Why are all my favourite XCom memories from Apocalypse? Is it the blend of realtime combat with the notoriously punishing tactical difficulty the series is known for? Or is it just goofing off to play stupid games and ruin people's buildings while they stand by, unable to do anything because the weapons have been edited right out of their hands?

Predictably, it's BOTH.

I explain why my favourite variety of XCom is realtime, provide a little historical context that turnbased strategy wasn't quite so universally loved as you might think, and naturally dive in to how physics which let you collapse entire buildings work without also collapsing your 486.

Undermined foundations:

0:00 We've been here before
0:45 "Weird" doesn't narrow this down much
1:09 No Internet, just Teletext
1:30 An interesting pronunciation of "start".
2:25 That TV probably didn't support Teletext, did it now.
3:09 Real time and its consequences
4:55 Scaled down geography and scaled up furniture prices
6:38 Keeping up the difficulty
7:20 Time to get the editors out
8:32 Yes, you can see what else I've got installed!
8:49 Elerium Catch League 2084
9:26 Base layout editing
10:00 Unexpected equipment miniaturisation programme
10:44 Overkill
11:32 I finally get to the point
12:24 Fred Action: Space Asshole
13:10 Teardown lives up to its name
13:50 XCom: Demolition Team
14:45 But how does it work?
17:04 Back to "why I likes it"
17:40 Such a thing as too much destruction
18:20 Shuddering to a conclusion

Games Featured:

XCom: Apocalypse
XCom: Terror From The Deep
Red Faction: Guerrilla
Teardown

Digitiser is a trademark of Paul Rose, content used with permission. Teletext images kindly provided from Chris Bell via Super Page 58, ultimately copyright DMG Media Ltd. Moc moc!

Comments are prereviewed to avoid spam. I aim to publish all comments, including dissent, but overly pedantic or negative ones may be moderated. Hearing about different experiences and what things were like in other countries adds a lot to the video! Please try to do so in a positive way while remembering that if I had to explain every minor international difference the video would be 2 hours long and boring, rather than 19 minutes long and boring. Failing that, at least make me laugh.

Bonus fact: XCom Apocalypse was originally intended to have a vastly richer and more complex series of alien dimensions with procedurally generated cityscapes, as opposed to the single fixed dimension which ended up in the game. Once the Organic Factory building is destroyed the aliens will lose all capability to access MegaPrimus, meaning the game can be played indefinitely with no opposition other than any hostile organisations XCom refuses to repair relations with, or any that became infiltrated earlier in the game.