Xenonauts Review (PC)

very good
key review info
  • Game: Xenonauts
  • Platform: PC
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: No
  • Reviewed on:
Alien action

My dropship is on the ground as I prepare to explore my third UFO crash site in order to collect alien items for research and some bodies that my scientist can analyze, and I am fairly confident after losing just one soldier in the last two engagements.

And then the door of the Chinook drops and I see a lizard staring straight at me, taking one shot at the best operative I have, who specializes in assault.

He gets shot with some kind of energy weapon, panics and moves to the back, but I manage to take out the alien with the rest of my squad, and I allow myself to hope that this will turn out ok, especially after I patch up my wounded soldier.

The rest of the arctic landscape seems nearly devoid of life, and I slowly creep my way to the crashed alien craft, creating a perimeter designed to maximize the amount of firepower I can deliver.

I then use a rocket launcher to create an opening and I am quickly welcomed by three angry aliens who unluckily manage to kill my assault trooper, who had returned to the frontline.

I have finished the mission with one dead soldier and three promotions, which is a good deal in the world of Xenonauts.

Story

Xenonauts can be the story of how Earth managed to unite and work together in order to respond with force and ingenuity to a powerful alien invasion, and of how the squads of one capable commander managed to hold and push back the enemy despite their superior tech.

But, for most gamers, the title will mostly be about those moments when the Earth tried to fight an alien assault and failed miserably because a sniper managed to shoot his own friends in the back before any other creature made contact.

Xenonauts is a game which takes the classic X-Com experience as inspiration and never strays too far from its core concepts, even if the story and the mechanics are improved here and there and the whole package comes with some quite generous resources for fans to learn about the experience and its unique elements.

Review image
Review image
Battle time
Inside strategy

The narrative created by the developers at Goldhawk Interactive is pretty limited, but gives the player plenty of space to create his own stories of failure, or the most common or uncommon heroism.

This is also a great way of creating freedom for gamers to focus on the mechanics of the title, which involve the classic squad-based firefights, but also aerial engagements, resource management, and careful use of alien tech and weaponry.

Gameplay

Those who have played the original X-Com created by Julian Gollop or the new XCOM from Firaxis will be instantly familiar with the concepts behind Xenonauts, but the developers at Goldhawk Games have also introduces some new elements in order to improve the overall experience.

The core of the game is based on turn-based tactical battles that pit a squad of human soldiers against aliens in a deadly dance which can result in the defeat of the human force – a sign that the campaign needs to be restarted, or the death of all invaders, which means that Earth can live for another day.

Each character has an allocation of time units, which can be used to move, fire, change perspective, crouch and use other abilities.

Players have to carefully manage them in order to make sure that they get into advantageous tactical position and into cover while also scouting the entire level for potential alien threats.

Xenonauts is not a forgiving game, and this means it’s important for players to make sure that they have overlapping fields of fire covering potential angles of approach and that they leave as many characters as possible with the time units required to get off a reaction shot.

Initially, the large size of the squad gave me some comfort, but it’s extremely easy to lose them to enemy fire, so make sure that you move forces carefully and prepare for even the most unlikely enemy moves.

The fact that the combat is longer than in Enemy Unknown is positive at first, because it allows the player to be more tactical in his approach, but as Xenonauts progresses, the maps and the situations can become a little repetitive.

When aliens are eliminated, the players return to the strategic map, where they can control the research priorities of the Xenonauts force, the new weapons that can be manufactured, and the deployment of other hardware that can keep the world safe.

The game is structured to be a long hard slog, and initially, the odds are clearly against the player, which can be a little frustrating, but during the mid and the end game, the experience is more balanced and engaging.

The initial base the player has only covers a limited airspace and it’s important to choose a good moment to expand to other continents and nations in order to secure the funding that they can provide.

I originally built a second base very quickly, but I then learned that it’s a better idea to focus on development and research initially and only move to another country once you have at least updated interceptors to work with.

I like the fact that the game understands that patience and careful panning were central to the old X-Com experience, but modern players might get a little distressed by the slow pace and the heavy punishments placed upon failure.

Review image
Review image
Base assault
Tech progress

One of the new elements in Xenonauts is the way UFO interceptions work, with the player able to give his pilots orders in order to make sure that the pesky invaders are brought down as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

I played both the original Firaxis-made XCOM: Enemy Unknown and its expansion Enemy Within for more than 100 hours, and I became pretty proficient at keeping my squads alive even in the face of powerful enemy forces.

In Xenonauts, I got my entire team killed more times than I care to count, and that is a sign that the development team has stayed much closer to the difficulty offered by the classic X-Com titles.

Newcomers to the game and to the turn-based strategy genre should first play on Easy in order to get a feel of the core mechanics, while also making sure to read the quickstart guide and the manual, before moving to the more difficult settings and having a real go at taking out the enemy force.

Xenonauts is the kind of game that encourages constant saving, both because defeat can come quickly and surprisingly, and because there are still some moments when the game crashes to desktop.

Graphics and audio

Xenonauts is not a visual spectacle, but the choices made by the development team are solid given their resources, and Goldhawk Interactive managed to offer players a clean user interface, which is easy to understand, as well as graphical elements that make it easy to coordinate the defense of the Earth.

It might take some time to get familiar with the way the game is structured, especially in the strategic view, but once that happens, it’s easy to guide research, manufacture items, intercept enemies, and keep tabs on soldiers and the medals that they earn.

The sound design for Xenonauts is also adequate if not impressive, but the various grunts and moans of the aliens tend to become a little bit annoying in the long term.


The Good

  • Complex strategy mechanics
  • Deep tactical battles
  • Streamlined UI

The Bad

  • Combat can get repetitive
  • Has a learning curve

Conclusion

Xenonauts is a good game, designed specifically to appeal to the group of gamers who have solid memories of the classic X-Com experience and want to play something that’s familiar and slightly different at the same time.

The tactical squad-based combat is engaging and has plenty of depth, although there are moments when it also feels a little too long and the various human soldiers seem much too dumb to be the first line of defense against an alien invasion.

This is a game that specializes in creating tension, and when the stakes are high, the core mechanics shine, giving the player the tools to create impressive victories and big tactical defeats.

Xenonauts was the first attempt to bring classic X-Com into modernity, and even if Firaxis managed to deliver its own take on the idea much faster, this is an experience that can easily suck up hundreds of hours and deliver a lot of tactically-powered fun.

Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
story 8
gameplay 8
concept 9
graphics 7
audio 7
multiplayer 0
final rating 8
Editor's review
very good