[h1]A very worthy update of the original X-COM, combining expanded features with the same detailed, difficult strategic and tactical elements of the original. [/h1]
[i]Standard disclaimer: play clock inaccurate - Steam doesn't count offline time[/i]
X-COM was and remains a warhorse of the combat tactics sims. If you want realistically difficult small-unit combat combined with a grand strategy aspect [i]and[/i] a management sim, congratulations: you're describing X-COM. Remaking a game like that is just asking for problems - Firaxis took a respectable run at it with XCOM: Enemy Unknown, but it was still not the same: squads were too small, combat areas too confined and flat.
Enter Xenonauts, a faithful updating of the original X-COM with additions that truly do add to the game.
[h2]Defend the world from alien invasion![/h2]
Ready or not, here comes ET.
[h3]Bases, planes, and ground assault [/h3]
Fundamentally, this is a game with four core aspects: a global detect-and-engage strategic aspect, a base-building aspect, a research-and-upgrade aspect, and a ground-attack tactical aspect. There's a lot to do, and you can't delegate.
Decide where to place bases to give the best radar coverage for your money. Upgrade them with facilities to create the capabilities you feel each one needs, be it a simple radar and interceptor base or a full assault facility. Equip your troops as you see fit and send whole squads out into the field to secure alien crash sites or push back incursions at landing sites in a game of multi-move, multi-dimensional chess.
[h3]Intense ground combat [/h3]
This isn't remake XCOM, this is original X-COM and it's always looking for a way to kick you when you're not looking.
Maps aren't just detailed obstacle courses; they're vertical as well, meaning you need to be looking not just around cover but up for snipers, as well - and you ignore either one at your peril. Situational awareness is critical, and it's a greater challenge than almost any other tactical sim you're likely to have played in part because it's so realistic.
How realistic? Well, did you know that on average, a rifleman in combat will hit with under 50% of shots fired? It's true, and it's going to be your problem, too. Your soldiers are human, and they're going to mess up from time to time, even in a clutch situation. You need to account for it. You have to keep track of at least six soldiers, managing them effectively in combat at all times - and you're still going to lose some because the aliens can see better and have a technology advantage over you. You need to fight smarter tan them to win.
It's very winnable, but it's no cakewalk.
[h3]Improvements over the original [/h3]
This isn't a direct remake with prettier graphics, though. Additions have been made, and they are good. For example: combined arms, a forgotten concept in the original, is yours to use. Deploy armored vehicles alongside your infantry, and not the dinky armed Roombas of X:EU, but actual armored vehicles. They aren't tanks, but they make a huge difference. New challenges, new tools, new graphics - there's a lot to like here.
[h3]XML-based [/h3]
Think you might want to tinker with some variables? Good news there, too: Xenonauts is entirely XML-based for all its core game variables. Tinker to your heart's content.
[h2]But do we really like the world that much?[/h2]
There are a few things that make you question whether you really want to save the world.
[h3]Problematic cover and combat mechanics [/h3]
Nowhere is this more apparent than in what is arguably one of the most critical aspects: cover. Since ground combat is all about moving with cover and managing risk, it's odd that the cover system is probably the single most broken part of the game.
First of all, the indicator system is entirely unintuitive - is red good or bad? Oh, it's [i]maximum[/i] cover? Uh... okay, sure. So I can bunk up against a red cover block and - wait, my guy just got killed?
Yep, that's a literal transcript of my experience early on. What happened? Well, as it turns out, if you run up to even total cover but adjacent to an enemy, the cover is [i]negated[/i]. You know, I'm pretty sure I can come up with a thousand examples of how two opposing soldiers on opposite sides of a concrete wall couldn't shoot each other [i]because the wall was in the way.[/i] Not in Xenonauts; that wall magically becomes transparent to bullets. Make that make sense.
Combat is also governed by how many Time Units each unit has, which effectively dictates how much they can do. Running takes a certain number per tiles, opening doors, using inventory - all sensible. But... looking to the side also takes time? [i]And[/i] turning isn't factored into TU you reserve for combat actions? Well that's so handy. And the reserve system itself is clunky, which breaks the flow of combat.
[h3]Unintuitive design issues, deficient tutorial messages [/h3]
If you're new, expect to spend a lot of time searching forums or bugging your friends who pointed you to the game. There's a lot to learn and the tutorial messages don't really help with a lot of it. "One of your troopers is injured and bleeding!" Okay, he has a medical pack! ...how do I [i]use[/i] it?! Back to la internet for an answer.
Want to deploy a soldier with a rifle and a sidearm? Ha, that pistol is going in his backpack because apparently slings and holsters are lost technology in alternate 1979.
[h3]Frenetic pace means stress [/h3]
If you played Firaxis's XCOM:EU, you have an expectation of pace that is entirely out of place here. Xenonauts starts in media res - there's already been one major incursion that went [i]nuclear[/i], so there's no gentle start here. Your skies are already buzzing with activity as your first base is brought online, so you're starting on the back foot and you're going to stay there to a greater or lesser degree. This is a war of desperation, and you're going to feel it. Expect to have to keep multiple balls juggling at all times, and having multiple ops in the air at once happens more often than you'd think - the one-mission-at-a-time approach of X:EU doesn't exist here.
[h1]The Bottom Line[/h1]
This is not a relaxed, hand-holding strategi-tactical simulation. This is a bare-knuckle brawl in the mud, and you're going to take plenty of lumps. But at the same time, it's also probably the best combat simulation you're going to find that covers the entire scope of operations from small-unit tactical up to strategic, and it does it masterfully.
Ever want to save the world from a full-on alien invasion? Here's your chance.
Good luck, Commander.
