Hi everyone. I'm the developer that wrote Aliens versus Humans. I found this post via a backlink from my website. I played the original X-Com back in 1994 and I'm (still) a huge fan. I can assure you that we didn't "rip" any of the images from X-Com. However, for all of the X-Com fans out there, we did make the map tiles very similar and have made the gameplay as true to X-Com as possible.
There are also some improvements. The furniture was a little dated so we've updated the decor and if you look carefully, the houses have a flat screen TV, hardwood floors and stainless steel appliances. No expense was spared furnishing these places. Also wanting to be environmentally conscious, we have introduced blue and green bins for recycling.
The storyline has you start in farm country and you will work your way into the suburbs, an urban setting then into an industrial area. There's a townhouse complex (with spacious backyards), new parks, new apartment buildings to explore. There is a strip mall to check out too. The motel is new and has fresh sheets. There's a discount if you stay over a Saturday. But I digress.
I'd be the first to admit that Aliens versus Humans is still not as good as the original X-Com. I distilled what I liked the best about X-Com (terror missions) and really focused on gameplay and translating the controls from X-Com into a touch-based interface. Some have commented that they would like to see the geoscape, bases, research, etc. But that wasn't the point of Aliens versus Humans - at least not yet.
If you're looking for something really similar to X-Com on an Apple device, then it's pretty good. Something that wasn't in the original game are achievements. Achievements allow you to compare your stats to your friends. I can tell you that some achievements bring an entirely different approach to the game.
148apps.com was nice enough to do a review of our game. Check it out:
https://www.148apps.com/reviews/aliens-humans-review/Because you guys are fans of X-Com, I'm willing to give out a couple of promo codes that will get you the game for free from the AppStore in iTunes. PM me if you're interested.
Thanks...
Al(ien)