Xenonauts Review
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The hardest part in any X-COM-alike game for me has always been the beginning. Not only are you severely underpowered and mostly oblivious to the alien threat, but you also have to quickly catch up with all the complicated mechanisms that make up the game’s deep gameplay experience. As if that wasn’t enough, you’ll have to do that two times over since the game basically has both a tactical ground combat and the strategic worldwide layer to worry about. Two years ago, Firaxis released their vision of the revitalized X-COM franchise, and we’ve all enjoyed the game. It is quite brilliant, but it’s also overly linear and simplistic in most areas, especially when compared to the complex and not overly user-friendly environment of the old, original games. Xenonauts, on the other hand, does none of these things.
Xenonauts begins just like every other X-COM game does, being a spiritual successor to the old series and all that, but with much more oomph for its buck. The game describes humanity’s first contact with the extraterrestrials via the Iceland Incident. I won’t go into much detail about the story here because it’s surprisingly engaging for one such game. Buying it, you’ll even gain access to the Crimson Dagger novella that will describe the Iceland Incident into nigh perfect detail, courtesy of Lee Stephen. Needless to say, this is the most intro we’ve ever been given into an X-COM game, which is awesome. I’m sure a fair number of gamers enjoy discovering things about the alien menace just as much as I do, so that’s a win right there. The Iceland Incident takes place in 1958, while the game itself plays out during the eighties. Indeed, the Cold War era allows for interesting political intrigue and a very asymmetrical approach to combat. After the intro, you’ll have to choose your base’s location. Thankfully, we’ve been given absolute freedom when it comes to things like this. If you want to place your base in Australia, sure, but you could also set it down in Croatia. However, you’ll want to be careful because the highest number of alien incursions will happen in more populated areas. While the beginning does seem extremely daunting and overwhelming, it’s as simple as it could possibly get, without losing the whole point of the game. Unlike Firaxis’ X-COM game, there aren’t any scripted events here and you won’t be dragged through a linear hallway, only occasionally stopping to choose one of the three available missions. Instead, you will send interceptors to down an alien aircraft and then decide whether to air strike the hell out of the ugly bastards or send a strike team in to extract valuable resources, information and even living organisms. And all of this will be randomly taking place thanks to emergent gameplay, with you trying to control as much of the planet as you possibly can. The systems will grow on you, and that’s just the beginning.
The thing you will probably be most surprised with is the sheer effectiveness of even the most basic human equipment. Now, don’t expect to brute force your way through half a dozen of aliens with little to no effort. The thing is, since UFOs at the beginning aren’t well adapted to fly through the Earth’s atmosphere, specially modified human planes are more than enough to crash the bastards down. They will get stronger quickly, but you’ll enjoy a period of supremacy until the ETs build better crafts and equipment. And because the aliens base their weaponry on various energetic technology, they won’t be too resistant to ballistic projectiles at first. Again, while the two opposing forces might be on two entirely different ends of the tech spectrum, you will find your arsenal and vehicles more than enough to deal with the invasion, at least during the first couple of months. As expected, Xenonauts gives you the ability to research points of interest and develop new tech on the go. You will find this system to be deeper and more engaging than those of similar titles. Aside from the usual weapons, armour and gadgetry, you will also have the chance to develop new vehicles (tanks, armoured cars, dropships, interceptors…), facilities and more.
After properly setting foothold, it’s time to crash land a UFO and hunt down some aliens. If you’ve got any experience with similar games, you shouldn’t have too much trouble figuring out what’s what in Xenonauts. The game harkens back to the days when the TUs (Turn Units) were the hottest thing, and does so in style. With proper tactics, aliens will fall and humans will prevail, but the game won’t ever stop being a tense, brilliant experience. Since you won’t ever be able to fully outmatch the extraterrestrials, there will always be a certain uneasy feeling when sending units into the fray. Units you will outfit and lead through the game. I would love to have some additional options regarding the visual appearance of Xenonauts, but we’ll have to contend with our soldiers being the same most of the time, with only their names, faces and rank to differentiate between them. Not a big oversight in any way, but something could be done regarding this matter in the future. If nothing else, the devs have said that they will be implementing Steam Workshop soon so the modders will take probably take care of this eventually.
Visually, Xenonauts has quite a few cards up its sleeves. The art you will find when conducting research such as alien corpse autopsy and similar things is extremely detailed, and will certainly satisfy everybody’s curiousity about the invaders. Mocking around the base will provide you with the opportunity to study the equipment your soldiers use in the field, as well as numerous statistics to compare and choose, for example, what weaponry to mount on your unmanned scout vehicle or which rifle to give to your point man. It’s things such as this that enrich the overall experience. In the field, the game does look a tad bit bland, but it’s a style that’s reminiscent of the old turn-based isometrical strategy games, only in HD. It’s pretty, either way, and every X-COM fan will be grateful for the game’s choice to focus on highly detailed 2D sprites rather than low poly 3D models that were probably the second option. The music and atmospheric sounds help build up the tension we’ve mentioned before, and do so to great effect. The whole package comes off extremely well rounded, and you should also take note that Xenonauts will work on just about anything, due to its low system requirements. I’m serious, too. I found a week old burger in the oven, installed the game on it and it was perfectly playable.
I did encounter several bugs, though. After throwing a grenade, my Xenonaut wasn’t able to move to cover, for example, even though he had just the right amount of TUs left to make a run for it. Also, the way reaction fire works is confusing to say the least. On some occasions, my soldiers would ignore a target despite it being in range and having enough TUs left to fire. However, it just might be the case that there are more parameters considered than I managed to register. Either way, these issues do not take away from the experience and happened only once or twice, so it’s nothing to get riled about.
To sum this wall of text up, Xenonauts is the closest we’ll get to a true X-COM remake, so I suggest getting all over it. My first playing session lasted 4.2 hours, according to Steam, and it was an absolute blast. While it might seem somewhat pricey, keep in mind that this game is aiming at something of a niche audience, and that it offers much more than most modern AAA titles do, which are often even more expensive. With all that said, I’m off to kill me some Reapers.
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