X-COM: Terror from the Deep

aka: TFTD, UFO 2, X-COM 2
Moby ID: 543
DOS Specs
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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

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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

Worse than its prdecessor.

The Good
Well, the AI has been improved (to the point of madness), the game engine is a little faster and the UFOpedia has been given a boost.

The Bad
Game is simply TOO DAMN DIFFICULT, the graphics are less appealing than the first and the game has a much less claustrophobic, stretching atmosphere.

The Bottom Line
A lot less fun than the first, but still makes a good game.

DOS · by Tomer Gabel (4539) · 1999

As good as prequel, but... different

The Good
Well. Saying that it's the "exact same game" is not quite right in my opinion. XCOM: TFTD takes a bit different approach, and is much better at it, in many ways.

The game is deeper, darker, more terrifying. And the aliens! While Gill Men and Deep ones feel a bit silly, Tentaculats and other nice creatures of this sequel leave UFO: Enemy Unknown far, far behind.

Everything is more serious and suspense, depths of the ocean are darker, screams of dying Aquatoids run chills down your back and teeth of Tasoth are sharper... After playing TFTD, blasting sectoids on cabbage fields feels a bit silly, and you will come back to TFTD to find that claustrophobic, haunting experience that prequel lacked. In other words, you're not chasing little green men anymore, now it's your aquanauts being chased, in the depths of the oceans...

While most of weapons feel the same, technology feels a bit more realistic and your aquanauts in top notch armor don't look more like what they were supposed to be and not like lost funny astronauts as was in the prequel.

Loads of new (and better!) graphics, darker colors and less repetitive terrains add alot too.

The Bad
As almost all reviews say, missions are way too long and difficult. Especially second level of the alien colony - whoever designed this map - totally overdid it. Maps are quite crazy too, and it feels almost like designer intentionally designed the map so chasing down that last alien would be so difficult. This becomes quite frustrating.

Also, while music is good, and definitely adds more to the atmosphere, all that deep and dark burden wears player off quickly. I personally preferred cyberpunk and somewhat thrilling feel of the original to this... endless terror and agony that TFTD sounds like. Still, sounds are heavily improved and overall feel fits better to the theme.

Spending few hours (missions) underwater makes you miss the daylight. Sadly, there's almost none in this game. This gives somewhat worn out and repetitive feel, especially since game is much longer and harder.

The Bottom Line
If you liked UFO: Enemy Unknown and seriously need more, pick up this game. But remember that techno-thriller'ish joyride of the first game is now replaced with fear-inducing, dark battle for survival.

And your chances for survival are low, much lower than before. Quite literally, if you're not a patient, experienced hardcore player, you WILL die alone in darkest depths and no one will ever know what happened to you. No merry civilians wandering around this time.

DOS · by The Doom (2) · 2009

[ 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

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  • MobyGames ID: 543
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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.