Afterlife, one of the newest games put out by LucasArts, proves once again that the multimedia giant is at the top of the heap when it comes to creative and innovative CD-ROM games. As a "Demiurge," your job is to create two distinctly different afterlifes: heaven and hell. As with other simulation games, you plot out the land for different structures, roads, ports and housing, but, come on, this is heaven and hell we're talking about! This is not just planning a city, state or country - this has got to be unique.
Now, if you happen to be one of the many people who simply despise simulation games and think that they are a huge waste of time, don't dismiss "Afterlife" yet. What other sim game would have "bad things," including the Disco Inferno, the Bats out of hell and the Paradise Pair of Dice? No, this particular game is all based in fantasy, making it fun for any player regardless of personal tastes.
You begin the game, if you choose the "easy" level, with lots of money and plenty of time to start building before the game hits you with too many "bad things." After carefully zoning for each of the fates (ranging from lust to sloth), the player must also include Topias (for communting demons, Distopias, and angels, Utopias), T-Centers (training centers for the above) and Karma stations, used for sending souls back to the planet for reincarnation. If you plan well, both afterlifes will receive plenty of souls and your fate structures will flourish into places like the Brahmatic Bovine Bliss Ranch and the 666 Pennants Over Perdition Theme Park. Of course, you might also run out of money, have a terrible disaster on either the planet or your afterlife and any other number of terrible occurrences.
Along to help you with your planning are Aria and Jasper, an angel and a devil who make fantastic sparring partners. These two, no matter how annoying at times, can be very helpful in warning you if your afterlifes are about to go haywire. Their advice is infinitely necessary.
Another unusual part of the game is the already established scenarios, where an afterlife is already built but is totally inefficient for one reason or another. Obviously, your job is to fix what's wrong. For all of you English majors out there, there is even a hell constructed like Dante's Inferno, circles and all.
Afterlife is a brilliantly put together game. It easily manages to be literary and intelligent while still managing to be a lot of fun. So, quite literally, go to hell, or heaven, and start building!
- Lise Harwin