ECS no. 1

ECS

ECS no. 2
AGA no. 1

AGA

AGA no. 2
CD32 no. 1

CD32

CD32 no. 2

UFO: Enemy Unknown

X-Com: UFO Defense

General info

Not Amiga Original

Relationships

WHDLoad

2018-03-22

Stats

30,463

Genre

Conversions

PC (DOS)
PC (Windows)
Sony PlayStation

CD32

Version info

No
Max 1, Sim 1

Features

Credits

Additional programming
CD32 conversion
Additional programming
Additional programming
Additional programming
Game design
Game design

Hard Disk Installer

Unknown

Compilations

Releases

Year
Name
Licence
Type
Country
Publisher
Languages
Manual Languages
Disks
Rarity
1994
UFO: Enemy Unknown
Commercial
Full Price
Worldwide
English, French, German
English, French, German
1
One version is common, at least one other version is rare

Notes

X-COM: UFO DEFENSE, the U.S. release, reportedly has fixed bugs that prevented completion of the European release.


TRIVIA: The game initially began life as LASER SQUAD 2 on the Atari ST. Game designer Julian Gollop shared these revealing insights on the early beginnings and subsequent development of Mythos Games' best-selling title:

'We showed a demo of ‘Laser Squad 2’ on the Atari ST to MicroProse in 1991. The idea was to produce a sequel to ‘Laser Squad’ but with much neater graphics using an isometric style very similar to Populous. They liked what we had done so far, but they explained that they wanted a ‘big’ game. I said "what do you mean by ‘big’" and they said "well, you know – BIG". They also said that it had to be set on earth, like Civilisation or Railroad Tycoon, because people could relate to it much more. So we went away, scratched our heads and thought about it. Then we came up with the idea of adding on a grand strategic element to the game, very firmly set on earth, in which the player managed an organisation that defended the planet against UFO incursions. I bought quite a few books on UFOs for research purposes so that we could give the game an even more ‘authentic’ basis.

The project started reasonably well with myself and Nick designing and programming, while the art was to be done by John Reitze and Martin Smillie at MicroProse. Soon we had some problems because MicroProse did not understand our game design and they asked for clarification. Several documents later we were not much better off and I had wasted a lot of time. Certain creature types were removed, including the ‘Men In Black’ and others added. Then the whole project was nearly axed when MicroProse made some cutbacks due to financial difficulties. Everything proceeded reasonably smoothly for a while until Spectrum HoloByte acquired Bill Stealey’s shares in the company. Our producer was made redundant and the game was nearly axed again. Finally we had to spend a couple of months working very long hours at MicroProse in Chipping Sodbury to get the game finished by the end of March in 1994'
[Source: Mythos Games (old website), courtesy of the Internet Archive].

Conversion Notes

Based on 1994 Mythos/MicroProse PC (DOS) release.
PC versions: VGA

NB. [1] Initially began life on the Atari ST as LASER SQUAD 2, but the final product never saw the light of day on the machine.

[2] Released as X-COM: ENEMY UNKNOWN on PSX in Europe

AGA

Version info

No
Max 1, Sim 1

Features

Credits

Game design
Game design

Hard Disk Installer

Yes

- HD installer is contained on disk 3. - A boot disk must be created for HD gameplay on standard AGA machines with only 2Mb ram.

Compilations

Releases

Year
Name
Licence
Type
Country
Publisher
Languages
Manual Languages
Disks
Rarity
1994
UFO: Enemy Unknown
Commercial
Full Price
Worldwide
English, French, German
English, French, German
4
One version is common, at least one other version is rare
1998
UFO: Enemy Unknown
Commercial
Budget
Worldwide
English, French, German
English, French, German
4
One version is common, at least one other version is rare

Notes

[1] Min. Requirements: AGA chipset, WB 3.x, 2Mb ram.
Recommended: AGA chipset, WB 3.x, extra memory (to access additional features - e.g. HD gameplay without the need for a boot disk)

[2] Magazine Publisher: Amiga Format no. 109 (CD no. 25), Apr 1998.

[3] UFO: ENEMY UNKNOWN(all languages) is freely available for download HERE [Source: Amiga Land].


