The Likening: Part 1

[Brian Damage]

Okay, so I thought what we might do, as a group of X-Com fans, was to gather a list of games that are, in some notable fashion, mechanically similar to the X-Com games of Yore for our general reference. Later, we can have a couple of polls to see if/how much/which game most satisfies the "X-Com Itch".

These can be contemporary with the originals, from more recent years, or yet to come out - the linking quality is that when it comes to some notable facet of the game, similarities can be drawn mechanically to one of the first three X-Com games.

Categories: World-level, Battlefield-level, and Unified, which is to say, respectively:

1) Games which have an overworld view similar to UFO Defense, Terror From the Deep, or Apocalypse, and switch to another for other tasks (as the X-Com games do with the Battlescape), or which perhaps just implement an unscripted strategic world/arena view in general.
2) Games which have a battle section very similar to said three games (RTS, Real-Time-With-Pause or TBS/STBS).
3) Games which actively attempt to fit the genre of Planetary Defense Sim, or otherwise combine the overview and battlefield view (to allow comparisons to Apocalypse, which took place in a city).

Examples I currently know of/can bring to mind (w/links, direct where appropriate, mentions where only mentions are available) ~

World-level:

Difficult. I was thinking, perhaps, Theme Park? If I'm remembering correctly, it allowed you to ride some of the rides, though that was probably more a cool animation than anything. If we broaden the terms, as above, then we end up with games like the Sim City series and any computer implementation of RISK. What do you fellows think?

Battlefield-level:

Silent Storm
Frozen Synapse
Fray (recently announced tactical combat game) (1) (2)
Rebelstar Raiders and siblings, especially the Game Boy Advance game.
Jagged Alliance
Jagged Alliance 2
Jagged Alliance: Back in Action
Fallout Tactics
Xenowar (Geoscape may be be added soon, moving this into "Unified")
UFO 2000. Multiplayer version of the UFO: Enemy Unknown Battlescape. May be defunct.
The Final Fantasy Tactics series
Gorky 17
Star Trek: Away Team
Star Command (may be moved into "Unified" depending on how the shipboard stuff works).
Darkwind. Turn-based tactical car battle game.

Unified:

UFO: Aftermath
UFO: Aftershock
UFO: Afterlight
UFO: Extraterrestrials (no relation to the above)
UFO: Extraterrestrials 2 (upcoming, out September)
Xenonauts (upcoming)
UFO: The Two Sides (multiplayer remake of the first X-Com game)
OpenXCom (Faithful re-implementation of the engine for modern computers)
UFO: Alien invasion (X-Com fan-game, similar but in a different setting, still in progress)
UFO: Cydonia's Fall. An explicit attempt to revamp the graphics, at least, of UFO: Enemy Unknown. May be defunct.
X-Force: Fight For Destiny. A German game. Looks quite interesting.
Isochron. For the iPhone, but looks pretty good nonetheless.
UFO: Online. Free-to-Play browser based game. Like the X-Com series, except the aliens are already in charge and you have to make them leave.

Unsure:

Syndicate and Syndicate Wars. Where do I put these? I've sadly never played them, though from the sound of it they have the tactical combat and some kind of base view...
Sim Ant. It has a world overview from which you choose a landscape square to directly manipulate, then you descend to a top-down view of the ants... which is kind of a real-time strategy. Unified?

Please add your own suggestions, and if they suit, I'll update the list. Feel free to debate any of the currently listed games, too.

[Brosdon]

Syndicate series have same thing to X-COM (World map, researching, real-time battles like in Apocalypse)But you need conquer world, not save. Sim ants is arcade, forget it.

[Brian Damage]

I'd say that still puts Syndicate 1/2 in the Unified section, then, saving or conquering notwithstanding. What say you?

On Sim Ant: I dunno, I recall that you could direct the actions of other ants by laying down scent trails, and you certainly had to employ tactics when attacking spiders and ant lions (Said tactics were admittedly mostly "surround them completely with ants", but it still required maneuvering to not lose quite a lot of your forces). You also had to outmatch the reds in the maps on which they were present, and, IIRC, control birth rates for soldiers, workers and queens with a little slider interface.

[Brian Damage]

Added X-Force: Fight For Destiny.

[Brian Damage]

Added Gorky 17.

[ShanDaMan]

Battlefield level - Star Trek:Away Team. RTWP similar to Apoc. Grenades. Phasers (Laser Weapons). Could set to stun. Line of sight important during some stealth segments.

[Brian Damage]

Thanks, ShanDaMan.

[2K Elizabeth]

Moved to Video Games as this forum is for the upcoming game!

[Brian Damage]

So when can we have the general X-Com series forum back? You know, the one that you merged into the "XCOM" forum a while back - including all the extant original-series threads?

[EDIT]: And why isn't there a link-back in the "XCOM" forum like there is for my quiz thread? Did something go wrong?

[EDIT2]: And if you really wanted this out of the "XCOM" forum, shouldn't it have gone in the "2K Games Discussion" forum, or is that only for things 2K have made, not stuff you guys just own? It's a little confusing.

[Brian Damage]

Added Star Command.

[Brian Damage]

Added Isochron.

[Brian Damage]

Added Darkwind.

[Brian Damage]

Added UFO: Online.