I have only played the game for a couple of hours, but I have to post my opinion. It just has to get out.

Ok, Aftershock is one of the best games I have played. Ever. And I am only tackling the "outer layers" now. The ammount of tech you can research I read about on these forums is just wild. Actually I can say pretty confidently that this is the first "X-COM-like" game to have surpassed the games of old. Really surpassed.

I approached Aftershock in the same manner I approach all games; start playing, learn as you go.

After a few hours of playing I started another game. One must definitely read the manual before you start playing... I threw a huge ammount of resources away for building tracks I didn't need. By the time I learned how to manage the labs, knowledge buildings etc. etc. etc. etc. etc., it was too late. When I got in contact with the cultists, I was only able to produce 9mm ammo and had no power cells.

This was the first time I reloaded a mission (I hate reloading). I tried to do it with using stealth and was doing well - it is a GREAT feeling seeing your soldiers on the ground, getting near the enemy soldier and preparing to throw a grenade, while he knows nothing about it - untill the damn cultists swarmed from all over and a maniac with a KNIFE killed half my team with single blows. I realised I wasn't going to be able to deal with them and knew it was becouse I didn't read the freaking manual, so I did that and started another game. This time investing much more into research, also much more focused research. Looking forward to playing all over, really do.


I don't want to be accused of praising the game too much and thus not giving Afterlight any pointers about where to go, so I'll write about the things that bother me as well.

First, the maps are really repetetive. You always play the same map in the same province. What, the baddies always come to the same spot in the whole region?!

The terrain diversity is incredibly low. I understand that the localisation of buildings etc. in Aftermath wasn't cherished enough, but I don't need a different type of buildings for each region. I just want something other than buildings. Or factories. And there is very little of that.

Maps are too small. While I'm certain this is true, I have a feeling that much bigger maps would kill my computer... But still, maps should be about 50% bigger.

The range of detection and the range of the weapons is too short. Ok, let's say that this comes with small maps and that it would ruin the game if you were able to see all across the map, so I'm not trying to make a big issue out of this.

Grenades take too long to be thrown. The only possible target are immobile enemies with crappy weaponry, so that your soldier isn't killed before he can throw a grenade. Oh, and the example I wrote about before - throwing them hidden.

The game features no trade. I can't sell my 30 laser pistols! Can I at least throw them away?!

And some smaller annoyances, like CTDs and so forth. But you know, with all these things bothering me, Aftershock is one of the best games I have played. Ever. I'm not being sarcastic.