Ah, the X-Com series. Guaranteed to make any nostalgic gamer go all misty eyed and weak at the knees, the fact that the original UFO: Enemy Unknown is well over ten years old makes not a jot of difference. Despite the obvious clichés (aliens invading Earth) the turn-based strategy gameplay could only be matched by the Championship Manager games in the addictiveness stakes. However, after 1997’s X-Com: Apocalypse the game disappeared into the vaults of gaming history seemingly never to be resurrected. That was until Czech developers Altar Interactive got in on the act.
However, as we all know a distinguished pedigree doesn’t guarantee success in the future so just how does Aftermath hold up after some many years in the wilderness. Well, thankfully for fans everywhere it’s pretty damn good. It’s not love at first sight though and despite the instant recognition you get when you first see the globe on the main screen you’ll be left wondering where all the magic is after the first few missions. But then you play a few more missions, and then just a couple more and then the night has passed and you have to be up for work in half an hour.
It’s not without flaws and this is why it takes a while for the magic to settle in but once it does all the old features are there: technology research, character development, base expansion and even a good old fashioned conspiracy style plot.
This time round you’re not attempting to save Earth from invasion as it’s already been invaded. Instead you’re looking for a way to kick the alien scum back to where they came from. As you’d expect you have very little at the start apart from a base or two and only two soldiers. There is still a lot to do though and you need to get straight into developing new technologies and sending off jets to investigate the UFO’s that keep appearing as well as going off on the odd mission when you feel like it. The jet missions are automatic and the outcome pretty much depends on how far advanced you are in your research. The majority of the game though is spent on the 3D tactical missions and it’s here where most of the game’s flaws are.
As in the previous game the missions aren’t really turn-based but real-time with lots of stops and starts. It’s the frequency with which the game pauses the action that really grates on your patience. As soon as your solider reaches a waypoint the game pauses and focuses on said soldier. When you’ve got four or five soldiers all reaching waypoints at the same time this is a lot of unwelcome stopping and starting. These triggers also occur when you spot an alien, run out of ammo as well as quite a lot of other needless events. Thankfully, you can filter out some of this but it’s going to take you some time before you understand what you can afford to turn off. The other problem, which holds you back at first, is the rather poor graphics and an annoying camera.
Thankfully, it does get better and like all the greatest songs it’s a grower. As you expand your territory and go on more varied missions giving you new technologies and weapons you soon find yourself getting dragged back into the addiction. The missions can vary from killing a certain amount of aliens to rescuing pilots and investigating UFO’s. As you gain access to the better technologies the missions themselves in turn become more fun as you get to try out the funky new weapon you’ve just researched.
After a while you’re addicted. You won’t realise until the sun begins to rise but the good old ‘just one more go’ feeling is still there and still as damn hard to shake as it ever was. Just complete this one mission then my favourite soldier can level up again then I’ll finish. Actually, I’ll just play this one more mission so that I can expand my base to a new territory. Basically, the longer you play it for the more helplessly addicted you get.
Ok, so it’s not a charmer and you are going to have to get to know it to fall in love but once you do it’s forever. You can look past the ugly problems such as the dodgy path finding and the annoying character voices as you find yourself completely absorbed in another great addition to the X-Com series.
As Addictive as ever
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