TRIVIA: The game initially began life as LASER SQUAD 2 on the Atari ST. Game designer Julian Gollop shared these revealing insights on the early beginnings and subsequent development of Mythos Games' best-selling title: 'We showed a demo of ‘Laser Squad 2’ on the Atari ST to MicroProse in 1991. The idea was to produce a sequel to ‘Laser Squad’ but with much neater graphics using an isometric style very similar to Populous. They liked what we had done so far, but they explained that they wanted a ‘big’ game. I said "what do you mean by ‘big’" and they said "well, you know – BIG". They also said that it had to be set on earth, like Civilisation or Railroad Tycoon, because people could relate to it much more. So we went away, scratched our heads and thought about it. Then we came up with the idea of adding on a grand strategic element to the game, very firmly set on earth, in which the player managed an organisation that defended the planet against UFO incursions. I bought quite a few books on UFOs for research purposes so that we could give the game an even more ‘authentic’ basis. The project started reasonably well with myself and Nick designing and programming, while the art was to be done by John Reitze and Martin Smillie at MicroProse. Soon we had some problems because MicroProse did not understand our game design and they asked for clarification. Several documents later we were not much better off and I had wasted a lot of time. Certain creature types were removed, including the ‘Men In Black’ and others added. Then the whole project was nearly axed when MicroProse made some cutbacks due to financial difficulties. Everything proceeded reasonably smoothly for a while until Spectrum HoloByte acquired Bill Stealey’s shares in the company. Our producer was made redundant and the game was nearly axed again. Finally we had to spend a couple of months working very long hours at MicroProse in Chipping Sodbury to get the game finished by the end of March in 1994' [Source: Mythos Games (old website), courtesy of the Internet Archive].

Conversion Notes

Based on 1994 Mythos/MicroProse PC (DOS) release. PC versions: VGA NB. [1] Initially began life on the Atari ST as LASER SQUAD 2, but the final product never saw the light of day on the machine. [2] Released as X-COM: ENEMY UNKNOWN on PSX in Europe

ECS / OCS

Version info

No
Max 1, Sim 1

Features

Hard Disk Installer

Yes

HD installer is contained on disk 1.

[[HDNOTES]]HD installer is contained on disk 1.

Compilations

Releases

Year
Name
Licence
Type
Country
Publisher
Languages
Manual Languages
Disks
Rarity
1995
UFO: Enemy Unknown
Commercial
Full Price
Worldwide
English, French, German
English, French, German
5
One version is common, at least one other version is rare
1995
UFO: Enemy Unknown
Commercial
Budget
Worldwide
English, French, German
English, French, German
5
One version is common, at least one other version is rare
1995
X-Com: UFO Defense
Commercial
Full Price
USA
English
5
Extremely rare
1997
UFO: Enemy Unknown
Commercial
Budget
Worldwide
English, French, German
English, French, German
5
One version is common, at least one other version is rare
1998
UFO: Enemy Unknown
Commercial
Budget
Worldwide
English, French, German
English, French, German
5
One version is common, at least one other version is rare

Notes

[1] Min. Requirements: 1Mb ram Recommended: Extra memory (to access additional features - e.g. playback of music & sound FX simultaneously in-game, HD gameplay)

[2] X-COM: UFO DEFENSE, the U.S. release, reportedly has fixed bugs that prevented completion of the European release.

[3] Magazine Publisher: Amiga Format no. 109 (CD no. 25), Apr 1998.

[4] UFO: ENEMY UNKNOWN(all languages) is freely available for download HERE [Source: Amiga Land].

[5] Game requires a min. 1Mb ram. Extra memory is recommended, however, to access additional features (e.g. playback of music & sound FX simultaneously in-game, HD gameplay).

[6] Distributed in Italy by Leader.


TRIVIA: The game initially began life as LASER SQUAD 2 on the Atari ST. Game designer Julian Gollop shared these revealing insights on the early beginnings and subsequent development of Mythos Games' best-selling title: 'We showed a demo of ‘Laser Squad 2’ on the Atari ST to MicroProse in 1991. The idea was to produce a sequel to ‘Laser Squad’ but with much neater graphics using an isometric style very similar to Populous. They liked what we had done so far, but they explained that they wanted a ‘big’ game. I said "what do you mean by ‘big’" and they said "well, you know – BIG". They also said that it had to be set on earth, like Civilisation or Railroad Tycoon, because people could relate to it much more. So we went away, scratched our heads and thought about it. Then we came up with the idea of adding on a grand strategic element to the game, very firmly set on earth, in which the player managed an organisation that defended the planet against UFO incursions. I bought quite a few books on UFOs for research purposes so that we could give the game an even more ‘authentic’ basis. The project started reasonably well with myself and Nick designing and programming, while the art was to be done by John Reitze and Martin Smillie at MicroProse. Soon we had some problems because MicroProse did not understand our game design and they asked for clarification. Several documents later we were not much better off and I had wasted a lot of time. Certain creature types were removed, including the ‘Men In Black’ and others added. Then the whole project was nearly axed when MicroProse made some cutbacks due to financial difficulties. Everything proceeded reasonably smoothly for a while until Spectrum HoloByte acquired Bill Stealey’s shares in the company. Our producer was made redundant and the game was nearly axed again. Finally we had to spend a couple of months working very long hours at MicroProse in Chipping Sodbury to get the game finished by the end of March in 1994' [Source: Mythos Games (old website), courtesy of the Internet Archive].

