Tokyo Xanadu eX+ immediately felt reminiscent of the Persona series. It initially feels VERY similar, to the point where you might confise the two. Further into the game it develops its own flavor which is not at all bad. I think it compares unfavourably to Persona 3/4, but it is still a solid and entertaining game. For those unfamiliar with the concept, the game is a mix of social sim and JRPG dungeon crawler. During the social part of the game you walk around and talk to different characters, improving social bonds and discovering they story. Lots of cutscenes and dialogue. Then you do combat runs through different dungeons. + Interesting story + Lots of things to discover - Dialogue is corny at times - Doesn't seem to support my DualShock controller, and mouse+keyboard is not optimal
This is a game i keep returning to over and over. Yes, there are more modern games. There are games that do some things better. There's a sequel. Yet, I keep returning to this gem after trying out other alternatives. Why is the game great? The replayability is simply excellent. There are six different races that are actually DIFFERENT. They aren't just different skins on generic units; they actually have different game mechanics, different techs and different ships. Moreover, tech is random meaning some games you just won't get that very useful tech at the beginning meaning you have to alter your strategy to compensate. To top it off, there are alien menaces that can significantly alter each game. Anything that might put you off? There are some crashes, most of which revolve around having too many ships in a combat. Annoying, but you can avoid them. The galaxy map is 3D, not a top-down 2D map. It (literally) adds a new dimension - but also makes it harder to interpret the map. Not a negative in my opinion, but I can see some people feeling that it make things difficult.
I was surprised when i noticed that this is an indie title; it doesn't show (in a good way). The graphics are gorgeous, voice-acting good, I never encountered any game-breaking bugs and the game is solid quality-wise. To sum it up, this is a quality production. Yes, there are some minor bugs, but they didn't detract from the experience for me. The puzzles are often on the easy side, but that is quite OK. There are a few harder ones as well. So why only 3 stars? I basically have 2 gripes with the game. Firstly, it seems that you spend too much time watching animations an cutscenes. When experimenting with the puzzles I often found myself clicking and then having to wait 10s for an animation where the game character walked across the screen and attempted an action. A speed setting where you could increase the animation speed would have been much appreciated. Secondly, the story i very environmentalist to the point where it gets a bit preachy. I found it a bit offputting, but that's my personal preference. If you're into Greta Thunberg and climate alarmism, this is made for you. For me, it's a solid point-and-click that is definitely worth the time playing but nothing to get too excited about.
I can see myself liking this. If only... The Quest is an old-style dungeon crawl, but don't expect something akin to The Legend of Grimrock. Graphics are passable and the story seems decent. Unfortunately it fails when it comes to the UI and animation. UI is kludgy, and bugs me quite a bit after playin an hour or so. Small things like no feedback on which things are clickable, or containers only being accessible when looked at from the correct angle (seemingly needs to be in lower left corner of the screen). Animations, too, are annoying. There's no reason a game like this should not slow down when a single enemy appears on the map - but the design where you get to move and then the enemy gets to move while you are frozen (and the enemy animation is rather slow) makes for a rather stuttering experience. I get that the game has some promise, but unfortunately there are many more games that provide a better experience that I'd rather play. For now, at least. Maybe I'll try again some day.
These are my first impressions after playing the tutorial and the first couple of missions after that. Why write a review that soon? Because, sadly, I'm unsure for how much longer I am going to keep playing. As others have stated, you will recognize most things if you've played Xenonauts or XCOM before. The setup is familiar - you're defending earth from an alien invasion, you need to build bases and launch interceptors to bring down UFOs and send tactical teams to deal with alien incursions. Nothing bad with that; the formula worked well before and a few small changes here and a new twist there can turn it into a fresh experience. However... as you've probably surmised there's also a few issues that spoil the experience. In short, the game improves on the first game in some ways but seems like a downgrade in other ways. It definitely feels less refined, and I guess that might change since it is still in development. Still, the graphics are less appealing to me than the original and have a cartoonish feel. The load times are worse and the gameplay feels more kludgy. On the plus side there are improvements to gameplay, You can rotate the camera, you have different firing modes, you can preview hit chances after moving - all good things, but not enough to overcome the awkward gameplay in general. This is really sad, as I was excited about this game. Maybe it can still deliver with updates, and I rate it as three stars mostly because there is promise here of a good game. In the meantime, I suggest that Phoenix Point is a better modern XCOM style game - or just play another game of the original Xenonauts!
