I made the mistake of trying to play this game AFTER I'd already played the next two installments. It's not a BAD game, but it's much less satisfying than the latter installments, due to somewhat less polished gameplay.

Still, there's nothing truly wrong with it, and if you're a fan of this genre, it'll certainly scratch the itch!

its an interesting game with the feel of x-com, and obviously based on the previous games but they removed alot of the things that made x-com as loved as it is like research

UFO: Aftermath a pause-able real time strategy game, in the geosphere portion, and a real time small-team tactical combat game during the missions. It is a real time game, and there are a few interface quirks, but overall it is a good game. You can save anywhere, and most battles take from 1 to 15 minutes. I'll explain the 1 minute battles in the AI section.

The missions start out extremely hard, especially if you use the ComboMod 3.0 beta3, like I did. Humans and mutants both will be smacking you down with awesome rifles and anti-tank weapons. Quick advice - don't stand there and try to use an Uzi or Shotgun (short range weapons) against the guy with an AK-47 or M249-Saw. I promise, you won't win.

The AI is somewhat predictable in the UFO games. The aliens wander aimlessly until they spot you or you shoot at them. Of course, some aliens explode (or worse) when they get close to you. After that, they will bull rush you. On flat terrain, you can squat down and just annihilate them as they bum rush you. On base missions, it is a bit more messy due to tight, twisty passageways connecting large hangars and laboratories.

The differences from Xcom:
- Tactical missions maps are already fully explored when you land. I'm not sure they are randomize-able, either.
- Tactical missions are 3d, so point of view is changeable
- There is only one mission team, and one Helicopter to ferry them around. The rest of the team are in recovery, training, or just idle.
- Real Time over turn based, which makes battles shorter and more frenzied - unless you pause a lot like me.
- There is no visible fog of war (there is a limited sight range of your units, however)
- No Friendly Fire (for either side). If your units are in a bunch, they will lean around each other and fire in the same direction. Just watch out for grenades. The soldiers and aliens also lean around corners a bit, and are given credit for cover.
- Not all missions are bug hunts. Certain missions are recovery missions or seek-and-destroy missions. Just be sure to take explosives on the seek-and-destroy missions. Recovery missions require your character to be carrying the item when they enter the drop-zone/recovery box. By carrying, they mean in your hands. Having it in your backpack doesn't count and you will fail the mission (even though it is shown as a success.
- Bug hunt missions do not require you to kill every alien. I think it is all but one or two. The number to kill is displayed in the mission parameters.
- Inventory and financial base management is not required - I don't even know if you can toss stuff. By the end of the game, I had at least 50 of the 30 different assault rifles and at least 20 each of the 10 different sniper rifles.

Overall, I think this UFO game is a good game, and I'd recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the tactical combat, but disliked all the base micromanagement.

I came into this game hopeing for the same feeling x-com had. As another reviewer said this is vaguly like x-com, but doesnt have the research/development aspect or the ordering, or the funding options. Dont get me wrong this is a very good game, but dont expect x-com! it's a more combat oriented game. I miss building awsome hovertanks and sweet weapons :( i gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

Not really a review as much as a cautionary tale. The game only runs on one resolution 1024x768 and no option for anti-aliasing. So if you've got a widescreen monitor it's going to look funky and jaggy.

I played it a bit and it seems like fun but the distortion is driving me batty and you cant tell it to go to windowed mode so I'm off to try one of the later games in the series.

I played the very first X-COM game like years ago and remember the thrill of discovering new alien races and trying to defeat them through strategy. It was fun in every way then.

And now Altar Interactive (thru 1C Publishing EU) have continued the fine tradition of coming out with the next iteration of the X-COM series but off on a different tangent altogether.

This game, the first of a trilogy, sets up the player as the leader of a tactical squad as they set off on missions to capture and defeat alien creatures.

The first few missions have been easy to normal, and I can't wait to see more of the game. I feel the top-down 3D graphics is above average and the aliens tend to be quite blocky due to the number of polygons used (I predict more variety in the alien design and probably encounters with bosses as the game progresses). The tactics portion is quite simplified and could have been ramped up with more options (afternote - I can see that they did improve this in the sequels). The research options have been slow so far and I read that there are quite a number of topics you get to learn later on in the game.

I trust that the rest of the game will pan out to a satisfying conclusion and look forward to trying out the next part of the trilogy soon. Despite all the comments I have made, I still rate this game a 3.5 out of 5 - rounded to 4 - due to the gameplay (akin to X-Com, Jagged Alliance, etc.) as well as the nostalgia it invokes in me.

There are three tipes of people in the world:



Those who never played X-COM

Those who long for an X-COM remake

X-COM fanatics, who jump at anything even vaguely resembling the origional.



This is really only for the third type.



The sad truth is, this is in itself a good game. It is not, however, nearly as good as X-COM or some of the remakes out there - including some free ones.



I worry that I should not judge this game compared to a completely different franchise. Although the main flaw in this game in my opinion is that it tries (and fails) to be something more than an X-COM remake, there are a couple of other factors to point out...



Basically, about half way through there is a sudden transition from "normal" difficulty to difficult. I can't explain how without giving away the storyline, but within 5 minutes you suddenly find yourself losing fast. Morover, once you start losing there is no way to get out of that situation - you find yourself just getting annoyed.