UFO: Aftermath

aka: The Dreamland Chronicles: Freedom Ridge, UFO: Kolejne Starcie, UFO:AM
Moby ID: 10575

Description official descriptions

In the year 2004, Earth is suddenly overcome by "spores" launching from an alien mothership. Slowly blocking earth from the sun, in only a week it rains down biological death on the earth... killing most of humanity and larger life forms.

Since then, the few survivors of mankind have sought out each other, and by 2005, enough humanity has joined together to make a stand. Calling themselves the Council of Earth, and working secretly in hidden bases, they must research, recruit and train to the ultimate goal of shooting down UFOs, engaging aliens in combat and reclaiming the Earth from their oppressors and the mutated biology.

This game is VERY similar to the cult favorite, X-Com but with a post-apocalyptic War of the Worlds (or perhaps "V: The miniseries") feel to it. Much of the game takes place on the world map where you choose which missions to attend to, where to build new bases (and what type) and your overall sphere of influence. Additionally, you control Research & Development and current equipment for your squad.

On the 3D map of each "area" however, the game is real-time strategy that pauses to allow you to give orders to your forces. In fact, at the end of queued actions or whenever something 'signifigant' is noticed, the game stops allowing you to put together a strategy. Just as in X-Com, these areas are limited in size, and visibility. However objectives vary.. killing all enemies is not always the purpose of a mission. Soldier development is also fairly detailed. The skills your squad uses out in the field they will get better at (they gain experience individually). Additionally when they reach certain prerequisites in their base stats, they can train to get better at certain skills, including Soldier, Medic, Scientist and others.

Spellings

  • UFO: Нашествие - Russian spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

74 People (69 developers, 5 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 68% (based on 33 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.2 out of 5 (based on 35 ratings with 8 reviews)

Great tactical game: I got hooked at once

The Good
The combat engine is excellent and the control scheme is fairly vigorous and powerful. The characters are nicely animated and the voices are very interesting with their different foreign accents. They are very realistic and gives the impression u are leading a real international army, made up of people coming from all around the world to fight the alien hostiles. Also the mood music is quite original and contributes to create a catching atmosphere.

The Bad
I would have liked some higher level of customization of bases and equipment.

The Bottom Line
Much fun to play!

Windows · by Robert Seagrove (5) · 2004

"I played XCOM. You're no XCOM." Nice try, though.

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.

Windows · by weregamer (155) · 2003

Worst Encounter

The Good
Having never played X-Com, this review will lack the combination of nostalgia and righteous indignation I’ve been seeing on the web.

On May 25, 2004, a flying saucer will enter the Earth’s atmosphere. Attempts to make contact with it will be futile. The saucer will unleash a biotoxin killing most of the life on Earth. The remaining humans will form the Council of Earth, a global authority combining scientific and military resources to reclaim the Earth. But the Earth has changed. Terran life not killed by the biotoxin has been changed into transgenants, alien craft patrol the skies, and rumors abound of an alien biomass devouring continents.

UFO: Aftermath is a real-time strategy game, divided into a Strategic game and a Tactical game. The strategic game plays out from world map. From the global view you can initiate new research, direct the development of new technologies, manage your squad (including equipping and training them), order your aircraft to intercept UFOs, and send your squad on missions.

Missions take place during the tactical portion of the game. There are several varieties of missions, but they all involve moving your squad, of up to seven members, through a well drawn 3D map, engaging hostile forces, and accomplishing certain objectives.

All this sounds better than it actually is.

The Bad
In UFO: Aftermath, the player is reactive rather than proactive. In the strategic/world map portion, you have to wait for missions to come available rather than directing the attack against the aliens or the biomass or anything else. I understand that you are really following the orders of the Council of Earth, but that aspect is so poorly implemented that it seems irrelevant.

In the tactical portion (where you spend most of the game) things aren’t better. To begin with, your team has no AI. They will only do what you tell them to do and then they do it in real time. This includes managing their inventory. Here’s how annoying this is—your medic needs to heal someone, so you open up their inventory and rearrange the Tetris puzzle that is the inventory system to put their rifle in their backpack and put a health pack in their hands. Then you jump back to the tactical view and have to wait for them to rearrange their inventory like you just did. Giving them an order too soon afterwards cancels everything out.

In combat this is worse. You cannot give standing orders to your troops to defend themselves. You have to tell them what to do, step by step… and listen to them talk. Every time you tell your troops to do something they have to respond with their inane accents and attitudes. Painful.

Missions come in several varieties. The best ones are story missions, which further the plot and feature the best level design. The other ones seem to be randomly generated and are repetitious. You have the option of delegating missions, but the computer controlled teams aren’t as good. So I kept playing the same types of missions over and over and over.

I’m going to gloss over the aircraft interceptions of UFOs. And the fact that there’s only one helicopter, but infinite planes. Should I mention how bad the sound is? The fact that enemies make no noise? The uninspiring weapon effects?

UFO: Aftermath isn’t good.


The Bottom Line
I appreciate what Altar was trying to do here, but they fell way short of producing a quality product. Internet rumors mention that they had no time for playtesting and that there was pressure to get the game out the door. Early interviews with the designers show that they had a grander vision than they were able to deliver.

I was hoping for a game I could sink my teeth into. A complex and dynamic game that offered hours of play and replay. Instead I found UFO: Aftermath to be interesting from the outset, but it rapidly became tedious and ended up unrewarding.

Windows · by Terrence Bosky (5397) · 2004

[ View all 8 player reviews ]

Trivia

Many of the graphics are regionalized. For instance, European cities look very different than American cities. Additionally, you may select your starting region from the GAMES menu.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Shoddyan.

Additional contributors: Corn Popper, JRK, Stratege, Victor Vance.

Game added October 5, 2003. Last modified March 6, 2024.