Xenonauts

The game plays like an updated/modded copy of the first XCOM. It copies the good and the bad stuff. While the graphics might look more modern, the atmosphere and the music are rather bland than memorable like that of the classic original. One thing that is better here is that hit chance is displayed. But on the other hand, it is often difficult to see which angle allows a shot. Also the line of sight is strange and no indications where enemies have been or could be, though a soldier just turn around or heard a noise.

There is already quite a list of UFO/XCom-Games (like "Aftermath" or "XCOM"). The most famous might be the modern and good looking XCOM (1 and 2). But none have come so close to the original as this one. I played about 15 hours so far. It feels like coming home. The developers really tried hard to improve and polish (f. e. to make the interceptor missons more interesting) but to stay true to the original. Unlike XCOM, with its polished graphics and extensive goodies to make your soldiers like fancy, this one looks bland and old fashioned. All in all, I am extremly pleased. I liked some of the new stuff in XCOM, Afterlight, Interceptor or Apocalypse, but no other successor caught the original atmosphere as this one.

As a long time X-COM fan, in fact since the release of the DOS Enemy Unknown, I was looking forward to this remake. What a disappointment! I must say that it looks great and the combat management and base management are true to the original (With certain minor omissions that I consider irrelevant). Combat is very though even at normal difficulty setting. Your opponents are faster, more accurate and much better equipped than the best of your squad. However, since it's possible to save the game whenever you wish, it evens up the chances as far as I'm concerned. Where it breaks totally for me, it's the very short time you have before funding is cut and countries turn against you. It makes the game totally unfair and kills any feeling of accomplishment you may have. Events are happening outside your zone of control and without any possibility for you to intervene. Click on it, double click on it, right click on it but you'll never be able to make it a target for your fighters or send a squad to investigate. Nevertheless, you are penalized. This is made even worse because, regardless of where you put your base to start, the AI will automatically move the action outside of your action zone. Again, it's possible to try to mitigate this by saving often , reloading and hoping to get a better dice roll but it's a totally useless aggravation that brings nothing to the game. In the end though it's NOT a steam game, no DRM and the price on GoG is very acceptable. So, if you're a X-COM unconditional get it and hope for an update....

I played the modern XCOM EW and I love it. I can't say the same for this game. The game is indeed challenging and provides room for the player to improvise. It is also quick to load. However the game suffers from the steep learning curve, bad UI and map design. For example there is no information on what each role do and which stats it needs, On the battlefield there is no information on how to use each item and what it does on hover, making memorization of tutorials on the very first mission extremely tedious. More importantly the line of sights mechanics is really inconsistent and counter inuitive plus the high cost of each action. These are not big issues on normal difficulty but it is no fun to play on higher difficulties.

If you liked the old X-COM you are at the right spot here. The game removes many annoyances one has with the old interface, adds key bindings and so on. The code is not buggy as up to now and the feeling is good, though I would have liked some new ideas and as with all clones fire and smoke is not very well embedded in the gaming concept. Else it is a solid remake of the original first part of the XCOM: ENEMY UNKNOWN.