...Wasn't the sequel to XCOM hated?
Which one?
There's the original, X-COM: UFO Defense. Highly respected.
Then there's the sequel, X-COM: Terror from the Deep. Also known as "the palette swap of UFO Defense with the difficulty cranked up to 11. And then Lobstermen added." Highly respected, because it's literally the same game as the first with a few minor additions. And Lobstermen.
Then there's the third game, X-COM: Apocalypse, which has more of a mixed bag of opinions. Some parts of the game are blatantly incomplete (land vehicles are pointless, the faction system is rudimentary at best, the late-game becomes trivially easy), but most of the core experience (shooting aliens) is very solid. I consider it a flawed gemstone; a game as good, if not
better than UFO Defense, marred by a handful of flaws that are annoyingly hard to overlook.
Then there's Interceptor and Enforcer, which are "below average" and "garbage", respectively. Interceptor was a dogfighting game, and Enforcer was an FPS if I remember correctly.
Then there's a bunch of 'spiritual successors' that you can look up if you really want. None of them bear the actual 'XCOM' name, though.
Then there's XCOM: The Bureau. Famous for releasing a gameplay trailer that was universally reviled, at which point development basically went underground. Shortly thereafter, XCOM: Enemy Unknown was announced, and I almost wonder if the whole point of The Bureau was to make EU look better by comparison. The Bureau eventually launched to little fanfare and lukewarm receptions. It's a squad-based shooter in a similar vein to Mass Effect 2/3.
Then there's XCOM: Enemy Unknown, which spent most of its prerelease time seducing fans of the original games. Notably, the devs boasted that every member of the team was forced to play through UFO Defense as part of their training for Enemy Unknown. It released to a positive reception.
Then there's XCOM: Enemy Within, which is an expansion to Enemy Unknown that adds a fair bit of new content (new enemies, new missions, new upgrades). Also positively received.
Then there's XCOM 2, which has yet to receive a subtitle AFAIK, which has yet to be released, and which is being actively discussed in this thread.