an age when most games available in the US were either stilted platformer ports or Gold Box gems, X-Com entered the scene with the brilliant notion of hybridizing RPGs and tactical wargaming into one sub-genre. They even threw in some resource management/tech development for good measure.

Aside from its critical historical relevance, X-Com is, at its very heart, an intensely fun and playable game. Miraculously enough, it has even aged remarkably well, somehow managing to feel almost streamlined and 'unclunky' 17 years after its initial release.

If you are a fan of the RPG/Strategy genre and have never played this game, you owe it to yourself to give it a play, especially at the offered price. Old grognards will find that this gem hearkens back to the halcyon days of early-90's gaming, while the younger set will view it as a 'retro' experience of the highest magnitude. In either case, countless hours of deep enjoyment are a foregone conclusion.

One of historys best tactical strategy game. If you haven't played or you don't own your own copy it's is time to by one.

Game in short: Aliens attack to earth, you lead defence force against them. You study them and their weapons so that you can better kill them and eventually attact to their home world.

This game is MANDATORY. It is an semi-abandonware DOS game (you can find if for download in several sites), but those freeware versions are never playable without several handicaps. Bought here it is windows-compatible and runs great.

This game surely qualifies as an artifact from the ancient world of gaming. I once had - and enjoyed - the original Microprose version but 3,5 inches disk are shortlived... Probably one of the greatest games ever published. Better still : you can still get some serious fun out of it, and certainly more than from recent remakes.

to this day there is still nothing quite like x-com, a great blast from the past, look beyond the graphics and you will have a great not to mention deep time

My favourite game of all time. I always come back to UFO and have played all the prtenders to its throne and they still don't compare to the simple fun this game gives you. Graphics are well dated at this stage but its simplicity is its strength.

Its sequels and remakes are nice to explore and add to the overall idea but in my opinion it has never been matched.

Well worth a few quid.

Great Game!!! One of the best vector graphic games on the market! Its squad-based strategy with more tactical and overall strategy concepts. This game won't leave you empty handed, and its well worth its money!

A very fun game, overall.

There are a few glitches which make the game slightly less fun, such as an enemy grenade can have killed you before the mission started, and other small quibbles. But apart from this, the game is good.

The graphics are not good by any stretch of the word, but they fit very well with the feel of the game, so I wont deduct any points from it for this.

The music is slightly painful however, so I simply turned on my own music and that was it.

Very fun gameplay, a good strategic element, but with an overall emphasis on turn based squad combat.

Easily worth such a small price tag.

In few words : Best Squad-sim(and management) games I've played.

This is a Strategy game where you command X-COM, the team with the goal to protect the Earth from Aliens and unknown enemies.

in Management part, you can research gears, produce items(producing items is one of your source of money!), buy supplies(Human resources CAN get REALLY high cost if you've been wasting many soldiers, which easily happens for newbie commanders!), and look at the Earth till UFOs appear.

in Combat part, it's a Turn-based, Isometric view battle using Action Points(Time Units).

Lots of things are detailed, like you can blow walls up(or crush them with your tanks!), using vehicles(either yours or theirs) as cover, using heights as advantages, and so on.

This game's got CRUELLY high learning curve, but it's a complete gem, a MUST GET for people who's got patience enough for tough strategy games.

This is one of the most addicting games I've been playing in my life. This is also one of the best games.

None of the later released clones or remakes gave me so much joy and fun.

Despite the graphic is old, user interface not so user friendly as it might be, the 'one more turn', 'one more technology' syndrome catches you.

As soon as you start to play the game you cant leave in the middle of the night.

I've been playing this game on Amiga, something like 15 years ago and today it gave me the same amount of entertainment.

If you like good gameplay and gfx is not most important thing for you get this game. Especially that the price is a real bargain.

