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X-Com: Terror From the Deep (DOS)By: The J Man
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When I finished the first X-Com I was elated. I'd had a great time throughout my war against the aliens, and the final battle made the two months I had spent on the game seem worth every minute. Realizing how much fun I'd had with the first, I immediately cracked open the second - already ready for more all-new X-Com action. The sequel promised new enemies and new challenges in the underwater realm of Earth's own oceans. It's a clever idea, and one fairly unexplored in games. And underwater environments make for perfectly alien locations requiring new equipment, new tactics, and a new approach to X-Com. Or so you would think. My enthusiasm instantly deflated when I saw that this was the same game that I had just beaten. I picked around a few encyclopedia screens, like a child disgustedly appraises his vegetables, and decided to put the game away. It took me three years to revisit it; amusing, considering how fast this was rushed out in 1995 to meet apparent fan demand. I don't know about anyone else, but I could have waited (and I did!). I was ready for more X-Com, but not to play the entire first game over from the start.
It's almost insulting, especially when you consider that grenades are still thrown underwater the same distance as they are on land, the dye grenade effect looks suspiciously like smoke grenades on land, and you can't float to higher levels without the assistance of "flying" armor. It shows that the underwater environment the game is so proud of is a simple texture and layout switch; again making it unclear as to why you would want to buy this game at all. The answer is because it is still the refined X-Com gameplay that made the first so worthwhile. Many games have tried to blend strategy genres, some even attempting the same combination of tactical gameplay and global empire building, but few have ever pulled it off as successfully as the Gollop brothers' original masterpiece. Keeping the tactical game to squad-level, turn-based battles keeps things personal, uncomplicated, and tense. You'll never command any giant war machines, or have artillery or similar distant support. Thus, the battles never deviate far from the central idea of loose fireteams searching cautiously for hidden aliens. Tying the battles seamlessly with a global base, equipment, and research system gives these fights purpose and value. Outfitting your soldiers properly can be expensive, and wanton use of explosives can be dangerous on the ground and monetarily pricey back at HQ. Your soldiers also progress in stats and abilities with each successful mission, making each worth keeping alive - not only for sentimental and cost reasons, but because veterans are far better than the sludge coming out of X-Com Boot Camp. So just like the first X-Com, you're fearing for your little soldiers' lives, bemoaning your lazy scientists and their lack of rapid progress, and throwing more and more money into the insatiable alien war machine. If any of this interests you and you haven't played X-Com: Enemy Unknown, I HIGHLY recommend you start with the first. It is a fantastic game, even more so when it's your first play and you're just learning what the aliens are truly capable of. Terror From the Deep doesn't absolutely require you to have played the first, but it's not a case where, since both games are so similar, you should just jump ahead to the "better sequel." Enemy Unknown is the real game here. TFTD is the optional side story if you just haven't had enough, or the mildly fresh version to play years later when you're hankering for X-Com again. Enemy Unknown is a must-play. TFTD is not.
And these are just the initial aliens you encounter. I intentionally won't get into the tougher alien types that will start to arrive, as TFTD is very good at recreating the shock and fear of meeting a new breed. Rest assured that they are nastier, have ridiculous amounts of time units, and sport abilities to put the Cryssalid and the Sectopod to shame. In fact, anything harder than beginner is going to provide an abnormally taxing challenge. EU's little brown Sectoids provided a nice, even matchup against your unarmored grunts. They had superior weapons, but were just as physically tender as the humans under your command. Here, your new foes' daunting physical stats put you at an automatic disadvantage. Your initial dart/harpoon technology is also weak and inaccurate, to the point of being farcical when put in the hands of your first recruits. They will hit just about everything except the alien in front of them. You can chalk it up to the "unfamiliarity of an underwater environment" if you like, but even if they connect with the rifle dart variant, it will sting the alien slightly and draw woefully accurate retaliation fire. It's frustrating because it nullifies tactics in the beginning. It doesn't matter how good a commander you are when your Keystone Cop soldiers can't hit an alien with any one of the three auto-fire shots from one square away (true story!) I also had half of my eight-man squad slaughtered on their first mission by ONE alien armed only with a pistol because nobody could hit him. You'll grumble, pound the desk, and probably call somebody a motherfucker as you watch your entire squad getting picked off from the dark like something out of Predator. Such situations are all too common. Yet it's strangely enjoyable to be put against such odds, especially when even the death of your whole team isn't a game over. Perhaps it's because in a world of Doom-like games with endless ammo and health kits, or RPGs that scale with your current "level," it's unique to put in a situation where you are vastly outclassed and expected to overcome it. Still, anyone unprepared for this level of senseless ass-paddling is going to be frustrated, disappointed, and maybe a little angry at what they signed up for.