Conversion Notes

Based on 1994 Mythos/MicroProse PC (DOS) release.
PC versions: VGA

[1] Initially began life on the Atari ST as LASER SQUAD 2, but the final product never saw the light of day on the machine.

[2] Released as X-COM: ENEMY UNKNOWN on PSX in Europe

Screen info

CD32
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AGA
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ECS / OCS
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Box: CD32
Box scan CD32 no. 1

UK Release (front)

Box scan CD32 no. 2

UK Release (back)

Box scan CD32 no. 3

Limited Edition (front)

Box scan CD32 no. 4

Limited Edition (back)

Box scan CD32 no. 5

German Release (front)

Box scan CD32 no. 6

German Release (back)

Box scan CD32 no. 7

French Release (front)

Box scan CD32 no. 8

French Release (back)

Box: AGA
Box scan AGA no. 1

UK Release (front)

Box scan AGA no. 2

UK Release (back)

Box scan AGA no. 3

Polish Release (front)

Box scan AGA no. 4

Polish Release (back)

Box scan AGA no. 5

Budget Release (front) [Amiga Format]

Box scan AGA no. 6

Budget Release (back) [Amiga Format]

Box: ECS / OCS
Box scan ECS no. 1

Original Release (front)

Box scan ECS no. 2

Original Release (back)

Box scan ECS no. 3

Budget Release (front) [PowerPlus]

Box scan ECS no. 4

Budget Release (back) [PowerPlus]

Box scan ECS no. 5

Budget Release (front) [Acid]

Box scan ECS no. 6

Budget Release (back) [Acid]

Box scan ECS no. 7

Budget Release (front) [Amiga Format]

Box scan ECS no. 8

Budget Release (back) [Amiga Format]

Disk: CD32
Disk scan CD32 no. 1

Disk: AGA
Disk scan AGA no. 1

UK Release

Disk scan AGA no. 2

Disk scan AGA no. 3

Disk scan AGA no. 4

Disk scan AGA no. 5

UK Release [alt]

Disk scan AGA no. 6

Polish Release

Disk: ECS / OCS
Disk scan ECS no. 1

Budget Release

Misc: CD32
CD32 no. 1

UK Advert (Amiga Format, Issue 65, 11/1994, Page 67)

Misc: AGA
AGA no. 1

UK Advert (Amiga Format, Issue 65, 11/1994, Page 67)

Misc: ECS / OCS
ECS no. 1

Manual Cover (Budget)

ECS no. 2

UK Advert (Amiga Format, Issue 57, 3/1994, Page 75)

ECS no. 3

UK Advert (Amiga Format, Issue 58, 4/1994, Pages 2 & 3)

ECS no. 4

UK Advert (Amiga Format, Issue 65, 11/1994, Page 67)

ECS no. 5

Italian Advert

ECS no. 6

German Advert (PowerPlay 4/1994, Page 85)

ECS no. 7

German Advert (PowerPlay 5/1994, Pages 12 & 13)

ECS no. 8

German Advert (Amiga Joker 11/1994, Page 9)

ECS no. 9

UK Advert (Amiga Format, Issue 98, 6/1997, Page 28) [Budget, Acid]

ECS no. 10

MicroProse Alarm Clock Offer (Amiga Format, Issue 66, 12/1994, Page 27)

Manual info

CD32
CD32 no. 1

Manual (English)

CD32 no. 2

CD32 Technical Supplement (English)

AGA
AGA no. 1

Manual (English)

AGA no. 2

Technical Supplement (English)

AGA no. 3

Manual (German)

AGA no. 4

Technical Supplement (German)

AGA no. 5

Manual (French)

AGA no. 6

Technical Supplement (French)

AGA no. 7

Manual (English) - Amiga Format AFCD25 [converted from AmigaGuide]

AGA no. 8

Loading Instructions (English) - Amiga Format AFCD25 [converted from AmigaGuide]

AGA no. 9

UFO Gameplay Tutorials (English) - Amiga Format AFCD25 [converted from AmigaGuide]

AGA no. 10

Reference Guide (English) - Amiga Format AFCD25 [converted from AmigaGuide]

AGA no. 11

Amiga Format Beginners Guide (Issue 109, Apr 98)

ECS / OCS
ECS no. 1

Manual (English)

ECS no. 2

Manual (German)

ECS no. 3

Manual (French)

ECS no. 4

ReadMe (English) - Original/Budget Release [converted from text]

ECS no. 5

Manual (English) - Amiga Format #109 AFCD25 [converted from AmigaGuide]

ECS no. 6

UFO Gameplay Tutorials (English) - Amiga Format #109 AFCD25 [converted from AmigaGuide]

ECS no. 7

Reference Guide (English) - Amiga Format #109 AFCD25 [converted from AmigaGuide]

ECS no. 8

Amiga Format Beginners Guide (Issue 109, Apr 98)

CD32

1. Only a little one here. If you can’t wait for the goodies to

arrive, save your game and when you return to geoscape they will arrive instantly.

