Xenonauts

 PC
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 196 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 140 out of 196
  2. Mixed: 32 out of 196
  3. Negative: 24 out of 196

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  1. TheIstrix
    Sep 10, 2014
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I was really excited for this, and what a disappointment. Xenonauts, under it's own weight is an dull game and if you spent any time at all in the 90s pulse pounding while wondering where that last Muton is, or pulling your hair out when your best unit gets mind controlled by the Sectoid Commander then this game is going to make you want to put your fist through your screen and scream for a refund.

    First the graphics and sounds are just plain bland. Yes, they're higher resolution than the original X-Com, but they completely lack any sense of style or charm. It's like someone just downloaded a generic pack of game assets. Honestly I'd rather look at the old SVGA pixels than the drab unremarkable screens they give you to play. The ufopedia (or what ever they call their version) was actually done really nicely. They should have got that guy to do the whole game. You get a little poof on an explosion, and odd sounds on gun shots. These fall way below what you got in the 90s, let alone the new remakes.

    Second, the gameplay is an atrocity. I lobbed a grenade clear a thin brick wall (luckily it was within the pathetic throw radius) and when it exploded.. no damage to the wall. What? It was supposed to be one of those advanced alien explosive grenades! Half the time your units can hardly move and fire their weapon in the same turn. I get challenge, but come on. The air combat was interesting maybe three times, but you'll find yourself just auto-completing past that. The interface just doesn't feel comfortable I got the feeling quite often of unease from not being able to perform simple commands.

    Lastly nothing in the game made me remotely interested in my soldiers. In the original and the Enemy Unknown remake they managed to get you interested in their survival, to care about your team. I can't think of how many times I thought "nice shot so-and-so" or "noooo! not the sarge!". In Xenonauts they just failed to capture that element that makes you care if your people live or die, and from there any desire to keep playing.

    They did manage a few interesting additions. The air combat could be interesting with some tweeks, and I thought it was kind of cool to get notified that the locals brought down a ufo. It was interesting to touch down on a farm crash site and see Farmer John out there with his shotgun gunning down the buggers. Ultimately though, I agree with a few other reviews that this just felt like an early alpha. Slap some paint on this, tune up the engine, and fix the speakers and you might just have a playable game to market to fanboys and new audiences alike. As it stands now, however, charging money for this game is a travesty.    … Expand
  2. humanbait76
    Sep 9, 2014
    0
    I haven't written a review on Metacritic before, but I signed up as I feel it necessary to warn gamers that Xenonauts is perhaps one of the worst games I've played this year. As someone who was in college when the original XCOM was released back in the 1990's and who can remember playing it on 486's in my dorm room, I can tell you that this game isn't even a close approximation of theI haven't written a review on Metacritic before, but I signed up as I feel it necessary to warn gamers that Xenonauts is perhaps one of the worst games I've played this year. As someone who was in college when the original XCOM was released back in the 1990's and who can remember playing it on 486's in my dorm room, I can tell you that this game isn't even a close approximation of the original XCOM or any of its successors. The graphics are amateur, the interface is clunky and unappealing, and the gameplay is horrid. If you are looking for a game of this genre to play, go purchase the original XCOM on steam or get jagged alliance 2. Those are perhaps the 2 treasures that defined this genre and Xenonauts isn't worth your time or money.… Expand
  3. seirak
    Jun 15, 2015
    0
    Don't be cheated. This game looks like classical turn-based strategy game but it's not.
    I strongly recommend you do not play this.
    Aerial combat? You had better let it auto-combat. manually combat is boring, no funny. Ground combat? You will be recognized that Aliens knows all about your troops. Who is weakest, Who is injured and their sight is farther. They can shoot your men at the    Don't be cheated. This game looks like classical turn-based strategy game but it's not.
    I strongly recommend you do not play this.

