UFO: Afterlight Preview

Posted on January 29th, 2007 at 8:01pm by Pocketminx

How many UFO's can you handle?

First there was UFO: Aftermath

Then came UFO: Aftershock

Now comes UFO: Afterlight...

For those of you who have never heard of the UFO series here is a very quick rundown. In Aftermath the aliens came and we had to kick some ass (In a strategy kind of way) on planet Earth. In aftershock it was pretty much the same story, kick some alien ass and build/maintain bases and the usual strategy/sim type objects. Afterlight is set with the human race colonising mars. We lost the battle for Earth and gave it to the alien scum. So what can we expect from UFO: Afterlight? If it’s the same thing surely Alter Games are wasting their time? Aren't they? Sorry to sound so blunt, I’m not bashing them before the game has been released. I’m just letting my fears known before we take a peek.

So here goes, I’m installing the CD...

...Well to you that was a blink of an eye. To me it’s just been 3 hours. I can now say my fears were confirmed, they were also pushed over a cliff never to be seen again.
Even though Afterlight is in essence exactly the same as the previous 2 games, it has had an extensive overhaul.

The game plays on two different levels, firstly there is the world map. This is a globe you can spin round and take over sector by sector. To do so you must build the right equipment, make the most of your allies and have a little tact on the diplomacy front. Even though it has 21st century graphics this side of the game reminded me of the old Amiga game Utopia (Which in its day i loved). You have several specialist people at your dispossal who you can level up and tweak their stats to gain extra knowledge is specific areas.

Scientists can be trained to excel at medicines or future weaponry, whichever takes your fancy. Obviously I wanted more fire power, but my marines would then be injured for longer.

The second element is squad based missions. You have a small squad of marines who you can control around an area, completing objectives, killing stuff and generally doing what needs to be done to gain that sector. This part I really enjoyed. The graphics were reminiscent of another Amiga stalwart, the bitmap brothers. Creators of such classic games like Speedball 2, Gods and Chaos engine. The marines are easy to control and can follow intricate instructions if you want them to patrol an area to its fullest. Obviously you have to think tactically, if a marine gets cut off from the group he could be toast. Most of the maps that I played I found a little easy to be honest. This may be tweaked for the final retail release.