 

2. Save your game and reset the machine. Load your saved game and go to the base information screen. Click to the right of the 3

base icons and you will find 4 more invisible icons. Ignore the one with symbols as a name. Select one of the other bases and click on OK. When the base screen comes select transfer and

your current base. Select the goodies you want and voila! In

six hours they will be yours.

AGA

No cheats found.

ECS / OCS

After playing the game for a while and building up your stores save the game. Now quit the game and go into your current save game

directory and make a copy of the base.dat file. Now boot the game

back up and sell everything you have (if you need money) or transfer stores (not ships or personel) to other bases. Now save the game

again and quit. Next replace the base.dat file with a the copy of the original that you made earlier. Now when you go back to the game

you’ll have all the money from the sales plus all the equipment you sold. And, if you transferred anything those items will arrive

shortly. Continue the above procedure as often as you like.

Conversion info

PC (DOS)
Conversion PC (DOS)

Conversion PC (DOS)

PC (Windows)
No conversion screens found.
Sony PlayStation
No conversion screens found.

Map info

CD32

No maps found.

AGA

No maps found.

ECS / OCS

No maps found.

MAGAZINE REVIEWS

Magazine
Issue
Rating
Reviewer
Release type
Review
Scans
Amiga CD32 Gamer
6 (Nov 1994)
80%
4
Amiga Dream
13 (Dec 1994)
89%
Alexandre Cavanaggia
0
Amiga Games
Dec 1994
74%
0
Amiga Magazine
31 (Jan - Feb 1995)
9/10
Lawrence van Rijn
2
Datormagazin
No 20 (Nov 1994)
2/5
Jesper Almén
0
The One
77 (Feb 1995)
86%
Matt Broughton
1
Amiga Concept
9 (Nov 1994)
89%
Farid Berrais
0
Amiga Dream
12 (Nov 1994)
89%
Alexandre Cavanaggia
0
Amiga Games
Nov 1994
74%
Herbert Aichinger
0
Amiga Joker
Nov 1994
72%
Manfred Duy
1
Amiga Power
43 (Nov 1994)
75%
Mark Winstanley
2
CU Amiga
Dec 1994
89%
Matt Broughton
1
The One
75 (Dec 1994)
89%
Matt Broughton
3
Amiga Action
60 (Aug 1994)
92%
Brad Burton
3
Amiga Computing
88 (Jul 1995)
67%
Andy Maddock
2
Amiga Computing
109 (Feb 1997)
82%
Re-release
1
Amiga Computing US Edition
2 (Jul 1995)
67%
Andy Maddock
2
Amiga Format
65 (Nov 1994)
90%
Steve McGill
2
Amiga Format
73 (Jul 1995)
90%
Stephen Bradley
Re-release
1
Amiga Format
79 (Xmas 1995)
90%
Steve McGill
Re-release
1
Amiga Power
51 (Jul 1995)
36%
C-Monster (Kieron Gillen)
1
Amiga Power
56 (Dec 1995)
85%
Paul Mellerick
Re-release
0
Australian Commodore and Amiga Review
Vol 12 No 5 (May 1995)
Daniel Rutter
1
CU Amiga
Jun 1995
85%
Lisa Collins
1
CU Amiga
Jan 1996
89%
Julian Jones
Re-release
1
CU Amiga
Feb 1997
93%
Re-release
1
The One
82 (Jul 1995)
73%
Matt Broughton
1

MAGAZINE PREVIEWS

Magazine
Issue
Rating
Reviewer
Release type
Review
Scans
Amiga CD32 Gamer
5 (Oct 1994)
Preview (in-depth)
2
Amiga Computing
75 (Jul 1994)
Preview (in-depth)
1
Amiga Dream
6 (Apr 1994)
Preview
0
Amiga Format
60 (Jun 1994)
Rob Mead
Preview (in-depth)
1
Amiga Power
36 (Apr 1994)
Steve McGill
Preview (in-depth)
1
The One
66 (Mar 1994)
Matt Broughton
Preview
1

CD32

Lore Score: 69%

Your Score:

AGA

Lore Score: 82%

Your Score:

ECS / OCS

Lore Score: 78%

Your Score:

User
Date
Comment