    Aerial combat? You had better let it auto-combat. manually combat is boring, no funny.
    Ground combat? You will be recognized that Aliens knows all about your troops. Who is weakest, Who is injured and their sight is farther. They can shoot your men at the place where your troops can't shoot or see, so they shoot the wall to damage your soldier behind it. What the hell? Sometimes, their shots ignore obstacles!
    Yes, aiming system of this game is much inferior than JA2, old Xcom series.

    Psionics. This exists for fxxking you. You have no way to defend it, but caesan, praetor use psionic attack without finding or seeing your soldiers. When your turn ends, Psionic spamming begin and your veteran go mad and your troops become shattered. Only bravery is for defeding psionics, but you cannot improve it sufficiently by normal playing.

    Remember this. Save scumming is the only way to clear this game even if you are veteran gamer.

    1. This game designed to fxxk players - aliens know all of you.
    2. Poor aiming system
    3. You have no way to defend Psionic attack. It'll crush you.
    4. It is absolutely inferior than old games like Xcom3 apocalypse, Jagged alliance2

    You wanna play this??? Grants that you have several extra mouses.    … Expand
  4. deskrit
    Feb 7, 2017
    2
    A legitimately bad game masquerading as a decent XCOM remake. Man, I had a review in my head about this game but as I sit here getting ready to write it all down i just find myself drained of energy thinking about this game. Its basically everything you loved about XCOM but distilled down and made tedious, clunky (not that the original XCOM wasnt a bit clunky even in its day)andA legitimately bad game masquerading as a decent XCOM remake. Man, I had a review in my head about this game but as I sit here getting ready to write it all down i just find myself drained of energy thinking about this game. Its basically everything you loved about XCOM but distilled down and made tedious, clunky (not that the original XCOM wasnt a bit clunky even in its day)and artificially difficult. I have heard it described as a puzzle game more than a strategy/tactics game and I feel that is very true. Instead of planning out battles and strategy, you are simply guessing which research is the "right" one or which broken combat mechanic you need to exploit for the next battle.

    But none of that really matters. The ONLY thing that actually exists in this game is the AWFUL, unspeakably bad air-combat minigame. The ENTIRE game is dependent on it. And its awful. Just so bad, unfun, stupid, broken, and repetitive. Note I didnt say hard, because its not. Its dog simple because its so easily manipulated for victories that its pointless. Except its the most important thing, because ALL of your "reputation" with other nations is based on how long and how many UFO's you allow to roam their airspace, and the game is idiotically unforgiving. You let a few get by, and you lose the campaign. But you wont know it for awhile, its only a little while later that you realize your rep dropped so much from those 2 UFO's that you missed that your funding level dropped to the point that you can no longer continue. The nations of earth do not care that you stopped 90 + UFO's in one month, and killed hundreds of alien soldiers on the ground. They only care that you let 2 slip through and a fishing trawler was strafed costing the lives of 2 fishermen. NO MORE FUNDING FOR YOU.

    The air-combat very much encapsulates the entire game: artificial difficulty pretending to be challenge and depth that completely falls apart as soon as you put a modicum of effort into it. All you need to win any air battle is one plane to bait, and other planes to shoot, and thats LITERALLY IT. The types of planes change, but ultimately dont matter. And as mentioned above, the entire game is built around this. You will very quickly learn this and have so much money that it trivializes the game. And..YOU HAVE TO DO THIS OVER AND OVER AND OVER, OFTEN 100+ TIMES A MONTH (the games time measurement). You will have 5 or 6 ufos appear, click intercept, click the planes, click the UFO and do this 6 times. Then press time acceleration and have to fight 6 tedious air battles that all play out EXACTLY the same, and i mean that. EXACTLY. Also, the air battles have Atari graphics, and thats not an exaggeration either.

