still no official mod support almost 2 years after release....xcom modding has kept the game afloat and reinvigorated the game years after its release. Can't say the same for phoenix point.
I like this game, though I'm just getting into it. I wish it had Steam Workshop support (I understand -- it was originally an Epic exclusive, which is why I didn't get it until recently), but there's just so much to do, I don't really miss mods (unless there were some inventory mgmt mods). The difference in eye candy is Unity vs Unreal, so the soldiers are a bit smaller than in XCOM. But Unity done right (like this one, BattleTech and some others) is pretty close to Unreal and, apparently, is a bit more economically feasible for non-AAA devs. Phoenix Point it good stuf, and definitely sates my turn-based combat, base building and resource gathering hunger.
When it release on Steam at the end of the one year exclusivity deal with EPIC... it actually had Workshop support. When I reboot the game every few months I always play with mods. The mod that adds more drops from downed enemies is a must have in my opinion.
I'll also add that not being able to switch to your other characters when one has been given a move order slows the whole thing down. In xcom you'll give a move order, but you don't have to watch them make the move. You can switch and get other soldiers running while the previous animation plays out. This is incredibly invaluable for time at the start and end of any combat missions that involve extraction of any kind cause all your moves are just run actions.
@@Maikeru101 I don't get more than a few hours per week to play games, and I like to use that time wisely. It's cool if you want to watch all your squad members move individually, but it shouldn't be a requirement as it doesn't enhance the gameplay.
Not going to lie, this video just sold me on copping it on PS5. just got into the turn based combat game from XCOM WOC and was hesitant on it but not anymore great review my guy 🙏🏾
One of the big hurdles for me coming from xcom into pp is that it actually requires a significantly different mindset to play. In xcom 2 your troops are rarities and u only really get a single squad. But in pp you NEED to have multiple squads. So you become less attached to individual soldiers. The tech tree is structured completely differently. Xcom has a traditional vertical tech tree with distinct tiers of gear that scale as the game progresses. PP tech tree is more flat and nuanced, with multiple pathways that lead to specialisation. One negative of the game design is that it's entirely possible to rail road yourself into an unwinnable situation without knowing it. As much as the game has multiple endings, it's really only got one winning strategy - get as many aircraft and squads as you can and start exploring. While the game makes a big deal of being open, a lot of that global map stuff isn't really interesting strategic choices. Overall its enjoyable if you can switch gears from xcom thinking.
I would recommend trying out the long war of the chosen mod or just long war 2 if you dont have it. It does bring in a lot more tactical thought. Where in vanilla you usually use a handful of soldiers, long war has you use minimum 30 or 40 each needing rest and different time needed to infiltrate a mission before it even begins. Larger squads especially attacking high value points like facilities takes much longer and often times I've had my team be gone for 2 weeks or so breaking in for a massive fight and when they return they're tech levels behind because of their long departure. Every piece of gear needs to be bought individually and upgraded and getting corpses is not as common since you only can get them from ambush type missions whereas any mission you extract from you only get what you can loot. It even adds another tier of weapon and incentives to upgrade overall. It's quite a huge overall that adds much more tactical layers to it, too much to even mention here but I highly recommend trying it for those that liked pp.
Get 4 aircraft that move in pairs and keep your mind on your goal. I see the biggest issue people coming from xcom is that they have the mindset that they are trying to save everyone and do everything. In PP you can do that, but you are supposed to focus on your main goal and not get sidetracked into managing several a billion different squads in order to try to fight every battle on the map.
An excellent review that covers the most important aspects without losing itself in the finer details. Answers my questions as I am looking to get this. Thank you!!
I played PP at the early stage before the DLC, and it's brutally difficult mid game. Siren spawned in pair at least with insane move speed that can mind control more than one soldier at a time... I had fun
awesome breakdown. I appreciate the labels you put for each chapter of the scrubbing bar. Makes it a lot easier to show my buddy certain parts without having to play the whole thing.
Best review I’ve seen of this game! Super well done, bravo 👏🏻 Been wanting to try this game out for yearsss, just popped on Gamepass and now after this review I’m going to give it a try. I’ve been dying for a new XCOM type experience!
Great review! Especially the 'Who would and wouldn't like this game?' -part. A really good way of explaining what a game is like. The game is appealing to me, but I guess I have to face the realities. I enjoy the modern X-COM games but I already get overwhelmed by them. Too much stuff to do and keep tabs on, and not enough time or enthusiasm anymore.
Irony is that they had a gem here, but they pissed on fans and modders who made xcom even greater. And paid the painful price of it, he got to watch as he shuddered a second studio. While Fraxis got a quick lesson that they dont need to do heavy storied mods of their own game, MAKE THE GAME AND LET US WRITE THE STORY.
This is a very good review mate! I played the game once when it dropped and kinda loved it (was always a fan of the old xcom games. The new ones, imho, work only with the long war mods). Your review makes me revisit it, after all this time!
Prob the best review of this game I have found. Nice work. I still haven't played Phoenix point and am a huge x-com fan. I am waiting until Kaos Engines DLC hits to play.
Great review! I had underestimated Phoenix Point, with its "mostly positive" reviews on Steam, which is actually 76% positive. And reading through the negative reviews, it seems like a lot of people just find the game too hard or complex (for them), and do not have the patience to learn the game's systems. They expect to win the first playthrough and not lose an operator in any mission. And yes, some of the mechanics like corruption seem a bit obtuse, but they don't really take the time to figure them out on their own. X-COM seems to have more hand-holding in that regard, easing the player in. Maybe they also start with all DLC enabled which is discouraged for learning the game. In any case, that's the impression i'm getting. So, if you like a very hard strategy game, and figuring out things on your own with some patience for failures, this seems like a very good and deep game, that's continually updated and bugfixed. And the aiming system where all hits are guaranteed to hit in a certain circle is just genius. As you said, no more misses from 2 feet away like in X-COM. The Steam reviews ironically almost mirror the thumbs downs on this video, which is pretty insane if you ask me. I guess they disagree that X-COM is "Old News Now" (and not objectively superior to Phoenix Point in every way), but this review is clearly high class, no reason to give it a thumbs down. Keep it up!
Thanks a ton for the great comment! I actually hadn't looked at many reviews prior to publishing my own and I was shocked at much of an outlier my opinion seemed to be. As for the thumbs down. To be fair, my title probably puts any fan of X-COMs on the defensive, but I hope I make it clear in the video as to why I like Phoenix Point better and that I'm not actually knocking X-COM, beyond the fact that I prefer Phoenix Point. The aiming system is a big deal for me, I found Phoenix Point to be a much harder game than X-COM overall, but it was much less frustrating as I never missed an 80% shot that resulted in the death of a soldier. I play tabletop RPGs so I'm fine with rolling dice, but when dice rolls can result in a critical loss of veteran soldiers every battle the RNG becomes less appealing to me. I just didn't have an alternative before Phoenix Point. Thanks again for the comment, kind words like yours go a long way in motivating me to make reviews like this!
I left negative review on the Steam (but not in English), the problem is not, that is hard or complicated from beggining, but problem is, that Phoenix Point is simple unbalanced, if You are going deeple in to the game, and You are not idealize it; - if You find effective and overpowered "actions" and its combinations, the game became easy
@@lukaskovac6778 I don't think it's inheritently any more or less unbalanced than Xcom2 for examples. Hell rangers with the chain attack are just insane and as the previous comment points out you are far less at the mercy of 1 shot kills in Phoenix point. I would love to see more variety in the missions and more story but it's otherwise a great game
One of the OP mechanics in the game is using Virus damage guns. Your agent does not even need to know how to use the gun. Like this you take down the largest of enemies by just reducing their will power to 0. They will be cowering in some corner and you grind them down with normal weapons (tedious). Did this a couple of times, broke the game for me. With XCOM and Hell Rangers the OP move is fun to use, chopping down the competition. This Will point damaging gun tripe, is not fun at all. I was really downtrodden about it since the rest of Phoenix Point made so much sense!
