UFO: Aftershock picks up years after
UFO: Aftermath left off. The survivors of the horrors that the aliens subjected the world to are now banding together in small factions. You, however, are in control of a Laputa, a space station that is orbiting Earth. From the Laputa, you conduct raids and manage your Earthly belongings.
UFO: Aftershock can be paralleled in a lot of ways to X-Com. At first glance, it may even seem to some that it’s an exact replica of the golden oldie. However, upon closer inspection, UFO: Aftershock’s differences come out, some for the better, some for the worse. The biggest difference is in the linearity of the game. Where X-Com was very much a free-flowing environment, UFO: Aftershock takes a more linear approach.
When you begin the game, you are given a set of missions that you must complete in order to advance. This does not happen throughout the game, but this initial rigidity in the missions was kind of a turn off. However, they do help to establish the story and help the player integrate themselves into the game.
UFO: Aftershock is mainly based on territory acquiring and resource management. The entire land mass of Earth is divided into provinces and countries. You can explore individual provinces (i.e. invade with a tactical squad) to gain more resources. Each province provides one of three resources, and the more provinces you control the better your ability is to maintain these resources.
The resources in the game are used to build structures at your bases on Eatrth, construct tracks between the bases to keep them linked, and to research and produce equipment for your squad. Maintaining your squad is the most important aspect of the game, despite the fact that it shares half its time with the resource management aspects.
Fitting your squads is a very intricate process. First you must recruit new troops from factions on Earth. There are three types of troops you can recruit: humans, cyborgs and psi troops. Each have their own unique abilities, and each is meant to be used in accordance with the various types of missions. After you have some troops, you need to give them some equipment and send them on their merry way to Earth to take care of whatever problem is at hand.
UFO: Aftershock is lacking somewhat in this part, as you can only have up to five people in your squad at once. This limits the tactical portion of the game to you controlling a small amount of people, whereas X-Com gave you control of troops numbering in the teens. Despite this, it is still a challenge to direct all five of your troops around at once.