Customer Reviews

UFO: Aftermath

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I have a hard time seeing how someone can like X-Com and not like this.

The play-style is similar to X-Com: Apocolypse in that it is semi-realtime. I find this acceptable because it greatly speeds up gameplay and really puts more tactical decisions in your hands rather than relying on automatic reactions during the enemy's turn, as happened in UFO Defense.

I also like that the missions frequently have more defined goals than just "kill everything". I distinctly remember some X-Com missions taking me over an hour just trying to find the one last alien hiding in a closet somewhere. Aftermath missions tend to be more specific (you don't have to kill everything) and even the "kill everything" missions only have you kill about 90% of the enemies before giving you the option to declare it a success (presumedly your backup troops will do the mop-up after your elite team does the majority of the work).

I also personally appreciate the pacing of technological advancement. The one thing I never liked in X-Com games was a shortage of real-world weaponry and what you did get was replaced by alien technology almost immediately. In Aftermath you have a great variety of normal human weapons and the desire and ability to replace them with alien weapons occurs much slower.

Furthermore, if there is a type of mission you just don't like doing, you can "delegate" it to the regular army. It will be resolved automatically without the use of your team. Obviously you want to use your team where success is vital, but if your team gets shot up or you just don't like to do scouting missions then you can delegate and still have a chance of success.

Another change is that you can't enter buildings on a map. When I heard about this I thought it would suck, since entering structures was a predominant feature of X-Com games, but it's really not that bad: where X-Com would have an "urban" map that consisted of a small map and one big building, Aftermath has "urban" maps that consist of city streets and many buildings. Having to enter them would be a time consuming and unnecessary distraction. In the instances where you do need to enter a structure (such as a crashed UFO), it's done as a two-part mission: part one to secure the exterior, part 2 takes you inside.

The only thing I can think of that I really miss is in these crashed UFO missions: In X-Com, the crashed UFO had battle damage, including some of the alien crew already being wounded or dead. In Aftermath the ships all seem perfectly intact on the inside with no wounded or dead crew. (I guess the aliens invented better surge protectors and shock absorbers.)

One bit of cheese is that you can abort a mission at any time and any upright team members are automatically extracted. This is useful but cheesy: In UFO Defense you had to make it back to your ship to extract your team, in Aftermath you can hit "abort" whenever you want and extract your team in unrealistic circumstances, like just before a big missile is about to kill everyone.

But still, overall it's a great game. Where Apocolypse was really taking X-Com into a ridiculous direction with crayola aliens and a bizarre futuristic setting, Aftermath goes back to the roots: guys with machineguns fighting horrible aliens. (Well, eventually you get machineguns, initially you're fighting with pistols, shotguns and grenades! (Hint: Grenades are your friend.))

If you played any of the games in the XCOM-series, then it's inevitable you'll recognize some of the elements in UFO:Aftermath. The overview of the world where you select your missions, the top-down perspective and the squad-screen to name a few; but though I loved the XCOM-series, not so with Aftermath.

Pros:
- Huge range of interesting weapons ranging from simple handguns to captured alien technology and collapsible double rocketlaunchers.
- 3D-maps with sort of nice overview.
- Pool of soldiers where you can equip your squad or replace members.
- Pausable "real-time" combat-system like in the Baldurs Gate-series.

Cons:
- Stupid AI. From time to time the enemy rushes against your massed guns only to be cut down. Rarely do they flee and if they do, they just take a stroll around the block, then charge you again.
- Doors can be opened but not closed. Or maybe they can but I haven't found a way. This prevents you from opening a door, lobbing a live grenade into the room filled with aliens and close the door.
- Aliens rarly miss. They are sharpshooters and armed with their "rocket-spitters" they can kill you in seconds.
- Hard to switch weapons from the inventory.

If you have some time and money over, it's not such a bad buy. But don't expect a game with the same magnetude as the XCOM-series.

When I discovered a new "X-com style" game, I was worried because the reviews mentioned compatability problems and run errors. I decided the possibilities were worth the risk, and I have been happy ever since. This game is amazing!!! The depth of involvement and strategy of cleaning the alien scourge from Earth is unmatched in any other game of this kind. It is definitely a must have for any fan of the original X-com series, completely addictive!

Like another reviewer said - The magic of XCOM just isn't there. They've taken away most all of the base management, oversimplified soldier management, and dumbed down combat to the point that I almost want to cry. After a few hours with UFO, I loaded up XCOM again and enjoyed myself quite thoroughly.

It seems a lot of companies are going this way in the followups. Please, please, please - Stop dumbing down the games we love. We're not all stupid gamers.

UFO aftermath was ok, it is just like a X-COM game just a few differences since the makers of X-COM didn't let them do some things.

