Windows

Afterlife

At the end of the day, Afterlife is really Sim City Plus with different scenery. Ardent players of the granddaddy of god games aren't going to find much that's different and so should perhaps knock a bit off the final score. However, if you're looking for something that says to the genre, 'Look, you can have all the fancy themes and ideas you like. Sim City is still the most playable game of its type so that's going to be our basic model', then Afterlife is your man. It manages to improve upon the basic game without remoulding it into something else entirely that loses playability in the process. I can see myself still returning to Afterlife in four or five years' time. Which is surely the best thing you can say about such a game.

Afterlife er et rimelig originalt spil, og hvis du mener, at du ikke havde nok magt i Sim City, er det sikkert lige noget for dig.

Afterlife represents one of the most unusual videogame concepts to ever make it to store shelves. As a semi-omnipotent being (I know that's a bit of an oxymoron, but this game's full of things like that), you are responsible for laying out a functional heaven and hell to reward or punish the denizens of a strange planet. To do so, you must keep an eye on the most common sins and virtues of your people (who look a lot like the monsters from Critters), the balance of temporary to permanent souls in each of your buildings, and more mundane tasks like the building of roads and training facilities. For each soul you process you are rewarded with pennies from heaven, which may in turn be used to purchase more edifices and services.

Ervaren spelers zullen zich zeker kunnen amuseren met Afterlife, maar gezien het hier om een LucasArts spel gaat, had ik toch iets meer verwacht. Nu ja, het is maar hun eerste poging... Ik kijk alvast benieuwd uit naar de volgende simulatie van LucasArts.

Wenn das Leben nach dem Tod so enttäuschend ist wie Afterlife, dann wünsche ich uns allen viel Ausdauer beim Verweilen in irdischen Gefilden. LucasArts' erster Ausflug ins strategische "Götterspiel"-Nirwana begeistert mit einer überirdisch witzigen Idee. Deren Ausführung läßt aber zu wünschen übrig: Etwas mehr als einen mittelmäßigen SimCity-Clone hatte ich schon erwartet.

Once you do figure out what to do, well, you go and do it, and that's about it. Beyond the humor, Afterlife doesn't offer much that other sim games don't, though it does do what it does rather well. Should budding godlings spend their manna on this Gnostic vision of life after death? Gamers happy with the conventions of the sim genre, and possessed of an irreverent sense of humor, should find Afterlife beatific, if not particularly innovative. If you aren't real thrilled with the idea of another software toy for your hard drive, you might find Afterlife less than heavenly; it doesn't really offer much new or compelling for the sim-challenged. I for one found the lack of a useful manual a demonic strike against this game, costing it a full star. Afterlife is still a quality product, though, polished and sometimes hilarious. After all, how often do you get the chance to both reign in Hell and serve in Heaven? Just be sure to get the hint book if you're serious about this god stuff.