X-COM: Enforcer
X-COM: Enforcer
Game
Game2008
X-COM: Interceptor
Developer MicroProse Software, Inc
X-COM: Interceptor is the fourth main game in the X-COM series, developed by MicroProse's Chapel Hill development studio and released in 1998. The game is a combination of many genres, including space flight simulation, business simulation game and strategy game elements. More specifically, the player's role includes managing a number of X-COM space stations, piloting starfighters during hostile encounters whilst… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
277 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Nov 5, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
54
Mixed
73 positive · 62 negative
95% range 46–62%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 73 | 62 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 14 | 9 | 107 |
| Mastodon * | 3 | 0 | 9 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mixed
82 of 148 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
54% recommend · 74 yes, 62 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 136 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mixed (127 of 229 positive).
Players praise the unique blend of base management and real-time space combat. [1][2][3] Many reviewers report severe technical issues on modern systems, including crashes and bugs. [4][5][6] Some players find the game fun despite its departure from the series' tactical roots. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [4]
I love this game and alway have. Sadly if you are playing on a relatively new machine there will be some game killing bugs. 1) alien data jammers can't be killed. If you try to engage them they just dont show up leaving you in space chasing a radar blip that you can never catch untill you get bored and retreat. Its a pain because they shut down your research and there is nothing you can do about it. 2) pirate bases …
- [6]
X-COM: Interceptor barely works on modern-day PCs and even after trying Windows 7 compatibility, it couldn't really run. Maybe 2 times out of 10 I could get the game to properly load and enjoy but given the optimization issues in 2021 I don't feel like I can properly recommend this game no matter how much I love X-COM.
- [1]
This game is great for those people who like the overall planning of the original X-com but didn't like the slow pace of the battles. It takes the same experience and replaces those tactical battles with a space fighter sim. It's definately fun but it's a bit of a departure from the rest of the series. If you are playing on a modern system(xp-recent) then there will be a game breaking bug for this game that will …
- [2]
If u like Xcom and/or flight sim games, then u will probably enjoy this. I thought it was pretty hard at first, but once I figured out how to play, I had a LOT of fun. I think this game is really underrated. It has all of the cool base management of Xcom, but then the battles are real-time flight sim. The campaign is awesome, and I also really like that there's a "skirmish mode" that u can create your own custom …
- [3]
I hear so much hate for Interceptor, but it really is unique. I've never encountered an X-Wing style game where you also control the strategic side. After all those times you were hideously outgunned, or had completely the wrong warheads etc on X-Wing, TIE Fighter etc, it's nice to be able to do something about that. Now it's YOUR job to make sure your craft are up to spec. Also ties UFO, TFTD and Apoc together …
Summarised from 34 of the 263 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 13, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
X-COM: Interceptor sits at 54% positive across 135 opinionated reactions from 3 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Critics, per Wikipedia
The game received above-average reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings. Edge praised the game's "enormous depth" and inventive gameplay, stating that MicroProse "managed the previously impossible task of blending real strategy with 3D space combat." However, Ron Dulin of GameSpot criticized the game for its campy tone and the out-of-place pop cultural references. Next Generation called the game "a painless way to pass the time, but aside from a good sense of camp, it fails to bring anything new to the X-Com [sic] series." In 2010, GameFront's Phil Owen wrote, "This one is known sort of as the red-headed stepdouche of the X-Com franchise, and yet this is the one I…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 277 · most liked firstthis is pretty cool. the original X-Com was a 2D isometric game but the collision system itself was 3D. objects in the world would have collisions defined by vertical stacks of predefined patterns. this allowed the game to do accurate line of sight and hit detection. very cool!
positive · AI labelView post →I'm kind of disappointed this new turn-based tactics Star Wars game we're getting looks to be set in the Clone Wars. Small-squad tactics on the X-Com model is a pretty perfect pick for, like, rebel commandos. But I guess heaven forefend we get to play as actual straight-up rebels, huh?
neutral · AI labelView post →This game is great for those people who like the overall planning of the original X-com but didn't like the slow pace of the battles. It takes the same experience and replaces those tactical battles with a space fighter sim. It's definately fun but it's a bit of a departure from the rest of the series. If you are playing on a modern system(xp-recent) then there will be a game breaking bug for this game that will prevent research from completing. THERE IS A FIX FOR THIS and it is a must if you…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →anyway if anyone wants to profile me I'm going to need you to acknowledge just how highly tuned the difficulty on my modded X-COM 2 game is.
