UFO:Afterlight – Can it live up to Xcom?

As you may know, I’m a big Xcom fan.  It’s easily one of the best games of all time, and it’s the only game more than ten years old that can get me all sucked in.  Well, there have been a lot of games trying to recreate the same atmosphere and play style, with limited success.  I’m downloading a demo of the latest incarnation, UFO:Afterlight.  I’ve read a couple of reviews, and they give it fair marks.  Xcom really felt like you were struggling to keep up with a superior enemy, researching new weapons and begging funding from recalcitrant government agencies.  The battles were tense, like nothing that’s come since.  There’s nothing like having a Chrysalid wipe out 4 of your guys in one turn, and then another of your guys goes berserk with terror and blows up the rest of your squad with his rocket launcher.  Later, when your scientists start catching up, and you start using alien tech against them, it’s awesome to see a squad of soldiers you’ve carefully protected and trained stand toe to toe with the toughest aliens.  I’ll report back with my impressions once I get a chance to play.