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Audio:		8.0
Visual:		8.0
Gameplay:		9.0
Story:		7.0
Replay:		8.0
Score:		7.0

Platform:	PC
Genre:	Action • Strategy
Players:	1
Website:	http://www.gamesfaction.com/project-aftermath
Release Date:	October 03, 2008
Rating:

Project Aftermath is an indie 3D topdown game where you get to lead a bunch of heroes around and shoot at dudes. Oh, and there are awesome little bridges and doors you can open and close! Games Faction was kind enough to give us a copy, and we had a lot of fun reviewing it--if you can call playing for hours on end "reviewing" it.

STORY

Project Aftermath puts you in charge of four heroes. These heroes attempt to take down the New Order, a group of fighters that want to take over. The game features a meager ten levels. While these levels are not excruciatingly long, they're not exactly what you'd call a Half-Life 2. Which is perfectly fine. None can expect an indie game studio to pump out a story to match the finesse and quality of Valve's Half-Life 2. Project Aftermath has a perfectly fine story, for what it tries to accomplish.

AUDIO

The audio in Project Aftermath is basically composed of many short sounds, and that's it. Sure, there are characters talking to you a lot of the time, and while the voice acting is superb, the actual sounds accomplish little more than telling the player what's happening. Lasers all really sound the same, sticks and claws don't make any different sounds (even though you're bashing with sticks and puncturing with claws), and almost every other sound effect is in the same matter. I really don't mean to sound harsh, seeing as this is an indie production and they don't have an entire team dedicated to sound effects, but they really could be better.

GAMEPLAY

Now this is what I'm excited to write about. Project Aftermath boasts incredibly addicting gameplay. Players will never want to stop beating the crap out of enemies with pointy sticks, or shooting people over and over until there really isn't a reason to shoot any longer.  There is a huge variety of weapons, augments, field effects, and upgrades to be had. The game boasts thousands of different customization options. In order to buy new weapons, you must spend GOOP, the currency in Project Aftermath. Players have a set amount of GOOP when they start a mission, and if the GOOP meter goes into the red zone during the mission, it's perfectly fine. But if they finish the mission and the GOOP meter is still critical, the mission is counted as a failure. Players lose GOOP by resurrecting fallen warriors, or using field effects and augmentations. GOOP can be collected by picking it up, and the pickups are scattered throughout each map.

Players can literally choose thousands of customization options. First you have your heroes. You can add or remove soldiers from each hero, costing GOOP for every soldier. Then players can choose their hero's power, a trait that determines how well they fare in combat. Power is quite expensive, though it pays off. After those customizations, players can determine what augmentations the hero receives. Augmentations are powerups that effect objects within a certain radius. These can be speed, attack, defense, or even resurrection of fallen soldiers. Field effects are quite the opposite: they're devastating attacks that can wipe clear enemies. Field effects often cost GOOP, so players use them only in emergencies. After customizing the field effects and augmentations, players can finally choose what weapons a hero receives. There are only two types of weapons: melee and ranged. Players can choose around four weapons for their hero to use, and can switch between them during battle. Additionally, if a player chooses to use a melee weapon, they get the added bonus of being able to rush very quickly towards their opponent.

Weapons are split into four groups, or elements: red, light blue, green, yellow. Players must choose carefully what elements they choose, because enemy's armor can also be these four elements. If a player attacks an enemy with a weapon of the same element as the enemy's armor, the attack will be drastically weakened, up to 100% in rare cases. A few enemies can have double armor, so they have resistance from two different elements. Field effects are also split into these four elements, and follow the same basic rules.

VISUAL

Project Aftermath is a piece of visual excellence. Environments are painstakingly detailed, giving the player a sense of envelopment. The graphics in Project Aftermath really help get the player into the game, full alert for any signs of resistance. A neat particle system really adds to this--without it, everything would look a lot more bland. The fire is simply beautiful. In addition to all this, Project Aftermath is constantly being updated, so we can expect more beautiful artwork in the near future.

REPLAY

Players can constantly go back to previous levels and attempt to get a higher GOOP score, in an attempt to get more weapons and soldiers to beat a more challenging level. In addition, players can control how hard it is. For the more "hardcore" players, they can simply drastically weaken their soldiers in an attempt to show off how awesome they are. Casual players can use all their GOOP up to defend themselves as well as possible. In addition, there are medals awarded per level depending on how much GOOP players have left after completing a mission. For the extremely hardcore, they could get 100% GOOP while having no armor and no weapons aside from sticks! The replay value is strong in Project Aftermath, and players will spend hour upon hour in attempts to perfect their playstyle. I know one person that will strive to win every level on "expert" mode.

OVERALL

Project Aftermath is one game that will not disappoint. For all ye who love RTS, hear me. For all ye who love indie and strategy, hear me. For $19.99, players will receive hours of playtime, engaging graphics, and content updates for no charge. The game is available on Steam, and we highly recommend that you buy it. Those who don't will be missing out on a sure hit--I cannot wait to see what a sequel looks like.