I just picked up this game for the Gameboy Advance recently - because of its obvious roots with X-Com, and have just played through the tutorial missions and whatnot.

It seems like a cute and fun little game. It's not as advanced as X-Com, is chapter based and the graphics are simple but get the job done. I just wondered if anyone else has played it and what are your thoughts? My only gripe so far are the limited number of turns you can take to complete the missions.

It has given me a proper name for Current Reaction Level. Initiative. Simple, elegant and not confusing. I like it.

- NKF

I picked it up a little while ago off eBay, though IIRC I got sent a pirate game pack. The manual seems to be a poor copy'n'paste job out of some review.

The art shown between turns and when loading stuff is certainly nothing to rave about, and the constant changing of music is a little irksome. It's not a patch on the original UFO, and some form of base management would make the game a lot more interesting, but it's the closest you'll get on the GBA.

Though I do feel that there are other TB games on the system that are a lot more fun. With any luck, a better version will come out for the NDS.

You're right, it's no UFO. But it's an amusing time waster.

I thought the in-between bits could've been done away with. I'm not fond of tactical games that use this style of story telling. It's almost as if they decided to give up half way. Perhaps it's seeing the same two or three portraits used over and over again that drives me nuts.

And yes, a Geoscape or simpler interface where you could launch random missions for a bit of munchkin leveling up would've been nice. The GBA is a surprisingly powerful system for a handheld console, and is capable of so much more.

- NKF

I think the combat has advanced a bit, but otherwise it is very like X-COM: EU.

The missions have a bit of variation, there's a nice selection of weapons to choose from and the story bits are easily skippable. The skirmish mode can be quite a lot of fun, too. Well worth what I paid for it, which wasn't a lot.