neutral · AI labelView post →Seconding this. The OG X-Com has seen an ENORMOUS modding renaissance in the past few years thanks to the OpenXCom engine. The best way to play it vanilla, as it fixes a ton of bugs and improves the UI. Some of the biggest mods dwarf the original game by a factor of ten times the content or more.
neutral · AI labelView post →4) Battle Brothers. The second greatest squad level tactics game of all time, after X-Com 2. You lead a merry band of scum around a randomly generated map, fighting intense battles against everything from peasants to giant wyrms. Ideally played Ironman, like all such games, once you’re good.
neutral · AI labelView post →Daydreaming about a hero-based X-COM style turn-based strategy game with a cyberpunk setting and the characters are all furry hybrids a la TMNT/Elephantmen and they're all hot and you can kiss them.
neutral · AI labelView post →Star Wars Zero Company by @bitreactor.com will be available in a few hours, but I've already read several very positive reviews. A tactical SW game has always been my dream, ever since the days of UFO/X-COM. So if it's a great one on top of that...
neutral · AI labelView post →A snazzy installer for X-COM Apocalypse, the third game in the original series, which seems to have been a dreadful experience for all involved to have worked on. Has some cool ideas and vibes with its sprawling post-apocalyptic megacity setting that followed the events of Terror From The Deep.
neutral · AI labelView post →I love this game and alway have. Sadly if you are playing on a relatively new machine there will be some game killing bugs. 1) alien data jammers can't be killed. If you try to engage them they just dont show up leaving you in space chasing a radar blip that you can never catch untill you get bored and retreat. Its a pain because they shut down your research and there is nothing you can do about it. 2) pirate bases have the same bug. You can't kill them so get ready to fight suicidal pirate…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This was the first computer game I ever played and it has prior art for “summon creatures who will fight for you” *and* “summoning creatures you can ride”. It’s a direct ancestor to the X-COM games.
neutral · AI labelView post →“Hey, dork: would you like a Star Wars squad tactics game created by the makers of the X-COM reboot, using the social mechanics of Jaded Alliance, set in the dark underbelly of the Clone Wars?” “Fuck me up, please.”
neutral · AI labelView post →I’m just gonna assume that X-Com is a AAA game and suggest that.
neutral · AI labelView post →@mikedrucker.bsky.social wrote about the X-Com video game novelization. It's your typical office romance, but with way more aliens. 1900hotdog.com/2025/08/nerd...
neutral · AI labelView post →It’s kind of fucked up that they have these big game shows every year and all the games aren’t X-Com or some type of game where Shrek must make moral choices
neutral · AI labelView post →X-COM: Interceptor is different than most other XCOM games. Instead of being a turn-based ground combat game, it is an amazing real-time space combat game. Like most XCOM games, you have to manage resources, bases, and soldiers (or in this case, pilots). It isn't too well optimized for modern computers and I think the resolution has a maximum of somewhere around 1080x720, but it is still a great game. The best part, though, is that it isn't X-COM: Enforcer.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Been replaying Dread dude I forgot that this game is kind of hard, especially when you're mostly playing unc games like total war and X-COM and other turn based stuff like me these days. Some of those boss fights need you to be LOCKED IN.
neutral · AI labelView post →Quasimorph (2026, PC) Enjoying this game quite a bit! Cool mix of X-Com and traditional Roguelike (DoomRL in particular).
neutral · AI labelView post →By the way if you're enjoying Star Wars Zero Company or X-COM, I gotta remind people about Marvel's Midnight Suns. This was a turn based strategy game in the Marvel universe. You play a customizable hero named Hunter, & get to have hours and hours of dialogue with Spider-Man/Blade etc. T'was fun!
neutral · AI labelView post →Decided to play X-Com 2 after many years away. Shit, it's brutal. I'd forgotten how unforgiving the early game is. Two hits and dead. Mind control that can only be broken by killing a tough enemy. It's certainly challenging.
neutral · AI labelView post →Some more fun trivia: Chris Eck who worked on Harebrained’s BATTLETECH game has also worked on this new Star Wars X-Com game that’s getting rave reviews right now - congrats to Chris and the whole team!
