When comparing X-COM: UFO Defense vs The Ur-Quan Masters, the Slant community recommends X-COM: UFO Defense for most people. In the question“What are the best games that only give a general sense of what to do but have zero hand-holding?” X-COM: UFO Defense is ranked 2nd while The Ur-Quan Masters is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose X-COM: UFO Defense is:
Keeping track of more than a dozen soldiers with 10 skills, their inventories (including ammo count and weight), dynamic visibility, line of sight, destructible terrain, consequences of missed shots (like friendly fire or destroyed loot), etc. quickly overwhelms noobies, putting the real strategy masters in the limelight. And this is just a battle out of many, with base building, personell management, logistics, reconnaissance, research and manufacturing between them.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Very deep strategy
Keeping track of more than a dozen soldiers with 10 skills, their inventories (including ammo count and weight), dynamic visibility, line of sight, destructible terrain, consequences of missed shots (like friendly fire or destroyed loot), etc. quickly overwhelms noobies, putting the real strategy masters in the limelight. And this is just a battle out of many, with base building, personell management, logistics, reconnaissance, research and manufacturing between them.
Pro Active open source clone
The openxcom team have re-implemented the entire game and fixed many of the longstanding bugs in the original. It allows you to play on modern machines and in much higher resolution. A copy of the original game is still required for the assets.
Pro Dark humor
Seems to have started the "evil aliens" trend.
Pro Great story
Many species to meet and learn of, each with their own personality, history and goals. Could they help you? That is for you to find out.
Pro A vast universe to explore
With hundreds of stars, each with many planets, some of them with a surface that can be landed on, some of those harboring life, some of which is even intelligent, there are always places to visit and "people" to talk to.
Cons
Con Artwork
The artwork is not to everyone's liking.