Mobile Game Review of "Afterworld: Global Contact"

Afterworld: Global Contact is supposed to be a new chapter in the Afterworld universe. While the Afterworld Universe is very interesting, the game itself, unfortunately, is anything but.

Afterworld is one of those indie production telling a compelling story of an everyman in extraordinary circumstances. After "The Fall", 99.9% of the Earth's population are simply... gone. There were no bodies. The survivors found themselves in a world of virtually NO technology... No electricity except batteries, no cars... And a lot of questions. What had happened? Why? What do we do now? The protagonist, Michael Shoemaker, was in New York on a business trip when the Fall hit. After finding a few survivors in New York, and learning how to survive, he set out to find out the cause... and to make it home to find his wife and daughter.

The game, however, deals with a separate protagonist altogether. You're supposedly some minor diplomat in New York. After "the fall", you need to survive the city, then make your way to other cities around the world, and perhaps, solve a few problems along the way. The short description make the game sounds like a RPG. However, the actual game play is like an action puzzle. Basically, you move around, pushing crates to block enemies, don't let enemy touch you or block you in, or shoot you. You need to pick up the various pieces of items before you can pick up the journal entry, and after you got that, you can go for the exit. However, there's almost always complications. Often, getting all the pieces except the journal will trigger the EMP, which makes enemies that are formerly comatose come awake and ready to bash your head in. And you need to block them in before they come awake.

While the story and objectives sounds interesting, the actual gameplay is anything but. Most puzzles can be solved in maybe 2 attempts, as the AI is anything but intelligent. It's basically a matter of figuring out who to block first.

As the name suggests, Global Contact have you, the protagonist, help various factions around the world trying to put back together a global communications network using simple Morse code and transmitters, while defeating the various militia, historians, and so on.

Frankly, I find the game to be a MAJOR disappointment, as it promises so much, that when I actually got into the game, it simply cannot deliver. I'd suggest you watch the video series instead. It's free, and saves you a couple bucks.

Overall: 5.5 out of 10
Pros: interesting puzzles at times, good story and universe
Cons: suggests RPG, delivers puzzle instead