Graphics- The graphics where pretty ok, the animations are good and each gun looks different when they use it in the field. The units though are pretty basic and the terrain is somewhat good. The earth is also very detailed, the earth looks so real, every aspect is there, the cracks in the earth in the ocean are also noticable! They over did themselfs on the earth but thats a good thing for us :)

Gameplay- The game is pretty fun when you play it, it's pretty easy at first but as soon as you get deep in the game it starts getting really hard and you choose from easy medium or hard. Some things could of been better like the world around them, In X-COM Apocolypse the walls and other obsticles fell like they would in real life, you shoot the bottom, it breaks off, and the whole top just falls down. The weapons also dont blow up, when you shoot a rocket at someone, wouldn't their weapon explode or break? they dont in this game. Most things you cant get rid of too, like walls of buildings, street lights, and more, you should just be able to go straight through the level with the help of like 35 grenades. The missions are good and fun though.

Sound- The sounds are ok and the music is good. The way the soldiers talk can sometimes get annoying lol and the aliens and mutants make no sounds at all.

overall- the game is good, it coulda been better in a few more months of development but it is still fun to play, it brings back the memories of X-COM and how fun it was, i give this game 4 stars out of 5.

I love the game and find myself wanting to play it all the time. I too had a lot of trouble with it early on but once I downloaded the 1.4 patch it's been working great. As some have already mentioned, the difficulty of killing aliens is all over the map. Some practically fall over dead when you look at them while others seem nearly impossible to defeat. I've found that carrying both a rifle and a shotgun has helped my team get through multiple situations. Anyhow, I've loved the game so far, I just hope I don't have the same trouble that so many others have, getting all the way to the end only to be shut down.

I'll be the first one to admit it, I screwed up! I saw all the reviews and said, they just don't know how to get it to install correctly. I'm an MCSE tech, there is nothing I can't fix, well I tried to get this game to work on 3 of my computers, they all have the same problem, Stack Walk: 6 as soon as I put the cd in, I have tried everything. Still can't play the game. I loved X-Com but Microprose would never have released a game unless they knew it worked. What is wrong with Cenega!!!!! The pictures look great on the cover, I just wish I could play it. Go see my review on UFO Aftershock for another game on my F'ed up list.

When the game was working, it was fun: desolate city streets, abandoned cars, strange mutants, interesting weapons, and a pausable real-time combat that let me feel that my decisions were important. I enjoyed developing troopers with unique skills and abilities like my Cyborg sniper or my Muton scout. Plus there are mods for added coolness. There were mediocre aspects, I admit, like repetitive missions, lame sound effects, and an Indifferent alien AI. Still, I had fun. No X-Com sense of amused wonder but fun nonetheless.

However, the game (which I had patched immediately to version 1.4)did become unstable after days of gameplay and searching for a fix online through the official and fan forums was futile. I came close to finishing the game but alas, it seems the game is very very sensitive to certain game configurations and video cards, and frequently crashes. I have a new computer that greatly exceeds all the requirements but still have yet to finish the game. And I was so close.

I must admit after reading alot of the reviews I was hesitant about getting this game and I fully expected it to be difficult to install. I put it in and upgraded immediatley to version 1.4 I don't know if that fixed all the problems, but except for one small glitch that after about 15 minues of adjusting my screen size went away the game has run smoothly. I urge all of you who were fans of the original X-com to check this game out. It hasn't crashed or hung once... the only problems that I have had has been lag caused from alot of programs running in the background, (MSN messenger, Yahoo chat, etc) But closing all of those has resulted in a very fast paced game, almost too fast in several occasions.

If you like X-com you'll like this game. I've only played a few hours in and already I like it better than x-com alot of annoying things about x-com have been removed from this version. I think Pecos Bill review has alot of good points to recomend it. I look forward to continuing to unravel the secret of the invasion and eventually kicking the aliens off the planet

No base construction! I like that. You capture your bases and change them to one of three different types. maintaining a balance of bases is important as how many bases and what type influence how fast your research and develepoment of new technologies comes along. Much better weapon selection to start with. Alot of "earth" weapons and armor are way better than what the aliens are using. So far there's been no word fo the little remote tanks that you got in xcom... which I miss, as they were great bullet magnets, I'm hoping for something similar down the line.

All in all though a great game...

for what it is it can be a fun game, lack of imaginathion for the aliens, but mutated animals and stuff is a nice, and a lot of fun and great weapons. nothing like takeing out a alien base with a bunch of AK47's. i must admit thou with out the patches the game can get impossibule the patches fixes some of the damage bugs and unbeatabule missions (starting in a forest and have no way to move) also the patches makes the humen wepons more damageing to the aliens so if you have a hard time at the Russian base mission it will be easyer. if it were not for thoes fixes the patches made i would have rated a 2 or a 3. i love the air combat it is like watching a movie how ever until you reserch better craft armor and stuff you will lose 90% of them. i also like how it has a LOT of wepons to pick from, you think you have it all then boom you have 10 new type of guns, how ever i wish it would alow you to manufactuer your own ammo cause you always run out for the good guns. the other down side is you can only build 1 thing at a time, soo if you wan to outfit your whole team with bio armor it will take forever. but over all it takes some tactics to play and can be fun to play. i say get it it is some what worth it but make sure you download all the patches as well cause it will make the game a lil better