Afterlife

by LucasArts

Product Features

• Afterlife presents the last word in sims - literally.
• In this hilarious and challenging world-building strategy game, players build the heaven and hell of an alien world and assist wayward "souls" to their final resting places.
• s souls begin to migrate, players manage the souls' arrival by zoning and developing areas for the seven deadly sins and their respective virtues.
• More than 250 richly detailed tiles and structures. Grandest scope of any simulation game, tracking literally billions of characters.

Product Details

• ASIN: B000AZ2652
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 2 inches ; 1 pounds
• Media: CD-ROM
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,503 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Welcome to Afterlife, the world-building simulation that lets you create the hereafter in the here and now. Possessed of an unearthly sense of humor, it all begins in a god-knows-where galaxy. As a regional spiritual director your task, given to you by the Powers That Be, is to develop two prime planes of "unreal estate" - heaven and hell - simultaneously. Keep billions of souls happy by giving them the rewards and punishments they deserve.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An illuminating window into the next life!, November 17, 2006

By 

Ghost Tea (Orlando, FL) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Afterlife (CD-ROM)

LucasArts is well known for being a gaming pioneer and with this game they explored a very rarely tread path. Afterlife is one of the most well engineered "god sims" ever crafted (pun intended)! There is not one flaw to this game: excellent music, great sound effects, user friendly interface, cartoonish yet beautiful graphics and a extremely humorous plot all combine to make this game a must have for sim fans!

The idea is simple: the "Powers That Be" have placed you, the "DemiUrge", in charge of a distant planet's newly minted Afterlife. You start out at "Zero Year" which is when your planet's people (called "EMBOs") have just achieved sentience and with it "SOULs" worthy of being collected. When its time, these SOULs will seek out the Afterlife at which point you must provide them with the appropriate "just desserts" they so very need! You have a lot of leeway in how to handle this. The most important factor to be taken into account is a mortal's beliefs which, of course, can be influenced by you but only indirectly by "inspiring" an EMBO planetside to spread the word of whatever philosophy you concoct. Want them to believe in Heaven but not Hell? No problem. Say you want them to believe in reincarnation? Go ahead. Got an urge to turn them all into beatnik hippies who fall victim to the Sin Of Lust but are followers of the Virtue Of Peace. Go nuts.

The mortals start out as a single tribe who will go forth and multiply all the while becoming ever more civilized. They develop technology over time which will increase their lifespan and population density but will also enable them to kill each other more effectively. At first this is no problem but eventually, with the development of Nuclear Weapons and Gravity Manipulation, the threat of Judgment Day becomes very possible.

Why is that a problem? Well, you are payed by The Powers That Be for every SOUL collected and the amount earned is affected by how effciently that SOUL is handled (how good your Afterlife is being managed). In order to "not tempt the gods", your venture as the DemiUrge must be profitable. If the mortals nuke each other into your realm then that means there will be no future SOULs which means you have no new income and that will mean you get a firing by The Powers That Be on a "cosmic" scale!

The game's ever present religious nature is VERY generic! No specific group is EVER refered to and various items have been borrowed from all the major religions as well as pop culture. The game has been sanitized for maximum appeal with minimum offense and while some might take issue with that, the entire tongue in cheek aspect of everything renders this a moot point. Some origins of various materials are easy enough to spot but everything has been designed to work together and not stand out.

Whatever your beliefs, the game is worth buying! Why LucasArts hasn't re-released it or made a sequel is beyond my mortal understanding. Indeed, your advisors, the Angel Aria Goodhalo and the Demon Jasper Wormwood, are a good enough comdey dou to be on TV! For you otaku out there, I'd say they're a perfect Manzai Team!