Customer Reviews

UFO Afterlight

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

OK, this game is GOOD... could be great except it shipped with a lot of bugs that have kept most gamers from playing it. It seems that they're still in a patching phase...
I was lucky. I have Win XP and after getting the newest drivers for my video card I was able to play this game with only a slowdown that occurs because I want to run high end video ;\. I haven't finished it yet, but I've played it enough to give a good review.

It's a tactical rts based on the X-Com genre of games. Characters come with 1 or 2 of 3 possible classes: soldier, scientist, or technician. Your units gain levels in their class when they do something related to that class. Levels mean both basic attribute adjustment and skill points. Skill points allow scientists to research certain tech branches quicker, technicians to produce certain items quicker, soldiers to kill aliens quicker... aaaannnnddd some skills from one class help another class (i.e. a scientist can get medical training and use a medkit in battle while a technician can repair robots and space suits). There's a lot more, but I'll let you discover those yourself.

Back to the tactical. There is an overworld map with territories where you can get resources and place some necessary structures... terraforming, radar, etc. You only have one base, but its enough. This game is real-time, but there is a pause/play control that is of key use during the game. During battle you can have your units pause the game after certain things occur (i.e. they have no 'plan' to do anything, etc). Also in the overworld 'strategic game' after your scientists have finishing researching a technology, when your technicians have finished producing an item, when a unit has finished training or one of your 'class' vehicles has returned to base... you can have the game pause automatically.

Note, in the tactical battle I'd suggest using the 'free' camera mode. Their 'auto' really annoys me.

I think these guys had a great idea, but they released it without enough testing ;\

Check the system requirements if you're thiking of buying and make sure that you update your video drivers if you do buy. Check their support forum as well. Sad to say, but it's likely you'll need it. Also, you will have to install the game under your administrator account. ;\
Good luck.

Ok, I've been sceptical towards a LOT of the newer x-com "remakes" or whatever you can call them. THey have been rather horrible in many ways and many try to capture the feel of x-com, but few have succeeded...if any at all. For some reason these games sounds good if you read about them, but always horrible to play. This game somehow didn't try to reinvent x-com feel and at first I thought it looked way to colourful and...well I didn't like the gfx and how things looked. I tried the game anyways and yes it was rather tough to understand how everything works, but when you get the hang of it it really pays off. It's sad to see people give it so low scores because of bugs. Strangely enough I haven't had any bugs besides the memory leak..and it's not that a big deal. This IS the best UFO game out there these days by far. The combat part is very challenging..and it gets better as you research different stuff. The world seems much more dynamic than any other UFO game I've played. But you won't notice until you've come a long way into the game. This has been the best gaming experience I've had in many many years. Hope more more comes along. if this is the first game of several then the next games must become classics.

It is amazing that PCgamer and Windows Computing never have mentioned Cenega and their line of games, as they aren't too bad. Yes they differ from the old classic Xcom but enough to be enjoyable.

The game has two modes, the world mode, where you plan strategy, research new technology, and build on the planet Mars different things, such as mines. In the strategic mode, you are going on missions and fighting bad guys. You have to watch your space suits as they get damaged, as well as the medical status of your team in a program and go mode. And because you don't get many replacement soldiers you are constantly under the gun not to rush in or make suicide runs.

For the price I would recommend the game. It is fun, had a pretty decent story, and if you played the previous UFO: Aftershock, it ties directly into that story line.

I just deleted my old 2-star review and am now prepared to give it 5 stars. It took them 2 years but they finally patched this game up to be playable. So far so good, anyway. I was always hoping they'd fix it because there's a lot to like. (edit: Actually it's still crashing hard on my AMD x64 system. It's my Intel system that's running it with no problem!)

For those unfamiliar with X-Com, this game is a "tactical squad based shooter" inside of a "strategic adventure/conquest" game.

In the tactical game (which is where you spend most of your time), you control a squad of individuals from a perspective somewhere in the sky. You tell them how to move and shoot to engage the bad guys. You manage their inventory (guns, ammo, grenades, medkits, etc) and try not to get too many of your people horribly killed during the mission.

The game is "semi-real time", meaning it plays out in real time but you can pause it whenever you want (to adjust orders or to think about the best way to avoid being killed by that missile). In X-Com terms, this means it's more like Apocalypse than UFO Defense (which was turn based). But don't let that scare you. This is a very good X-Com style game. Real time combat has some nice advantages over turn based -- namely that you have a lot more control and missions don't take as long.


