X-COM not-sequel

[ninjarat]

I picked up and played a bit of UFO: Aftermath today... er... yesterday (yes, I'm up way, way, way too late; no, I wasn't playing the game, which is itself somewhat unfortunate).

Anyway. UFO: Aftermath is officially not a sequel or follow on to the X-COM games. The X-COM trademark belongs to Microprose... Infogrames... Atari... have they changed their name again, yet? Still, it feels like an updated X-COM, much more so than X-COM: Apocalypse, which wasn't a bad game but it wasn't X-COM.

What's different? Mostly refinements across the board. It really feels like an updated X-COM. The two most significant differences are:

The class/level system. Troopers can be trained in any of a number of classes, which in turn improves related skills. Train a trooper as a Sniper and his Rifle skill improves, along with Marksmanship, Observation, and Capacity (how much stuff a trooper can carry). The level system is simple: earn experience on tactical missions, gain levels, improve attributes.

The basic scenario. No hidden war of 1999 in Aftermath. The whole world knows about the invasion... what's left of it. The invaders seeded the atmosphere with spores that choked the life out of some 90% of all life on the planet within a week. The game starts several months later, after the clouds of death have dissipated sufficiently for those survivors to dig themselves out of their bunkers.

This one looks like it will lead to excelence.

Comments

[arconius.livejournal.com]

It's definitely geared toward X-COM veterans, given the overall steepness of the learning curve. Which can be very challenging (or frustrating, depending on the mood you're in) as you wonder how the heck you're going to get past a key mission without losing two-thirds of your carefully trained squad to a well-placed alien missile weapon. Which has happened to me more than once. *wg*

It rocks.

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

90% of all life? Even if humanity survives, and cleans up the alien biomass, that's kind of bad for the ecosystem in a long-term way...

Thanks for the review, though. It pretty much matches what I've heard from other sources.