X-COM: Terror from the Deep

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.

The Good
It's XCOM, more weapons, more missions, tougher enemies...

The Bad
EXTREMELY repetitive, some missions just too long and deteriorate into hunt-that-last-bug, much harder than the original, EXTREMELY tedious final mission, research tree "holes" almost impossible to recover from

The Bottom Line
After writing the XCOM FAQ, I received a preview copy of TFTD before the actual release. My initial impression after install is... This is XCOM with a new tileset.

After a bit of play, I realized that the difficulty level had been VASTLY increased. Instead of nice clean rooms with clear fields of fire, you now have lots of alcoves and deadends and corridors that makes for excellent ambush traps in all terrains (esp. those USOs, unidentified submerged objects). Lack of heavy weapons initially in the game makes terror missions EXTREMELY difficult (as most of your heavy weapons don't work on land). The two-part mission are pure murder on your troops with just too many places to search, and enemies often hold high ground before you can even deploy.

The addition of hand-to-hand weapons like thermic lance are interesting, but ultimately doesn't add that much to the tactical considerations.

This is essentially an expansion pack sold as a new game.

The Good
Everything to like about "X-Com" is to like about "Terror from the Deep." They're more or less the same game.

The Bad
X-Com was unfairly hard; Terror from the Deep is ludicrously hard. Even at the easiest difficulty level, with lots of experience and employing solid tactics, your men always have a better-than-even chance of getting run over like circus midgets at a steamroller convention. Without gave saves, getting a soldier through half a dozen missions is impossible.

The under-the-water motif never really made sense to me, but to each his own. The game does seem to be a giant continuity error, though; if it's set 40 years after the original X-Com, why has human technology gone backwards?

The Bottom Line
Basically just a facelift to X-Com, but too hard to play. Get X-Com, not the sequel.