Xenonauts

I just finished the Vanilla version (no-mods) of the game with patch-level 1.59 so following comments apply to this kind of setup. Xenonauts is a good (almost great) remake of the original X-Com (in Europe Ufo - Enemy Unknown) classic. It took me approx. 30 hours to complete the game on easy difficulty. 75 % this time was quality gaming - 25 % was boring grinding with too familiar ground maps. Almost all the areas work well and all in all I like this game more than Firaxis version which I played last year. I only have following negative comments about the game and I guess most of these might be issues which could be fixed with mods: oRepetitive maps (you get way too familiar with the maps after hours of grinding them) oPsionics and the lack of countermeasures for psi-powers. Aliens can take control of your soldiers and you cannot do literally anything for this. In original series you were able to have your own psi-soldiers and also equipment which helped against psi-powers oReapers and ship invasions (when you storm downed enemy ships the reapers and their 100% kill-rate-attack gets so boring after they use the teleport elevators to kill you soldiers) oToo narrow tech tree (more stuff to research would be nice) oAir Combat balance. Too difficult in the beginning and too easy in the end. Also the actual air-combat mini-game is not so nice and I used automatic all the time oSoldier development. You cannot influence how soldiers improve and you as you cannot influence what skills and attributes you get you don't get attached to your team (I only noticed who had the most time units - rest of the attributes in my team were pretty much a "black box" to me)

I haven't even played X-COM, so I was blown away by how new, how awesome the very premise of the game was. So much fun, and so addictive too. There was always one more battle, one more weapon for a soldier etc The game was always tough, but never unfair. But there was always the urge to save scum until you won every battle with no casualties. More experienced soldiers are so much better than rookies, but it's probably just me obsessing over it. You can win through the game with one reload per hour rather than eight. I don't think anyone who's into turn-based squad combat can play this game and not like it. Strongly recommended.

The full review can be found on Start 2 Continue: http://start2continue.com/posts/2015/7/6/review-xenonauts-pc Excerpt: Xenonauts is a non-canon throwback to the classic XCOM: UFO Defense in aesthetic, difficulty, and execution. You find yourself as a commander of an international paramilitary organization during the Cold War, dedicated to repelling spacemen from beyond the stars. You choose a location to set up your HQ, build extra facilities, plan squad loadouts, hire and fire support staff, and manage research and development--to name just some of your new responsibilities. Your objective, as you can imagine, is to keep the aliens from conquering Earth. Each playthrough follows the same rough story and difficulty progression, but the circumstances and outcomes can vary dramatically depending how well you can react to everything the game throws at you. I gotta hand it to Goldhawk Interactive: they certainly know their way around a strategy game. The level of depth is on-par with Total War and other grand strategy games, requiring you to make tough decisions and sometimes finding yourself having to choose the lesser of two evils. As you progress, you'll be able to salvage alien technology for research and reverse engineering, allowing you to upgrade your troops and equipment. Despite your soldiers being absolute garbage in the beginning (to their credit, M16s weren't too good against plasma rifles and you'd be a little nervous too fighting aliens for the first time), most enemies can be overcome through the use of defensive tactics, clever ambushes, and keeping behind cover. ... At the end of the day, Xenonauts is a must-have for fans of the alien defense and turn-based RPG disciplines. From its nostalgic visual and story appeal to its deep-yet-intuitive gameplay mechanics having you command multiple operations around the world, Goldhawk's game is a welcome and refreshing addition to the library of anyone who's looking for a good challenge.

Very well executed strategy games that combines the hardcore old-school gameplay of the original UFO: Enemy Unknown with enough of XCOM: Enemy Unknown's streamlined nature so that it can fit into the modern gaming industry.

I really liked the Xcom game firaxis put together. It had smooth combat, good graphics, good risk/reward (losing team members happens a lot)...but yet it wasn't punishingly difficult. Sure, some missions were hell but at least, if you planned well, you could end up with little to no casualties. This game ? Well it's basically the same concept but poorly executed. The game is very difficult and your whole crew will die over and over (a sniper won't hit an alien yet the aliens will oneshot him), the graphics are really poor and overall, you feel like you're watching stats line and a bland world map 80% of the time. The design is really poor and as a result, the game really doesn't feel any fun. Maybe if you like hardcore difficulties, you will like it but then again, even if it wasn't as difficult, the game still wouldn't be much fun.