You will recognize lots of things: the "defending the earth from alien invasion" scenario, the geoscape, base building, tactical battles, dissecting aliens to research new technologies and more. Yet there are enough new and fresh things to catch your interest: targetable body parts, biotech, human factions and diplomacy are the ones that come to mind, but there are more. In summary, the game is similar to XCOM, but is its own game. Many of the things that have been added improve the game, and if they had been well executed this would have been the better game. Sadly, the execution is where the game fails. Not completely, but enough to make it less enjoyable. At the point of writing, most bugs seem to have been fixed; at least the game doesn't crash for me. I had to validate the game files on a few occasions, however. So the game is playable - and it is definitely well worth playing at least once or twice. As you play, however, you will start noticing that the parts just don't fit together all that well, which sadly detracts from replayability. There are choices, but they don't seem to have enough consequences to matter. Some things are weird and don't work well. Other things are different and seem interesting at first, but turn out to be pretty meaningless. I'm definitely enjoying the game, and I think I am getting my money's worth - but I don't think I will be playing Phoenix Point over and over again.
This is a well-made and refreshing take on the RPG formula. Admittedly, I've only played for 20-25h, but so far the game has managed to feel fresh throughout rather than feeling like a grind. In part, this may be because I'm new to the D&D 5e rules, but even if that is the case the game does a good job of implementing the ruleset in a manner that keeps combat interesting rather than mindless. The variation in available classes may be lacking compared to other offerings, but the choices you do have seem more meaningful and relevant. I'm also impressed with the way puzzles feel integrated with the system rather than feeling forced or out-of-place. The game embraces the 3rd dimension and several of the early puzzles are based on simply moving in a 3D environment. This is low-key compared to more traditional puzzles that requre activating switches or putting special things in special containers - but it feels much more integrated with the environment and make spells that enables special movement much more important and interesting. For example, I cannot recall ever considering "jump" to be a useful spell in a game before. The only downside I've seen thus far is the storytelling/acting. Mind you, I'm not saying it is bad - but it certainly compares unfavorably to many other games. Character models and especially faces aren't the best, and watching cutscenes makes me cringe slightly simply because most NPCs look too much like automaton rather than people. However, this is a point that I'm more than willing to overlook considering how the gameplay is very enjoyable otherwise. Bottom line - this game focuses more on balanced and interesting mechanics than on superficial looks. It breaks the mold and presents something limited but interesting, rather than massive and grind-y. It reminds me of Evil Islands in that the mechanics consistently surprise me by being deeper and more sophisticated than you might initially think.
This is one of the few games that have made it into my "I'm going to play this over and over again" list along with classics like Civilization and Master of Orion. It gets only 4 stars becuase of some annoying bugs; if those are fixed in future patches it is a solid 5 star title. I don't think I've had a complete crash yet, but there are a few rather annoying bugs like the game playing all my previous achivements when I start it which takes something like 2-3 minutes of annoying fanfares and messages like "your leader got the title of Fountainhead". The good: Graphics are excellent and the balance seems right. One nice feature is how the game avoids most of the (usually boring) endgame by having decent victory conditions that allow you to win the game without eliminating every last opponent. In fact, conquest seems rather difficult from my (limited) experience - something that helps keep the game interesting throughout. One of the mechanisms used to achieve this is "orders" - a resource limiting the numer of units you can move each turn, making exploits like a horde rush more difficult to pull off. Nice new mechanism that keep you on your toes and make games interesting and fun. The slightly less good: The only thing I don't enjoy quite as much is the micromanagement of the development of your family members. Honestly it distracts a bit from playing the game for me. A typical turn may consist of 4-5 popup messages allowing you to choose if your heir should get a +1 bonus to wisdom or charisma and you need to read a blurb of text explaining the event, then check each option to see the effect and last of all check the family member in question to see what seems to work best with that person in particular. End result is that i probably spend more time reading the reports and responding to events than I do planning for how I should expand my empire which IMHO is the wrong balance. I'll put this down to preference, though. I'm sure other love this aspect of the game.
