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As reported here UFO:Aftermath was recently reviewed by Czech gaming magazine Score. And now, thanks to Tom Engelmajer and Juri Vinarcik, we have a translated version of the review. You can download the translation in .doc format here (zipped), or view comments for this thread to read it online.

 

Thanks Tom and Juri!!!

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UFO : AFTERMATH

 

Part 1&2 of a SCORE 115 REVIEW [ UFO built 1.7b Not for release ]

Translated for www.ufoaftermath.co.uk

by Tom Engelmajer - GHOSTRIDER

and Juri Vinarcik - YURRI

 

PART 1 by YURRI

 

In the introduction of the review we can find some info about ALTAR Interactive and its games ( Original War, Fish Fillets ) so I didn't translate this part. Interesting part begins here:

 

Despite of circumstances that UFO: AM isn't successor of UFO series in right meaning of word, legacy of Enemy Unknown is filled perfectly. Basic conception, strategy divided into global and tactical part, alike quantity of game activities are so much identical that it is hard to believe that they don't have same mother ( father, parents...etc.-hope you know what I'd like to say J ). Aftermath is game full of amazing atmosphere, with modern graphic engine and overworked tactical system, which is only decreased with non-too much understandable designers decisions, occasional A.I. collapses and less lucidity.

 

GLOBAL MOD

 

Aftermath contains two independent game elements. Global ( strategic ) and tactical ( combat ). On global world map you are managing your bases, performing research and development, organizing your combat forces and choosing places where your marines will intervene. Work with bases is expressive different like in Enemy Unknown. Away is their constructing, now you obtain them with captured territories and you're not able to equip them. You only adjust base to one of four types - in beginning it is millitary, engeneering, research, later you obtain anti-biomass. You are able to change base type ( anytime ) due to necessity. Constructing of buildings in bases dissapeared too, they are now clearly imaginary ( you're not able to look inside ), automatically equipped with available technologies. For experienced commanders of Enemy Unknown it is surprising change, 'cos it impoverishes game about one whole dimension. But, as later you will see ( understand ), at amount of bases you will dispose after 3-4 hours of playing, detailed management of every base could be ( if you don't have positron brain J ) pure insane. Apart from reason, that now you will have more time for more entertaining activities.

 

Every base has its own importance. Military bases are the only places from which your helicopters take off with your team. Their amount don't have to be big, more important is where the base is situated. It is similar to bases which repel biomass, constructed on places with the greatest concentration of this enemy material. Research bases are evidently the most important. Your research capacity is depending on amount of research bases you have, and it is sure that if you'll fall asleep in your research, you will never have good sleep any more. The last, development base, is the place, where are your engineers making prototypes of new machinery, which than goes to serial manufacture.

 

On global map take place majority of other substantial situations. Of course, firstly it is detection of new aliens ( flying - against them your interceptors will automatically take off, or places that are contaminated by aliens and you have to clear them ). The way by which it come to air encounters is a light disappointment for us, 'cos it proceeds by still repeated rendered scene, without possibility of interference ( except possibility to call off your interceptors ). The new thing in ground missions is possibility to take no action on marked place and let the battle to be performed by militia ( something like in Jagged Alliance 2 ). Result ( success or failure ) understandably appears like gain or loss of territory. So risky choice to let the computer control the battle is really up to you.

 

You can zoom in, zoom out, rotate global map by the panel in the left bottom part of the screen, but really very important controls are in top part of the screen. On the left there is really needed time control and on the right are the controls that need closer view.

 

R&D

 

Research and Development is the place to which you look up in many times when the survival of mankind is hanging by a thread. In the beginning your scientists are working on projects that are uncovering events of worldwide catastrophe, later they will research new weapons and equipment. Research proceeds in several stages: firstly you will learn basics of the given technology, than you investigate concrete instrument ( weapon or anything else ). Single research items have of course various difficulty ( 'cos it is a little harder to find principles of plasma technology than find the new recipe for strawberry cake J ), and for this the time to research single items is various. But now you don't buy any scientists ( like in Enemy Unknown ) and you are not controlling them, so the best way to speed up your research is to adjust more bases to Research mod. Because the human technologies you are not developing and new material comes with new captured territories, your scientists will investigate only extraterrestrial stuff ( alien corpses, plasma segments, UFO detectors etc.) By their help and the help of the robots of your engineers you discover frightening events of the past and the outlook to the future. So game story is told only by these research reports and we think it is insufficiently for us.

