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.
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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.
