I gotta say, I was also pretty disappointed in the XCOM:EU demake. The thing is, I was far more disappointing in how many complained about the difficulty, I beat the game on classic in under 15 hours. It's incredibly simple and the AI is terrible, the AI doesn't even communicate nor take shots at you or prepare in any way shape or form. I understand the three abductions choose one mechanic to put you on the clock but as a mechanic it feels kinda cheap and doesn't do that great a job. Mixed unit tactics are limited to mutons and berserkers which is a joke and each unit type has a very predictable behavior type which is easily countered by the time you run into them. I mean, by the time you run into sectopods, lightning reflexes+run n' gun+rapid fire with two assualts and they're dead. No challenge, no depth, and the thing that really kills me, I started a second playthrough on ironman classic and got halfway through and just stopped playing, the game is so linear that there is no real replay style. The maps? 80% of the maps feel the same in a bad way. Oh hey I'm in that forest with a path of broken trees that leads me one and a half turns to the UFO with aliens on the right or left side and inside as well. Battleship mission was a bust too, alloy cannons, titan/arachangel kit and full plasma sorta turned it into a meat grinder for the aliens.
Anyways, it finally pushed me over the edge to preorder this game which I've had my eye on for a long time, please don't let me down!
tldr: xcom:eu-->e-z-p-z wash/rinse/repeat & no replay value, please do a good job on xenonauts!