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If nothing else, the combination of squad-based combat with a RTS title makes UFO: Aftershock worth picking up, but the game surpasses its gimmick with solid gameplay.

What do you get when you take the history established by the beloved “X-COM” game series, mix in 2003’s “UFO Aftermath” (which was created as the finalization of Mythos Games’ “Dreamland Chronicles: Freedom Ridge” which was shelved by the “X-COM” developer due to budgetary concerns), add a smidgen of “Counterstrike,” and shake well? You might get something like “UFO Aftershock,” the sequel to “Aftermath.”



Like the title that came before it, Aftershock is, in its heart, a RTS game. In each mission you’ll need to deploy units, research technologies, construct buildings, and keep your army happy and productive to confront the alien menace. Like a bizarre hybrid, however, the actual battles are handled in the form of squad-based combat like SOCOM or Counterstrike.



The mix, surprisingly, works rather well. The RTS elements are spot-on and can easily stand next to a game like “Warcraft” in terms of depth while the combat is done well with pretty good enemy AI.



To cover all there is to learn in this game, developer ALTAR has included an excellent tutorial that will show the player all she needs to know. It’s not even necessary to read the manual if you don’t want to.

The graphics are fair – good for a RTS (a genre that has never been known for eye-popping visuals) and the sound is nothing to write home about (and not very customizable), but what the game lacks in these departments it makes up for in fun.



The story takes place about fifty years after the events of “Aftermath” and the human race (or what’s left of it) lives on a satellite high above the Earth’s surface. The Reticulans (the alien race that banished humanity to the satellite at the end of “Aftermath”) are discovered to be researching some sort of evil goo known as Biomass, the real reason for their wanting the humans off Earth in the first place. What does Biomass do? Why did the Reticulans want us off the planet to conduct their experiments? These are the questions you’ll be trying to answer as you play through the game.



A welcome surprise for a game as deep and varied as this is that there are virtually no control issues. Nearly everything is controlled by the mouse whether it’s assigning scientists the development of new technology or changing firing modes on a squad member’s weapon. Although the game allows the option of mapping your own control scheme to the mouse and keyboard, you’ll probably find that there is no need to do so.



The only things that really detract from the game are the lack of a truly interesting story (aside from the back story I’ve given above, there is not a lot of plot development in “UFO: Aftershock”) that makes missions start to seem a little repetitive after a while.



The game boils down to a formula of “set up here – develop technologies – attack your objective – move to a new location and do it again.” Fortunately the technologies that you do develop and your weapons upgrades as well as increasing enemy difficulty keeps it fresh enough to keep playing.



If nothing else, the combination of squad-based combat with a RTS title makes UFO: Aftershock worth picking up, but the game surpasses its gimmick with solid gameplay and a high enough level of fun to make the player want to see it through to the end.


Review by Michael Triggs.