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Abe Sargent · 09-16-2009, 02:33 PM

Review of UFO: Alien Invasion

One of many games to try and mimic the success of X-Com : UFO Defense, UFO; AI is a game designed by fans. The game is not finished yet, similar to many other free games.

The games pits you and your people against an alien invasion, just like in X-Com. You have an UFOPaedia, a GeoScape screen, funds coming from various countries, bases needing to be build, UFOs needing to be shot down, terror sites, and so forth.

The GeoScape

Okay, so if you are familar with XCom, you may want to kn ow some things. How does this game differ from XCom?

First of all, the music for this game is pretty good. It;s easy to make creepy one or two note ambient music for a game like this, but they did well, so kudos there.

Secondly, some of the graphics are stand out good. For example, I loved the design of the alien ships:

However, some pieces of art fall very flat, particularly characters and equipment. Some pieces of equipment, like grenades, looked like they had been done in MS Paint. Not attractive at all. So the graphics are very uneven.

The gameplay is mostly the same, but they make a few changes. One is that you have to build UFO Hangers and then bring the captured UFO back, and analyze it. That's a cool idea.

There are a lot of things that don;t work. The tanks from X-Com are in the game in several places, but do not actually work and cannot be built/purchased/researched. My base was never attacked, and I never found an enemy base.

I played the game for a while, and I discovered every alien species early, and there are not as many as previous games, so its gets old fast. In fact, there are just four alien species, and one is a construct of a Spider which is vey weak in combat despite its description as a mega killer. I also only found a few alien crafts, maybe just two or three.

I couldn;lt figure out how to bring back a crash UFO, or even one that landed and I got my people there to hit, so I was never able to bring one back. Perhaps that has not even been fixed yet. Until you do, a large branch of the research tree is unavailable to you, so I played the game for a few days, had five bases, but was unable to do a lot of research and stuff, so I am stuck in the game. I try to figure out another crash or landing, and I sim, quickly, a month, two months no activity registered. Frustrated, I leave the game.

There are some serious problems, from uneven graphics to gameplay issues and either a bug or a turned off feature that prevented me from even getting close to finishing the game. However, some graphics are nice, you have some interesting maps, the sound is enjoyable, and it is a nice flashback to XCom for a while until frustration sets in.

Overall: 2 outta 5.

09-16-2009, 02:33 PM	#72
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Review of UFO: Alien Invasion One of many games to try and mimic the success of X-Com : UFO Defense, UFO; AI is a game designed by fans. The game is not finished yet, similar to many other free games. The games pits you and your people against an alien invasion, just like in X-Com. You have an UFOPaedia, a GeoScape screen, funds coming from various countries, bases needing to be build, UFOs needing to be shot down, terror sites, and so forth. The GeoScape Okay, so if you are familar with XCom, you may want to kn ow some things. How does this game differ from XCom? First of all, the music for this game is pretty good. It;s easy to make creepy one or two note ambient music for a game like this, but they did well, so kudos there. Secondly, some of the graphics are stand out good. For example, I loved the design of the alien ships: However, some pieces of art fall very flat, particularly characters and equipment. Some pieces of equipment, like grenades, looked like they had been done in MS Paint. Not attractive at all. So the graphics are very uneven. The gameplay is mostly the same, but they make a few changes. One is that you have to build UFO Hangers and then bring the captured UFO back, and analyze it. That's a cool idea. There are a lot of things that don;t work. The tanks from X-Com are in the game in several places, but do not actually work and cannot be built/purchased/researched. My base was never attacked, and I never found an enemy base. I played the game for a while, and I discovered every alien species early, and there are not as many as previous games, so its gets old fast. In fact, there are just four alien species, and one is a construct of a Spider which is vey weak in combat despite its description as a mega killer. I also only found a few alien crafts, maybe just two or three. I couldn;lt figure out how to bring back a crash UFO, or even one that landed and I got my people there to hit, so I was never able to bring one back. Perhaps that has not even been fixed yet. Until you do, a large branch of the research tree is unavailable to you, so I played the game for a few days, had five bases, but was unable to do a lot of research and stuff, so I am stuck in the game. I try to figure out another crash or landing, and I sim, quickly, a month, two months no activity registered. Frustrated, I leave the game. There are some serious problems, from uneven graphics to gameplay issues and either a bug or a turned off feature that prevented me from even getting close to finishing the game. However, some graphics are nice, you have some interesting maps, the sound is enjoyable, and it is a nice flashback to XCom for a while until frustration sets in. Overall: 2 outta 5. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent Last edited by Abe Sargent : 09-16-2009 at 04:47 PM.