Xeno Assault 2 Review

I have to say that my impression of this game definitely wavered as time went on. The various levels of presentation both grabbed my attention and made me want to not play the game on several occasions.

For example, the title screen made me feel like I was playing a freeware Windows game from a decade ago. Although the ships were fairly well-designed, the background, text, and music made my eyes and ears wince. Directly after that, I was greeted with a simple but quaint menu with multiple modes and bonus missions (although I couldn't play them since I downloaded the game).

My impression didn't get entirely lifted until I actually started playing. At first, the space and nebula environment I was in looked appealing, my ship and the alien's ships were small but recognizable, and my ship fired a giant charged laser to start off the slaughter. I could pull around the mouse or swap to the keyboard whenever I wanted. I expected this to be a decent game.

It was not until about five minutes into the mission that I realized that this is just about all you see in the game, or at least the demo. No cool space stations or other backgrounds, no storyline progression, and a few new enemies. There weren't even any tactics to learn besides dodging occasional fire of 'elite' fighters. I had to rely on my charged main weapon to take out enemy fleets, since some of their shields were barely effected by any other weapons besides the missile launcher or laser array. The time slow was more of a nuisance in slowing the level down than an aid against enemy fire.

By the time I got to the boss of the mission, I was disappointed once again. The ugly boss itself only made things worse - the developers didn't even take the time to make a thoughtful strategy for the player or the AI. I know that giant ship bosses should just sit there, but its firing habits were random, and it could have had wingmen. I had a harder time fighting the mid-sized ships with charged lasers than the boss.

Personally, I can't see how this game's predecessor was "one of the most highly praised games of the year," but perhaps I've played too many shooters and didn't get the full gaming experience. However, I can't say I'm stirred enough to buy this game.