Ufo Afterlight follows a great vein in science fiction. The unforgettable X-Com series. ~# Spoilers #~
The story line I can believe to a degree though in my mind they should have included more than the original sectoid model as the 'Alien aggressor' though they did a smack up job on that model. I can't help but feel that a there could have been more put into the beastman portion of things, though I was unable to get to the end of the game as my computer kept locking. Now that is a problem that I have noticed with genre based games of this caliber, they run smooth and almost silky until you get 60% through and then the save game problems start or the graphics start glitching and audio becomes finicky or the program would lock up after one hours worth of play time. Not just this game but a dozen others like it have similar problems and not being a programmer I can't say I know what it is that makes them do this. (Not all games played were on the same machine though same result came about)
Even though the program has its faults the chance to jump back into the seat of a re modeled XCOM is irresistible and though I have stopped playing it twice already I've gone back for more and fought off the Beastmen and the Martians or the 'Rebel' Sectiods.
The tactical side of things is impressive, if you take it that your moving from Xcom to this. Though it does lack certain things on the whole like the capacity to have truly massive bases layed out in honeycombs of creepy poorly light rooms like the original this version includes more random base layouts and terrain features. I especially like the fact that the raised steps though still on the same level give you increased accuracy when firing over your team so although you might not have the crouch capacity to make a double line of soldiers there are still plenty of chances to get rank fire in if your smart with your time.
This game is in my humble and honest opinion is a marvel and would get a 10 but because of the faults that I have had with it and the slightly over the top cartoony graphics get half a point each taken off the total and another for the lack of multiplay. Something I have always wanted to do in Xcom is multiplay!