Silent Storm vs UFO

[Gungadin]

Having played both, I'm going to have to give the "best game" award to UFO. Why, you may ask?

I prefer UFO to SS because it:

 

1. Is more open-ended and random. Very few pre-designed missions and lots of unique battles unlike SS.

 

2. Doesn't suffer from the "hit end turn and vacuum the house, watch a full-length feature and write a best-selling novel while you wait" syndrome since it's real-time.

 

3. Has a better modding community.

 

4. Allows you to blow up mushroom-humans. How cool is THAT?

 

5. Has a research segment, one of the best things about X-Com like games.

 

6. Has shotguns (A must in any Squad game if you ask me.)

 

So what do you think? Which is better, SS or UFO?

[Pete]

I'm currently torn between the two. There's aspects fo both that I love too much. Silent Storm definitely has the BEST physics of any tactical game I've ever played. Get into one of those PK's and shoot a reggular enemy and he'll go flying, land i a tree and dangle down from the branches - there's lots of satisfaction to be had with that.

 

Like you syay though, UFO Aftermath does have the research element.

 

All in all, I'm reserving judgement til UFO Aftershock is out and the next Silent Storm game is in the works. There's plenty of hints in the Silent Storm series that it's going to become a lot more sci fi and (I hope) have aliens in it at some point (or time travel at least... no way that laser satellite was buolt from 1000 year old plans drawn by cave men ).

 

Aftershock looks like it's going to have the stunning physics though and make a lot more areas of the game uber-cool.

 

It's such a tough call

[m-h]

Personally there's no doubt about it, I enjoyed Silent Storm much more than Aftermath, I've easily spent far more time playing SS and its sequel.

 

As to why, I think it is more fun, there's more to do. Tactics, character specialisation, weapon and combat diversity. Multiple successful strategies, letting you choose your playstyle. The occasional hysterically funny one-liners. Blowing up buildings. The first time you take out an enemy with the PTRS Sniper gun and blow a hole through three walls. Or when you first cosh a guard over the back of the head.

 

I get more attached to my team and more of an emotional investment against the bad guys.

 

Sure the research element adds a dimension to the game, but the rest of it feels so cold, shallow and pointless. You never see what you're fighting for, there's no hope and no personal element. I just played it through once and then cast it aside.

 

I still go back for further helpings of Sentinels occasionally. Though to be honest I've not played anything other than WoW since March.

[KoMik]

SSs have the possibility to adventure on different floors. I have almost quited playing Jagged Alliances and old UFOs because of that (and because my limited spare time for games). Throwin' grenade from ground to thought the second floor window is one enjoyable 'tactical-element'. Dropping clips and items from third floor window to your low in ammo squad member on ground is nice possibility too. I still would like to see proper items throwing in SSs (JAs has a quite good system).

 

Yep, all turn based games are interesting to me and seems that in future there will be more, better and developed ones... niiice.

[Llama8]

I'd have to agree that the engine for SS was (& still is) by far the best I've ever seen for this kind of game. I think I prefered UFO as a game, but SS was more immersive due to the capabilities of the engine & the detail that had gone into the world.

 

I'd also probably agree with everybody (regardless of what they said they prefered ).

[Zombie]

Well, I've been playing Aftermath for a couple days now, so I can make some comparisons between SS & AM.

 

There are a number of good features of SS which I like. Obviously, the first is the pseudo-destructible terrain. Can't beat the feeling of collapsing a building on an enemy and killing him without him realizing what's happening before it's too late. Secondly, you can fight in multiple levels in Silent Storm. Wanna get on top of a roof for a sniping position and an overview of the surroundings? No problem. Hear someone moving around upstairs? Toss a grenade through a window. Buildings are nothing more than eye candy in AM. Character specialization in SS is much more robust and improvement is immediate. You gotta wait in AM until you get to the next level to allocate improvement points. Silent Storm has a fully-implemented melee structure. You can stab enemies with knives, toss throwing stars, bludgeon a baddie over his head with a billy club or even duke it out with your fists. It's all there and it's a wonderful touch.

 

The things which AM has going for it are pretty good as well. There's of course the research element. It's a little lack luster in AM. Although, I don't miss this aspect much in SS either. The graphics in AM are on par or even a little bit better than SS I think. The maps also seem to be bigger too which is nice. Medics and injuries are much better in AM. If you can't patch a guy up on the field and he comes back to base injured, he'll be spending some time in sick bay recuperating. This element is poorly constructed in SS and downright unrealistic as well. Instead of a "core" group of 20 agents and a max of 6 on a mission like SS, AM opted for a max of 7 but with an unlimited pool of randomly generated recruits to keep as time goes on. I just wish you could have a bigger pool to draw upon initially instead of running missions short-staffed.

 

There are a bunch of other things which I'm forgetting right now, but the race is neck-in-neck. If I had to pick one right now it would be Silent Storm. That's simply because there aren't as many annoying features in that game.

 

- Zombie