A huge improvement over Aftermath. Criticisms about repetitiveness are valid but hold across the genre and this game makes up for that with good graphics and improved RPG and strategy elements. Must mention : The Gamespot review is anomalous, ill-informed and written by a game-journo-hack who had no idea how to play this style of game. He certainly got no more that 10% of the way through the story. (Read the review to see what I mean) With this release perhaps now people and shoddy reviewers will abandon XCom comparisons and treat this and future UFO After* titles as elements in a solid independent series and worthwhile addition to the genre.

The second in a trilogy, You have left earth due to the Biomass, and it is assumed that the people of earth took the offer from the reticulans to abandon earth and move to a space station. You return to salvage resources and altered humans alike.

This game does justice to a great series and makes up for the last edition. This game and Afterlight, are more than worth the price for the Gold trilogy pack, just play through aftermath as quick as you can to get the storyline. Then take a deep breath and you can enjoy yourself with something more worth while.

The second game in the UFO trilogy (though my Gamersgate library has it listed as the 3rd in the list), this game is a major improvement over the first game, with more involvement in the base management, research and production fields (where you now have to do some managing)... It is more akin with strategy games in that regard. The story is again intriguing and I personally kept on playing to see the end of the story and game. The game mood is dark and deserted again (so the setting is suitable), difficulty gradient is good and scales up suitably, and the game rewards you for playing tactically (like having a balanced team).

The negative aspects are a small number of bugs that you may encounter, and the game does get a little repetitive in terms of what you do as the variety of the mission types is small.

The Second in the UFO series, proved to gamer's that games can only get better with squeals. The story line and RPG/Strategy elements allow you to develop and attachment to characters that was only seen in the previous X-COM Series. Few games within the RPG/Strategy world can live up to standards that Aftershock sets.

The 2nd iteration in the UFO: After... trilogy. Way, way better than the first part, but still lacking in some areas. Now base management, research and production are areas where you have to actually manage something. Research has been expanded to the predecessor UFO: Aftermath, however what has been a major issue for me is the research speed of the Laputa lab, which can not be speeded up in any way. So while you are waiting for critical research to finish you have to stave of numerous assaults on your territory which becomes tedious fast.

Tactical combat has been improved, but poses no real challenge throughout the game. Therefore three stars, many improved aspects of gameplay, but still major deficiencies.

I gave 5 stars for (in my opinion) this reasons:

*It's the best of the trilogy.

*The customization of characters is a bit more enjoyable than aftermath.

*Nice multi-floor design.

-In this regard, I really laugh a little with people complaining about thinking the levels are boring...

hehe... well... it's just a matter of how would you define playing a chess game... would you say it's

boring because it's the same board over and over again?... well... Yes,No?

*Intense atmosphere, especially when you are "In trouble", or outnumbered... getting out tof there alive is SWEET!

*Training specializations can make a melee character a HUGHE and very fun to play element...

*You'll always count on your sniper characters to back you up ;)

*Surprisingly slow... gives you time to tune'up your characters and have at least several well trained soldiers.

*I alway spend more time than I usually have to play... ... just... one... more... mission... and... i'll... leave...

*As in X-COM (UFO defence), you'll replay a mission (If you forgot to save), just to not lose a character

you've invested quite some time to develop...

*My hands sweating just from the tension... now, that's Great!!!

CONS

Well, yep, some... but nothing too serious to mention, I focus on having a great

time with my games... don't have time to complain... and with games this good...

Good bye, I'll play another mission!!!

:)

The second in a trilogy, You have left earth due to the Biomass, and it is assumed that the people of earth took the offer from the reticulans to abandon earth and move to a space station. You return to salvage resources and altered humans alike.

This game does justice to a great series and makes up for the last edition. This game and Afterlight, are more than worth the price for the Gold trilogy pack, just play through aftermath as quick as you can to get the storyline. Then take a deep breath and you can enjoy yourself with something more worth while.

Aftershock is overall a very enjoyable game for those who like making strategic decisions with the pause-able real time layer before going into the squad based tactical action sequences. There are several aspects of the game that are annoying and detract from gameplay (research opens up a bit haphazardly which requires you to tear down existing buildings that are currently not useful to research new techs...only to tear those new buildings back down and rebuild old buildings. Same thing with manufacturing facilities.) and the number of missions available are pretty small so you keep doing the same things over and over again.

The story is pretty interesting and has multiple phases to it which keeps things fresh and compelling. The difficulty also ramps up at a reasonable pace (unlike Aftermath which, for me at least, became so difficult in the later stages as to be unplayable) and rewards you for fielding a balanced team who use a variety of weapons as some enemies are incredibly resistant to certain damage types.

My biggest complaint is that I can only get the game to run in a small window on Windows 7. This aggravated me at first but eventually I got used to it but not being able to resize or go full screen is just bizarre. Still the game is quite fun for those who are fans of the genre but Aftershock will probably not win over any converts. Ten bucks is about the absolute upper limit I would pay for the game but you will get many hours of fun.

Aftershock takes the Aftermath game, gives it a more shadowy and interesting plot, and renders into it more elements inspired by 4X and X-Com games, as well as increasing the diversity of what you can do with your forces.

While the story and setting of UFO: Aftermath were delightful, the UFO: Aftershock story takes a specific and reasonable course and then extrapolates playfully forward. Violence ensues! Both gameplay and narrative elements are used to bring the story to the player, always a good thing.

Finally, UFO: Aftershock has proven to be popular with modders. If for some odd reason you tire of UFO: Aftershock, you'll find it's an effective platform for other stories and gameplay as well.

Good game a few bugs but a nice bridge between the first game and the third game aftermarth and afterlight. Fills in a bit more of the story from the start of the UFO attack to humans move to Mars for a new home.

I, like most of the people posting reviews for this series, am a massive X-Com fanatic. This game is often compared to X-Com, but apart from the plot, and the game-play, this game is really nothing like X-Com.

So, with that in mind, let's basically review this game for what it is: an X-Com remake.

For me, the best thing about X-Com was the difficulty. The fact was, your soldiers died when faced with a superior foe. Just like they would - humanity really didn't have much of a chance. And the aliens had you outnumbered, as well as outgunned. And the other nations of the world were all squabbling to have you protect them. It really was a 'throw you in the deep end' game. As the game progressed, you began to hold your own - maybe even escape from a few missions with the same number you went in. Then you began to fight back...only for psycic powers to really spoil your fun. By the end, you felt like you had triumphed - you had lead a backwards, insignificant race to victory against impossible odds. And that was on the easy difficulty level...

This game captures some of that. Mechanically, the game-play is very similar - though with a pause-able real time rather than a turn-based battle, and much less base-building. You still send troops out to fight aliens, and need to tech up quickly to begin to fight.

On top of that, you still have some of the difficulty - but only really on the very high levels - and even then nowhere near the X-Com level.

Essentially, what I think the problem is with this game is that you get glimpses of X-Com, but the game is just much easier. That said, it's still one of the best squad-based games out there so I'd strongly recommend it...just, when you're done, go out and grab X-Com.

I really enjoyed this game - it has a lot of good complexity and allows you to really strategize. The various factions are varied and interesting, and a diverse army is great to field.

My biggest gripe (if you can even call it that) is that this game only runs on XP, and my current system is a Windows 7 machine, which means it doesn't work. I may actually dual-boot my system one of these days to be able to play this and some other old games, however. It would be worth it.

Even though i wasnt capable of playing them when they were first released i love the x-com games, when i first heard of the ufo series and how similar they both are i had to try it out, and even though i was slightly disappointed with the game play itself as it is actually quite boring to play, i still got hooked. It is basically an x-com clone but that isnt exactly a bad thing as even with the minor bugs it stands on its own to feet as a seperate game. One for fans of tactical games and sci fi games.

Pros:

Addictive

An update of a classic

Cons:

Slow gameplay

A few buggy bits

Out of the UFO series this is the best one i think.

the earth have been almost wiped out except for a few stubborn humans and some mutants, and not to forget the few aliens that are trying to finish the job.

The atmosphere is dark and the maps feel deserted like it should.

But there are some bugs, some ugly graphics and annoying voice acting.

The maps are being repeated over and over again.

Game runs slow and with all the repetitive missions popping up and long factory manufacturing times you might grow tired of this.

How ever the plus is that you get to managed bases, do research and diplomacy.

If they like you they might give you men or resource when you ask. But you have to respond to their distress calls in return.

You can also train your soldiers to specialise in several careers.

Because of a few bugs and that it gets very repetitive, this don't get a better rating from me.

I failed my degree because I played X-Com terror from the deep for an average of 18 hours a day in the run up to my finals.

UFO aftershock was equally addictive and enjoyable but it was essentially the same game that I had played a decade before. The user interface was much the same but there were a number of buggy bits in it. Once though you've mastered the basic combat and got some decent kit the game doesn't really throw too many surprises at you. By the time I got into the end-game I'd got bored and moved on to something else.

Verdict - a bit like Pringles - very moorish but essentially unsatisfying