Two key interface additions have been added for time unit management. You can still reserve time units for aimed, snap, and auto shots, but now you can also toggle a reserve for kneeling. This stacks on top of your shot reserve, and ensures that you will always have enough time to kneel at the end of that soldier's turn. X-Com vets know that kneeling is a lifesaver, literally, or can add just enough accuracy bonus to make a crucial shot count. The reserve button thus makes for a natural addition, and ensures you can get your guys to cover - which is frequently more important than a clear shot. The other button zeros out all remaining time units at the end of a soldier's turn. It's hardly a requirement, but it will also prevent a shaky rookie with bad aim and quick reflexes from shooting a high explosive into a group of squadmates in front of him. Note that this would only prevent a careless and dangerous reaction shot. Mind control or berzerk shots take away from the next round of time units. Weapons are indeed ported directly from the original, and you can easily find the clones for the terran, laser, and plasma weapons. There are only three that are brand-new, all of which are variants of a hand-held drill. These are close range weapons, and as you can imagine, almost totally useless. They virtually guarantee a kill though, even on the toughest enemies, which does encourage you to find some way to make them work. As said before, weapons and their physics ignore the underwater setting, so there's no additional considerations beyond find and shoot. The only real difference is a nice graphical effect simulating air bubbles trailing in the wake of a projectile. It makes shots from hidden aliens much easier to track. Arming your soldiers with a variety of weapons can also be beneficial, since many aliens carry a specific and unique vulnerability to certain attacks or ammo types. It's one of those reasons to carry around the close range drills, for example. Oceans are the focus of the game, and their topography offers a different battlefield than the farms and cities from the first. The basic ideas of moving from cover to cover still apply, but there are many more hills, trenches, and coral shelves to deal with. This can be a good thing, because it affords you a lot of protection. No more having to run across Farmer Johann's cabbage patch while aliens snipe at you from the farmhouse. It also means your foes will have plenty of places to hide, and plenty of obstacles to mask their movement. It's also harder to get a full view of the battlefield, since coral towers and hills work to mask large areas in shadow until you can move your guys around to different angles. Some debris and seaweed will litter the ground, potentially tripping up soldiers, and the depth of the crash site makes a difference as well. Depth is shown on the Geoscape as darker blue areas, and the darkest will be equivalent to a night mission in the first, regardless of the time of day. Bring your flares.
The game looks great, and the new environments are convincing. There's no graphical overhaul I can see, just new art assets using the same engine. Some sprite effects have been added, mostly bubbles of air to sell the underwater areas, but no wavy screen effect or liquid replication. Lighting is a high point, with a nice fade across deep blue shadows to simulate murky depths. There also appear to be a wider range of global light levels, to accommodate factors like daylight, depth, and angle of light sources. The Geoscape, as already mentioned, has been retextured with a focus on charting the oceans. New territories have also been drawn out and may require a look to see which new nations are your largest contributors. Otherwise, the map functions the same as before. Underwater sounds are appropriate, with a nice aquatic background sound within the missions. Hard to describe, but seems like the results from sticking a microphone into the ocean. Each weapon sounds different on land and sea, and the underwater acoustics sound believable. The auto-cannon in particular is a blast (yuk yuk), especially when loaded with explosive shells. The gun makes a terrifying firing noise unlike anything I've ever heard, and the explosions are the low rumbles of implosions, finished off with the gurgling noise of water bubbles rising to the surface. Damn, I love that gun. Others sound their part, with the quick "shhhhick" of harpoons slicing through the depths, and satisfying squeals of aliens when the connect. The only part that seems off is that sonic weapons don't sound particularly sonic, but I believe the idea is that they simply create explosions underwater. In that sense, mission accomplished.
I could go on and on and never say enough about X-Com. But I realize that whenever I do, I'm actually talking about the original. Terror From the Deep is a great expansion pack, and should be thought of as such. It's only for those who adored the first and were disappointed when it ended. For newcomers or tired vets of the First Alien War, rest assured that TFTD is strictly optional. It manages to capture the greatness of the original only by shadowing it with every step, and is remarkable only in offering a fresh environment and new aliens with increased difficulty. -reviewed 6/3/07 - game copyright 1995 Microprose
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