I'd love to read it in English, but Meridian's link isn't working for me. 
Oh well.. kick some rocks.
Here you go:
More than 20 years have passed since UFO: Enemy Unknown was released. Nevertheless, the reverberations of this global earthquake can still be heard today… supported by recurring local quakes. These can range from very small to quite impressive. The recent remake of XCOM from Firaxis counts to the really big ones. Smaller, but all the more interesting «earthquake», is the OpenXcom project.
So what's the deal? OpenXcom is an open-source remake of the classic UFO:EU. To run it, you need the original game as well, which can be bought for a couple of bucks online. And why is OpenXcom unique? Several reasons actually: first of all, it runs on practically all platforms available today including Windows, Mac OS, Linux and — experimentally — also Android. "The core is the SDL, a really cool cross-platform library, which I can only recommend." explains Daniel Albano, the founder and lead programmer of the project. "But SDL can help only so much. In fact, a team of volunteers, who care about the compatibility is the behind this success." adds Edward Zanon alias «Warboy», another key member of the team.
Play, whereever you wantBesides cross-platform support OpenXcom uniqueness lies also in the fact that they have fixed most of the bugs of the original, significantly improved the usability and added many additional optional features/game mechanics. "On top of that, there are tons of mods from our community, which you can download and install, if something less «vanilla» is what your heart desires." Albano explains. Tom Van Dyck, the third in the pack, adds that the main goal of OpenXcom always was "to stay as true to the original as possible, but give the people the possibility to mod the game as they like". So, in the vanilla mode, don't expect any new aliens, craft, weapons or other items. However, we guarantee that what you get — if you're a true fan of the XCOM series — will blow your mind.
Daniel Albano (25), Edward Zanon (31) and Tom Van Dyck (34) are from all the corners around the world. Albano studies at a university in Portugal and plays games since the MS-DOS times. Van Dyck is a business application developer, but started making his first games already 20 years ago on high school remaking classic arcade games in QBasic and Turbo Pascal. Zanon is from Australia, and since Boulder Dash and Lode Runner, he loves all the games with level editors.
OpenXcom project started with Albano in 2009. He had a lot of time, but couldn't fill it up by playing games, because the workstations in the labs had only development tools installed. "Therefore, I decided to spend my time on a development project," he admits. A fan of open-source projects like GZDoom and OpenTTD, he wanted to try something similar. Surprisingly enough, an open-source remake of XCOM didn't exist at the time, even though internet was flooded with information how the original game works. "So I tried it" he says, just like that. It was a one man show at the beginning; he didn't want to go public, because he knew how many of these projects end up. "But as the months passed, I continued the development and nothing was in my way. I have advanced at a speady pace." he remembers. It was not until May 2010, when he decided to go public with the project — urged by random «passers-by», who have found the project by chance. A community began to form. Van Dyck joined in October 2010, in November 2012 Zanon joined too. The three became the core of the team, which in the following years made the final version of OpenXcom project. Of course, a long list of others contributed as well.
It never endsIn the middle of this year, version 1.0 came out — immediately downloaded by thousands of players around the world; sending thank-you-letters to the authors. Not surprising. There have been dozens of free and commercial remakes of the original UFO:EU in the last two decades. Some of them good, some less so. "Many came and went, but they all had one in common: it was just not the same as the original" Albano explains the reason behind creating his own project. "That was the feeling that got stuck as the players were leaving these remakes, returning to the original on DOSBox". Therefore, he decided to focus on this aspect. "No big ambitious ideas, just bring the original back" he says. Van Dyck adds that the original X-COM for him is an example of an almost perfect gaming experience. "But same as other players, I had a wish list too… what to improve or change, to make it even better".
What is it, that the original UFO/X-COM has that attracts so many players up to this day? According to Albano, it is a unique mix of strategy and management. "It's the type of game, which you can play again and again and it's never the same. The game always changes and offers a new story to be told every time" he thinks. At the same time, the atmosphere plays an important role, the feeling of fighting an unknown threat, going against a stronger opponent. All the more rewarding is then the feeling when you start winning, one small step after the other. Edward Zanon agrees; he perceives the fact that soldiers will die no matter what, as one of the most important game aspects. "You can give them armour, hide them, stand on your head if you wish… but eventually not all of them can survive. Not even the most experienced soldiers are safe."
From the words of all three mentioned above and most of all from their enthusiasm, you can feel that OpenXcom has a bright future in front of it. Keep up the good work! Finally, you probably have the same question as most of the X-COM fans. The answer is: definitely YES. Authors of OpenXcom are indeed working on remake of the sequel, i.e. X-COM: Terror from the Deep!
