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How Metascores Are Calculated
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Abbey, The
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed games. |
UFO: Afterlight is the next instalment in the "UFO: Aftermath" and "UFO: Aftershock" series, bringing a completely new insight to the story of Aftershock, this time from the perspective of lonely human inhabitants on Mars; combination of global strategy and tactical missions; completely new story built on the events from UFO: Aftershock; large number of new technologies, weapons and equipment to develop; completely new environments on a different planet than Earth; highly replayable game because of the player’s key decisions on diplomacy and research; strong RPG elements, the player knows his team by names. Strategy: new enemies and new alien races with variable weapons and battle tactics; several character classes with different attributes, skills and trainings; diplomacy has strong influence on the game story; research enables terraforming of the planet in later stages of the game; improved and transparent construction and building management; friendly interface and easy orientation in the game, useful information available at time and place where needed. Tactics: advanced tactical part of the game with the possibility to enter buildings, thermo visions and more; player may use different height and destructible elements of environment to his advantage; tactical missions controlled by intelligent scripts guarantee reasonable behavior of enemies; authentic physical model; player must adapt his tactics during the game as the enemies change and grow stronger, hardly two missions are the same; aliens and robots in your team; hostile environment requiring the use of different types of spacesuits; opportunity to mind-control your enemies and use psionic abilities. [Cenega Publishing]
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more... 90
Worth Playing
The game is just plain fun and has a terrific timeless appeal to it. This is the sort of title you could play through once or twice right away (even though it might take you three months), and then reinstall it again a year, two years, even five years later, and still have just as much fun.
 84
Pelit (Finland)
Offers a captivating mix of genres. The shell game works very well, actual fighting is only OK. The weapons are not very cool, and team members should be able to defend themselves automatically. There is still no destructible environment or randomly generated battlefields, either. Come on, Altair! [Mar 2007]
81
Jolt Online Gaming UK
Overall UFO: Afterlight provides a very worthwhile time investment as the reward you reap is a deep and intriguing strategy game with the kind of RPG elements that add a less geeky feel to it - a surprise hit with us.
80
Strategy Informer
A great game that you’ll find yourself unable to step away from because you have to research one thing more, or expand to one more territory.
80
EuroGamer
Yes, you'll find sleeker interfaces and more engaging gunfights in titles such as "Silent Storm," "Faces of War," and "Jagged Alliance 2," but none of those games come with anything half as involved or absorbing as Afterlight's amazing strategic layer.
80
Armchair Empire
Though Aftershock might edge Afterlight for combat and UFO: Extraterrestrials might be a better X-COM clone for purists, Afterlight feels like the most thoughtfully designed and fun of the UFO titles to date.
78
GamingExcellence
In general, the game lacks a sense of autonomy, forcing you to do everything yourself. For certain things, that can be understandable, but for elements like being attacked in battle, you would really hope the characters would be able to shoot back sometimes.
76
PC Zone UK
Fans of the series are bound to love it and if you have enough patience, you too might uncover the gooey warmth at the heart of this initially cold title. [Apr 2007, p.85]
75
PC Format
If the repetitive invasion missions could be handled by the AI, "Total War"-style, it would've been a definite winner in my book. [Mar 2007, p.75]
75
Game Over Online
The engine is a lot of fun, but the campaign is a disaster, and it appears that Altar Games hasn’t learned anything since releasing UFO: Aftershock two years ago.
74
IGN
Ultimately though, the lack of variety in the battles and the time lost wrestling with a less than convenient base interface will dampen your enthusiasm.
70
VideoGamer
While Afterlight is a definite improvement over its predecessors, it still lacks that je ne sais quoi which would push it towards "classic" territory. Despite an iconic sci-fi setting and competent execution, Afterlight somehow fails to really spark the imagination.
65
GameSpot
It may be an upgrade on its predecessors, but UFO: Afterlight still comes with some significant problems.
62
PC Gamer UK
What really keeps me from recommending Afterlight, however, is the repetition of its bases. The relative simplicity of the fights, married to returning to the same locale time and time again, means the game is simply not thrilling enough.
50
1UP
Another major issue is the game's tragically stupid A.I.
40
Four Fat Chicks
Gamers the world over would thrill to play a soup-to-nuts remake of X-COM, updated with modern tech but otherwise essentially the same. In trying to mimic X-COM but also leverage original ideas, Altar's UFO series has succeeded only in highlighting its shortcomings - shortcomings particularly egregious in this disappointing installment.
Mark M. gave it a3: [Anonymous] gave it a9: Muz gave it an8: Steven B. gave it a9: Kevin A. gave it a9: Mojmir K. gave it a10: Konrad W. gave it a9: |
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