UFO: Alien Invasion

Last updated
UFO: Alien Invasion
UfoAI.jpg
Developer(s) UFO: Alien Invasion Team
Engine Heavily modified id Tech 2 [1]
Platform(s) Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Windows, AmigaOS 4, Mac OS X, Android
ReleaseVersion 2.5
28 June 2014;9 years ago (2014-06-28)
Genre(s) Real-time strategy, turn-based tactics
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

UFO: Alien Invasion is a strategy video game in which the player fights aliens that are trying to take control of the Earth. The game is heavily influenced by the X-COM series, especially X-COM: UFO Defense .

Contents

It is based on a modified id Tech 2 engine, and runs on Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, [2] Microsoft Windows, AmigaOS 4, [3] and Mac OS X for both PowerPC and Intel Macs. There is also a version for Android, published on Android Market. [4]

Gameplay

Tactical mode screenshot Ufo 2.4 Farm.png
Tactical mode screenshot

The game takes inspiration from the X-COM series by Mythos Games and MicroProse. However, it is neither a sequel nor a remake of any X-COM or other commercial title: "What we as a team wanted to make is a brand new experience that tries to surpass the quality of games from 1992, rather than simply recreate them with flashier graphics." UFO: Alien Invasion is a squad-based tactical strategy game in the tradition of the classic X-COM series of games (the player controls a secret organization charged with defending Earth from a brutal alien enemy). The game aims to combine military realism with hard science-fiction and the weirdness of an alien invasion and the turn-based system is supposed to give the player pin-point control of the squad while maintaining a sense of pace and danger.

Like the original X-COM games, UFO:AI has two main modes of play: Geoscape mode and Tactical (also known as Battlescape) mode.

Geoscape mode

Geoscape mode deals with base management and strategy. The player directs the activities and finances of PHALANX, controlling bases, installations, aircraft and squads of armed-response troops. Once researched, new technologies may be used in battle against the aliens. Interceptor aircraft can be launched to shoot down UFOs and dispatch dropships in response to alien activity across the globe. The player can build, buy and produce anything available, as long as technology level and budget will allow it. Geoscape mode employs easy-to-use time buttons to control the passage of time, automatically pausing whenever there's an important message. Research will progress and items will be produced as time passes. The player can build additional facilities (provided they have enough base space) and hire employees (provided they have enough living space) to increase the speed of production, research, or to replace soldiers lost in combat. All items in the game, ranging from weaponry to alien building materials take up space and need storage facilities. The player receives money from supporting countries (based on effectiveness at dealing with aliens in their area) monthly, but the majority of the money comes from selling loot like alien weaponry or materials collected from successful tactical missions.

Tactical mode

In Tactical mode, the player takes command of a team of soldiers in various missions to combat the aliens wherever they might appear. Instead of pushing impersonal armies around on giant maps, the players uses only the team of soldiers assigned to deal with this mission (as of 2.5, the maximum number of player-controlled actors is 12). Tactical mode uses a turn-based system, where the human team and the aliens take turns to make moves. During the player's turn the troops can be ordered to move around, fire their weapons, throw grenades or use other equipment. Each soldier gets a certain number of Time Units (TUs), representing the total time they have to act during the current turn. All actions in Tactical mode require Time Units to perform and once a soldier is out of Time Units, the soldier cannot do anything more until the next turn. Both aliens and humans can reserve TUs for reaction fire, however, and if the actor sees an enemy perform actions with equal or greater TU cost, during their turn, they will fire. Therefore, soldiers armed with pistols, and other weapons with low TU costs are often able to get the first shot on an enemy armed with a heavier and deadlier weapon. There are many tiers of weapons, such as explosives, projectiles, lasers, plasma, particle beams, and EM guns, each with their strengths and weaknesses (examples being the high accuracy of lasers, but relatively low damage output, or the high damage of particle beams, but low rates of fire and high recoil). Unlike X-COM and many similar games, there is no one "super weapon" that the player rushes to and then arms every single soldier with as soon as they can but should rather keep a healthy, balanced arsenal to be effective at different ranges and amounts of cover. Civilians and other bystanders may be found during the mission, either being targeted by the aliens, or just getting in the way while the troops try to protect them. Saving the game is impossible in tactical mode, though you can retry the mission at any time.

Development

Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg
Main theme
The main theme of the game, composed by Manuel "Vanethian" Marino
Problems playing this file? See media help.

UFO: Alien Invasion' is based on a heavily modified Quake II engine [1] This engine is free software, licensed under the GNU General Public License. Development is coordinated through SourceForge.net, and the first version was released on 30 December 2003. [5]

Since end of 2012 UFO:AI's artwork is only licensed under various open source/open content licenses (mostly CC BY-SA 3.0 and public domain [6] ), [7] which makes the game fully free and open source software and Debian's DFSG [8] compliant, which allows the inclusion into Linux distributions.

