UFO: Aftermath

"Great if you liked X-Com Apocalypse"

UFO: Aftermath is quite the addictive game if you prefer real-time tactical strategy games. It's story is similar to the original X-Com game with playstyles imported from the third of the X-Com series. Aftermath blends crisp graphics with some truly challenging missions.

Gameplay:
As I said, this game plays exactly like X-Com: Apocalypse. You have up to seven soldiers per mission and you can have each specialize in a certain mode of attack (handguns, rifles, launchers, throwing, psi, or marksmanship). In the missions you have certain objectives from rescuing downed pilots, performing reconnaissance, capturing UFOs, to invading enemy bases. Outside of the missions, it's your job to expand your territory on earth with the acquisition of bases. Now unlike X-Com, the worldview is much more simplified. Rather than building bases piece by piece, your bases come pre-built and you can change them whenever you see fit with only 24 hours of downtime. Your basic base options are military, scientific and engineering - with one other kind opening up as you progress in the game. Though diehard X-Com fans won't like the macroness of this approach it does allow for much more bases than they might be accustomed too.
The research and manufacture trees are one of my favourite aspects to this game. Not only is there a huge selection of earth technologies to begin with, but you will be finding new old-tech toys to the end. In terms of new alien technology, you have your standard laser and plasma technologies that you would come to expect, but rather than just researching the alien techs, you now have the ability to synthesize alien - human weapon hybrids that add a little flare to the game.
The story is on par with what you would expect. Both endings are quite lacking, but one of them is being expounded upon with Cenega's planned release of UFO: Aftershock in Q3 '05.

Graphics:
Very crisp - and the specialized locales are a nice touch. The outdoor levels seems a bit too small, but they way the transgenants tend to swarm you, you hardly have to move in the later levels so I might just not have had the chance to sight see. My only problem came with the alien architecture. It's just plain hard to figure out where you can and can't go within the ufos. However, that's more of a design issue than a graphical one. The creatures are kind of bland, but odds are you won't be zoomed in as you need to keep an eye on other approaches. Yet, all in all, the graphics are very clean and no needless eyecandy that would make the game inaccessible to less fortunate gamers.

Sound:
Make sure you patch the game up to 1.3 as soon as you get it or else you won't be able to hear the aliens. Now, they aren't anything special, but it's nice to judge how one battle is going if you have to have your attention elsewhere. The sound in the worldmap is nice, but again nothing special elsewhere. Individual unit sounds get quite annoying after a while, but if you make sure all your units have separate portraits, it can help you to see how other parties might be doing.

Overall:
I had this for a while before I sat down and really played it. But once I cracked down, I was drawn in. If you are a super fan of the first 2 X-Coms, this might not be quite your cup of tea because making it real-time changes the romance. However, if you liked X-Com 3, then this is exactly what you've been waiting for. It's a great game that follows in the tradition of X-com and adds to it in its own way. And for $20 how could you not buy it?

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/24/04