X-COM: Terror from the Deep

aka: TFTD, UFO 2, X-COM 2
Moby ID: 543
DOS Specs
Note: We may earn an affiliate commission on purchases made via eBay or Amazon links (prices updated 3/27 12:29 PM )

Description official descriptions

X-COM: Terror from the Deep is the follow-up to the resource management and tactical combat game X-COM: Enemy Unknown.

It has been 40 years since X-COM last defeated the aliens. Now, in the year of 2040, aliens begin to appear on the Earth again. This time the threat to humanity is coming from the depths of oceans.

The game is almost identical to the original X-COM game. The user interface, weapons, and aliens are all the same. The only difference is the adaptation of the aliens and weapons (e.g. new hand-to-hand weapons) to the ocean environment. The game features both undersea and on-land missions, and is significantly harder than its predecessor.

Spellings

  • 幽浮2:深海出擊 - Traditional Chinese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (DOS version)

60 People (54 developers, 6 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 84% (based on 26 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.1 out of 5 (based on 113 ratings with 11 reviews)

Im sick and tired of people not liking this great game

The Good
TFTD Requires a heck of a lot more patience, you have to remember that some weapons dont work on land, only in water. Capturing Aliens is now a requirement to get the good techs, like armour and new ships.

The Bad
Seems a bit sam-ee until you get severel months into the game

The Bottom Line
TFTD is another excelent XCOM Game.

40 years later, Humans are in a LOT of trouble. The Erelium115 supply from the last war has gone dry, and, humans kinda grew a little too depenent on it, thus meaning tech-wise your essentaly back in the 90s. Humans have become Complacent (as we most certainly do), and X-COMs funding has been cut.

Enter the Shipliner Hyperion. Unknown forces have attacked this superliner, the last reminants of XCOM (Now owned by a private company that salvages Submeged Crashed UFOs) respond, but the only message that is returned by the responding team is "I think they're back".

The UN has a crisis meeting, and a motion is passed, XCOM is back in action. Old hands are called back as technical advisors, and the newbies are trained up with what little they can be given, except this time, the aliens arent extra-terrestrial, but they sure do come from an alien world.

XCOM2 expands on XCOM a lot. Destroying an alien base is now a 2 or 3 step process. You can whipe out (or just get to the exit bit) on the "Exterior Base" map, then go in for the kill (going for the control station, or whiping out all the aliens), then, if you didnt kill em all on the exterior, its a run to the sub.

There are also "Alien Activity" sites,. where the aliens seek to re-activate long dissused devices that were built not long after they crashed into the earth, which incedently, was also the time the dinosaurs died.

Plus, Terror sites now not only occur in cities (or, ISlands, and Ports), but on ships! Saving a cruseliner is easy, but a cargo ship, which has 2 maps is a lot harder.

The alien list is for the most part revised. Sectoids make a new appearence, as the cloned "Aquatoid" race, but all others are new. Bio-Drones replace the Cyberdisk, but are much smaller, but still go boom! Large Things that look like Meteroids (from the NES and SNES Games) threaten to take control of minds, there are also "Gill-Men" and "Lobster-Men", and a swarm of others.

this is much longer than the first.

DOS · by Chad Henshaw (27) · 2002

Good game, but bettered by its predecessor

The Good
Well, it's pretty much the same as UFO: Enemy Unknown, its prequel. This game is based underwater though, so the graphics and sound effects are a little different. Not better or worse, just different. Particularly appealing are the rivetted brass look of the alien ships, just like the Nautilus in "20,000 Leagues under the Sea". I also loved the footstep sounds, especially over the metal decking of the ships. And some of the underwater scenary is very cool.

The Bad
This game is much bigger than the first game. But that's not really a good thing. The orignal's leaness gave it a certain appeal, whereas this just gets repetetive and dull real quick. The ship attack missions are real fun the first time, but you soon get really hacked off having to search every single cabin for that last alien - this alone can take over an hour.

During the game you have to destroy 8 large alien bases. Each one of these is a nightmare situation - four floors of alien landscapes, and you never have enough men to cover the ground properly.

The Bottom Line
I don't know how this game ends, since I got bored and frustrated long before I got that far. However, I do have a ZIP file with all my last saves in, so maybe one day I'll go back to it. Maybe...

If you loved the first game, you'll probably like this as well. Whether you'll have the perseverance to see it through is another matter.

DOS · by Steve Hall (329) · 2000

In one word: absurd.

The Good
X-COM, the first part.

The Bad
It's obvious that XCOM was outstanding, one of the games that deserve to be called classics; a game hardly to be beaten, by sequel or not. But TFTD is simply absurd: it's the same game, exactly the same game. Even worse, the plot is also absurd. What has done mankind with all those plasma cannons taken from the aliens in the first episode? Why must I walk the path again from... harpoons? TFTD is the result of following a success and taking it to the worst extreme: to make an exact copy of the previous.

The Bottom Line
If you have seen XCOM, you have seen TFTD. If you don't, skip the latter completely and try the first.

DOS · by Technocrat (193) · 2002

[ View all 11 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Steam powered!? Xoleras (66143) Aug 17, 2007

Trivia

Bugs

The research tree in this game had a few bugs which prevent you from researching certain items, one of them can even stop you from successfully completing the game. Luckily there are guides that contain ways to avoid these bugs.

Development

After completing UFO MicroProse wanted to do a quick follow up within six months. We said that this was not feasible, and if it were possible it would be little more than the same game with different graphics. Instead we started work on X-Com:Apocalypse, which was much more ambitious. Once UFO/X-Com was clearly known to be a success, MicroProse suggested that we license the code for them to develop their own sequel. The rest is history.

-- taken from the Mythos Games web site.

References

X-COM: Terror from the Deep is heavily based on the writings of Howard Phillips Lovecraft. Many names and creatures are taken straight from HPL. Also, T'leth is R'lyeh, and in the final mission, you can see the tomb and the portrait of the Great Cthulhu himself.

Awards

  • Power Play
    • Issue 02/1996 – Best Strategy Game in 1995

Information also contributed by Jaromir Krol and Spearhead51

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

X-COM: Enforcer
Released 2001 on Windows
X-COM: UFO Defense
Released 1994 on DOS, 1995 on PlayStation, Windows...
X-COM: Apocalypse
Released 1997 on DOS, 2008 on Windows
X-COM: Interceptor
Released 1998 on Windows
X-COM: Complete Pack
Released 2008 on DOS, Windows
Em@il Games: X-COM
Released 1999 on Windows
X-COM: Unknown Terror
Released 1996 on DOS
Hidden Deep
Released 2022 on Windows

Related Sites +

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 543
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by IJan.

PlayStation added by Trixter. Windows added by Xoleras.

Additional contributors: Narf!, Kasey Chang, tarmo888, n][rvana, Paulus18950, Patrick Bregger.

Game added December 6, 1999. Last modified January 19, 2024.