There is a lot to like in Phoenix Point and I agree with the difficulty going back to XCOM2. The thing in Phoenix Point that eventually broke it for me is the guns that target Will points. That mechanic does not work for me or, imho, for the game as a whole. All of a sudden Will points become Health points that max out at 20
If you're speaking about Viral weapons, I actually found them to be extremely useful for battling foes that can withstand a lot of conventional firepower. I also feel that they add greatly to how the game handles unit morale in general -- the more enemies you dispose of, the fewer of them want to continue fighting. The only other games where I've seen this done are map painting games such as Europa Universalis or Total War series.
When you first play PP, you look at the aiming and bodypart system and go 'Oooh i can aim manually'. After a few hours of PP, you think 'I have to do this manual aim shit every time don't I'
Phoenix Point is really for the Xcom Fans who play the Long War mod... Later in the game, even in the later Phoenix Point editions which had a number of modifiers added, it becomes very attritional. The game thinks nothing of unfairly stacking high level enemies against your limited troop numbers and mercilessly spamming mind control or worm attacks to overwhelm you in a number of turns. Its enjoyable but to a point. I think I prefer a fully DLC'd Xcom 2 as a playing experience....
I really enjoyed chimera squad. I did a playthrough when it came out and then again after a wotc playthrough. I like how the missions get you right into the action as most XCOM missions without timers have you spending 15 minutes slowly creeping forward and punish you if you don't. I also really like how every unit has a static guaranteed hit melee ability - after going back to mainline XCOM I found it really stupid my sniper couldn't just smack the sectoid next to him with the butt of his gun.
Chimera Squad definitely has strong points I'd like to see implemented into the manline series. But following set characters without the strategy layer doesn't mesh with me. I bounced off Gears Tactics for similar reasons.
Loved your review format. Not only you have covered the strong points of PP and what makes it distinct from FiraXCOMs, but you also mentioned who might like and not like this game, which is something I've never seen done in any game review. Funny thing is, I had XCOM2 in my library for several years, but I can't get to playing it as Firaxis games feel way too random to me after playing PP.
Also I wanted to add, when he says that this game isn’t for people that reload when something bad happens and that’s wrong. I’m the biggest save scumming scumbag in the world and I loved phoenix point to death.
Interesting. Do you save scum in Phoenix Point? I would find it much harder to enjoy, but if it works for you, that's great. If you enjoy the game, that's all that matters!
From what I've found atm, is that all DLC Phoenix Point vs Xcom 2, Phoenix Point is better. After a while in Xcom 2, the battles are pretty much brain dead unless you have some uber end game enemy to fight. Additionally, Xcom 2 for me doesn't even launch anymore because the launcher itself is broken and requires me to download a fan made launcher for it to run.
Great and relevant review. When Firaxis got the Xcom IP, I expected them to develop victory conditions like they already did in the Civ franchise (Military, Space Race, Cultural, etc.). Instead, the new Xcom 1 and 2 gave us a pretty linear game (not hating - Firaxis gave a more streamlined and cinematic experience!). So when you say that PP is the game you would want out of Xcom 3, PP is the game I was originally expecting out of Firaxis!
Great video! I'm an old school xcom player from the original and have just started playing Phoenix point demo and wanted a video to reassure me before investing in the full game. I'll be buying it for sure and keeping the DLC off for a while 👍
I got into Phoenix Point for a little bit but I quickly got overwhelmed. X COM 2 was just the right amount of casual while Phoenix Point throws a lot in your face while expecting a lot in return. I'm sure some disagree with me, (and I'm not saying the game wasn't fun either) but the game didn't hit right for me.
XCOM 2 Collection is on sale for 10$ right now and it seemed like a must buy for me. But I have Game Pass and PP is on it. I might still buy XCOM and stick with that if PP is particularly complicated.
6:30 so far my double jump sniper has failed every single jet pack jump because they dont have heavy training, which is quite annoying since my robot legs jump ability is not only adjacent but also uses more or less the same icon (it also wastes 3 action points every time it fails), i only even have that armor for the mounted weapon... which took me quite a while to figure out that you need jetpack armor to even mount it
As a long time XCOM player from the DOS days, I can say that your review made me pull the trigger on the full Phoenix Point Steam Game. I'll report back after spending some time with it. Off the bat, I really like the inclusion of Lovecraftian Horror. (insert Craaaaaab People meme here). You got yourself a new subscriber, and I'm looking forward to checking out some of your other reviews, Gideon.
I really enjoy Xcom 2 and phoenix point is incredible, but i wanna see at least an melee class. In Xcom 2 we have more variety like the templar(melee) or you could build a robot and even took one soldier and make it a psychic, i miss that in phoenix point. Also the DLC war of the chosen was pretty funny. Despite all of these i think that PP is a great game and i hope see it growing. Nice video by the way
Xcom is well polished game where all mechanics are thought out and work well together. PP issue is it's a game that had great ambitions but lack that final polish. I have many issues with PP including balance, psi abilities, tech tree, resource management, politics management, scaling and overcomplicated healing/repair system, (for example raw stats of jericho equipment outshines and makes obsolete all fancy shit other factions have except few specific nishe scenarios). This game took too big pill to swallow for a indie studio, and for me many elements don't work that well together. Also the neckbreaking tempo of dlc releases was not helping with already existing issues, layering problems instead of fixing them.
I have a background in American special operations and would love to see a tactical strategy, turn based tactics military franchise. Where difficulty is determined by real world concepts. A perfect blend of accurate and realistic strategy, but not a nerd fest and unfun to play. If anyone knows a developer interested in speaking with me about development please let me know.
God I hope not. I liked a few aspects of Phoenix Point, but it seemed ultra generic. It smoothed out some stuff. It changed things up a bit, but not all in the right directions. I'm not a huge fan of the art style. If somebody comes along and does a 40k overhaul it'll probably fix everything. Once you have a squad of space marines and sisters of battle running around with chain swords, bolters and plasma guns in a turn based tactics game nothing else really matters.
I think even with this update I just can't find myself enjoying Phoenix Point. The environments feel lazy and cobbled together by a bot. The game feels... muted. It lacks any real punch- visually, audio wise, aesthetically. Bland is the best word to put it- not subtle, not tasteful, bland and muted. The intense focus on realistic physics and trajectory slows the game to a crawl, which makes it feel bad to play. Unless there's been an update that makes walking from point a to point b not take about 15 seconds due to briefly spotting an enemy across the map, I don't want to play it. The same goes for aiming- I understand their insistence that the game must be slow and deliberate because "physics and trajectory", but is a simple option to 'lock aim' not possible? Having to slowly, tediously re-adjust my character's reticle four times in one round to shoot the same target in the same spot is beyond obnoxious.
I have the same feeling. No matter how much more it has to offer, I just can't seem to get into it because of the aesthetics and the lazy design. You are right about it being bland, tedious and annoying. The game has no soul.
I really enjoy this game so far. There are some flaws but come on a lot of games have issues. I think when it first came out it had a lot of issues which is why it has negative reviews but I would advice to give it another change as they did work a lot on it from what I can see.
Not exactly. All enemies on the map are active as soon as the mission begins. You won't be able to see them all, and they won't be able to see you right away. But they will move around the map as you do. They aren't in set waves like X-com where you can accidentally trigger multiple sets when the game was expecting you to only trigger one. Although they do spawn in waves in some missions, but that's intentional within the mission's design.
As someone who played all xcom games including the 3rd person shooter one im definitely going to give phoneix point a try these games are truly some of the best out there.......and i just like making stories for the squads like having a fully psy squad in xcom2 😂
xcom was the first game i found that I could play after losing the function of my hands due to breaking my neck, i can only play with an on screen keyboard and a simple mouse with left and right click that i operate with my mouth and only one at a time. i was wondering if you could tell me if it is possible to play like that. ps. im not asking you to try and play the game with your mouth but just see if it is possible to play with a regular mouse and on screen keyboard bc mine operates the same way
I'm not qualified to answer this with any degree of certainty as I reviewed the console version with a controller, and it doesn't have mouse support for the consoles versions. But I'll try to help. I believe every gameplay-related element is a clickable part of the user interface. I also dug up this old Reddit post where someone had asked the developers a similar question and the answer was yes. However, the post is over three years old and before the game was released so it may be unreliable. www.reddit.com/r/disabledgamers/comments/82zyxt/upcoming_game_phoenix_point_will_be_playable/ The developers are pretty responsive, you could ask them via email or Twitter. But they may be out of the office for the holidays for the next week or so.