As of June 2018, version 2.5 is the latest stable version (released June 28, 2014), [9] while unstable versions are released regularly.

The official website has not released any new update since April 2018. [10]

Reception

UFO:AI was nominated for "Best project for Gamers" in the SourceForge 2007 and 2008 Community Choice Awards. [11] In 2008 APCMag.com named UFO: Alien Invasion among the Top 5 best (free) open source games. [12] Linux Game News named it the Best Open Source Game in the Turn-Based category in September 2012 [13] and it was positively noted by Linux Journal . [14] Between 2006 and May 2017 UFO:AI was downloaded from Sourceforge over 1.7 million times. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freeciv</span> Open-source turn-based strategy game

Freeciv is a single- and multiplayer turn-based strategy game for workstations and personal computers inspired by the proprietary Sid Meier's Civilization series. It is available for most desktop computer operating systems and available in an online browser version. Released under the GNU GPL-2.0-or-later, Freeciv is free and open source software. The game's default settings are closest to Civilization II, in both gameplay and graphics, including the units and the isometric grid. However, with a lot of multiplayer games being played in longturn communities, rulesets and additional variants have evolved away from the original ruleset. Freeciv is playable online at Longturn.net, fciv.net, freecivweb.org and some temporary private servers.

<i>XCOM</i> Video game series

XCOM is a science fiction video game franchise featuring an elite international organization tasked with countering alien invasions of Earth. The series began with the strategy video game X-COM: UFO Defense created by Julian Gollop's Mythos Games and MicroProse in 1994. The original lineup by MicroProse included six published and at least two canceled games, as well as two novels. The X-COM series, in particular its original entry, achieved a sizable cult following and has influenced many other video games; including the creation of a number of clones, spiritual successors, and unofficial remakes.

<i>X-COM: Terror from the Deep</i> 1995 video game

X-COM: Terror from the Deep is a strategy video game developed and published by MicroProse for the PC in 1995 and for the PlayStation in 1996. It is a sequel to X-COM: UFO Defense and the second game of the X-COM series, this time taking the war against a renewed alien invasion into the Earth's oceans.

<i>X-COM: UFO Defense</i> 1994 video game

X-COM: UFO Defense is a 1994 science fiction strategy video game developed by Mythos Games. It was published by MicroProse for DOS and Amiga computers, the Amiga CD32 console, and the PlayStation.

<i>Laser Squad</i> 1988 video game

Laser Squad is a turn-based tactics video game, originally released for the ZX Spectrum and later for the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Amiga, Sharp MZ-800 and Atari ST and PC computers between 1988 and 1992. It was designed by Julian Gollop and his team at Target Games and published by Blade Software, expanding on the ideas applied in their previous Rebelstar series of games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TORCS</span>

TORCS is an open-source 3D car racing simulator available on Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, AmigaOS 4, AROS, MorphOS and Microsoft Windows. TORCS was created by Eric Espié and Christophe Guionneau, but project development is now headed by Bernhard Wymann. It is written in C++ and is licensed under the GNU GPL. TORCS is designed to enable pre-programmed AI drivers to race against one another, while allowing the user to control a vehicle using either a keyboard, mouse, or wheel input.

<i>Alien Arena</i> 2004 video game

Alien Arena is an open-source, stand-alone first-person shooter computer game. Begun by COR Entertainment in 2004, the game combines a 1950s-era sci-fi atmosphere with gameplay similar to the Quake, Doom, and Unreal Tournament series. Alien Arena focuses mainly on online multiplayer action, although it does contain single-player matches against bots.

<i>Armagetron Advanced</i>

Armagetron Advanced is a multiplayer snake game in 3D based on the light cycle sequence from the film Tron. It is available for Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, AmigaOS 4 and OpenBSD as free and open-source software.

<i>UFO: Aftermath</i> 2003 video game

UFO: Aftermath is a 2003 real-time tactics/turn-based strategy video game created by ALTAR Interactive. It is a homage to the X-COM game series, with roots in the unfinished game The Dreamland Chronicles: Freedom Ridge. It was followed by two sequels, UFO: Aftershock (2005) and UFO: Afterlight (2007).

<i>FooBillard</i> 2002 video game

FooBillard is a free and open-source, OpenGL-based sports simulation video game.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scorched 3D</span>

Scorched 3D is a free and open source artillery game modeled after the MS-DOS game Scorched Earth. Scorched 3D is licensed under the GNU GPL-2.0-or-later, and supports numerous platforms: Windows, Unix-like systems. It makes use of both the Simple DirectMedia Library and wxWidgets.

