[rlbell]

I took the gamble and plunked down the lucre to purchase the game. The first impression is that it is classic XCOM with better graphics. The next thing I noticed was that scientists and engineers are housed in their lab/workshop. You cannot hire soldiers/scientists/engineers. Each lab or workshop comes with ten people. Do to only having a fifth of the scientists, research is slower.

Soldiers are recruited at a snails' pace . . . it is good that no wound is so terrible that they actually die.

Some of the micromanaging required to run the Counter Alien Force (CAF) is done away with. There are no Base Stores, and you no longer have to figure out how to leave space in them. You do not have to configure the loadout of your transport to be able to launch it in a hurry. You do not get to tweak its stores, at all, actually. However, when you order a launch, the game prompts you to load up the troopers and select who is getting into the transport-- one of the best good things added.

The really horrible thing that they took out, that I cannot understand any motive for, is the tactical map. I will have to play the original to fully remind me why i thought that it was indespensible, but I really miss it.

They changed the initial weapons mix. Gone are the assault cannon, heavy cannon, and incendiary rounds. The rocket launcher has two rounds available: small explosive and stun. The stun rockets even knock aliens out. The other new weapon is the shotgun.

I have had severe difficulty throwing grenades, as nearly every time I try to throw one, I am not allowed to throw it near the desired target.

Annoyances aside, it does eat up time like the original.

I found my copy on the shelves of my local Walmart.


They changed the way that intercepts are initiated and resolved. At first, I did notice any significance to the changes, but they are really big. You do not have to wait for an interceptor to be fully refuelled before you launch it against another UFO, but do not expect fly for long on fumes. The big change is that closing with an alien does not pull up the little intercept screen any more. The craft weapons have enough range, even the cannon, to duke it out on the geoscape. This means that breaking off from an intercept does not immediately get your craft out of combat (so break off early). It also means that UFO's can hunt down your transport-- a big change, as the old Skyranger was never, ever, shot at, let alone shot down. It is a good thing that the craft are cheaper, as you will be losing more of them.

The soldiers are now equipped with low-light gear, and it works!

One of the devices available at the start is called the stimpack. It allows a trooper to regain lost hit points, but does not stop bleeding.

The tech tree is still a bit of a mystery, as I have yet to be able to research the alien plasma weaponry.

The big lopsided things in David86's screenshot are truly nasty. They can telepathically induce paralysis and three hits from a laser rifle do not always kill them. The large, well muscled claw can take down a trooper with a single swipe, or shuck the operator from a weapons platform, like a clam from its shell. For no good reason, they are called hallucinoids