Reviewed by Colin Edmondson

Game:         Afterlife
Publisher:    LucasArts
Format:       CDROM
SPS:          35.99
Available:    Now

Requires:

O/S:          Dos 6.0+
Processor:    486-DX2/66+
RAM:          8Mb+
Graphics:     SVGA
CD-Rom:       X2
Soundcard:    All major cards supported

Tested on:

Processor:    Pentium 166MHz
O/S:          Windows 95
RAM:          64Mb
Graphics:     Matrox Millenium 4Mb Vram
CD-ROM:       Panasonic quad speed
Soundcard:    Soundblaster AWE32
Controls:     Microsoft Mouse

Afterlife

Introduction.

Afterlife is a resource management strategy simulation in the style of SimCity. The plot goes something like this - you are a demiurge (yeah I had to look that one up too) in control of both Heaven and Hell. In each of these domains you need to zone according to sins (Hell) or virtues (Heaven), accommodate a varying influx of souls and provide all the supporting resources, transport etc very much in the style of SimCity. I couldn't get away from the thought that Afterlife really is just the SimCity concept beaten to death (pun intended).

Let's Not Beat About The Bush Here.

My previous experiences of Lucasarts have been pretty good and I've been racking my brains for the past few weeks trying to think of any really duff games which came from their stable. Frankly nothing springs to mind - sure some have been better than others but all the games that spring to mind have been pretty good so I approached Afterlife with fairly high expectations. Well I have to say that it doesn't deliver - I was really disappointed with this game. There's nothing that really distinguishes it from the game(s) it seeks to emulate apart from a very contrived storyline.

So Is There Nothing Worthy Of Mention About This Game?

As they say "your mileage may differ" but I could find very little that hasn't:

A) been done before
B) been done better than this

By presenting you with both Heaven & Hell to manage at the same time, there is arguably an added element of complexity. This is enhanced by the fact that the underlying rules for the two domains are often polar opposites - eg in Heaven you want to aim for short roads and minimal congestion, in Hell however great long snarl-ups are the order of the day. In reality though I didn't really find that gameplay was enhanced by these added twists.

At times the game is reasonably humorous - the animated 'helpers' (cartoon characters - Jasper the demon and Aria the angel) add a nice touch and the afterlife equivalent of SimCitys disasters are positively Pythonesque. For example, 'Hell in a Handbasket' - a picnic basket flying over heaven picking up tiles and dropping them in Hell, and 'Disco Inferno' - the disco demon boogies across the landscape leaving a wake of destruction.

But Don't Take My Word For It.

If you've made it this far, I strongly recommend you to download the demo version from Lucasarts website:

http://www.lucasarts.com/static/afterlife/demo.htm

The file is around 10Mb so be prepared for a lengthy download.

Conclusion.

An old idea in new packaging - and contrived packaging at that.

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Rating: 3/10 (Run Away Quickly!)
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