<i>UFO: Extraterrestrials</i> 2007 video game

UFO: Extraterrestrials is a Microsoft Windows game aimed to be a spiritual sequel to the highly acclaimed X-COM: UFO Defense. Developed by Chaos Concept, the game incorporates a twist of the aliens defeating the humans on Earth. The game takes place on a human-colonized planet named Esperanza, where the alien threat has just arrived.

<i>Battle Isle</i> Video game series

Battle Isle is a series of turn-based strategy/tactics video games developed in the 1990s by Blue Byte and released for Amiga and MS-DOS and later for Microsoft Windows. The settings are wars on a fictional planet, Chromos.

<i>The Dreamland Chronicles: Freedom Ridge</i> Video game

The Dreamland Chronicles: Freedom Ridge is an unreleased video game for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 2 by Mythos Games. Developed by the team which produced X-COM: UFO Defense, including lead designer Julian Gollop, the game was planned to be "a remake of the first X-COM with 3D graphics," as the first of four games planned in the new series.

<i>Xenonauts</i> 2014 video game

Xenonauts is a turn-based science fiction video game developed and published as the maiden title of London-based independent game studio Goldhawk Interactive. Inspired by the 1994 game X-COM: UFO Defense, gameplay involves the player taking the role of the commander of a clandestine organization known as the Xenonauts, and attempting to defeat an alien invasion of Earth in the alternate history year 1979. The game was released on June 17, 2014 for Microsoft Windows. Ports to Mac OS X and Linux were initially based on the Wine compatibility layer, until native ports became available in September 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GLtron</span>

GLtron is a 3D snake game based on the light cycle portion of the film Tron. The game is free and open-source software and has been ported to many mobile and non-mobile operating systems such as Windows, MacOS, Symbian and Android over the years.

<i>Frozen Synapse</i> 2011 video game

Frozen Synapse is a turn-based tactics video game developed by independent game developer Mode 7 Games, in which players plan their moves at their leisure and turns are resolved simultaneously. Players attempt to win by giving orders to a small squad of armed combatants, most commonly with the goal of eliminating all enemy units.

<i>XCOM: Enemy Unknown</i> 2012 video game

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a 2012 turn-based tactical video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K. The game is a "reimagined" remake of the 1994 cult classic strategy game X-COM: UFO Defense and a reboot of MicroProse's 1990s X-COM series. Set in an alternative version of the year 2015, the player controls an elite multinational paramilitary organization called XCOM during an alien invasion of Earth. The player commands troops in the field in a series of turn-based tactical missions; between missions, the player directs the research and development of technologies from recovered alien technology and captured prisoners, expands XCOM's base of operations, manages finances, and monitors and responds to alien activity.

<i>XCOM: Enemy Within</i> 2013 video game

XCOM: Enemy Within is an expansion pack for the turn-based tactical video game XCOM: Enemy Unknown. The expansion pack primarily adds new gameplay elements to the base game, as well as introducing new themes of transhumanism via aggressive gene therapy.

<i>Phoenix Point</i> 2019 video game

Phoenix Point is a strategy video game featuring a turn-based tactics system that is developed by Bulgaria-based independent developer Snapshot Games. It was released on December 3, 2019, for macOS and Microsoft Windows, for Stadia on January 26, 2021, and Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on October 1, 2021. Phoenix Point is intended to be a spiritual successor to the X-COM series that had been originally created by Snapshot Games head Julian Gollop during the 1990s.

References

  1. 1 2 UFO: AI - About
  2. ↑ "CVS log for ports/Games/Ufoai/Makefile".
  3. ↑ "UFO: Alien Invasion for AmigaOS4". AmigaWorld.net. 2010-11-23. Retrieved 2010-12-01.
  4. ↑ "UFO: Alien Invasion for Android". 2010-11-23. Archived from the original on 2011-08-16. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
  5. ↑ UFO: Alien Invasion Team | Released Dec 30, 2003
  6. ↑ ufoai-data_2.5-1_copyright on metadata.ftp-master.debian.org
  7. ↑ "We did it!". UFO: AI. 2012-10-13. Retrieved 2012-10-30.
  8. ↑ ufoai-data on packages.debian.org
  9. ↑ "Congratulations, it's an..... awesome game". UFO: AI. 2014-06-28. Retrieved 2014-07-03.
  10. ↑ "News". UFO: AI. 2018-05-13. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
  11. ↑ "2007 Community Choice Awards". Sourceforge. Archived from the original on 2008-01-20. Retrieved 2011-05-20.
  12. ↑ Sbarski, Peter (January 21, 2008). "Top 5 best (free) open source games". APC . Retrieved February 8, 2010.
  13. ↑ "Best Open Source Games". Linux Game News. 2012-09-15. Retrieved 2012-10-30.
  14. ↑ "More Free Games for Linux". Linux Journal . 2010-01-19. Retrieved 2011-05-20.
  15. ↑ stats 2000-05-11+to+2017-05-17 on sourceforge.net
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.