I promised myself to link to any good coverage of X-COM, and the Yogscast fellows doing a running commentary while playing is pretty much the best coverage one could ask for!
They’re doing it for charity, which is an awfully nice thing to do. Look:
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This charity. It’s interesting to watch because, while the Simon and Lewis are adding color commentary, making jokes, and speeding things up to make it more watchable, the game’s atmosphere does an amazing job of leaving you feeling alone, frightened and intense. It hearkens back to a time when patience, deep strategic thinking, and management abilities were rewarded and accepted in games. If you’re like me and everyone else I’ve convinced to give the game a shot, you will find yourself completely intimidated by the feeling of choice, responsibility, and significance that waits around every corner. You will quickly realize how extremely much videogames have been holding your hand and treating you like an idiot once you get past this intimidation and dig deeper. Watching the video will give you a taste of what the game consists of, but you need to play it yourself to realize why it has been called the greatest game ever.
The game is a mere $2.49 on Steam until January 2nd. Would you do the world a favor and stop the aliens from taking over? It is very much worth putting up with the old bulky interface if you enjoy best things ever made. I suggest reading the PDF manual that comes with the game during your first playthrough, since it includes the (quite crucial) tutorial instructions. It also hearkens back to a time when manuals taught you stuff, instead wasting your time trying to teach you stuff every time you start a new game.
Updated to add the other two videos.