X-COM: Interceptor is the fourth main game in the X-COM series, developed and published by MicroProse in 1998. The game is a combination of many genres, including space flight simulation, business simulation game and strategy game elements. More specifically, the player's role includes managing a number of X-COM space stations, piloting starfighters during hostile encounters whilst co-ordinating wingmen, and managing resources and research. X-COM Interceptor, although released as the fourth game, is actually set before X-COM: Apocalypse, thus making it the third game in the chronological order. The game was re-released in 2008 for Steam and GamersGate, and again in 2016 on GOG.com. Plot The game begins on March 1, 2067, when the Earth's resources are all nearly depleted. To avert the slow decay of civilization, the major corporations of Earth venture into space – an area known as "The Frontier" – to find the raw materials required for humans. Unfortunately, some old enemies are already in the neighborhood when the corporations arrived - the powers from the First Alien War - and they have plans of their own for the resources of the Frontier. Plans that could very well mean the end of the human race. The player takes command of an elite force that has been created to fight the aliens in space. Unlike previous games in the series, the game is primarily a space combat simulator, with the player flying starfighters to protect the human corporations set up to gather resources in the Frontier. The player also acts in the role of X-COM commander in the region, managing bases, resources, and the organisation's financial standing. The player also needs to capture and research alien technology in order to improve human technology and discover the reason for the aliens' interest in the region. The end game is signified by the discovery of alien plans to build a doomsday device to destroy the surface of earth. This device is some kind of energy weapon, larger than a space station. As the weapon itself is impossible to destroy by conventional means, the research and creation of the "Nova Bomb" is required. This is a large missile, which instead of destroying the target directly, is aimed at the central star to a system. Upon impact, it would cause the star to explode, destroying everything in the system - thus the missile's name "Nova". The final mission is two-staged. The first stage