Phoenix Point Reviews
Phoenix Point is a deeper experience than the new XCOM and a drier one. It rewards careful strategic planning, strictly by the rules tactical executions, and a lack of attachment to individual units. The best way to enjoy the game is in short sessions, maybe two missions at a time, to allow for time to mentally explore possibilities and forget some of the frustrations.
When the dust settles, a year has been extraordinarily helpful to Snapshot Games. The AI is sharper, the animations are better, the fight feels more fair, and the game takes risks that make it feel fresh. While there are still some bugs to iron out, and the UI can be confusing at times, there's a lot to enjoy in Phoenix Point: Year One Edition.
With the pedigree and ideas going into this, Phoenix Point should have been much, much better than it is. The cool ideas are overshadowed by ever-present bugs, glitches, and hiccups that constantly get in the way of the player. Even excusing these, the ideas and presentation come off as incredibly bland very soon into the adventure. Little customization, little options, and little reason to care about your soldiers or base, round out reasons this is in need of massive updates and overhauls if it is to be saved.
Phoenix Point is a good try at capturing some of that XCOM magic, but it falls short of being great. I found myself enjoying the experience, but at the same time, couldn't help feel that something was missing. Hopefully it's something that can improve in a sequel, if it ever comes.
Phoenix Point comes from the creator of the original XCOM, and as such you'd think it'd be an imperious, spiritual successor to the pre-Fireaxis series. Instead, it's a decent if disappointing addition in its current state and in dire need of some TLC from its creator.
None of those points deter from my overall enjoyment of Phoenix Point, though. It's a fantastic game, and I'm excited to see what Gollup has in mind for DLC. I certainly plan to play more of this game and improve my tactics. At the moment, my only Phoenix-like revival skills lie in save scumming.
Phoenix Point is a great tactical game with interesting diplomatic features and a user-friendly interface, which suffers from the same type of missions closer to the final and incredible peaks of difficulty due to an artificial intelligence system that adapts to your battle tactics and in combination with randomly created stages turns some maps into impossible challenges. I hope that in the console release this brutal level of difficulty will still be fixed.
Review in Russian | Read full review
I give it a tenuous recommendation to fans of XCOM
Good but not perfect try of Julian Gollop restore X-com vision. With some battle improvements and unbalanced gameplay.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Despite a bunch of interesting ideas, Phoenix Point rarely offers a viable alternative to the many other games of the same genre. Greatly unbalanced, unpolished and poorly optimized, the game by the creator of the X-Com series is but a shadow of Gollop's past.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Whether you're jumping directly from XCOM, or jumping in completely oblivious to what the genre entails, there's a lot to like in Phoenix Point's pleasant assortment of boots-on-the-ground tactics and overhead, commandeering strategy.
Phoenix Point is a very cautious game, a repetition almost as it is of the formula of the original X-COM and those made by Firaxis. The title developed by Snapshot tries to take some steps forward, to dismantle some science fiction clichés with a much more avant-garde approach to narrative than the congeners, but dissolves most of the intentions because they are voluntarily trapped in traditionalism.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Phoenix Point has some interesting ideas that are brought down by a bad UI, poor difficulty balancing, and a distinct absence of polish.
Phoenix Point expands upon the XCOM formula brilliantly, offering a fantastic campaign that leaves you twisting and turning.
Phoenix Point takes a good shot at revitalizing the XCOM formula.
Pheonix Point brings us everything we love about the X-COM series, but isn't unique enough to step out of the franchise's shadow.
Phoenix Point for me was just a blast. Literally and figuratively if you ask my enemies. Amazingly designed for one of the best damned Squad Based Turn Based Tactics that I’ve played in a long time, I fully recommend it to anyone that’s had their eye on it. Going back… two years to a sponsored Facebook post? It’s been worth the wait and even with its very late entry into the year, is hitting my 2019 Games of the Year list. Thank you Snapshot Games!
The granular gameplay in this post-apocalyptic strategy game becomes an administrative headache, and the story is presented with all the drama of an engineering textbook