Okay Game But Quite Limited

[nzgunner]

People are probably tired of seeing comments like this but as a veteran of the Xcom series and other squad based combat games like Chaos Gate and Jagged Alliance, in my opinion UFO:A is a bit of a disappointment.

 

Firstly it's just a bit too easy (most of the time) where one set of tactics will see you right through most of the game. Occasionally you get a real spanking, like at the Russian base, but this is more to do with having your troops dropped in the middle of a hot LZ and it's down to pure luck whether your guys can make it through the first few salvoes and regroup.

 

This is one of the very few games I've ever played where I could have got through it on my first attempt (I don't mean without reloading every now and then) - there just isn't much to learn and not much you can do wrong.

 

The strategic aspect of the game is very basic and while the tactical missions look nice the real time aspect just doesn't work that well - it is far too easy to recover from a poor tactical decision and you never get the feeling the enemy are attacking in a coordinated fashion. If it had a stronger tactical model or was genuinely innovative the game would have a bit more staying power but as it stands it is basically a Mechcommander clone - and to be brutally frank MC did it much better (bigger maps, more variety).

 

The game gives the impression of depth with lots of weapons but there is no compelling reason to use/develop many of them. I've never bothered using alien weapons and I've only used a few of the tech tree weapons (plasma guns and warp demolition devices). I've never used psi (mind you I never liked it in the original Xcom anyway) although I'm happy for the aliens to use it on me.

 

Autoresolved missions suck - you get sick of many of the easy mission types (scouting, capturing transgenants) and leave them to the CoE, but they also get to some of the base missions before you and you end up expanding with no feeling of achievement.

 

I've ended up bagging the game more than I intended because there are things I like about it - after all it is a game in a genre I love and if buying it is an incentive for more squad based games to be developed then it was money well spent.

 

There are a couple of neat technology transition points where you overhaul equipment and tactics - eg once you've got heavy armour and warp demolition devices, base defence becomes a whole lot easier.

 

As I've already mentioned the tactical missions look nice although only the urban environments require anything other than a steady central advance.

 

I'll continue to wait for the next breakthrough squad game, maybe it'll be LSN: Earth with it's Combat Mission style tactical engine.

[Ninetails]

Try Silent Storm, its much better in that tactical field, only problem is that the combats when they start are turn-based only. Its just like jagged alliance, real time and when the shooting starts its turn-based. Why can't there be some real-times like Apocalypse. It's real-time rocked, run it on real time and if you panic just hit space, then you can have your nervous breakdown in the toilet and come back 30min later.

I would propably say AF sucks (you propably have noticed if you have read my other topic), but theres one bad thing in it that flips the whole thing, it's X-COM. Silent Storm is much better than this, but it's not X-COM.

[Riskbreaker]

Give it chance with all the hard working modders abt i,m sure the tactical side of things can only get better ....and hey you cant expect all drops to be cold as the arctic :alien2: