My Review of Xenonauts 2 Milestone5 [5.38.1]

[Wyldefyre_CP]

Ok, I've been a huge fan of this game and its predecessor for a very long time now.  This is my first time completing the entire Xeno2 game and I have a lot to say, so bear with me; I may find the need to gush a bit about the stuff I really, really like, and zero in on the things I'm still not a fan of.  There will be a lot more of the former and a lot less of the latter, though!

 

1.  Huge Props for the new Operative System !!!  I must've been on vacation or bogged down with work and missed one of the update emails, as I didn't even know this was in the works until I started playing the newest experimental run through.  I can't say with enough emphasis how much I LOVE this new Op Sys, and some of the benefits you get from completing a continental 'supporter collective'.  One thing I will say - and I suppose it's a bit of a spoiler but it's also an opinion - if you want to achieve full value out of this new system, you'd better start knocking out the Supporter: Intelligence missions early.  I think I mucked around with a couple other choices early but quickly realized my mistake and went after each of these with a vengeance afterwards.  Getting those extra Operative Points per day increased to the Max (+20) is imperative to allow you the freedom to then pursue all the other Supporter options.  I think I spent 100 OP on both 'Raise Funds' and "Reduce Panic' early in the game.  Looking back on that, I think the Raise Funds was important for an early jump on base building/research/workshops etc.  Playing it on only Soldier Difficulty, I think I could have gotten away without using the other 100 pts on Reduce Panic like I did.  While I never spent any Op points on requesting more Alenium or Alloys, I think it's great that that is an option that is available if needed.  Really, this whole system is a homerun to me now and I'm loving it.

2.  Really Appreciate seeing more Interactions with the Operations Director and Chief Scientist.  Some might find this unnecessary or a silly thing to talk about in a review, but I found this interaction to truly heighten my gameplay experience.  I want to actually give a darn about the fate of the world and the people I'm working with to save humanity, and this additional interaction helps flesh out the characters and the storyline for me, especially approaching the mid and end game scenarios.  I would have liked one last interactive scene between them after completing endgame - perhaps that's still a work in progress - but I'm satisfied with what's been offered.

3.  Finally, some freedom with Aircraft Armament!  Yes, I've been extremely vocal about this for years.  I'm super pumped to say I really got some options to explore this time through on the gameplay.  While it still feels quite restrictive - and I have no idea how the implementation of pods that I've been hearing about will affect this - I was able to approach the Gemini ship builds with 2 very different aircraft.  While my number was limited (only 2 per base, and I'll talk more about that later in the review) I had one Gemini armed with 2 Fusion Lances, Shielded Plating and a Fuel Pod (which was totally unnecessary but I added it because I could, and it was the only thing that cost only 1 Payload weight, lol).  This was my longer range 'DPS Ship'.  The next Gemini was my 'Tank' ... equipped with 2 Gauss Blasters.  Why Gauss Blasters when I had Fusion Lances available?  Well, glad you asked.  Coming in at weights of 5 each as opposed to the 6 of the Fusion Lances, arming my Gemini with 2 GBs allowed me the option to do something I'd never done before - put a 2nd set of armor on an aircraft - weighing 3 apiece, 2 Shielded Plating made this thing an absolute beast, and you can bet I put it out in front of my DPS.  What about the short range of the GBs?  Honestly, not an issue whatsoever.  Simply hit the Afterburners on both aircraft until you've got the cones on the target ship and then take them off to start chewing the aliens up.  Did I miss not having missiles on either ship?  Not one darn bit.  In fact, I didn't even bother researching them until I had basically nothing else left for the scientists to do, but that's another point to discuss further down in the review.  Back to the positives, I'm thrilled I was able to do something different with the aircraft.  I hope that versatility remains in the final game product.

4.  The Art.  Lovin' It!  All the small but very important bits - the character armors, the weapons, the equipment, the aliens, the battlefields, the crashed UFOs - your team has done a solid job of making all of this a great experience.  Kudos!

5.  The Sound Effects & Music.  Solid work.  Definitely helps keep me immersed in the game.

6.  I See You Brought The City Killer back, and that was (surprisingly) ok.  Definitely appreciated the timing of when this was reintroduced into the game, and it had a sense of belonging in there that I didn't really feel in early iterations.  The missions to go out and deal with it were also fun experiences.  That there was more to still do after that, also a big plus.

7.  Specially Engineered Equipment.  While I didn't utilize all of these, having the options to select among so many of them was very welcome.  I deviated from my normal game run throughs this time by going after the Actuator Modules once my soldiers started wearing the Vanguard Armor.  Initially, I was just going to use this as a 'leg up' for those soldiers who were lacking a bit in the strength department, but I think by the endgame I had everyone using them.  The combination of extra TUs on the Vanguard Armor and the extra Strength provided by the Actuators allowed me to do some extra attacks with soldiers - akin to the early days of Xenonauts 2 - that I hadn't been able to do otherwise.  I missed those days and that option, so I was very glad to see that back!  

I'm not sure if I'm all gushed out here - there are likely some other things that I really liked that I will have to come back to here, but this has gotten rather lengthy already!

Those were the positive points - I think I will break the review down into 2 additional posts - one with the new things I appreciated seeing but didn't end up utilizing for various reasons - and then the second which will mostly focus on the reasons why some of those options fell by the wayside for me, along with some suggestions for how to mitigate those issues.

 

[Chris]

49 minutes ago, Wyldefyre_CP said:

Ok, I've been a huge fan of this game and its predecessor for a very long time now.  This is my first time completing the entire Xeno2 game and I have a lot to say, so bear with me; I may find the need to gush a bit about the stuff I really, really like, and zero in on the things I'm still not a fan of.  There will be a lot more of the former and a lot less of the latter, though!

 

1.  Huge Props for the new Operative System !!!  I must've been on vacation or bogged down with work and missed one of the update emails, as I didn't even know this was in the works until I started playing the newest experimental run through.  I can't say with enough emphasis how much I LOVE this new Op Sys, and some of the benefits you get from completing a continental 'supporter collective'.  One thing I will say - and I suppose it's a bit of a spoiler but it's also an opinion - if you want to achieve full value out of this new system, you'd better start knocking out the Supporter: Intelligence missions early.  I think I mucked around with a couple other choices early but quickly realized my mistake and went after each of these with a vengeance afterwards.  Getting those extra Operative Points per day increased to the Max (+20) is imperative to allow you the freedom to then pursue all the other Supporter options.  I think I spent 100 OP on both 'Raise Funds' and "Reduce Panic' early in the game.  Looking back on that, I think the Raise Funds was important for an early jump on base building/research/workshops etc.  Playing it on only Soldier Difficulty, I think I could have gotten away without using the other 100 pts on Reduce Panic like I did.  While I never spent any Op points on requesting more Alenium or Alloys, I think it's great that that is an option that is available if needed.  Really, this whole system is a homerun to me now and I'm loving it.

2.  Really Appreciate seeing more Interactions with the Operations Director and Chief Scientist.  Some might find this unnecessary or a silly thing to talk about in a review, but I found this interaction to truly heighten my gameplay experience.  I want to actually give a darn about the fate of the world and the people I'm working with to save humanity, and this additional interaction helps flesh out the characters and the storyline for me, especially approaching the mid and end game scenarios.  I would have liked one last interactive scene between them after completing endgame - perhaps that's still a work in progress - but I'm satisfied with what's been offered.

3.  Finally, some freedom with Aircraft Armament!  Yes, I've been extremely vocal about this for years.  I'm super pumped to say I really got some options to explore this time through on the gameplay.  While it still feels quite restrictive - and I have no idea how the implementation of pods that I've been hearing about will affect this - I was able to approach the Gemini ship builds with 2 very different aircraft.  While my number was limited (only 2 per base, and I'll talk more about that later in the review) I had one Gemini armed with 2 Fusion Lances, Shielded Plating and a Fuel Pod (which was totally unnecessary but I added it because I could, and it was the only thing that cost only 1 Payload weight, lol).  This was my longer range 'DPS Ship'.  The next Gemini was my 'Tank' ... equipped with 2 Gauss Blasters.  Why Gauss Blasters when I had Fusion Lances available?  Well, glad you asked.  Coming in at weights of 5 each as opposed to the 6 of the Fusion Lances, arming my Gemini with 2 GBs allowed me the option to do something I'd never done before - put a 2nd set of armor on an aircraft - weighing 3 apiece, 2 Shielded Plating made this thing an absolute beast, and you can bet I put it out in front of my DPS.  What about the short range of the GBs?  Honestly, not an issue whatsoever.  Simply hit the Afterburners on both aircraft until you've got the cones on the target ship and then take them off to start chewing the aliens up.  Did I miss not having missiles on either ship?  Not one darn bit.  In fact, I didn't even bother researching them until I had basically nothing else left for the scientists to do, but that's another point to discuss further down in the review.  Back to the positives, I'm thrilled I was able to do something different with the aircraft.  I hope that versatility remains in the final game product.

4.  The Art.  Lovin' It!  All the small but very important bits - the character armors, the weapons, the equipment, the aliens, the battlefields, the crashed UFOs - your team has done a solid job of making all of this a great experience.  Kudos!

5.  The Sound Effects & Music.  Solid work.  Definitely helps keep me immersed in the game.

6.  I See You Brought The City Killer back, and that was (surprisingly) ok.  Definitely appreciated the timing of when this was reintroduced into the game, and it had a sense of belonging in there that I didn't really feel in early iterations.  The missions to go out and deal with it were also fun experiences.  That there was more to still do after that, also a big plus.

7.  Specially Engineered Equipment.  While I didn't utilize all of these, having the options to select among so many of them was very welcome.  I deviated from my normal game run throughs this time by going after the Actuator Modules once my soldiers started wearing the Vanguard Armor.  Initially, I was just going to use this as a 'leg up' for those soldiers who were lacking a bit in the strength department, but I think by the endgame I had everyone using them.  The combination of extra TUs on the Vanguard Armor and the extra Strength provided by the Actuators allowed me to do some extra attacks with soldiers - akin to the early days of Xenonauts 2 - that I hadn't been able to do otherwise.  I missed those days and that option, so I was very glad to see that back!  

I'm not sure if I'm all gushed out here - there are likely some other things that I really liked that I will have to come back to here, but this has gotten rather lengthy already!

Those were the positive points - I think I will break the review down into 2 additional posts - one with the new things I appreciated seeing but didn't end up utilizing for various reasons - and then the second which will mostly focus on the reasons why some of those options fell by the wayside for me, along with some suggestions for how to mitigate those issues.

 

Appreciate you taking the time to write out your thoughts. Glad to hear you enjoyed the experience 

I'll check back to the thread later this evening and read the less good parts too.