@@GideonsGaming i appreciate the effort you went to try and give a great answer even though you didn't play it on pc bro, much love and thanks. i don't have twitter but maybe i can get ahold of them through email or steam.
I was deeply engaged with ur analysis.. .and from one point to another i asked my self, who is this guy?? and then i realized you are quite new ahahha.. .a wish you the best for the channel, pretty outstanding job.. .if you love xcom how im not suposed to subscribe ? ahha cheers m8 !
Despite XCom2 being by far the more popular game, i played Phoenix Point first so when i finally got my hands on XCom2:WotC i found out it was far too contrived and "streamlined" for my taste. Two-action system hobbles it badly and so do self-contained classes, not to mention being able to field only 1 aircraft and 1 ground team at the same time. It also teaches you some bad habits when it comes to cover. That said, though, XCom2 is by far the more polished game, it looks better despite being older title, has order of magnitude more visual customization options for your troops and a thriving modding community. It's basically Skyrim of turn-based alien shooter tactics. PS Dafuq are you doing playing "City on a Hill" while still having the corruption around?
Because mistakes were made >_> X-com is definitely more polished, but streamlined is a good word for it and I'm not sure I can ever return to it. I'll take the jank in Phoenix Point because it means I get a lot more meat than I otherwise would. Although I am keeping tabs on Xenonauts 2 too as well.
It’s a really good game not better then the king it’s missing personally and flash it seems dry I love everything about Xcom . I don’t care about frame rate all and the missing shots that people complain about doesn’t bother me . Humans make mistakes and flawed sooooo🤔 ,xcom has an energy and live feel phoenix point is missing charisma with the characters. Kinda stale in a sense
I know the lead developer of this game was one of the main devs for the XCOM: Enemy Unknown and all; but this game looks like "Can I borrow your homework?" "Sure just make some changes so it's not obvious"
After playing phonic point for a long time I just picked up Xcom2 super cheap on Steam..... Holy crap the combat in Phoenix point is better. Xcom world scape feels like it's constantly pushing you around and having a single ship is driving me nuts. Def going to pick up Phoenix point again for my 4th or 5th play through. My only complaint has been updated breaking my save games. That sucked for a while
Man, this game looks awesome! It makes me a little sad that the era of xcom is finally coming to an end after 32 years. But, looking forward is definitely looking real fun! Xenonaunts is a great game as well. But, Phoenix Point looks like it will be a combat simulator that will inevitably and cheerfully devour hours of my life. 😂😂😂😂
Problem in this game is that it is always the same thing for hours... No real update to your wweapons, soldiers etc. The you have the "real ballistic" system... Big joke... Firing a gun at 4 meter and still misses the target because the autoaim is aiming at a specific pixel surrounded by space instead of the center of the target... Grenades that can litteraly do zero damages... Yes... A zero damage explosion... Enemy becoming invulnerable to fire when it is the only thing that can kill them fast. Boss that need to be capture but you litteraly need 50 shots to stun it. And so one. I looked at a video of a guy playing at legend. It nearly takes 50 60 hours to finish the game and only use best weapons for... 5 hours... So enjoyment...
I tried to play pheonix twice. The garbage shots from cover where you can't see anything ruined the game for me. They pretty much screwed up cover in general. Micro managing all ammo is just a pain. The way you get new tech is garbage. You either steal or beg a faction to give you something new.
Interested in purchasing this game on Xbox (physical disc). Is the DLC built into the disc, or is there a DLC pamphlet included in the package, or will it simply download the additional DLC on its own once I insert the disc?
I like many aspects of the gamplay when it comes to Phoenix Point, but the overall design of the game is abyssmal. The design is very generic and boring. However, I do like the geoscape in PP, as well as base building, vehicles, boss battles and many other aspects. I still prefer XCOM though, but mostly because of Long War and endless modding.
I really like this game its more interesting than x-com more weapons armor choices.. but it need a few fixes like x2 speed or something one time i waited 5 minutes for the enemy to move or do something i trought the game was frozen but the rest i think its really good also i think mods for it 40k or such would really look good on it
YOU SOLD ME. As an XCom devotee since the DOS days with multiple iron man playthroughs on 2, I bought Phoenix Point day 1... Turned it off Day 2. This vid inspired me to grab the Behemoth edition and give it a whirl and fairer shake this time. I think we often get comfortable with things like an old pair of slippers and I probably didnt give this its fair shake
I hope you like it. I used to do something similar with a bunch of turn-based tactics games. I pretty much shunned any game that wasn't Final Fantasy Tactics for not being Final Fantasy Tactics. Those habits are really hard to break sometimes.
I love Phoenix Point I have all the DLCs and it's true it's hard at first but with the right choices you can make it and have a lot of fun special manual targeting of body parts. A crab with armoured scissors and shield well you can't kill it instantly but without the only weapon it has ohh yeah it can't do anything then. The only thing I really don't like is the time pressure you get with the doomsday clock I hate it I hated it in X-com 2 but in X-com 2 you could later lower the avatar project with agent missions and take some pressure off of it. In Phoenix Point unfortunately not without a mod as far as I know. I could be wrong of course and there is a way if someone knows please tell me ;) Oh yes and the inventory is also not nice but bearable.
Is the DLC in the Behemoth Edition already preloaded on disc, does.it have a DLC pamphlet to download the extra content, or does the game auto download the extra stuff once the disc is put in?
Honestly it gets overwhelming and I HATE New Jericho for declaring war on Anu RIGHT AFTER I TOOK OUT THREE PANDORAN ATTACKS ON THE SPAN OF 27 HOURS. Very good game
Good review. Honestly my biggest problem with this game was just how LONG it was. I know that is usually a good thing, but if you want to play this game all the way through making different choices each time around you are likely going to burn 300+ hours. That's just too much in my opinion. The game is definitely worth playing. But I only played it to completion one time and don't see myself going back through.
@@GideonsGaming DAAAAMN! Yours too. That's really surprising to find another fan but who actually has a game reviewing channel. I've been a fan of this game since the day I got it in 2001. after many many Many years of playing it wrong and just for fun, i got really into it how acrually complex it is and got this inner sadness that most games just cannot be compared to it. I bought Phoenix Point just now, and now watching your Battle Brothers Complete review. Because I need to know if they can compare to JA2. *Sigh* I hope they're complex as Ja2, man. So sad that Brenda Romera couldn't make a complex game as JA2, sinse she took part in making JA2. ( she made empire of sin) Are you, by chance, willing to review it someday, I know it's very hard game to describe to people, I tried making a script for a review since 2015 but it's too good, like i neee to be alking on 3 audio channels to describe one mechanic that affect this bigger mechanic and it is influenced by those two mechanics, it's insane. Anyway it's great to find a fan of Complex Turn Based Tactical games.
@@DrRESHES This might be nostalgia talking, but a lot of older games such as Jagged Alliance 2 are, as a rule of thumb, deeper than most games released today, not always of course, but much of the time. The industry took a massive shift toward accessibility and ease of play over complexity and depth over the last two decades. Look at the original X-COM versus Enemy Unknown for example. Comparing every game to an old favorite is somewhat of a trap that will probably leave you unhappy though. There was a long period of time where I did it, it was a tough thing to break. I'm not sure either Phoenix Point or Battle Brothers can equal Jagged Alliance 2 in terms of complexity. However, they are both very deep games compared to most games that are released today. I'd also recommend having a look at Age of Wonders: Planetfall, Xenonauts, Battletech, Fallen Enchantress, and Star Traders Frontiers. As for a review of Jagged Alliance 2, it's possible at some point. Especially as the channel grows and I can afford to explore different types of content. I feel like there's an audience out there who have never played Jagged Alliance 2 but would enjoy doing so. Anyway, thanks for checking out my reviews!
Hey, loved your review have you tried out terror from the void mod? - great, really makes me think, not just create terminator builds and wipe out the map with 3 soldiers on 2nd turn. be sure to try it out as well!
I swear i really dont care much about graphics ( i play runescape lol) but what can you say about this and animations vs xcom, it looks to me like they are low budget or something
They could use some polish for sure. For the most part, it isn't too bad but there are some goofy moments at times. For example, there is a noticeable delay from when an enemy is hit before they react to it.
I don't like it as much because it's not grounded in modernity. XCom always felt a little closer to current times, and I like xcom 2 less for going further into the future. Also phoenix point had an opportunity to make monsters more horrifying and grotesque compared to new xcom and they basically made them look just as goofy when we need monsters as terrifying as the chrysalid
There is an overall timer that will eventually cause you to lose. The world's population has to stay above a certain threshold. You can heavily influence the timer by taking actions against the pandorans or defending havens. It's not a set timer, it's reliant on how well the other factions are faring plus your intervention. But there is a timer all the same.
Did you play this on Xbox, or just with a controller? I've been thinking of getting it, but I keep reading how buggy it is on console. If you played on Xbox, how was your experience?
I played it on a Series X. It ran great and controlled fine. I can't speak for how it runs on last gen consoles though. It was buggy, anything critical seemed to have been patched while I was reviewing it. I still encountered an occasionally bug. Dialogue fast forwarding etc. Hopefully those get squashed in the next patch.
Is Phoenix point ( attempted and failed ) evolution of the original XCOM formula? Yes. Can you like it more than Firaxis XCOMs? You can like whatever you like. is it a better game than Firaxis XCOMs? Not even close. It is unpolished, unbalanced, and horribly flawed In design in so many ways. To say it's objectively better game is simply delusional. And if someone wants to pull "I don't know what I'm talking about" on me I played every squad-based tactical game including Sabre Team, Laser Squad, OG XCOMs , JA ( all of them even newer bad ones ), 762 HC, Cenega UFO series, UFO: Extraterrestrials, UFO Alien Invasion, Xenonauts, Silent Storm... and many more. The main reason ppl fanboy this game is because it tries to go more sim opposed to Firaxis XCOMs which went more boardgame-rpg like that left many people ( including me ) disappointed. Firaxis XCOMs were a huge disappointment for me because of the direction they went with game design but what they did they did amazingly well. On the other hand, Phoenix Point is a huge disappointment because of so many flaws in game design. The game is tedious at the time, the strategy layer has no strategy you are funneled into meta or you will fail miserably, and the tactical layer is full of ridiculously unbalanced things that you counter by using game braking unbalanced exploits and mechanics ( like running around with 1 super soldier and using WP to kill 99% of the map, or wombo-comboing the last boss with you magical super soldiers and one shot him, using a full squad of ninja invisible soliders and just shooting enemies standing in your extraction zone because AI is too broken and does not know how to react to this dumb mechanic ). So good.. Totaly work as intended very tactical and X-COM Is Old News Now... The game is as shallow as a puddle ( unless you think finding an unbalanced broken mechanic to counter an unbalanced broken game design is deep ), it's complicated but not complex. Not to mention the Epic "situation" where Galop went " fuck the game take the money" practically killed his own game and left so many original promises and ideas behind. I don't blame the man he is old now and financially he probably made the right decision but PP did suffer greatly for it and it's not 10% of the game it could have been.
It's been a while since I made this review, but I doubt I used the word "objectively" anywhere in the review, as that would be pretty out of character for me. Reviews are inherently subjective. I like Phoenix Point better than X-COM, and in the video, I try to explain why. Nothing more, nothing less. You don't have to agree, and that's okay.
One of my main gripes with X-com "remakes" was the comparatively pitifully tiny squad sizes compared to the previous games where you could bring like 20 dudes and have it actually feel like a battle I get what you mean by "tedious", since one of the dlcs (acherons) was so obnoxious to play with I felt like dropping the game near the end as it completely shifts the game dynamic from a tactical dismantlement of enemy forces to a search & destroy mission before you get overwhelmed/run out of ammo and god forbid you end up on a mission with multiple of those, or even a base defence one The strategy layer was also quite annoying to deal with, mostly due to the randomness of attacks on havens where sometimes you simply had no chance to get there in time and because I tend to be a perfectionist in games Lack of weapon and armor upgrades threw me off as well, you have a selection of a few items that work kind of the same but with different stats with very few straight upgrades I didn't abuse any meta strategies and it played fine (aside from the aforementioned infuriating DLC), maybe on the hardest difficulties you need to resort to such but I suppose they are "hard" in that they demand game knowledge and utilizing it Still, I don't compare it to X-Com as they're separate games and they're not connected in any way but they're both enjoyable in their own way It was a nice game to play during my Xenonauts X-Division break to spare the hair on my head
Could not stand this buggy poorly implemented mess. I also don't think it was more complex overall. The soldier individuality gone with only difference skills that ridiculously unbalanced. There are zero characters to get to know, the story is flat and just ridiculous. None of factions are likeable and helping any of them would be global suicide so all you choosing is who is going to destroy humanity. And let's not forget all these super advanced ruins that no one ever noticed before.
still no official mod support almost 2 years after release....xcom modding has kept the game afloat and reinvigorated the game years after its release. Can't say the same for phoenix point.
@Slimethan PP crashes like once a play session on XB1 for me
They recently added mod support, they even have a long war adjacent now
I just bought the game, and ca confirm that there is now MOD support for the game.
I like this game, though I'm just getting into it. I wish it had Steam Workshop support (I understand -- it was originally an Epic exclusive, which is why I didn't get it until recently), but there's just so much to do, I don't really miss mods (unless there were some inventory mgmt mods). The difference in eye candy is Unity vs Unreal, so the soldiers are a bit smaller than in XCOM. But Unity done right (like this one, BattleTech and some others) is pretty close to Unreal and, apparently, is a bit more economically feasible for non-AAA devs. Phoenix Point it good stuf, and definitely sates my turn-based combat, base building and resource gathering hunger.
When it release on Steam at the end of the one year exclusivity deal with EPIC... it actually had Workshop support.
When I reboot the game every few months I always play with mods.
The mod that adds more drops from downed enemies is a must have in my opinion.
@@ParanoidJackson It support mod now, and in a much better state
I'll also add that not being able to switch to your other characters when one has been given a move order slows the whole thing down. In xcom you'll give a move order, but you don't have to watch them make the move. You can switch and get other soldiers running while the previous animation plays out.
This is incredibly invaluable for time at the start and end of any combat missions that involve extraction of any kind cause all your moves are just run actions.
Not everything needs to be rushed
@@Maikeru101 I don't get more than a few hours per week to play games, and I like to use that time wisely. It's cool if you want to watch all your squad members move individually, but it shouldn't be a requirement as it doesn't enhance the gameplay.
Wow, I didn't even know that about XCOM 2. I've been watching soldiers make moves this whole time when I could've just been swapping characters?!
If you are someone that reloads when something bad happens....I have never felt so attacked
Not going to lie, this video just sold me on copping it on PS5. just got into the turn based combat game from XCOM WOC and was hesitant on it but not anymore great review my guy 🙏🏾
Fantastic review. Subbed. I think you're right, Phoenix Point does seem like an evolution of the XCOM gameplay standard. You deserve way more subs.
Thanks!
I'd say more a return to the Xcom gameplay standard, considering the actual early games.
One of the big hurdles for me coming from xcom into pp is that it actually requires a significantly different mindset to play. In xcom 2 your troops are rarities and u only really get a single squad. But in pp you NEED to have multiple squads. So you become less attached to individual soldiers.
The tech tree is structured completely differently. Xcom has a traditional vertical tech tree with distinct tiers of gear that scale as the game progresses. PP tech tree is more flat and nuanced, with multiple pathways that lead to specialisation.
One negative of the game design is that it's entirely possible to rail road yourself into an unwinnable situation without knowing it. As much as the game has multiple endings, it's really only got one winning strategy - get as many aircraft and squads as you can and start exploring. While the game makes a big deal of being open, a lot of that global map stuff isn't really interesting strategic choices.
Overall its enjoyable if you can switch gears from xcom thinking.
From what I understand the xcom this was modeled after played VERY different than traditional xcom. So I suppose I’m not surprised.
I would recommend trying out the long war of the chosen mod or just long war 2 if you dont have it. It does bring in a lot more tactical thought. Where in vanilla you usually use a handful of soldiers, long war has you use minimum 30 or 40 each needing rest and different time needed to infiltrate a mission before it even begins. Larger squads especially attacking high value points like facilities takes much longer and often times I've had my team be gone for 2 weeks or so breaking in for a massive fight and when they return they're tech levels behind because of their long departure. Every piece of gear needs to be bought individually and upgraded and getting corpses is not as common since you only can get them from ambush type missions whereas any mission you extract from you only get what you can loot. It even adds another tier of weapon and incentives to upgrade overall. It's quite a huge overall that adds much more tactical layers to it, too much to even mention here but I highly recommend trying it for those that liked pp.
Get 4 aircraft that move in pairs and keep your mind on your goal. I see the biggest issue people coming from xcom is that they have the mindset that they are trying to save everyone and do everything. In PP you can do that, but you are supposed to focus on your main goal and not get sidetracked into managing several a billion different squads in order to try to fight every battle on the map.
An excellent review that covers the most important aspects without losing itself in the finer details.
Answers my questions as I am looking to get this. Thank you!!
This is exactly the kind of review I try to aim for. Thanks so much for the comment!
I played PP at the early stage before the DLC, and it's brutally difficult mid game. Siren spawned in pair at least with insane move speed that can mind control more than one soldier at a time... I had fun
awesome breakdown. I appreciate the labels you put for each chapter of the scrubbing bar. Makes it a lot easier to show my buddy certain parts without having to play the whole thing.
Best review I’ve seen of this game! Super well done, bravo 👏🏻 Been wanting to try this game out for yearsss, just popped on Gamepass and now after this review I’m going to give it a try. I’ve been dying for a new XCOM type experience!
Great review! Especially the 'Who would and wouldn't like this game?' -part. A really good way of explaining what a game is like. The game is appealing to me, but I guess I have to face the realities. I enjoy the modern X-COM games but I already get overwhelmed by them. Too much stuff to do and keep tabs on, and not enough time or enthusiasm anymore.
Irony is that they had a gem here, but they pissed on fans and modders who made xcom even greater. And paid the painful price of it, he got to watch as he shuddered a second studio. While Fraxis got a quick lesson that they dont need to do heavy storied mods of their own game, MAKE THE GAME AND LET US WRITE THE STORY.
And who would’ve thought it could be optimized well for console! Loving this on the PS5. 💯
Fantastic review btw.
I haven't had a chance to check it out since the next-gen update but I'm really excited too!
Still crashes on Xbox one
This is a very good review mate!
I played the game once when it dropped and kinda loved it (was always a fan of the old xcom games. The new ones, imho, work only with the long war mods).
Your review makes me revisit it, after all this time!
Prob the best review of this game I have found. Nice work. I still haven't played Phoenix point and am a huge x-com fan. I am waiting until Kaos Engines DLC hits to play.
Great review! I had underestimated Phoenix Point, with its "mostly positive" reviews on Steam, which is actually 76% positive. And reading through the negative reviews, it seems like a lot of people just find the game too hard or complex (for them), and do not have the patience to learn the game's systems.
They expect to win the first playthrough and not lose an operator in any mission. And yes, some of the mechanics like corruption seem a bit obtuse, but they don't really take the time to figure them out on their own. X-COM seems to have more hand-holding in that regard, easing the player in. Maybe they also start with all DLC enabled which is discouraged for learning the game.
In any case, that's the impression i'm getting. So, if you like a very hard strategy game, and figuring out things on your own with some patience for failures, this seems like a very good and deep game, that's continually updated and bugfixed.
And the aiming system where all hits are guaranteed to hit in a certain circle is just genius. As you said, no more misses from 2 feet away like in X-COM.
The Steam reviews ironically almost mirror the thumbs downs on this video, which is pretty insane if you ask me. I guess they disagree that X-COM is "Old News Now" (and not objectively superior to Phoenix Point in every way), but this review is clearly high class, no reason to give it a thumbs down. Keep it up!
Thanks a ton for the great comment! I actually hadn't looked at many reviews prior to publishing my own and I was shocked at much of an outlier my opinion seemed to be. As for the thumbs down. To be fair, my title probably puts any fan of X-COMs on the defensive, but I hope I make it clear in the video as to why I like Phoenix Point better and that I'm not actually knocking X-COM, beyond the fact that I prefer Phoenix Point.
The aiming system is a big deal for me, I found Phoenix Point to be a much harder game than X-COM overall, but it was much less frustrating as I never missed an 80% shot that resulted in the death of a soldier. I play tabletop RPGs so I'm fine with rolling dice, but when dice rolls can result in a critical loss of veteran soldiers every battle the RNG becomes less appealing to me. I just didn't have an alternative before Phoenix Point.
Thanks again for the comment, kind words like yours go a long way in motivating me to make reviews like this!
I left negative review on the Steam (but not in English), the problem is not, that is hard or complicated from beggining, but problem is, that Phoenix Point is simple unbalanced, if You are going deeple in to the game, and You are not idealize it; - if You find effective and overpowered "actions" and its combinations, the game became easy
@@lukaskovac6778 I don't think it's inheritently any more or less unbalanced than Xcom2 for examples. Hell rangers with the chain attack are just insane and as the previous comment points out you are far less at the mercy of 1 shot kills in Phoenix point. I would love to see more variety in the missions and more story but it's otherwise a great game
One of the OP mechanics in the game is using Virus damage guns. Your agent does not even need to know how to use the gun. Like this you take down the largest of enemies by just reducing their will power to 0. They will be cowering in some corner and you grind them down with normal weapons (tedious). Did this a couple of times, broke the game for me.
With XCOM and Hell Rangers the OP move is fun to use, chopping down the competition. This Will point damaging gun tripe, is not fun at all. I was really downtrodden about it since the rest of Phoenix Point made so much sense!
@@aduenos There are also OP mechanics in XCom 1 & 2. You don't have to use them. But yeah that's unfortunate, if it's the case.
There is a lot to like in Phoenix Point and I agree with the difficulty going back to XCOM2. The thing in Phoenix Point that eventually broke it for me is the guns that target Will points. That mechanic does not work for me or, imho, for the game as a whole. All of a sudden Will points become Health points that max out at 20
If you're speaking about Viral weapons, I actually found them to be extremely useful for battling foes that can withstand a lot of conventional firepower. I also feel that they add greatly to how the game handles unit morale in general -- the more enemies you dispose of, the fewer of them want to continue fighting. The only other games where I've seen this done are map painting games such as Europa Universalis or Total War series.
When you first play PP, you look at the aiming and bodypart system and go 'Oooh i can aim manually'.
After a few hours of PP, you think 'I have to do this manual aim shit every time don't I'
Phoenix Point is really for the Xcom Fans who play the Long War mod... Later in the game, even in the later Phoenix Point editions which had a number of modifiers added, it becomes very attritional. The game thinks nothing of unfairly stacking high level enemies against your limited troop numbers and mercilessly spamming mind control or worm attacks to overwhelm you in a number of turns.
Its enjoyable but to a point. I think I prefer a fully DLC'd Xcom 2 as a playing experience....
I really enjoyed chimera squad. I did a playthrough when it came out and then again after a wotc playthrough. I like how the missions get you right into the action as most XCOM missions without timers have you spending 15 minutes slowly creeping forward and punish you if you don't. I also really like how every unit has a static guaranteed hit melee ability - after going back to mainline XCOM I found it really stupid my sniper couldn't just smack the sectoid next to him with the butt of his gun.
Chimera Squad definitely has strong points I'd like to see implemented into the manline series. But following set characters without the strategy layer doesn't mesh with me. I bounced off Gears Tactics for similar reasons.
