Classic.

Well what to say about this game?

We go back a long way, I was playing Julian Gollop's Rebelstar (X-Com is loosely based on this concept) when it came out on the 8-bit ZX Spectrum in 1984, yes I am that old!

I was then working as manager in a computer game shop in Nottingham (UK)in 1994 when a rather attractive young rep for Microprose came to show me the game (X-Com, Enemy Unknown) when it was released and put up a few posters advertising it in the store.

But I didn't actually play this game until it came out on the Playstation 1 (yes, 1) and I got a copy around 1998.

But suffice to say it's a classic game that has stood the test of time and definitely worth £3 of anyone's money even with the dated graphics and clunky UI.

The game does run OK on Windows but don't try to flick between windows while playing and save regularly, after each mission is my recommendation.

The concept is classic, you are tasked with defending the Earth from the alien hordes, you get money to build bases, recruit soldiers, weapons, ships and equip and train them and research and build alien tech.

Do a good job and the various countries will give you more money, to build more bases and cover more terretory, do badly and they will reduce funding making your job harder.

You need to intercept and shoot down UFOs, save cities that are being terrorised and also infiltrate alien bases when you find them.

Soldiers are recruited and get better skills as they take part in missions and shoot aliens. To start with they are terrible and will struggle to hit a barn door from 5 paces with a blunderbuss. But if they manage to survive for a few missions (no mean feat) and get some kills, they become proficient and deadly, especially when you research alien technologies and can start producing your own weapons etc.

You soon grow to love your soldiers as your own children, once they get a dozen or so missions under their belt their stats really improve so they can do much more in a turn, shoot much more accurately and survive being hit. You can also name your troops which can be quite fun calling them after friends, enemies, celebrities or just dumb names. You want to see Donald Trump getting shot in the other ear by a Mufon warrior? You can with this game!

You can research better weapons (heavy plasma is my fave) which are more accurate and do more damage, also armour to protect your own troops.

There's almost an RPG element to the game in this regard as you start out just hunting UFOs but as you gain research you can start finding and infiltrating alien bases on Earth and eventually you can go and attack their base on the moon.

The game can be a bit frustrating at times, even on the beginner level the aliens can simply overpower rookie squads. If they have low bravery then they can be scared easily, go berserk and even be taken over by the aliens.

There's nothing more annoying than your rocket launcher squaddie on the transport craft being taken over by the aliens on the second turn and blowing up the whole squad with a RPG while still in the transport! This sort of thing doesn't happen often but a good reason to save AFTER EVERY MISSION!

Also a good reason to sack any soldiers you may recruit with low bravery, I tend to get rid of any lower than 40 bravery.

There are several different types of aliens to discover and research with their accompanying weapons etc. Some are easier than others, some are sneaky and some just want to shoot you!

Tip, don't go into battles at night as you will lose, they can see you but you can't see them (easily)!

Great game, I never managed to complete this but will try to do so, several dozen hours of gameplay ahead.

If you've never played this before the learning curve is quite steep so it does take a bit of perseverence to learn how everything works, but if you have the tenacity to do this then I wholeheartedly recommend this game.

(Note I've only played around 20 hours or so on PC but it is very similar to the PS1 version which I have probably around 200 hours of experience on)