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)

Tactical combat freaks will enjoy this game

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.

Windows · by Tommy Wood (38) · 2004

Nice try

The Good
When an old strategy gamer hear about a new game based on the early 90s UFO series it makes someone to try it or try it and I feel the need to say that meeting features on this title that I didn’t saw for years was a pleasure. In contemporary days is very hard to find a TBS instead of a RTS (in this game you will find a mix, but closer to TBS)

I found many reviews to focus on the fact that the graphics are strongly disappointing for a modern game and base their ratings on it, well they are right that even the isometric 2D view on the original games are still better that the present 3D but I disagree on nuking a game just because the graphics.

The plot and story play are well executed and the technology tree and base management are ok. The enemies are ok despite the fact that the transgenants are very easy to eliminate.

The RPG-like soldier development is one of the strong sides on the game, enjoyable, as well as the variety on armors, guns, grenades and similar.



The Bad
There are many minor flaws that as a player, I can allow, but the mayor flaw in this game is the unbalanced, non-escalated difficulty.

I will tell my story with this game, I start playing and finds it a decent game while I am advancing trough the learning curve (a little long) at one moment the difficult is ok , but suddenly I need to beat the “enter a crashed UFO missions” and here my problems begin. I found that it will be better if I restart my game (now that I know how to play it better) and develop further my technologies and my soldiers so I can beat this reticulans (the main raze) and continue advancing. In my second game I did better and managed to beat these hard missions, so far, the game is ok, I like challenging games even very hard games and using a few save and load do not bother me.

SPOILER I continue advancing by playing every non-plot missions and fighting for every experience points when I come to the third plot mission, the one where you need to secure an item so you can build a ship to reach the moon for the final mission and I found it impossible. I believe that some fans will negate this but for the average player this mission is frustrating, I could try, right, but saving, loading and replaying every min for 10 hours isn’t my idea of a good game experience. Therefore, I gave up and either I quit or cheat… SPOILER

I rarely come to one of these options but after expending not a few hours at least I deserve to know how the story ends so I cheated (third time on my life since I dislike it) for the last 20 mins just to reach the final.



The Bottom Line
I will give an advice to any original UFO games lover that this game, while isn’t better that the original and despite the fact that you will find many similar features, can be very frustrating. However, if you can live with it, go ahead, UFO aftermath is a nice try.

Windows · by Cabeza2000 (689) · 2004

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.