PC Zone review

[Brian]

As was reported before, UFO:Aftermath scored

 

82%

 

in this months PC Zone review. It also got the 'Essentials award'. You can read the full review by clicking "View Post". Enjoy!

[Slaughter]

PC Zone Issue 124 - November 2003-09-18

 

Few games are certain to melt old-timers into a sticky puddle of nostalgia as much as UFO: Enemy Unknown - the first and best in the legendary XCOM series. Offering a different angle on the most clichéd of all gaming premises (Earth is invaded by aliens and you must stop them), it was a turn-based strategy of massively addictive proportions to rival Champ Man for sleepless nights. There were a couple of sequels - the last proper one, Apocalypse, all the way back in 1997 - before it disappeared like everything else beloved by us anti real-time strategists. We were finally going to get an update a few years back, when the Gollop Brothers (the brains behind the original) started work on Dreamland Chronicles. The game got canned, the brothers moved on to Laser Squad Nemesis and XCOM-heads everywhere wept bitter tears - until Czech developer ALTAR Interactive landed the job, that is.

 

But enough with the history lessons. What matters is how Aftermath stands up right now. And I can tell you now, it is impressively erect. Not that I was convinced straight away, mind you. Despite the warm glow of recognition you get upon seeing the world globe on the main strategy screen (an XCOM staple), Aftermath has little of the charm that Enemy Unknown possessed in suck vast buckets. After the first couple of hours and half a dozen missions, it seemed the cynical snarl etched on my face was doomed to be permanent. Twelve hours later and I could have posed for another feature on gaming addiction: no sleep, gaunt eyes, poor diet and even worse hygiene. Those damn aliens had got me again.

It's easy ro see why, really. Aftermath has it fair amount of flaws, but no one can take away the things that make XCOM a truly great: the very best technology, RPG character development and world expansion, all wrapped up in a succulent apocalyptic X-Files scenario.

 

Unreal Time

 

As the title suggest, your job isn't to repel invading alien forces as much as finding a way to kick them out after they've succeeded in making Earth their new home. You start off with only a couple of bases and two soldiers, but already there are plenty of things to do. You have to begin researching new technologies to combat the aliens, investigate what's going on, send off jets to down UFO's and go on tactical missions. Since downing saucers is pretty much automatic (with success depending on research), the meat of the game is the 3D missions, and you will be under-whelmed when you first start playing them.

 

Like XCOM: Apocalypse, the action isn't so much turn-based as real-time with lots of pauses and it's these pauses that are the first cause of irritation. Reaching a waypoint, seeing an alien, running out of ammo and a plethora of other things all trigger a vocalisation from your soldiers, after which the camera automatically moves to them. This means you can't take two steps without a cacophony of voices and constant interruption as the camera flies off in all directions. You soon realise you can filter most of this, but you'll need a couple of missions before you know what you need switched on. The second annoyance is that your soldiers' voices are unbelievably irritating, boasting some incredibly idiotic accents. Add to this a restrictive 3D camera and the outdated graphics, and you can see why there is no love at first sight.

 

I think you're growing on me.

 

Luckily, Aftermath gets better with every passing moment. The more bases you capture (you can't build them) the more missions there are, and the more varied they become: kill a certain number of aliens, rescue a pilot, infiltrate a crashed UFO, capture alien bodies for autopsies or live ones for experiments and interrogation... This has a knock-on effect for the things you can research and, as your weapons and armour grow and improve, the missions become more enjoyable. The information your research uncovers keeps you wanting to find out more and, most satisfactory of all, your soldiers improve all the time through experience and training in a wide variety of skills and attributes.

 

Soon enough, you find yourself not caring what's happening in the real world. All that matters is that you complete one more mission and maybe recover a more powerful laser rifle this time. Or that your best soldier reaches his potential in every area. Or that you get enough bases to expand to other continents and thus get to see different backgrounds for your tactical levels. And then you discover there's an alien biomass spreading across the globe, which you have to research and stop before it consumes you. Oh, and you start developing psychic abilities. And could you just go away so I can play some more?

 

It might nor have Enemy Unknown's charm and there are some annoying niggles (those voices, poor pathfinding), but there's more than enough here to keep the XCOM spirit alive. Lets hope we don't have to wait so long for the next one.

 

[side bar: They're ruthless killers. But you'll grow to love 'em

 

Few things are as addictive as levelling up (how else to explain the popularity of Diablo?) and there is great satisfaction in developing your own set of characters through a variety of missions, watching them improve in the areas you want them to. You end up growing so attached to you favourites, net even their intensely irritating voices can stop you from morning there deaths. But dying is what new recruits are for. For everything else there's the reload button.

 

As you can see, there are tons of skills to work on, from marksmanship to healing and stealth. What weapons and gadgets you kit your men out with will also have a great impact on the missions. And add even more to the dressing-up-Barbie fun of it all]

 

PCZONE VERDICT

Plus points

RPG Development

Great research tree

As addictive as ever

 

Minus points

Not a great looker

Tactical missions could be better

Annoying voices

 

82%

Utterly enthralling, despite its flaws

 

(review written by Mark Hill - PC Zone November 2004)

 

(to give you an idea of how good the mark is - here are the other reviews scores for this issue:

Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs Death - 78

Homeworld 2 - 81

Tron 2.0 - 83

Conflict: Desert Storm II - 77

Korea: Forgotten Conflict - 64

Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII - 80

NHL 2004 - 82

Line of Sight: Vietnam - 69

American Conquest: Fight Back - 68

Darken Skye - 40

Heaven & Hell - 25

World Racing - 54

Smash Up Derby - 50

Nina: Agent Chronicles - 47)

[[W1Z]Rich]

Thanks for putting the review up here!

 

I must say, thats a great review. It confirms a lot of thoughts I'd had about UFO:A, but even the down-sides aren't enough to stop my enthusiasm. Its a shame the release date had to be put back a bit, but I'm still waiting with excitement at getting my hands on this game, more so than any game since Diablo 2!

[Slaughter]

Indeed

[Ghostrider]

IMHO None of the real UFO enthusiasts here have anything against the graphics - it is not DOOM III or HL2 but it is fine to cover the atmospher dont you thing Slaughter and others ... And the Camera Chaos - We surely can learn how to use it in a way not to distract us . I find this review helpfull showing to real fans it is expected to be as good as we want it to be PS:And the strange accents and voices of soldiers - who knows where they come from and how long were they underground so that could have had a bad influence on them

[Slaughter]

Agree about the graphics Ghostrider. I care nothing for them. The camera and voices may potentialy annoy me more though. Will know soon enough...

[dogge]

Nice to put the review here. Loved the other games... wonder when it shows up in the stores here in northern Sweden.. :hmmm: Hope the voices will be sorted out in a patch... at least as an option.

[Slaughter]

If you take a look at the online shops in Sweden that sell the game, that should give you a pretty good idea I believe. You can find them in the pre-order section.

 

And welcome to the boards!