    The types of aliens you fight on the ground change. You get better weapons, but they are 100% graphical and have 0 effect on combat. You have beautiful artwork on the ground maps, but none of it matters. It is there to obfuscate and create the illusion of depth and tactics. The ground battles are almost exactly like the air battles except the terrain is procedurally generated and the computer cheats profusely to the point that its actually pretty enjoyable to just watch them break line of sight, shoot through walls, move the equivalent of 100- 200 movement points a turn (your soldiers typically have 40-60), dodge multiple 95+% hit chance shots, ignore AOE damage from grenades and rockets, and just generally do everything a game like this should never, ever do.

    I want to go deeper into the ground combat but im getting near to the character limit on this website and im just about out of energy. Just to say, that if you willfully lobotomize your good sense, you can get some challenge out of the ground combat. It looks wonderful, and can be highly amusing, but this involves ignoring the terrible AI and purposefully ignoring the handful of things that break the game.The problem is that if you dont use them, you will just die to the bad fundamental design.

    Amuse yourself for a second here, just trust me.Go to google or whatever search engine. Search xenonauts strategy. Specifically search Terror Mission strategy or Base Assault. Those are 2 of the most difficult mission types. Now, just read what people say on forums. Here, let me help you:

    "Just load up your guys with explosives"
    "Give everyone a rocket launcher"
    "You havent been using rocket launchers and C4?"
    "Didnt you bring enough rockets?"
    "Did you forget to switch out all gear for rockets and C4 on some new soldiers?"
    "Just load your men down with C4 and rockets until the inventory is full, drop all that stuff at your starting point and come back and get more rockets and C4 when your guys run out"
    "Just start shooting rockets into the fog of war when the map starts, if you can see terrain shoot at it."
    "Oh the civillian casualties, yeah dont worry it says you have to save them but the game doesnt track it, just shoot rockets everywhere"

    Thats xenonauts    … Expand
  5. riley794
    Jun 20, 2015
    4
    It's like if Xcom: Enemy Unknown but without a story and with 20 year old graphics. Maybe if X:EU wasn't made this game would be worth picking up but all this game made me want to do is reinstall X:EU. It's weird because I love Wasteland 2 because I loved Fallout 1 and 2. However, Fallout 3 went way off into left field which is why I like Wasteland 2 so much. However, this game isIt's like if Xcom: Enemy Unknown but without a story and with 20 year old graphics. Maybe if X:EU wasn't made this game would be worth picking up but all this game made me want to do is reinstall X:EU. It's weird because I love Wasteland 2 because I loved Fallout 1 and 2. However, Fallout 3 went way off into left field which is why I like Wasteland 2 so much. However, this game is just an original XCom ripoff that pales in comparison to X:EU.
    And yes I have been drinking why do you ask?    … Expand
  6. cleavland
    Jul 13, 2014
    0
    This is a truly awful game. After reading some of the reviews on here, I thought that it might not be that bad and in fact might be a good alternative to XCOM Enemy Unknown, but that is very incorrect.
    Cover system does not work
    Every turn is separated by a loading screen which displays only 1 image. Economy at a preschool level Extraordinarily Clunky UI A PDF for a tutorial Hidden    This is a truly awful game. After reading some of the reviews on here, I thought that it might not be that bad and in fact might be a good alternative to XCOM Enemy Unknown, but that is very incorrect.
    Cover system does not work
    Every turn is separated by a loading screen which displays only 1 image.
    Economy at a preschool level
    Extraordinarily Clunky UI
    A PDF for a tutorial
    Hidden enemy movement when INSIDE YOUR FIELD OF VIEW
    Graphics from Pokemon gold
    They should pay you to play this game (save your money!)
    Others...    … Expand
  7. sirocco
    Apr 6, 2016
    1
    I hate games whose developers don't even try to create even the mockery of an artificial intelligence, instead give ridiculous hit bonuses to the enemies.
    I hate developers who base their game on hit chances and have the AI make all the low chance shots, while have NO weakness and an endless supply of unerring troops, while I have to try and keep everyone alive.
    I hate developers who    I hate games whose developers don't even try to create even the mockery of an artificial intelligence, instead give ridiculous hit bonuses to the enemies.
    I hate developers who base their game on hit chances and have the AI make all the low chance shots, while have NO weakness and an endless supply of unerring troops, while I have to try and keep everyone alive.
    I hate developers who claim sometimes **** happens. Life doesn't work like that. Life is based on skill, but this game is not.    … Expand
  8. saz
    Jul 14, 2014
    0
    Really bad. Played Xcom for gees, 20 years. Clunky UI, dated graphics, just hard to play and enjoy. I did play it for a day but I couldn't finish a single game.
  9. SRKNZ
    Oct 12, 2019
    4
    The obvious comparison for a game like this one is UFO: Enemy Unknown. Regrettably this title is a mediocre facsimile of a much better classic game.