The premise of this game is that humanity is really on the ropes. You are a colony sent to Mars to try and turn it into a New Earth. The time is "the near future". The "grays" (standard big headed aliens) have showed up and are more or less on your side. Mars holds some ancient terrors, however, which, it turns out, you are going to have to shoot. And throw grenades at. At shoot missiles at. And possibly stab with knives or hit with a buzzsaw, in desperate situations. You lead your team of soldiers, scientists and technicians to uncover the mysteries of Mars, especially the mysteries that are trying to murder you and everyone you know.

The strategic portion of the game comes in the form of a global map of Mars. You must claim territory and build mines and facilities to help your colony grow and then you'll have to defend your holdings and capture more holdings from the horrible alien monsters that are otherwise going to kill you and take it all for themselves. During your missions you'll encounter things that must be taken back to the base to be researched, and this research will advance both your technology and the storyline.

Gameplay is similar to X-Com in that it is "semi-linear". There is a story going on that gets advanced but how it advances depends on what discoveries you make and what order you do your research in. Every game starts and ends in the same place but the path between those two points is highly varied from game to game, so replay value is high.

On a more detailed note, I'm also happy to see they got rid of the one really cheesy thing they did for their previous game, which was that you could press "Abort" at any time during a mission and evacuate your team instantly. Not so fast in this game! Clicking "Abort" basically opens up your ship. Anyone you want to save must then actually reach the ship. This adds a nice extra (and realistic) difficulty.


Note also that this game, like all games of this genre, is slow paced. You have plenty of time to think and plan. If you need a fast moving action shooter, this isn't going to be it. This is a tactical/strategy game, so grab a comfy chair and get ready to creep around, shoot aliens and try not to get horribly killed.

I'm really glad they patched this game up. It's a shame it took them so long. I was ready to play this 2 years ago when I originally bought it! Oh well. Better late than never.

I'm an old XCOM fan. After 10 years, I had a sudden desire for some XCOM action. I decided to give UFO Afterlight a try. It's similar to XCOM in many ways. The action is pseudo-realtime. It runs until one of your squad runs out of orders, or a new enemy is spotted. You issue your order, then hit the spacebar to start the clock running again. After a while it's almost transparent.

It starts slow, and at a certain point I almost quit. That was when I ran into a group of Reticulans with mind control weapons. It took quite a while for me to develop a squad with the proper equipment and training to take them on. That hooked me.

The game has excellent graphics, and battles take full advantage of elevation, cover, and visibility. You can switch between isometric and first person view points. Yes, you can actually see through the eyes of the squad members.

During combat, the faces of the squad members are displayed at the bottom of the screen, along with their stats. They are animated, and actually speak. For example, if you select a squad member, and order him to move to an unreachable location, you'll hear him say something like "No way". The particular phrases are different for each squad member.

Like XCOM, your squads gain experience and can increase their basic levels. They can also be trained in a number of skills. Skills are divided into military, science, and technical (manufacturing). Personnel management is a big part of the game. Technological development is also very important, especially to gain the more powerful weapons, equipment and spacesuits.

If you get this game, make sure you download the latest patch. It removes the copy protection and need to use a CD.

Overall, I an exceptionally happy with this game. I've put in over 20 hours, and I haven't nearly exhausted the possibilities. My only gripe is that you start with the same exact characters every time. Still, they are endearing. Each game will develop its own distinctive character as time passes and your team members gain unique skills.

It is a worthy successor to XCOM, and I hope they do some sequels to extend what is an excellent basic game.

I'm an old school X-Com fan. Nothing tops it, but this game comes closer than even the X-Com sequels. The graphics have a nice cartoony feel like X-com did, and the characters have personality. The combat is very fun and full of strategy. Some levels are very challenging, but there is a great autosave that saves your game before each mission. Very convenient. There are base defense missions, capture missions, kill them all missions, ect. What is really cool is the planetary take over aspect. The game drives you to take more land in order to get the resources you need to produce newly researched items. Very clever. The research isn't as exciting as X-com's due to a lack of splash screens, but at least you can produce more weapons and armor and stuff. Not only can you level up your characters, you can also train them. Your people will be very busy from start to finish either training, researching, producing, building, defending. I find this game very fun and now that I've played it and know the ins and outs I plan on starting over and playing it again. I haven't had any technical issues after applying the patch. The worst part of the game is the bad language. It doesn't add to the game at all and there should have been a way to turn it off. It isn't bad enough to scrap the whole game, but it is annoying that I have to keep the volume down to compensate.

To be honest I haven't played the game, not because I don't own it but because they decided to go with Securom. So after installing the game it keeps asking for the disk. I patched the game and it keeps asking for the disk. I have a help support into Securom but so far there no response.

Its to bad I own all the other UFO's and was really looking forward to playing this one.