I don't see how you can call them the same game. Completely different imo. Sure there are some similarities because they share the same designer. Same thing for Lawlor, Borg, or Ritchie games. I think they are both fun and see no reason why you shouldn't have both. I would try to play any game before buying one. Not everyone loves MM and not everyone loves AFM. I enjoy MM but much prefer AFM. I love the callouts of AFM and the retro scifi theme.

I don't think AFM is that difficult but it is pretty hard to get all the way to the end. You have to defeat all the cities and that is a lot of shots up the middle. I rather the wizard mode be a little difficult to get to otherwise the game can get old real fast. AFM is just fun to play no matter how deep you get into the game and doesn't get frustrating with drains like other games.

I doubt the next remake will be anytime soon. There are only so many games worth doing a remake so I doubt CGC is going to rush through them even if they could. Their games would no doubt be competing against each other if they released them quickly. If you got the cash, I see no problem getting AFMr now, play it for a year or so, and then get the next remake which seems like it would be MB.