neutral · AI labelView post →Dammit Zero Company, now I wanna play X-COM again. I have no time for X-COM! Why can't I have a Hyperbolic Time Chamber to play every game in my backlog?!
neutral · AI labelView post →After a leak last week, EA officially announced the name of Bit Reactor and Respawns next X-Com like Star Wars game 'Star Wars Zero Company'. www.ign.com/articles/sta...
neutral · AI labelView post →Wasn't the X-COM reboot just made to drum up excitement for the FPS game, but ended up massively overshadowing it? I feel like I heard that somewhere, long ago.
neutral · AI labelView post →The old game was one of my favourites back in the day but this wont even open on a modern pc, tried from windows 7-10 with no luck, needs a patch, waisted 12 hours trying to get it running, steam should not be selling this if they know it will not work.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Remembering the Mario vs Rabbids X-Com game where Luigi was the dedicated sniper. Unprecedented foresight.
neutral · AI labelView post →I need an X-Com like game set in a fantasy setting where you run a guild and send parties out for missions and shit while using the gold and monster drops to expand and improve the guild.
neutral · AI labelView post →"I was baptised in a fire, these are merely hot coals" Sartha speaking on X-Com and X-com 2 after having been raised on the MS-DOS X-Com UFO defence game
neutral · AI labelView post →I really, really liked Xenonauts 2 despite bouncing off of the first one. Everyone who told me old X-COM was better was right, actually. www.pcgamer.com/games/strate...
neutral · AI labelView post →Like Star Fox with aliens 10/10 would get from a Humble Bundle again
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hi gamers If you see this GIF then I probably will most likely be arrested by X-com or something IDK We are live with X-COM: UFO defense (1994) cause I have never played an old xcom game before and I wanna try it out and die horribly. moogle.tv
neutral · AI labelView post →The board game Frosthaven is getting a video game with the designer of X-COM #Frosthaven #Gaming #PCGaming
neutral · AI labelView post →their new tactics game really does look great, haven't snagged it yet but it's very much a game made by people who obviously loved X-Com and Jagged Alliance 2
neutral · AI labelView post →Thanks for hosting #turnbasedthursday, @norsegame.bsky.social ! War on Wheels is a turn-based, physics-controlled car combat game. Think: X-Com meets Mad Max. store.steampowered.com/app/3768750/...
neutral · AI labelView post →This and its predecessor, Rebelstar Raiders, are where Julian Gollop cut his tactical game teeth, going on to design X-COM. You'll see many of the mechanics familiar to X-COM players being introduced here. It's still a solid game with an absolute banger of an in-mission tune.
neutral · AI labelView post →Ahh, Interceptor. A not so great flight sim mixed with a not so great strategic game which somehow when merged together forms a very very playable and very fun (and it's still hard, though easiest out of all the old school X-COM games) game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Discovered new PC game: Cyber Knights Flashpoint, kinda cyberpunk X-Com, slightly reminiscent of the Shadowrun PC games Missions are all heists of some sort, with an emphasis on balancing stealth vs combat, and hacking that integrates really well with core gameplay. Recommended. Could be a TTRPG.
neutral · AI labelView post →there is nobody in the history of the world that has hit by more 20% flinch chances and missed 80% hit chances than me and I've played this game for like 8 fucking hours, I am not kidding about having the X-Com copy of the game
negative · AI labelView post →𝕽𝐄𝐕Ⅰ𝐄W “S̴Y̸S̷T̸E̷M̷ ̴E̶R̷R̸O̶R̷ D̶A̵T̸A̶ ̸C̴O̵R̶R̵U̶P̴T̶E̸D̶ ̶P̸R̴O̷G̷R̷A̷M̴ ̵I̸N̶C̶O̴M̷P̴L̵E̵T̶E̵
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If they really wanted to make a good Evangelion game, they'd rip X-COM off, and then have the other part be a management sim like the PS2 game, except for child soldiers who slowly wear out if they don't get immediately annihilated in the tac-sim part.