 

Development is more surprising. In basics it is the same like the research, but the effect very changes from original UFO. After the technology pass the research, it is moved to development. Your engineers firstly manufacture prototype, that allows you to use found weapons of the same type, only after that is the object prepared for serial manufacture. For the reason that you have infinity amount of human weapons, and alien weapons you obtain only by alien corpses robbery, you manufacture "hybrid" weapons and the manufacture of these weapons proceeds very slowly. Remedy for the waiting is simple - build more Development bases.

 

And here ends my part of the translation. Hope you understand everything and if not, hope you know what I tried to say. I'm sorry for possible mistakes but it was very long review and I don't have enough time to check my translation. So...if you have some possible questions about this part of the review...don't afraid to ask me... Bye Yurri

 

PART 2 by GHOSTRIDER

 

R&D

 

Research and Development is the place upon which eyes of all mankind are staring at with hope when survival of all mankind is at stake . At the beginning your scientists would work on projects revealing details about the worlds near extinction of all life , later they concentrate on development of the new weapons and equipment . Research mostly runs in more phases - first you learn the basics of given technology , after that you examine a particular piece of equipment ,weaponry or else . Every single research entry got of course different demanding characteristics - they are of variable laboriousness and time consumption to develop or research . Forasmuch as you can't see the scientists ( as you could in ENEMY UNKNOWN ) plus you can't buy more or control the numbers your only way to accelerate research is to reassign more bases to RESEARCH MODE . Most of the EARTH Technology you do not have to develop - better equipment comes along with new areas you gain control of . Due to this your scientist would concentrate their brilliant minds nearly monopoly on issues of extraterrestrial origin : Alien Skeletons , Plasma Cells or Flying Saucer Detection Devices .

 

By the work of your personnel and their Robotic helpers you gradually reveal doomful events of previous days and also prospect of the future ones . The Story is quite limited in narration by the scientific reports - That is in our oppinion quitte too little . If there would not have been the GENERAL THESIS : "EVIL ALIENS HAVE DESTROYED EARTH" ( very open to Players Fantasy to develop their own strory in background ) , we had not noticed the story development at all . In spite of that the story itself is catchy and worked out well like the stories of Alien cospiracies X-Files style nearly all are .

 

The DEVELOPMENT brings with it additional surprises . It's progress is in core copying the Research ( nothing special to this point ) but the final application of developmnet have changed compared to the old UFO . After the technology goes through the phase of RESEARCHING it is handed over to the DEVELOPMENT . Your Engineers first make a prototype which enables you to use same types of items found in combat situations . After that they manage to prepare it for the production . Because you have unlimtited Earth weaponry from the beginning and Alien weapons you only gain by eliminating Aliens in combat , you utilize and develop what is called a hybrid weapons , but the production phase of such a weapon takes quite a long time . As mentioned before only chance to speed up the process is to take control of more bases specialized on DEVELOPMENT .

 

Personnel and RPG features

 

Another very important button on the GEOSCAPE MAP is a personnel section where you can manage your squad , its training and equipment . That is divided into several categories : Personal weapons , rifles , heavy weapons + heavy weapon platforms , Armour and supplementary combat systems such as few types of granades, medikits or flares .

 

First what really surprised us shortly after game begun was the unlimited EARTH weaponry and munition . Earth based weapons are used relatively long time in the game and its total excess unplesantly does not support the intensification of battle stress and the increasing tension which is certainly present . Even if the game story brings an explanation of this weapon stock ,we find this point of gameplay a bit unfortunate . Next thing to discuss is also the weapon attributes - in every category there is a weapon by far superior to the others so you are forced to use that in order to fight best even if you have attachment to a certain weapon type . After you develop LASER and PLASMA weapons , where you already have to conserve your ammo , it is stil not a good solution to rearm your squad completely with this new technology . Why - firstly every Alien is resistant against different weapon or ammo types with different talent of sustaining injury : heavy , laser , warp , termo , paralyse ( that is really a great aspect of the game ) , secondly before you develop really valuable hybrid weapons nicely thrown granade or a lovely placed M16 burst is always,a reliable solution .

 

Because higher level and personal characteristics improvement comes in a table after ending a mission ,there is only one personnel function left to manage on geoscape - training .

 

There are many specializations at your disposal ranging from medics , psyonic soldiers to a grenadier who gives certain bonuses and leadership support to soldiers in action mayhem .

 

When you place a soldier to a training program , he is for some time out of active duty . That means that for some time he won't be able to join your team for missions - you can sensitively accelerate time on geoscape to finish training sooner . It is true that first you do not feel the effect of training very much but in later stages of the game every single experience point is of great importance . Last thing to observe is the loadout of each soldier . After you exceed a limit given by the soldiers attributes it distinctly affect the speed of movement .

