X-COM: First Alien Invasion

X-COM: First Alien Invasion
Developer: MicroProse Publisher: Hasbro Interactive Platform: Windows Released in US: 1999 Released in DE: 1999 This game has hidden developer credits. This game has hidden development-related text.

X-COM: First Alien Invasion (a.k.a. Email X-COM) (a.k.a. em@il games X-COM) (a.k.a. well, you get the point) is a 2-player game from Hasbro Interactive, part of their Em@il Games lineup of Play-by-Email turn-based games. It is a drastically trimmed down version of the X-COM turn-based tactical game, which takes place on a one-screen battlefield with small squads of humans vs aliens. Launched in 1999, the servers shut down in 2001, making the game mostly dead these days.

Version Information

Typing the letters 'VER' while in the program will trigger a message box containing build information to appear.

Developer Portrait

Hidden in the .exe resources is this bitmap image, presumably a portrait of the game developers (and one otherworldly visitor!)

To get this to appear in-game, type "DEV" on any screen. This will add a fifth (untitled) tab to the Options menu, which shows the image on an otherwise blank panel.