These kind of "progressive" video games are a little outside of my comfort zone. I prefer first person shooter kinda things. I've had stuff like this in the past and just couldn't devote the time to them.

Yeah I know what you mean, I always lose interest in most games of this type before even learning how to play them properly! (I've bought loads of games over the years like Age of Empires, Rise of Nations, Starlancer, Freelancer, etc. that I never really got around to devoting a lot of time to.) Because the original 1993(ish) XCOM totally addicted me though, I've always been on the look out for a similar game to hopefully recreate the experience I had with that, (and its sequel - Terror from the Deep which I also loved. I think Steam sells both games now together for $5, but I still had my boxed original discs from the 90's so played the games again fairly recently under DOSBOX emulation.)

The anticipated release of that one is late this year - I think I might have to treat myself to that if it's as good as it looks. The video looks amazing.

http://www.xcom.com/enemyunkno...../index.php

A group of volunteer developers all over the planet have spent many years developing and constantly updating a more modern variant of this game called UFO: Alien Invasion. Recently, version 2.4 was released and I've downloaded it today and the game is excellent - it can be played as a single person full campaign or with others, (both friendly and on the alien side), over the internet.

Best of all, it's open source and totally free to download and play. I remember downloading it years ago for a quick look, but had totally forgotten about it over the years until a friend emailed me today about this latest and massively improved version.

If you are interested in this tactical strategy game the site for it is at : ufoai.org

(I should probably mention that I am unconnected with anything to do with the game or the people behind it and am just a fan giving a heads-up to others who may also be interested.)