Prerelease:X-COM: UFO Defense

This page details pre-release information and/or media for X-COM: UFO Defense.

There's a large amount of pre-release information, courtesy of UK and European gaming magazines at the time.

Character Concept Art

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Julian Gollop posted several screens of character artwork to his now defunct GollopGames blog in April 2013 as a companion piece to a talk he delivered in March the same year for Gamespot's Classic Games Postmortem series.

According to the talk, these are the original sprite sheets of different character concept artworks created by the game's graphical artist, John Reitze, as possible replacements for the first enemy characters Gollop had personally created, but they were deemed too "boring" to use by Microprose UK.

The sheets include many illustrations that were used verbatim as final designs, such as X-COM soldiers in Personal Armour and a Power Suit, an Ethereal, Chryssalid and Zombie, as well as others that were adapted from these designs, like early versions of the Floater, Muton and Snakeman.

However there are lots more unused enemies, as well as what are references to other games and media, presumably included just for fun. According to Gollop these are the only extant pieces of concept art that he knows of.

Asked about the presence of the giant bunny rabbit in the set, Gollop replied on his blog:

"John made some animations of bunnies being squashed with showers of blood and guts. Maybe he has a thing about fluffy bunnies."

BattleScape Concept Art

Included with both of the early pre-release demos for British games magazines, is this single .lbm file that includes the above image from July 1992 depicting what appears to be an early mocked-up design for the Battlescape's GUI.

Cut Men in Black Enemies

According to Julian Gollop the game was planned to feature 'Men in Black' enemies who would be involved with destabilising countries, and whose work would result in targeted countries dropping their support for X-COM (as occurs via alien infiltration missions in the final game).

These were removed early on in development, as Microprose already planned to create their own game around the Men in Black concept, and didn't want customers to be confused by their portrayal in another game. In the end the planned Men in Black game was abandoned anyway. The concept was, however, revived for the Thin Men enemies in the Fireaxis reboot of the series.

Interceptor Minigame

Originally, a minigame was planned when intercepting UFOs. It would've been a first person shoot-em-up or flight sim-lite affair. It was scrapped after testing, with Microprose UK noting the poor quality visuals, and how different the minigame was from the main game's strategy genre..

Official Advertising

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  1) Scan from game advert

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  2) Scan from game advert

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  3) Scan from game advert

Many early pictures show the early Battlescape's GUI having blue controls, versus the final game's multiple colors in the same spot.

• 1) A picture of the Geoscape. Nearly identical to the final game, save an odd Highlight menu button where the Funding button is in the final game. The same Highlight button is visible in an early demo for the game.
• 2) A picture of the Battlescape. It's hard to discern from the picture's low quality, but the enemy sighted indicator on the right appears to be a red box, lacking a number. Like the early demo, there's no apparent ammo counter for the weapons, either, and the rank insignia is absent from the final game.
• 3) Another picture of the Battlescape with the blue GUI.

Game Manual

The game's manual is actually a treasure trove of early screenshots of the game. Based on their state compared to that of the released early demos, it's likely the screenshots are from late 1993 to January 1994. It's quite close to many of the early demos.

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  1) Game manual page 17

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  2) Game manual page 31

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  3) Game manual page 31

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  4) Game manual page 36

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  5) Game manual page 38

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  6) Game manual page 40

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  7) Game manual page 42

• 1) The near-final Geoscape with the Highlight button.
• 2) An early Turn screen, without the picture of the soldier stalked by the alien. This is also how the same screen in the AGA Amiga version appears.
• 3) A Battlescape picture with the Blue GUI. It also confirms that there were no Battlescape graphics for women soldiers at this point, like in the demos.
• 4) The same early version of the map screen seen in the PC Gamer screenshots.
• 5) An early smoke effect, as found in the pre-release demos. The enemy sighted counter is a blank square here, too.
• 6) The firing commands for the rifle. There's an extra melee "Hit" command, suggesting you could whack enemies with the rifle butt.
• 7) Another screenshot, showing that, indeed, there were no graphics for women soldiers at this point in the game.

Joystick Magazine Coverage

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  1) Scan from Joystick issue 47

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  2) Scan from Joystick issue 47

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  3) Scan from Joystick issue 47

French magazine Joystick issue 47 from March 1994, has some very interesting and very early screenshots of the Geoscape. Weirdly, there are also pictures from a near-final build in the game mixed in.

• 1) An early version of the Base screen. Most graphics appear to be placeholders, and the Interceptor uses a very angular design, versus the final's jet-based design. The GUI is nearly identical to the final's, just with an Interception Teams button being present where Equip Craft is in the final.
• 2) Another shot of the Base screen, just with the Build menu open.
• 3) An early screenshot of the UFO Activity screen. This is close to the final game's screen, though much harder to read thanks to the transparent text background, with a view of the Earth.

CD32 Gamer coverage

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  1) Scan from CD32 Gamer issue 5

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  2) Scan from CD32 Gamer issue 5

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  3) Scan from CD32 Gamer issue 5

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  4) Scan from CD32 Gamer issue 5

Despite being an Amiga CD32 magazine, the preview coverage in CD32 Gamer Issue 5, from October 1994, clearly uses screenshots from the DOS version of the game.

• 1) An early version of the pre-battle equipment screen. The soldier has different design with a beard, and the Heavy Laser is using a different design. The screen is identical to the early demos, with no Unload Ammo button, and no OK button to exit the screen.
• 2) The Base screen. Mostly identical to the final, but the Hyperwave Decoder has a different design, with a gray color scheme instead of a purple one.
• 3) A Battlescape with the blue GUI. There's a Rocket Launcher Tank with a handheld Rocket Launcher equipped. Apparently, the missile turret graphics weren't finished yet. It's also just called Tank.
• 4) An early version of the Interceptor's combat screen. Somewhat similar, though the final ditches the massive Disengage button. The UFO's diagram is missing, and it appears that the UFO, like your Interceptor, has a visible life bar.

PC Gamer UK Coverage

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  1) Scan from PC Gamer issue 5

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  2) Scan from PC Gamer issue 5

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  3) Scan from PC Gamer issue 5

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  4) Scan from PC Gamer issue 5

The British PC Gamer magazine covered X-COM: UFO Defense in both issues 1 and 5. The latter, from April 1994, also includes a review of the game.

• 1) Same deal with the Geoscape and Highlight buttons, as seen earlier in this page.
• 2) Has the bearded soldier graphic as seen in the CD32 Gamer coverage.
• 3) The Monthly Report screen. Identical to the final, though there's a bug that has blanked out the name of the withdrawing country.
• 4) An early version of the Battlescape map screen. This is gold, instead of the cream colour of the final game's one, and has a different button layout.

Generation 4 Coverage

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  1) Scan from Generation 4 issue 64

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  2) Scan from Generation 4 issue 64

French magazine Generation 4, issue 64 from March 1994, has a few early screenshots:

• 1) Yet another screenshot of the blue GUI.
• 2) Among the pictures of various craft, the Lightning is shown with a regular alien power supply. It uses a human design in the final game.

PC Review Coverage

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  Scan from PC Review issue 28

The sole UFO Defense picture found in PC Review magazine, issue 128, dated February 1994. The control panel has a design with blue buttons and rank insignia. How light is calculated is different, resulting in a greater field-of-view falloff with darker shadows.

Interestingly, the accompanying text indicates the Battlescape could have been optional:

The 3D shoot the aliens part is not, says Microprose, the main chunk of the game. There are plans to make it optional a la Starlord, so if it's pure strategy you're after, pure strategy is what you can have.