@@GideonsGaming I'd like to see them make a cameo in X-Com 3
Maybe a single urban mission in which they offer support
Only having played xcom enemy within, gotta say Phoenix point is the game that scratches that xcom itch for me and more. Fucking awesome game.
Loved your review format. Not only you have covered the strong points of PP and what makes it distinct from FiraXCOMs, but you also mentioned who might like and not like this game, which is something I've never seen done in any game review.
Funny thing is, I had XCOM2 in my library for several years, but I can't get to playing it as Firaxis games feel way too random to me after playing PP.
I found xcom to be way too shallow, just doesn't feel like you have enough options with what you can do turn to turn.
No cover, ignoring shot percentages...this is EXACTLY how I played XCOM. Love it!
Also I wanted to add, when he says that this game isn’t for people that reload when something bad happens and that’s wrong. I’m the biggest save scumming scumbag in the world and I loved phoenix point to death.
Interesting. Do you save scum in Phoenix Point? I would find it much harder to enjoy, but if it works for you, that's great. If you enjoy the game, that's all that matters!
Thank you for pointing that out. I was really interested into the game but that bit threw me off since I always save a bunch in this type of games.
I have heard this game in a xcom video comment section. I might try it since it is what a wanted xcom to be too.
From what I've found atm, is that all DLC Phoenix Point vs Xcom 2, Phoenix Point is better. After a while in Xcom 2, the battles are pretty much brain dead unless you have some uber end game enemy to fight. Additionally, Xcom 2 for me doesn't even launch anymore because the launcher itself is broken and requires me to download a fan made launcher for it to run.
Great and relevant review. When Firaxis got the Xcom IP, I expected them to develop victory conditions like they already did in the Civ franchise (Military, Space Race, Cultural, etc.). Instead, the new Xcom 1 and 2 gave us a pretty linear game (not hating - Firaxis gave a more streamlined and cinematic experience!). So when you say that PP is the game you would want out of Xcom 3, PP is the game I was originally expecting out of Firaxis!
X-com Chimera Squad is more of an extension to the Xcom world and not meant to be a true sequel to Xcom (more of a set up for Xcom 3)
Great video! I'm an old school xcom player from the original and have just started playing Phoenix point demo and wanted a video to reassure me before investing in the full game.
I'll be buying it for sure and keeping the DLC off for a while 👍
in 2024 Phoenix Point is worth buying! Especial with mod Terror frome the void!
I can't describe how disappointed I am that we haven't gotten an xcom 3
I got into Phoenix Point for a little bit but I quickly got overwhelmed. X COM 2 was just the right amount of casual while Phoenix Point throws a lot in your face while expecting a lot in return. I'm sure some disagree with me, (and I'm not saying the game wasn't fun either) but the game didn't hit right for me.
XCOM 2 Collection is on sale for 10$ right now and it seemed like a must buy for me. But I have Game Pass and PP is on it. I might still buy XCOM and stick with that if PP is particularly complicated.
6:30 so far my double jump sniper has failed every single jet pack jump because they dont have heavy training, which is quite annoying since my robot legs jump ability is not only adjacent but also uses more or less the same icon (it also wastes 3 action points every time it fails), i only even have that armor for the mounted weapon... which took me quite a while to figure out that you need jetpack armor to even mount it
As a long time XCOM player from the DOS days, I can say that your review made me pull the trigger on the full Phoenix Point Steam Game.
I'll report back after spending some time with it.
Off the bat, I really like the inclusion of Lovecraftian Horror. (insert Craaaaaab People meme here).
You got yourself a new subscriber, and I'm looking forward to checking out some of your other reviews, Gideon.
I really enjoy Xcom 2 and phoenix point is incredible, but i wanna see at least an melee class. In Xcom 2 we have more variety like the templar(melee) or you could build a robot and even took one soldier and make it a psychic, i miss that in phoenix point. Also the DLC war of the chosen was pretty funny.
Despite all of these i think that PP is a great game and i hope see it growing.
Nice video by the way
I played pp 2 years ago, i think i remember berserker, thats a melee class...you run around with a big hammer or axe or whatever that is...
Xcom is well polished game where all mechanics are thought out and work well together. PP issue is it's a game that had great ambitions but lack that final polish.
I have many issues with PP including balance, psi abilities, tech tree, resource management, politics management, scaling and overcomplicated healing/repair system, (for example raw stats of jericho equipment outshines and makes obsolete all fancy shit other factions have except few specific nishe scenarios).
This game took too big pill to swallow for a indie studio, and for me many elements don't work that well together. Also the neckbreaking tempo of dlc releases was not helping with already existing issues, layering problems instead of fixing them.
I like the last section about who might like/dislike the game!
Keep up the good work mate, I like this old school type of review.
Too many people just screaming their heads off for 5 minutes
Bought it a week ago and was very pleasantly surprised. It will be really hard to return to XCOM2 after this.
Very thorough review, GideonsGaming.
Now that is what I call a great Review! Thank you, Sir!
I have a background in American special operations and would love to see a tactical strategy, turn based tactics military franchise. Where difficulty is determined by real world concepts. A perfect blend of accurate and realistic strategy, but not a nerd fest and unfun to play. If anyone knows a developer interested in speaking with me about development please let me know.
God I hope not. I liked a few aspects of Phoenix Point, but it seemed ultra generic. It smoothed out some stuff. It changed things up a bit, but not all in the right directions. I'm not a huge fan of the art style. If somebody comes along and does a 40k overhaul it'll probably fix everything. Once you have a squad of space marines and sisters of battle running around with chain swords, bolters and plasma guns in a turn based tactics game nothing else really matters.
I think even with this update I just can't find myself enjoying Phoenix Point.
The environments feel lazy and cobbled together by a bot.
The game feels... muted. It lacks any real punch- visually, audio wise, aesthetically. Bland is the best word to put it- not subtle, not tasteful, bland and muted.
The intense focus on realistic physics and trajectory slows the game to a crawl, which makes it feel bad to play. Unless there's been an update that makes walking from point a to point b not take about 15 seconds due to briefly spotting an enemy across the map, I don't want to play it. The same goes for aiming- I understand their insistence that the game must be slow and deliberate because "physics and trajectory", but is a simple option to 'lock aim' not possible? Having to slowly, tediously re-adjust my character's reticle four times in one round to shoot the same target in the same spot is beyond obnoxious.
A lock aim funktion would not really work. You may be firing at an already disabled body part, while it would make more sense to focus on another.
I have the same feeling. No matter how much more it has to offer, I just can't seem to get into it because of the aesthetics and the lazy design. You are right about it being bland, tedious and annoying. The game has no soul.
"Is Phoenix Point the X-COM killer?" I'd have to say no. While the game is definitely fun to play there's plenty to dislike.
I really enjoy this game so far.
There are some flaws but come on a lot of games have issues.
I think when it first came out it had a lot of issues which is why it has negative reviews but I would advice to give it another change as they did work a lot on it from what I can see.
Does this game (like xcom) have those hidden enemy groups triggering active on promixity of player soldiers?
Not exactly. All enemies on the map are active as soon as the mission begins. You won't be able to see them all, and they won't be able to see you right away. But they will move around the map as you do.
They aren't in set waves like X-com where you can accidentally trigger multiple sets when the game was expecting you to only trigger one.
Although they do spawn in waves in some missions, but that's intentional within the mission's design.
Great review! Not many do it like you.
This review is full of clarity
Absolutely fantastic review. Very comprehensive. Cheers, mate. I'm definitely picking this game up!
Thanks for watching! I'm glad it was helpful to you!
As someone who played all xcom games including the 3rd person shooter one im definitely going to give phoneix point a try these games are truly some of the best out there.......and i just like making stories for the squads like having a fully psy squad in xcom2 😂
jesus....the inventory...stuff nightmares are made of
xcom was the first game i found that I could play after losing the function of my hands due to breaking my neck, i can only play with an on screen keyboard and a simple mouse with left and right click that i operate with my mouth and only one at a time. i was wondering if you could tell me if it is possible to play like that.
ps. im not asking you to try and play the game with your mouth but just see if it is possible to play with a regular mouse and on screen keyboard bc mine operates the same way
I'm not qualified to answer this with any degree of certainty as I reviewed the console version with a controller, and it doesn't have mouse support for the consoles versions. But I'll try to help.
