Xenowork starts off great and rides into mediocre midway into the second stage. Environment changes could've changed that a bit but too many of the levels look the same and make it extremely repetitive, which is what I think the devs were going for and which is why it's my go to shooter while on the toilet. If they wanted to blow our minds there could've been boss battles midway or at the end of a complete stage but instead we only get a window with the captain telling us to move on. Imagine a zoomed out camera for one larger boss, which could've had a similar perspective as boss battles in Lara Croft Guardian of Light, which would've been amazing. Then again this is a small quick time waster and it excels at that, but nothing else.
^accurate. Killing the same 4 enemies over and over, especially when the 2 are effectively the same vanilla enemy with varying degrees of health, is getting boring. The weapon/upgrade system is great, just a shame that the game's enemy variation destroys any replay value the game could have had.
A nice way to look at this game, is as an extension of Space Marshals. It's very simple and straightforward, but it's enjoyable.
Agreed. This is a fun game but more enemy variety is needed. Hopefully an update will add more types. Seeing how fast you can kill the same few to get another star isn't the best replay value for me.
I agree. I think "mediocre" is too harsh a word, but I still agree with the point. This game is a few very small steps away from greatness, and I'm hoping those steps (more stage and enemy variety, and boss battles) are added via update. I'd pay for them.
True, while Xenowerk isn't even near as good as Space Marshals, I wouldn't call it 'mediocre', it has a very different approach to the genre as a more arcade-ish and straightforward game unlike Space Marshals that is almost like an iOS version of The Last Of Us, while this IMHO is more like a Doom in the sense of speed and overall gunplay.
Call it what you will, but this pales in comparison to Doom. The original Doom had such a wide range of enemies, bosses, level designs, environments, weapons, and abilities. The only thing Xenowork has over Doom is resolution, frame rate, and a flashlight effect that's pretty neat but serves no purpose as all the rooms are lit anyway.
Some folk seem to be forgetting the $1.99 price tag. I'm completely satisfied with the amount and quality of content available here. This is the kind of arcade-y variant a lot of people had asked for in the Space Marshals thread and Pixelbite delivered on that.
I was comparing Xenowerk more to Doom 3, but smaller and not even close as good, and more in a gameplay sense, I know that there's not even a tenth of the amount of content that the original Doom had, I was just saying that gameplay-wise it was at least to me similar to Doom (especially Doom 3, which I liked despite all its flaws).
I bought this game and I have decent fun. What bugs me besides the alien bugs in this game is that I also purchased Space Marshalls and we were promised another chapter 3 for which many have been waiting on. I don't find it ok to start selling a "new" game and letting the owners of the previous game wait without any notice. Space Marshalls was a lot more fun imo as it had more depth, varying missions and a story arch. xenoworks almost feels like a shaken down version of space marshals. The devs didn't even bother to give the char a new walking/running motion. The menu is uninspired, the story is close to nonexistent. I rather pay for a mission pack of space marshalls glory. All in all, I appreciated both games. It's just that they are so closely resembling and the devs should have finished the other remaining chapters first or at least let the gamers know whats up with the rest. Coffee breaks over. Back to work.
Are you kidding... ? Space Marshals was launched in January and has already received one major content update. Content requires time to be developed. There are games that are updated maybe once an year with new content, if that. Pixelbite has an impeccable record for delivering updates. I'm certain we will see chapter 3 before the end of the year. As for Xenowerk, I personally see it as a sort of DLC for Space Marshals, it reminds me of how Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon came into existence. It's standalone DLC that is mechanically based in the original game.
Honestly, I think this would have been better as a survival/arena game along the lines of Solomon's Boneyard with a single layout and the ability to purchase upgrades. If it had been, I don't think you would hear so many complaints about the game being tedious/repetitive because the expectation for variety wouldn't be there. It is decent, but all the levels do feel very much the same and the different objectives don't add anything.
My issue is the lack of enemies. It's the same few over and over and over and over and over. There are no bosses so far and I think I'm almost near the end. The gameplay and controls are excellent. Unlimited ammo, awesome! Love the overheat mechanic. I love the power ups and the ease of use. If they add more enemies and some boss fights and a survival/arena mode it would be great. Also some character customization like playing as a male. I love pixelbite. They always do great stuff. Hopefully they will update the game. Billy
Yeah i realized that space marshals was just released in January. I would much rather wait longer for a huge update then be givin a small update in a short amount of time. And I think you're right about the xenowerk being sort of a dlc. It's a fun arcade take on space Marshels that we can have fun with while we wait.
I mean the arena style might help solve the problem with arena variety, but even so having 3 unique enemies is just not enough to sustain a game over many hours. I don't regret my purchase or anything, I've had a few hours of fun and I'm fine with supporting Pixelbite, but I won't be keeping this game on my iPad for very long.
Pixelbite, can you please add option to relocate map and center camera buttons? I'd really appreciate to be able to put them on the right so I can access map or center camera while moving. I have no sense of direction whatsoever so with dynamic camera and without map I might walk in circles and not even realize that As I already did in the beginning until I realized the map's actually available. But when I want to center camera or access map I need to lift my left thumb and I feel it'd be more "user-friendly" on the right. Thanks in advance.
