Alien Invasion at its best!
Customer Rating: 
I first played this on the playstation1 back in the day. I was hooked from the opening view of the globe.
I recently picked up the PC version off of Steam and while the graphics are dated, I can honestly say that after 15 minutes of playing, I hardly even notice. This is one of those games that I just keep going back to every few years to see what other things I can do.
I spent the last week going through remakes and "Homages" to this game, none of them can touch it.
I have read that the team from Bioshock is looking to do a faithful remake of this game so I am looking forward to that. But until it comes out, I will be playing the original game that came out 10 years ago.
One of the best you'll ever play
Customer Rating: This is an old game --- a real old game (as far as computer games go), but it is still played by many. This inof itself speaks volumes. This is one game that got it all right.
At the time of its release, it was a sleeper -- little advertisement preceeded it. I bought it off the shelf with one other game (because of the pictures on the box) when I bought my first computer. Once I played it, I was hooked. The game took the computer world by storm and made a name for MicroProse
The basic premise is that the earth has been invaded. You are to set up and operate x-com, a world-wide defense operation to locate and destroy the enemy craft and aliens.
You begin with a few sorry, slow interceptors and earth type weapons -- and generally get your butt kicked by the aliens. Not only that, but after a short time, your funding begins to fall off.
But never fear. As you capture your first aliens or bring em back dead, your scientists begin to learn what makes them tick. Same with their weapons and craft. Soon you can start producing their technology and put up a decent fight. You also learn that your organization can be made to be self-supporting (to hell with the world governments) by selling items made using alien technology (and you wondered where all those microwave toasters came from).
Basic play is on two maps. The first is a map of the world in which your detectors spot an alien craft making its way to earth. Once your interceptors have shot it down and marked the location, the fun part begins. You send out your military/scientific team to see what's left and if there are any aliens about. Although stiff by today's standards, the graphic are still not bad. The game play is good even tho the game is turn based (actually, this is not a bad thing). Combat with the aliens takes anywhere from a few minutes for a scout ship, to well over an hour for a discovered installation or large cruiser. Sometimes the aliens will raid your cities ... and occassionally, they will hit your bases if you don't guard them properly.
This game is truly a gem and is as playable today as it was in the mid 90's when it first came out. They only problems you'll likely encounter is that the game was set up to run under DOS and may have a problem with todays Window's environment. But if you can run a DOS window, you should be able to run the game.
It had a follow-on game as well -- taking place under water (X-Com: Terror From the Deep). That, too, is an excellent game. Both will provide endless hours of enjoyment as you try to beat back the alien hordes. Look past the dated graphics and you'll find the gameplay is what made this one great.
Highly recommended.
~P~