neutral · AI labelView post →the description "Star Wars But X-Com" is a real "there but for the grace of God go I" of video game addiction potential
neutral · AI labelView post →I was just looking for something else, but... the retro game world had XCOM in basement xD
neutral · AI labelView post →1/10 deleting all 2k games right the ♥♥♥♥ off my PC cause the new terms of service are kernel levels of criminal.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Thank you for hosting #TurnBasedThursday, @dotage.bsky.social ! ZodiacLegion is a game of tactical dungeon crawling with X-COM-like strategic elements: bsky.app/profile/gald...
neutral · AI labelView post →If u like Xcom and/or flight sim games, then u will probably enjoy this. I thought it was pretty hard at first, but once I figured out how to play, I had a LOT of fun. I think this game is really underrated. It has all of the cool base management of Xcom, but then the battles are real-time flight sim. The campaign is awesome, and I also really like that there's a "skirmish mode" that u can create your own custom practice battle and jump right into the action and/or practice your fighting skills…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played a bit of Zero Company and this game is scratching that feeling that X-Com2 unfortunately couldn't for me. Which is just removing turn limits in most of the missions. I think that ultimately killed my enjoyment of X-Com so fucking bad that I just couldn't play it anymore.
negative · AI labelView post →Phoenix Point is the best X-Com game
positive · AI labelView post →🚨BREAKING: Zohran Mamdani once savescummed a game of X-Com so he wouldn't lose his best sniper. Must credit the New York Times and Twitter Account: @CallofDutyBooty69. 🚨
neutral · AI labelView post →petition to replace X-COM style game hit percentages with words like, "no chance in hell, i mean if you squint a bit, oh definitely but ... maybe?"
neutral · AI labelView post →Ghost in the Shell action game or X-Com like. I would do terrible things for the specific vibes of it.
neutral · AI labelView post →Impossible not to mention my lifelong love of the X-Com games, from the original series, the reboot, The Long War, and its imitators, boy I sure do love building bases, researching laser guns, deploying cool drop ships and such like. HELLPIERCERS, if I was being Like That, is very much X-Com In Hell
positive · AI labelView post →X-COM 2 was made insanely hard due to fans complaining the first game was too easy. What the devs hadn’t realised was that the first game had a bug that kept reverting difficulty settings to beginner.
neutral · AI labelView post →We need a Lego X-Com game
neutral · AI labelView post →New post: dev.to/retrorom/x-c... X-COM: UFO Defense — the 1994 strategy classic that turned losing into a design system #retrogaming #gaming #retro #strategy #gamedev
neutral · AI labelView post →X-Com UFO Defence 1994. What an experience it was to play that game when it came out.
positive · AI labelView post →Hey X-COM (2012) friends. Some of you may remember what *really* made this game amazing was the "Long War" mod, from Pavonis Interactive, with the X-COM creators themselves stating¹ "We're basically a 20-hour tutorial for Long War, and that's okay." It was that good. Pavonis went on to create the incredible game Terra Invicta², but did you know that Long War continued to be improved upon by Ucross, as the Long War Rebalance project? It's good, like really *really* good, and continues to see…
neutral · AI labelView post →Breaking hiatus to shout about Tactical Breach Wizards, the turn-based strat game featuring, yes, tactical breach wizards, that has more than scratched the itch for a fresh X-Com. Did you love X-Com 2? Do you love hilariously sarcastic banter and a game that encourages defenestration? Buy this.
neutral · AI labelView post →The challenge is to choose 20 games that greatly influenced you. One game per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, no particular order. #GameChallenge #Games #GameDev #PromoSky --- Day 6: X-COM: UFO Defense (PC)
neutral · AI labelView post →I remember this was a great game back before steam existed. Bought it here to pay my respects. But it's unplayable. (story below) (Win10 user here.) I remember this thing had an esc menu where you could save, load, assign flight keys etc, but hitting esc (or any key other than 1-5) just makes a beeping sound and nothing else. Not even alt+f4 works, just beeps and does nothing. The graphics start to stutter after you click on something. Also runs through a legacy weird interface which…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Now that version 1.2 is being distributed by steam it's in a much more playable state. For windows 10 users, run it in win98 compat mode and it should be relatively stable. If you're getting slowdowns in-game turn on the hardware cursor from the drop down menu. Otherwise, the game itself is a decent late 90s dogfighting sim. The geoscape side of things is also relatively simple and the economy can be broken almost immediately, so it's not something you can really sink your teeth into. But,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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