I believe every gameplay-related element is a clickable part of the user interface. I also dug up this old Reddit post where someone had asked the developers a similar question and the answer was yes.
However, the post is over three years old and before the game was released so it may be unreliable.
www.reddit.com/r/disabledgamers/comments/82zyxt/upcoming_game_phoenix_point_will_be_playable/
The developers are pretty responsive, you could ask them via email or Twitter. But they may be out of the office for the holidays for the next week or so.
@@GideonsGaming i appreciate the effort you went to try and give a great answer even though you didn't play it on pc bro, much love and thanks. i don't have twitter but maybe i can get ahold of them through email or steam.
@@GideonsGaming i decided to go ahead and give it a try bc im impatient and it was on sale, turns out i can play it
@@jeremy85 Awesome! I hope you have a good time with it!
I was deeply engaged with ur analysis.. .and from one point to another i asked my self, who is this guy?? and then i realized you are quite new ahahha.. .a wish you the best for the channel, pretty outstanding job.. .if you love xcom how im not suposed to subscribe ? ahha cheers m8 !
Thanks so much!
Really excellent review!
Despite XCom2 being by far the more popular game, i played Phoenix Point first so when i finally got my hands on XCom2:WotC i found out it was far too contrived and "streamlined" for my taste. Two-action system hobbles it badly and so do self-contained classes, not to mention being able to field only 1 aircraft and 1 ground team at the same time. It also teaches you some bad habits when it comes to cover.
That said, though, XCom2 is by far the more polished game, it looks better despite being older title, has order of magnitude more visual customization options for your troops and a thriving modding community. It's basically Skyrim of turn-based alien shooter tactics.
PS Dafuq are you doing playing "City on a Hill" while still having the corruption around?
Because mistakes were made >_>
X-com is definitely more polished, but streamlined is a good word for it and I'm not sure I can ever return to it. I'll take the jank in Phoenix Point because it means I get a lot more meat than I otherwise would. Although I am keeping tabs on Xenonauts 2 too as well.
Not sure why you have so many dislikes compared to likes so far. I thought this was a good review. After watching it, I picked up the game on PS4.
Awesome, I hope you have a good time!
Brilliant review :D
Thanks for nice comment and for watching!
So, is the game still being worked on? I mean, do the devs still work on patches, fixes etc ?
It still receives frequent updates and there's at least one more dlc on the way.
@@GideonsGaming i torrented it on my PC, enjoyed some, and now will get it on ps4. Thanks for your review.
It’s a really good game not better then the king it’s missing personally and flash it seems dry I love everything about Xcom . I don’t care about frame rate all and the missing shots that people complain about doesn’t bother me . Humans make mistakes and flawed sooooo🤔 ,xcom has an energy and live feel phoenix point is missing charisma with the characters. Kinda stale in a sense
I know the lead developer of this game was one of the main devs for the XCOM: Enemy Unknown and all; but this game looks like
"Can I borrow your homework?"
"Sure just make some changes so it's not obvious"
This aged like milk in a furnace.
After playing phonic point for a long time I just picked up Xcom2 super cheap on Steam..... Holy crap the combat in Phoenix point is better. Xcom world scape feels like it's constantly pushing you around and having a single ship is driving me nuts. Def going to pick up Phoenix point again for my 4th or 5th play through. My only complaint has been updated breaking my save games. That sucked for a while
If only they added multiplayer coop to these games. I would have jumped on them a long time ago.
When Battletech looks and run smoother with rogue tech mod than phoenix point....
I just wish we could take off the helmets during gameplay. The game itself is quite good.
Man, this game looks awesome! It makes me a little sad that the era of xcom is finally coming to an end after 32 years. But, looking forward is definitely looking real fun! Xenonaunts is a great game as well. But, Phoenix Point looks like it will be a combat simulator that will inevitably and cheerfully devour hours of my life. 😂😂😂😂
Take PP with all its DLCs, add space and you’ll come close to Terra Invicta.
Problem in this game is that it is always the same thing for hours...
No real update to your wweapons, soldiers etc.
The you have the "real ballistic" system... Big joke...
Firing a gun at 4 meter and still misses the target because the autoaim is aiming at a specific pixel surrounded by space instead of the center of the target...
Grenades that can litteraly do zero damages... Yes... A zero damage explosion...
Enemy becoming invulnerable to fire when it is the only thing that can kill them fast.
Boss that need to be capture but you litteraly need 50 shots to stun it.
And so one.
I looked at a video of a guy playing at legend. It nearly takes 50 60 hours to finish the game and only use best weapons for... 5 hours... So enjoyment...
Thanks to you I discovered a Masterpiece. Many thanks man
Happy to help! Thanks for watching.
But, I gotta beat Xenonaunts first. At least once. Just to give it it's justice. I've always been a loyal commander for my elite and brave soldiers.
I tried to play pheonix twice. The garbage shots from cover where you can't see anything ruined the game for me. They pretty much screwed up cover in general. Micro managing all ammo is just a pain. The way you get new tech is garbage. You either steal or beg a faction to give you something new.
ty for the recent review just in time for steam winter sale.
Happy to help! I hope you enjoy the game!
Interested in purchasing this game on Xbox (physical disc).
Is the DLC built into the disc, or is there a DLC pamphlet included in the package, or will it simply download the additional DLC on its own once I insert the disc?
I can't answer that unfortunately. I was provided with a digital code to review.
Crab battle!
I like many aspects of the gamplay when it comes to Phoenix Point, but the overall design of the game is abyssmal. The design is very generic and boring. However, I do like the geoscape in PP, as well as base building, vehicles, boss battles and many other aspects. I still prefer XCOM though, but mostly because of Long War and endless modding.
How does the mod scene look on this game?
Gud review!
I really like this game its more interesting than x-com more weapons armor choices.. but it need a few fixes like x2 speed or something one time i waited 5 minutes for the enemy to move or do something i trought the game was frozen but the rest i think its really good also i think mods for it 40k or such would really look good on it
Good news, they added a increase speed feature.
Feels like a hybrid of xcom and valkyria chronicles
YOU SOLD ME. As an XCom devotee since the DOS days with multiple iron man playthroughs on 2, I bought Phoenix Point day 1... Turned it off Day 2.
This vid inspired me to grab the Behemoth edition and give it a whirl and fairer shake this time. I think we often get comfortable with things like an old pair of slippers and I probably didnt give this its fair shake
I hope you like it. I used to do something similar with a bunch of turn-based tactics games. I pretty much shunned any game that wasn't Final Fantasy Tactics for not being Final Fantasy Tactics. Those habits are really hard to break sometimes.
I love Phoenix Point I have all the DLCs and it's true it's hard at first but with the right choices you can make it and have a lot of fun special manual targeting of body parts. A crab with armoured scissors and shield well you can't kill it instantly but without the only weapon it has ohh yeah it can't do anything then. The only thing I really don't like is the time pressure you get with the doomsday clock I hate it I hated it in X-com 2 but in X-com 2 you could later lower the avatar project with agent missions and take some pressure off of it. In Phoenix Point unfortunately not without a mod as far as I know. I could be wrong of course and there is a way if someone knows please tell me ;) Oh yes and the inventory is also not nice but bearable.
starting my 5th play of it then?....
I was a backer and was really disappointed w the polish on this games art and mechanics
I enjoy Phoenix Point but it's not better than XCom 2.
As someone who just bought this game I second turning off the DLCs
I love em, but it's just too much to learn the first time around. Great for subsequent playthroughs though!
Same here man
Is the DLC in the Behemoth Edition already preloaded on disc, does.it have a DLC pamphlet to download the extra content, or does the game auto download the extra stuff once the disc is put in?
