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

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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)

Essentially X-Com: Harder, With Water

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.

DOS · by Rick Jones (96) · 2001

Hey, I for one thought it was a good addition to the series!

The Good
If you are planning on playing this game- do not unless you have played the original first (X:Com: UFO Defence/Enemy Unknown). This game has a healthy dose of strategy, adrenaline pumping suspence, and plot. The missions are involved, your decisions in the campaign screen affect the success of the project, and research/financal politics are your life source. The atmosphere of the underwater missions are heavy and lonely.

The Bad
There were not a lot of things I didn't like about this game. My biggest beef was that some of the missions were very long. In fact some of the new types of missions (such as the attacked ship terror sites and the alien artifact sites) were as long as the final mission in the first game. These missions tend to take a long time to finish as well. The maps are much more complex- so when you get down to the final alien it can take you as long just to track the thing down as it did to kill all of its buddies.

The Bottom Line
This game is a worthy sequel to the original and a joy to play for people who like turn-based strategy.

DOS · by Gene Davison (801) · 2000

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

[ 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.