2. X-COM: Enemy Unknown
The Original: UFO: Enemy Unkown (AKA X-COM: UFO Defense) was first released on December 31, 1993. For DOS. The turn based tactical portion of the game was stunning for the time. Players were thrust into combat with invading aliens which required very precise planning and tactical awareness. Additionally, the game offered a strategic mode from which you waged the greater war. Following the release of the original, several sequels were released in quick succession. The first two, X-COM: Terror From The Deep and X-COM: Apocalypse were honest to the original, and solid games. From then, Microprose and later Hasbro began churning out increasingly bad versions of the game, culminating in the 2001 third person shooter X-COM: Enforcer.
It's Finally Here: It would utterly baffle me if you were reading this article (or any other gaming article) and hadn't heard about X-COM: Enemy Unknown. The announcement of the long awaited sequel took every gaming website by storm, or did something equally awesome sounding. People were practically doing something that sounds really exciting and dramatic, when the sequel was finally announced by industry legends Firaxis. The upcoming (October, 9 to be specific) turn based tactical game has been impressing industry fancy pants types for months now with a slew of features that challenge industry standards in the genre and promise as much fun as can be possible off the subway. X-COM: EU is keeping things old school in a lot of ways by keeping traditional features from the original game. Players will still have to manage their finances and research from HQ, plan out a squad's moves in advance, and manage "action points" to plan out tactical assaults in an efficient manner, just like in the original. But Firaxis is kicking it up a notch in a lot of ways by adding environmental damage and effective (but destructible) cover. With squad classes, permanent death, a slew of baddies, a multiplayer mode that allows you to combine humans and aliens, a massive single player campaign, and other stuff that I would love to mention but might have a seizure if I get that worked up, Enemy Unknown is looking like one of the best titles of the year, and an excellent follow up to one of the best tactical series ever made.