UFO: Afterlight

(+1 star for personal prejudice) It's not perfect. For example, I ran into multiple instances of a graphic bug where one of my characters would glitch into the terrain when going prone. The game would slow down almost completely. Admirably, it would not crash, giving you a chance to save the game before reloading to fix the glitch. Remember to let the game time move foward a bit after reload. It did crash one time. So what is this game? Start with XCOM. Take away the turn-based tactics gameplay at the core of XCOM and replace it with something like the real-time with pause tactical gameplay of many CRPG or maybe Men of War, not as deep but with a greater demand on inventory management during combat. Use this gameplay for the missions in a broader strategic game involving construction/research/map conquest. This strategic layer is very X-COM like but less complex and more personable. Add to that a story that is more complex and dramatic than the run-of-the-mill alien invasion story of X-COM. Top everything off with appropriate voice acting and some likable characters. You now have a rough idea about UFO: Afterlight and why it is NOT a XCOM-like game. XCOM, especially the modern iteration, is built around its turn based tactical gameplay, which is nothing like the missions of UFO. If you like science fiction, like the idea of experiencing an alien invasion, like the mixed strategic layer of X-COM, but prefer a more laid back tactical experience than the meticulous turns of X-COM, then UFO: Afterlight is for you. Actually, it's the only franchise I know that fits this bill.

Visually, this game is gorgous (For it's time) and the concept that you've been forced off your home World by the Reticulans who have transported you to a base on Mars with the latest technology in hopes of one day being able to terraform the surface of Mars into a habitable Gaia World is really appealing!! Storyline wise, this is a gem and every bit of research you conduct to forward the plot makes it exciting. Eventually you see the Planet slowly morph from a harsh desert wasteland into a lush vibrant World. The characters in the game are more cartoonish in this one than they are in Aftershock, but it only adds to the charm. Stratergy wise, Afterlight hasn't learned from the failures of it's predecessor. Humans are the games most important and for good reason, you have limited room on the base to grow, what's left of humanity is in cryo-stasis and you are able to wake several people up if you find the aliens managing to kill your men.. But reality hits you, after about 4-5 new additions to the base, that's it!! You're on your own!! Yeah, this game expects you to fight off several hordes of hostile alien species coming out of teleportation portals across the surface of Mars with only 25+ Humans, around 10-12 of them are actually trained in armed combat, the rest are Scientists and Engineers. It's great to have individual crewman, some with their own backstory allowing you to invest in their skills and training, do you teach your scientist how to better research Reticulan Tech, or do you give those points to his Martian Tech skills. This game had so much promise, but again, you'll find yourself Save Scumming through this as you run out of Soldiers and the drones you build to compensate are slow, cumbersome and terrible aim, even with upgrades you research, you find yourself overwhelmed and at the mercy of lady luck. Not the kind of game you would Iron Man too.

Perhaps the best in the X-Com series, it focuses on combat. There is no 'buying' or 'selling' anything (though having extra to trade is helpful). You are limited in the number of characters and they are not imbued with individual statistics (perhaps the biggest drawback IMO). You can also build an unlimited number of drones but they lack some capabilities. On the plus side you have to collect prisoners and artifacts to further your research. Personnel decisions are important since you are limited in the number of humans (and aliens!) you have available. Indeed many of your personnel can either work in the lab or workshop or fight. [Some people have two of the three abilities [soldier, researcher, technician]. Though initially very challenging by the end of the game if you are careful you can finish the entire game with all the beginning characters still alive and actually go through entire missions (even the final one) with no casualties being taken at all. Diplomacy is limited but with care and luck you can have both Reticulans & Martians be on your team. One of my favorite games. And for combat the best in the X-Com series [I am not counting X-Com2 as I still can't get it to work in Linux.] There are mods available such as a rebalance mod [https://www.strategycore.co.uk/files/total-rebalance-modification-v2.03.1-ufo-al/].

Where in the past we have seen a dark and horrific life of the Earth in previous UFO installments. Afterlight introduces a more cartoony look and feel in the UFO series. The cartoon look is very well done and does not take away from the severity of the situation for the humans. It stays true to it's predecessors in terms of game play, troop management, equipment manufacturing and research. There are times when the game feels a bit like a sand box at times. After you get past the initial objectives set by command, you then set out on a mix of defending your territory, expanding your control of the planet, attacking enemy ground by invasion, recovering artifacts or capturing a prisoner for interrogation. It seems there is only one main objective to the game and doesn't offer anything outside the concept of Humanity conquest.

After having to write three terrible reviews today for the two "Enemy Engaged" games and "Daggerfall Unity - GOG cut" (which will also be negrepped to shit by the stinking fanbois and shills who also possrep all the good reviews even if they just say "tanks gog" or "gud gam" because they are retards) .... sorry bout that, well it makes a change to praise a game for once! :D Afterlight is far superior to Aftermath and the abysmal bug stuffed Aftershock. The graphics are much, MUCH superior, and unlike Aftershock, things actually DO what "it says on the tin"! There are some small bugs but nothing to worry about. It is also MUCH easier and fairer on the player. But you can still have it simply IMPOSSIBRU if you wish! Put it on "hard" or "impossible" difficulty and you'll get that in spades! Put it on "easy" and it may seem TOO easy at first - almost as easy as having "god mode" on - but later the difficulty will ramp up to about "just right". Start on "normal" and will feel just right at first, but you may find some later difficulty spiked missions too much. Luckily you CAN change the difficulty on the fly but you have to do it by editing a config file in the game's relevant player profile directory - you can't do it within the game itself. If push comes to shove, you may need the cheats, which do actually work! Though many internet sources will give you bogus info on how to enable the console. I'll have to put how I did it in the forums! Trouble is, just like a previous review by Spankahontis says, you HAVE to save scum. You CANNOT afford to lose even ONE man in a bad mssion! Simply because you do NOT get replacements and you only have a dozen fighting capable units to start with. In Aftermath you at least had a steady stream of replacements, Aftershock you could buy whole armies easily, in this you get NO more. Drones? Yes you can build as many as you want, but they are weak and USELESS and take a while to build and equip. That is the big flaw with it!