Where to get it

1997 · Mythos Games · Real-time strategy · Real-time tactics

X-COM: Apocalypse

Your mission, as X-COM Commander, is to combat alien aggression and uncover their deadly intentions. But Beware! Alien infiltration into the city and its politics could see you under fire from criminal gangs, religious sects, and even the police! Alien fleets fill the skies, creatures terrorise the city, chaos reigns... Welcome to the war, welcome to the Apocalypse.

Released: 30 June 1997
Platforms: MS-DOS Windows
Genres: Real-time strategy Real-time tactics Science Strategy Tactical Turn-based strategy Turn-based tactics
Developers: Mythos Games
Publishers: MicroProse
Series: X-COM
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Bird view / Isometric
Themes: Action Science fiction Horror Warfare
Country: United Kingdom
Age ratings: ESRB T USK 12
Languages: English
Time to beat: 33hmain story64hcompletionist
Composers: John Broomhall

About

X-COM: Apocalypse is a 1997 science fiction tactical strategy video game developed by Mythos Games and published by MicroProse for DOS. It is the third installment in the X-COM series, following Terror from the Deep. Set 50 years after the second campaign, the game takes place primarily within the futuristic megalopolis of Mega-Primus.

Unlike its predecessors, Apocalypse introduced real-time tactical combat alongside the traditional turn-based mode, with a detailed management layer centered on navigating relations, commerce, and conflicts with the city's various independent corporate and political organizations.

›Story

Half a century after the end of the second X-COM campaign, the last battle of T'leth has severely damaged Earth's biosphere. As a result, several self-contained Megalopolis-type cities were proposed to provide habitation for humanity. The game follows Mega-Primus, the first of these cities, built over the ruins of Toronto, Canada. Meanwhile, the off-world colony of Mars is exploited by the Elerium mining corporation, Solmine, and oppressed by MarSec (MARs SECurity).

The alien threat in the game is presented by a new race of organic, extradimensional aliens that initially seem to have no relation to the aliens of the previous two games, though later missions set in the aliens' home dimension reveal they have enslaved Sectoid survivors. These new aliens attack the city through tetrahedron-shaped teleport gates. The player must find out how to send their own aircraft, along with X-COM agents, through these gates without being destroyed and take the war to the aliens. Apocalypse has 14 races of alien beings including Anthropods, Brainsuckers, Hyperworms, Megaspawns, and Micronoids.

Each race has various strengths and weaknesses, and some races are dependent on other races. The "alien life cycle" plays a crucial role in the game.

The player is exposed to this "alien life cycle" through research and more importantly the lower level alien attacks during specimen gathering combat. Primarily the attack of the weaponized alien the Brain-Sucker which attacks individuals after landing from a pod launcher utilized by alien foot soldiers. The Brain-Sucker hatches and attacks the nearest individual by jumping on their head and seemingly injecting something into them through the mouth and dying immediately after the attempt.

The life cycle later takes a mysterious turn as it shows no connection between the lower alien forms and higher alien forms. Eventually, however, it is found the leaders of the invasion are the Micronoids, a race of sapient single-celled organisms that live in the bloodstreams of the other aliens; the ultimate goal of the invasion is to inject Micronoids into the bloodstreams of important figures, allowing them to control Mega-Primus through psionic domination of their hosts. The player is eventually tasked with invading the aliens' homeworld and destroying their side of the gate as the only way to stop the Micronoid infestation.

Players say

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The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Similar to the first two X-COM games, Apocalypse features a map-like management mode (the Cityscape) and an isometric combat mode (the Battlescape). The management mode takes place in a single city, called Mega Primus, rather than being spread out over the entire planet Earth as in the previous games. In addition, Apocalypse was the first game in the X-COM series to include a real-time combat option as well as the traditional turn-based mode.

Apocalypse features a new interface with new graphics compared to the earlier two X-COM games. It is more complex, and the task of keeping and increasing the funding of the X-COM organization now extends to not only intercepting UFOs, but also to minimizing collateral damage, preventing alien hostile takeovers and even raiding the buildings of other organisations, of which there are many in Mega Primus.

Story

Development

During the creation of Apocalypse, Mythos Games created the game but MicroProse wanted to create the graphics. Julian Gollop called the relationship "disastrous", and said of the game "It was a disaster area. Apocalypse was quite a sophisticated and ambitious game, but it was a big mistake from our point of view. In retrospect, we should have originally agreed to do a sequel in six months, and spent a year doing it, like they did!

It would've been a lot better." Gollop recollected, "After completing this game I know how Francis Coppola felt after filming Apocalypse Now. Just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and the amount of effort required to pull it into shape was immense. After three years of hard work and five different producers X-Com: Apocalypse finally hit the streets.

Reception

The game received favorable reviews. Next Generation said, "In the end, Apocalypse is a step in the right direction, but a step with a wobble. With better control over the cityscape, and more distinct atmosphere and character, it would have been a smash. As it is, it's enjoyable, and well-worth the investment in money and time, but not what it could have been."

Despite the troubled development, Apocalypse was well received. GameSpot included it on their 2000 list of the most disappointing endings, criticizing the game for its "colorful, almost humorous tone," but added that otherwise the designers "did a great job."