UFO: Aftermath

The Good
The feeling that you didn't know what was around the corner, being able to keep taking your chopper to hotspots with your troops and not having to return to base, unlike XCOM, where you could only have 1 engagement per Skyranger. Also, most missions you did not have to keep aliens walking - you could gun them all down, and gain experience, while leaving one alive. Could change base functions on-the-fly. Soldiers, even while wounded, weren't necessarily 'out of action' like in XCOM - they could keep on fighting mission after mission. The music - it's minimalist and creepy - just like what apocalypse sounds like...and the aliens - they're just...out of this world, and sickening, like in Abomination: The Nemesis Project. The 'creeping doom' adds a sense of urgency to the game

The Bad
Not being able to get into a building and snipe. Always having to remember that dropping items or rearranging items within your backpack takes time (not instantaneous like XCOM). Not being able to make an outlay of your own base. When you get Interceptors, if 1 of the 3 in a squad gets damaged, the whole squad is grounded. When aliens invade, your men seem to be all over the place...it's a base, they know where the aliens come through... where's the organisation? Also, the fact that you can find weapons unrelated to geography - come on, how easy is it to find an AK-47 in America? Minor gripe: you only start with pistols, Uzis and shotguns - you'd think there would be some light machineguns like H&K MG36...Sometimes the enemies behave just like Abomination's cultists and follow you around. You can just crouch behind a rock and kill 8 enemies this way, with one soldier.

The Bottom Line
Buy it! You won't regret it! It's XCOM for the new generation!

The Good
There are strong surface similarities between UFO and X-COM, but U:A is a very good game on its own merits. The combination of individual tactics and a captivating plot results in an amazing game where you can use several powerful weapons to combat the alien enemies. The graphics are pretty competent and both the sound effects and the voice over are very good. Also the world map is well done and very detailed.

The Bad
The tactical interface could have been a bit user-friendlier: it takes some time getting used to.

The Bottom Line
I have played the game for a week and I just love it.

The Good
It's a real pleasure to have a game so reminiscent of the classic original XCOM, with a brand-new storyline and some nice production values. The strategic-level game flows nicely, and many of the simplifications in this area work quite well.

The Bad
At the tactical level, the game is very disappointing. There are many small usability issues that could be addressed in a patch, but there are some design elements (like the more realistic weapon ranges, which force you to play at an emotionally-distant maximum zoom out) that seriously undermine the wonderful tension and immersion of the original classic.

Between the interface flaws and the lack of emotional connection, the tactical battles become little more than annoying obstacles which must be overcome to keep the story going, instead of the heart and soul of the game's appeal.

In the long run, the overall lower complexity combined with the lack of fun value in the battles themselves will make this game infinitely less replayable than the classic. In XCOM, you might finish one game and immediately start another to try out a different strategy, or just to get more time playing the fun tactical battles and reliving the slow curve from massive inferiority to eventual dominance on the battlefield. Aftermath simply does not have these things, and that's unfortunate.

The Bottom Line
To mangle a cliche, I would allow this game to hold a candle for XCOM. After 15 or so hours of play, I do plan to continue playing at least once through the story, with judicious use of cheat functions to circumvent the most annoying battles and to rebalance around the way the UI makes it nigh-impossible to use terrain to your advantage.