 

INTO ACTION

 

During GEOSCAPE gameplay certain mission types appear to deal with . The missions are variable - From simple clearing the Dropzone , Pilot rescue or Taking control of a New base to a special persistent mission types shifting the story or development further . After you select the mission THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE GAME BEGINS - COMBAT !

 

From the first moment you take a look at the tactical display you can see the AFTERMATH's biggest asset is the atmosphere . That part of your brain responsible for stress and tension management will be on full alert . This feeling is greatly supported by the postapocalyptic graphics which have changed compared to the Alpha version quite significantly mainly to the new lighting of scenes . The resolution of the textures is not the highest and the car stil looks a bit like a shoe box but we have to consider the ammount of objects and areas the game engine have to generate and compute .

 

Bigger attention should be given to a unique combat systém . This great mix of Baldurs Gate and Freedom Force with the addition of original features is the greatest the whole game has to offer . It requires certain time and ammount of effort to get into it and master it but it gives you much more in return . Just the fact the game supports adjustment from nearly TURN BASED to nearly REAL TIME needs to be admired . This quality of the game is advantageous even from more sides you can imagine just by reading the review . Our experience shows that with the increasing gameplay time you can use pause ( SPACEBAR ) fewer and fewer with your incoming game mastery . You can than control the soldier in near REAL TIME environment . The new and unexperienced player have the itching to pause the game everytime some twig moves in the wind but later when you know where you have the towel to také care of the sweat you can run in town killing swarms of Aliens like our beloved heroine Ripley . There is nothing to add - THIS PART OF A GAME IS HILARIOUS !

 

Unfortunately there are a few things we are not happy about . First it is a little confused view in some situation - in missions inside objects - for all we can mention the missions on human bases . In such cases you have the tendency to lost orientation [ which is in my oppinion good , Combat stress needed - GHOSTRIDER ] , the action on the monitor mixes in the transparency with your grey soldiers ( transparent to be accurate ) running around in little chaos like mices resembling more some type of sewer forcing you to move the camera to get a better angle but short after you get it you see you have to do it again not to lose the view again . Whatsmore in INDOOR MISSIONS mostly we can encounter occasional colapses of A.I.. For example we cannot walk through the dead alien bodies or other unpleasantnesses . But luckily Missions on the surface are much more common and they are synoptic, but also more entertaining .

 

We mentioned A.I. . To be honest we have to label it as an average only , maybe a little above average . Forasmuch as your soldiers [both Male or Female] will after a few hours of playing be little combat gods and they will discover an underfed Alien behind the tree on 100 metre there is really only one option for the Alien to resolve its combat situation - Direct attack with a combat scream and facing the barrels of our sniper rifles , automatic combat guns or grenade launchers with exactly the order of meeting them as written a few words before [ They are simply in panic J - GHOSTRIDER ] . But to be fair it is not as definite as it looks . There is that resistance to a certain weapon types plus some Aliens have an arsenal with greater firepower than that of the whole Czech Army [ quintessentially - GHOSTRIDER ] . Also not in every postapocalyptic city there is a nice 100 metre athletic track with Aliens standing working as a training shooting range to train soldiers easily . Whatever happens , in any event in this area an improvement would be appreciated and we have the word of the authors that this would in the final hectic and heart attack friendly days before release change for the better .

 

And that is the end of our fairytale . You ask for our final conclusion ? UFO : AFTERMATH although from little Czech countryside is a professional product with the processing and characteristics of the world-class GAME . If we have in mind the excellent production of our developers in last few years we are not surprised ( Hidden&Dangerous , FLASHPOINT , Mafia , Vietcong ) . But Aftermath is the first Czech strategy game that could proudly compete to capture a really high rating in the gaming world - even if there are stil tiny little bugs present . If you are a fan of a fantastic UFO series we can't imagine you don't play this game . For all others it is from gamers point of view minimally a great investment of your money .

 

Prepare yourself for the greatest battle of mankind: Earth's future is in your hands

 

That's it - Looking forward to it ! I hope it has some good info for all fans but believe me the review is of mediocre qualitty itself [ my opinion ] so as the translators we could not have affected that to be better. You can see that they were in a hurry preparing it . We actually improved the text to be more HARDFAN friendly - it was a bit CHILDISH written to appeal to smaller players-readers [ but the FACTS inside remained of course unchanged ] . J Ghostrider

 

COPYRIGHT the Czech text © SCORE magazine

ENGLISH translation part 1&2

Translated by GHOSTRIDER & YURRI - please if you copy or use this text just mention our names as authors of the translation , score magazine and also the biggest fansite of AFTERMATH on the web www.ufoaftermath.co.uk . Thanks Yurri & Ghostrider

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