X-COM: Apocalypse (PC Games, 1997)

Anyone who has played the X-Com titles knows this is by far the finest title of the bunch. With all the aspects everyone liked in the Original X-Com, X-Com Apoc is the great follow-up to the classic original. However, this sequel outshines the original in numerous different ways. A more comprehensive and user friendly interface as well as improved graphics and longer game play are the largest advancements over its predecessor. X-Com Apoc combines the best of Sim/Strategy related city building along with Turn Based/Real Time Shooter sequences.

You are the leader of a group of Professional Alien investigators who are charged with saving the world (what did you expect). It is up to you to figure out what the alien menace is all about. You do this by building up your X-Com facilities to handle ever increasing technologies that are revealed slowly and deliberately throughout the game.

At the same time you are building your fortress and forces, you are required to ward off any alien incursions into the city. Aliens will pop up in spacecrafts and it is your job to shoot them down or run them off before they do much damage. Once an alien ship is brought down the real fun begins. Equip your X-Com troops with the latest and most modern equipment and weapons your researchers can provide or you can afford. Do this to defeat the numerous different aliens that have crash landed or infiltrated building complexes within the city. At higher levels you will need to ward of the alien threat from invading your own X-Com facilities. All this battling with the aliens can be done in either real time or in turn based combat. The cool thing about Apoc is you can pause back and forth in real time if things get to hairy (and they will).

In addition to the alien threat, you must deal with your allies and enemies within the human population around the city. Keep your neighbors happy and don't cause too much damage to their buildings or you may find yourself cut-off from some major suppliers. Treat them well and they will reward you at the end of the month with huge cash rewards to further your experiments and investigations. Save often and don't get too attached to your favorite X-Com soldier. They have a tendency of dying on you due to the extreme battles you get into at higher levels.

X-Com Apoc is no push over game. It will take hours to figure out all the different nuances and it will take weeks if not months to play Apoc from beginning to end. Once you finish the game, save it and put it away. Then 8 to 12 months later get it out and play it all over again for a completely new campaign and experience. I would have to rate this as one of the best games that has ever been made. Gamespot and others rank it as one of the best ever made as well. If you don't have a copy of X-Com Apoc, try to pick one up. It is going to cost a bit because it is becoming harder to find but Apoc is well worth it.

The game is designed for older systems. You can get it working on XP with some clever workarounds. Check the web for programs like Dos-Box and other programs that work fairly well. On one of my computers with XP everything worked great. On my laptop with XP everything was fine expect I could not get the sound or the movie scenes to work properly. No matter. I just listened to some of my favorite music through my earphones while playing.

Get a copy and enjoy years of great game play as you take part in this classic game again and again.