    Key shortcomings lie in the game physics. Even experienced troops make incessant rookie mistakes, shooting other soldiers, aiming with an inexplicable lack of accuracy at close range and being unable to fire over basic obstacles like cars    The obvious comparison for a game like this one is UFO: Enemy Unknown. Regrettably this title is a mediocre facsimile of a much better classic game.

    Key shortcomings lie in the game physics. Even experienced troops make incessant rookie mistakes, shooting other soldiers, aiming with an inexplicable lack of accuracy at close range and being unable to fire over basic obstacles like cars that are not even obstructing them. Grenade handling is not a lot better.

    The other problem is the balancing system which makes is heavily levelled against you. Too heavily in my opinion.

    I completed this game but I found it more frustrating and irritating than I could have said it was enjoyable.    … Expand
  10. LucasMdP
    Jul 24, 2020
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Bienvenidos fanáticos de X-Com. No esperen la amabilidad de los Enemy Unknown. Este es un juego la vieja usanza. La mejor experiencia, XCom, en la actualidad, la van a encontrar en Phoenix Point. Tanto gráficamente como a nivel jugabilidad.
    Xenonauts, el juego que estoy puntuando. Es un juego que no le interesa que sea un juego. Me explico. No va a facilitar ninguna tarea y muchísimo menos, perdonarte la vida. Se encuentran todos los elementos reconocibles de la saga X-Com.
    Se está desarrollando un Xenonauts 2, el cual, se mantiene con cierto hermetismo, lamentablemente.    … Expand
  11. Foronghy
    Sep 14, 2021
    0
    First I love the concept. But after I bought it... Every 5 second just asked myself Why? Why this or that thing to difficult and why not working that I expect? The original X-COM was a simple concept and simple gameplay why these guy changed it? Everything too complicated everything too difficult in the menus everything too...too much. Don't waste your money don't buy this game.

Awards & Rankings

66
#66 Best PC Game of 2011
82
#82 Most Discussed PC Game of 2011
51
#51 Most Shared PC Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 21
  3. Negative: 1 out of 21
  1. Pelit (Finland)
    Jan 21, 2015
    84
    If you wish to dethrone the Eternal Emperor of computer gaming, you can't have gaping holes in your armor, and thanks to the repeating and completely flat terrains as well as some balancing issues, that's precisely what Xenonauts has. However, in many other ways this is the best UFO-game thus far and thanks to modability and an active community, we just might be witnessing the birth of a legend. [Jan 2015]
  2. CD-Action
    Oct 22, 2014
    70
    A worthy tribute to UFO: Enemy Unknown/X-COM: UFO Defense, but far from perfect. If you feel that your inner hard core gamer is not dead yet, give it a try and have fun. [Sept 2014, p.64]
  3. Riot Pixels
    Aug 27, 2014
    70
    Retro looks can only get you so far, and in the case of Xenonauts, the longer you play it, the more annoying things you discover. A primitive leveling up system (there are no classes or special abilities), contrived combat mechanics, a moth-eaten 2D engine that doesn’t know how to rotate or zoom. In the end, the strategic part becomes much more interesting than tactical battles.
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