Honestly it gets overwhelming and I HATE New Jericho for declaring war on Anu RIGHT AFTER I TOOK OUT THREE PANDORAN ATTACKS ON THE SPAN OF 27 HOURS. Very good game
Good review. Honestly my biggest problem with this game was just how LONG it was. I know that is usually a good thing, but if you want to play this game all the way through making different choices each time around you are likely going to burn 300+ hours. That's just too much in my opinion.
The game is definitely worth playing. But I only played it to completion one time and don't see myself going back through.
It's definitely a long game, that's for sure!
XCOM 2 was a bad game. From timed missions to shooting through walls and ceilings, 99% miss, enemies moving twice per turn, etc.
You should review Jagged Alliance 2.
Definitely an old favorite of mine!
@@GideonsGaming DAAAAMN! Yours too.
That's really surprising to find another fan but who actually has a game reviewing channel.
I've been a fan of this game since the day I got it in 2001. after many many Many years of playing it wrong and just for fun, i got really into it how acrually complex it is and got this inner sadness that most games just cannot be compared to it.
I bought Phoenix Point just now, and now watching your Battle Brothers Complete review. Because I need to know if they can compare to JA2.
*Sigh* I hope they're complex as Ja2, man.
So sad that Brenda Romera couldn't make a complex game as JA2, sinse she took part in making JA2. ( she made empire of sin)
Are you, by chance, willing to review it someday, I know it's very hard game to describe to people, I tried making a script for a review since 2015 but it's too good, like i neee to be alking on 3 audio channels to describe one mechanic that affect this bigger mechanic and it is influenced by those two mechanics, it's insane.
Anyway it's great to find a fan of Complex Turn Based Tactical games.
@@DrRESHES This might be nostalgia talking, but a lot of older games such as Jagged Alliance 2 are, as a rule of thumb, deeper than most games released today, not always of course, but much of the time.
The industry took a massive shift toward accessibility and ease of play over complexity and depth over the last two decades. Look at the original X-COM versus Enemy Unknown for example.
Comparing every game to an old favorite is somewhat of a trap that will probably leave you unhappy though.
There was a long period of time where I did it, it was a tough thing to break.
I'm not sure either Phoenix Point or Battle Brothers can equal Jagged Alliance 2 in terms of complexity. However, they are both very deep games compared to most games that are released today. I'd also recommend having a look at Age of Wonders: Planetfall, Xenonauts, Battletech, Fallen Enchantress, and Star Traders Frontiers.
As for a review of Jagged Alliance 2, it's possible at some point. Especially as the channel grows and I can afford to explore different types of content. I feel like there's an audience out there who have never played Jagged Alliance 2 but would enjoy doing so.
Anyway, thanks for checking out my reviews!
Hey, loved your review
have you tried out terror from the void mod? - great, really makes me think, not just create terminator builds and wipe out the map with 3 soldiers on 2nd turn. be sure to try it out as well!
I played it without dlc s and i loved it altho i was very bad at it. I will replay jt now
I swear i really dont care much about graphics ( i play runescape lol) but what can you say about this and animations vs xcom, it looks to me like they are low budget or something
They could use some polish for sure. For the most part, it isn't too bad but there are some goofy moments at times. For example, there is a noticeable delay from when an enemy is hit before they react to it.
@@GideonsGaming thats exactly what im talking about ty!
If I remember correctly, PP is AA indie game, so it doesn't have a AAA quality
I don't like it as much because it's not grounded in modernity. XCom always felt a little closer to current times, and I like xcom 2 less for going further into the future. Also phoenix point had an opportunity to make monsters more horrifying and grotesque compared to new xcom and they basically made them look just as goofy when we need monsters as terrifying as the chrysalid
Does this have a time countdown... like xcom had the countdown until you lost... i likes it but it didn't let me enjoy the game completely
There is an overall timer that will eventually cause you to lose. The world's population has to stay above a certain threshold. You can heavily influence the timer by taking actions against the pandorans or defending havens. It's not a set timer, it's reliant on how well the other factions are faring plus your intervention. But there is a timer all the same.
Did you play this on Xbox, or just with a controller? I've been thinking of getting it, but I keep reading how buggy it is on console. If you played on Xbox, how was your experience?
I played it on a Series X. It ran great and controlled fine. I can't speak for how it runs on last gen consoles though. It was buggy, anything critical seemed to have been patched while I was reviewing it. I still encountered an occasionally bug. Dialogue fast forwarding etc. Hopefully those get squashed in the next patch.
Is Phoenix point ( attempted and failed ) evolution of the original XCOM formula? Yes.
Can you like it more than Firaxis XCOMs? You can like whatever you like.
is it a better game than Firaxis XCOMs? Not even close. It is unpolished, unbalanced, and horribly flawed In design in so many ways.
To say it's objectively better game is simply delusional.
And if someone wants to pull "I don't know what I'm talking about" on me I played every squad-based tactical game including Sabre Team, Laser Squad, OG XCOMs , JA ( all of them even newer bad ones ), 762 HC, Cenega UFO series, UFO: Extraterrestrials, UFO Alien Invasion, Xenonauts, Silent Storm... and many more.
The main reason ppl fanboy this game is because it tries to go more sim opposed to Firaxis XCOMs which went more boardgame-rpg like that left many people ( including me ) disappointed.
Firaxis XCOMs were a huge disappointment for me because of the direction they went with game design but what they did they did amazingly well.
On the other hand, Phoenix Point is a huge disappointment because of so many flaws in game design. The game is tedious at the time, the strategy layer has no strategy you are funneled into meta or you will fail miserably, and the tactical layer is full of ridiculously unbalanced things that you counter by using game braking unbalanced exploits and mechanics ( like running around with 1 super soldier and using WP to kill 99% of the map, or wombo-comboing the last boss with you magical super soldiers and one shot him, using a full squad of ninja invisible soliders and just shooting enemies standing in your extraction zone because AI is too broken and does not know how to react to this dumb mechanic ). So good.. Totaly work as intended very tactical and X-COM Is Old News Now...
The game is as shallow as a puddle ( unless you think finding an unbalanced broken mechanic to counter an unbalanced broken game design is deep ), it's complicated but not complex.
Not to mention the Epic "situation" where Galop went " fuck the game take the money" practically killed his own game and left so many original promises and ideas behind. I don't blame the man he is old now and financially he probably made the right decision but PP did suffer greatly for it and it's not 10% of the game it could have been.
It's been a while since I made this review, but I doubt I used the word "objectively" anywhere in the review, as that would be pretty out of character for me.
Reviews are inherently subjective. I like Phoenix Point better than X-COM, and in the video, I try to explain why. Nothing more, nothing less. You don't have to agree, and that's okay.
One of my main gripes with X-com "remakes" was the comparatively pitifully tiny squad sizes compared to the previous games where you could bring like 20 dudes and have it actually feel like a battle
I get what you mean by "tedious", since one of the dlcs (acherons) was so obnoxious to play with I felt like dropping the game near the end as it completely shifts the game dynamic from a tactical dismantlement of enemy forces to a search & destroy mission before you get overwhelmed/run out of ammo and god forbid you end up on a mission with multiple of those, or even a base defence one
The strategy layer was also quite annoying to deal with, mostly due to the randomness of attacks on havens where sometimes you simply had no chance to get there in time and because I tend to be a perfectionist in games
Lack of weapon and armor upgrades threw me off as well, you have a selection of a few items that work kind of the same but with different stats with very few straight upgrades
I didn't abuse any meta strategies and it played fine (aside from the aforementioned infuriating DLC), maybe on the hardest difficulties you need to resort to such but I suppose they are "hard" in that they demand game knowledge and utilizing it
Still, I don't compare it to X-Com as they're separate games and they're not connected in any way but they're both enjoyable in their own way
It was a nice game to play during my Xenonauts X-Division break to spare the hair on my head
But is it a deep game?
Indeed
Could not stand this buggy poorly implemented mess. I also don't think it was more complex overall. The soldier individuality gone with only difference skills that ridiculously unbalanced. There are zero characters to get to know, the story is flat and just ridiculous. None of factions are likeable and helping any of them would be global suicide so all you choosing is who is going to destroy humanity. And let's not forget all these super advanced ruins that no one ever noticed before.