Fresh UFO: Afterlight screenshots

[Thorondor]

Twelve brand new screenshots made the cut on this August's update to the Gallery section of the official UFO: Afterlight site.

 

There are many interesting sights to gaze upon, but of particular note is perhaps the revelation that the centuries-old robots of alien make bent on terminating all life on Mars may be prone to human employment...

 

[Space Voyager]

Phenomenal pics... Cool weaponry, allied aliens, grenade launcher actually hitting it's target (I hope they didn't have to repeat the shot for 50 times to make the pic, HE HE HE!), manned vehicles etc. etc.... CAN'T wait.

 

Also noticed that Mars isn't divided into "regions". I wonder how the resource management has been reworked.

[Preda]

I really hope the texture resoultion and model detail in tactical view will improve in the final version. The Marsosphere looks good BTW.

 

I could't help noticing the Solar Activity tab over there. I wonder if there will be an effect for solar storms.

[Thorondor]

@Space Voyager:

 

"(...) manned vehicles etc."

 

Come again ?! I don't believe I've seen a vehicle being manned in tactical as of yet. Did I miss something ?

 

*joyfully imagines speeding over an unfortunate alien; or two...*

 

::

 

I think it would be significantly more troublesome to balance things as well if vehicles (manned or otherwise) could run over "pedestrians".

[Space Voyager]

Ah, crap. My bad. I thought this picture is shows three (alien) soldiers riding the crawling drones. Three soldiers, three drones... Now I see that the soldier is standing beside the drone...

 

Although your imagined situation is giving ideas!

[Thorondor]

"Three soldiers, three drones..."

 

Now that's a cool idea, SV: a rogue Ret 'biker' gang plaguing the wastes !

 

::

 

Deal me in for some 'easy riding'...

[Azrael Strife]

Is it me the only one who sees the battlescape pictures, thinks they look absolutely fabulous, but can't help but to miss the old X-Com sprites? I mean, Aftershock's battlescape looks terrific graphically, but I still would love to have a sprite-based one like in Apocalypse, same happens with Afterlight, I'm looking forward to UFO: Extraterrestrials more than I do Afterlight just because of the seemingly 'older' look that UFO: ET has.

 

Maybe I'm just getting old

 

Edit: It also contributes to that feeling the fact that when I look those amazing graphics, I cannot think of anything else than 'OMG THE LOADING TIMES!!'

[Accounting Troll]

Also noticed that Mars isn't divided into "regions". I wonder how the resource management has been reworked.

 

My guess is that they've retained the Aftermath/Aftershock style regions, but the only borders that are shown on the "Marsosphere" are the ones between the various in-game factions to prevent clutter.

 

From the graphics, it looks like water is pumped to the player's base from the Martian polar regions. I hope I'm wrong, because that scenario wouldn't work. Each Martian ice cap virtually disappears during the summer. Besides, the ice caps are more like a winter frost than the ice caps you get on Earth.

 

Is it me the only one who sees the battlescape pictures, thinks they look absolutely fabulous, but can't help but to miss the old X-Com sprites? I mean, Aftershock's battlescape looks terrific graphically, but I still would love to have a sprite-based one like in Apocalypse, same happens with Afterlight, I'm looking forward to UFO: Extraterrestrials more than I do Afterlight just because of the seemingly 'older' look that UFO: ET has.

 

Maybe I'm just getting old

 

Edit: It also contributes to that feeling the fact that when I look those amazing graphics, I cannot think of anything else than 'OMG THE LOADING TIMES!!'

 

I'm rather hoping that I'm not going to have to update my 1.8 Ghz PC just yet. Does anyone know what the latest technical requirements are?

[Thorondor]

"Does anyone know what the latest technical requirements are?"

 

The expected hardware requirements to run UFO: Afterlight currently remain as stated on the game's official site, AT - as follows:

 

Minimum

MS Windows

[Space Voyager]

It is generally understood that the intention is to allow most anyone that was able to run Aftershock to similarly take on Afterlight without trouble. Which isn't all that surprising given the fact that the graphical engine is but an enhanced version of the one employed in AS.

 

::

 

It remains to be seen if reduced load times were also accomplished...

Also I think the graphics were more than good enough for the type of game Aftershock/Afterlight are. No need to make them better, so basically it means no need for a new computer. The gameplay (content) can be heavily deepened with practically no effect on the demands.

 

But the polishing is really what I missed in Aftershock. As you said - the loading times, the shader problems, weapons balancing, research problems etc.. Quite a few bugs to squish, really.