If you haven't played the original UFO, then you've missed out on a game that launched a genre. (Unless you count Laser Squad, but that was for the Atari ST, and nobody has those anymore.) UFO defence is a difficult game, but one that is very satisfying when you finally start being able to kill 3 aliens without losing 6 soldiers to do it. Some battles take waay too long, but when I was serious about this game, I was a student with waay too much time on my hands. You're not a game collector if you don't have the original X-Com.

Simply one of the best games ever written, as evidenced by the fact that it's still for sale so long after release. A perfect mixture of base management, turn-based tactics and global strategy. Bought it when it first came out and rebought it now, it's just as addictive.

One word of warning, this dosbox-based version works brilliantly on my Vista system but crashes on my Windows 7 pc.

The ultimate squad based strategy game of all time. I am still yet to see a squad based game come close. This game has stood the test of time. I looked for this everywhere. $5 is dog cheap for a game of this quality. Highly recommended for anyone who likes strategy games. Its hard to find any fault with it.

There are several reasons why I really love this game, the main one being it features a deep turn based combat system, with tactical and strategic decisions that really affect your performance. The fog of war and line of view are really cool, as they apply to you and the enemy as well. Each character only sees what's in their line of view. The action points based combat let's you save time and use it as reaction during the enemy's turn. Beware, though, they do the same.

The management side it's extremelly cool, as you depend not only on countries financing you each month, you can also manufacture and sell to the world the technologies you research.

In the main non combat view there's a really good time management system that lets you quicly pass time while nothing happens and stop to a crawl when you need finer control.

While in base view, the time is stopped, so you can spend as much time as you want fine tuning.

In combat view you can adjust movement and weapon's fire speeds, so you can regulate how much time you'll spend in combat, balancing between quickness and details.

The integration with the GPL program DosBox (which come complete with cource code as to comply with the GPL) is superb, although you might want to edit the configuration file and change mousse sensitivity from 100 to 80 for better results.

This game is a famous classic for a reason. It is one of those games that grabs you and doesn't let go easily. You always want to finish just one more mission, or research just one more piece of technology before stopping for the night.

In my opinion, this is a game which has aged just fine. The gameplay is just about perfect. The game offers several different challenges to overcome to be successful. Of course, there are the squad-level tactical battles that are the heart of the game but there is also a fair amount of resource management to be aware of. You may often find your budget constraining and decisions on what to research with your scientists as well as what to produce with your engineers can have a great impact on your success.

Another great part of the game is the feeling of discovery you get as your learn more and more about the alien menace threatening the earth.

Nothings perfect of course and a couple of the negatives of this game would be the sometimes difficult early going and the fact that your soldiers, while they have names and stats, are pretty much just interchangeable tools. You're unlikely to grow attached to or interested in the men under your command.

Really though, those are just minor flaws in an otherwise great game. It's addictive, interesting, challenging and can be played again and again without loosing its enjoyment. One of the best games ever.

UFO Defense is a fantastic mix of strategy and squad-based battles. The atmosphere is amazing and even with colorful graphics it's really scary. The european name ("Enemy Unknown") really fits the game here: battles, especially during the night, will get you to move your soldiers slowly while trying to find the enemy, as just a single wrong step may cause a loss. The strong strategic component features intelligent base management and research of new weaponry and alien technology. Although the battle interface is clunky (it's from 1993!), the game is perfectly playable and even the low resolution it's easy on the eyes. Absolutely recommended!

I think this is the best PC game ever. I used to play it when it was released in the early 90s. There hasn't been a game to out do it. You take your squad to the crash site of a ufo that you shot down. You have to search out the aliens and it is really intense depending on the size of the ufo. As the game progresses the aliens build bases and intimidate countries so they stop funding you. You have to research alien technologies and then use them against the aliens. I don't know if my description makes it sound good, but you have to buy this game. Make sure you change the cpu in dosbox to dynamic, then it will work perfectly. Get the game, it is the best game ever.

Awesome!! I have purchased many games over the years, looking for a game that came close to this original masterpiece. Some have come close but never gave me back that original rush. It is nice to be able to finally play this game again on a modern PC. Wish they had made it higher os compatible long ago.