#Phoenix point ps4 review update
#Phoenix point ps4 review upgrade

Phoenix Point feels like it’s a draft short of greatness. The devil may be in the detail, but the drama is in the edit. While almost identical in premise, Phoenix Point’s story is definitely different from XCOM 2’s in a lot of ways. Phoenix Point has double the number of teeth but a less effective bite. With X-COM, Firaxis took a punishing, impenetrable strategy game and made it slick, cool and thrilling a dynamic sci-fi beast with muscular jaws. The story that is gradually unveiled as you explore is intriguing, but presented with all the drama of an engineering manual. The soundtrack has no fanfare whatsoever. Battles begin unceremoniously and end with an almost literal whimper. This forms part of a broader issue whereby Phoenix Point lacks a sense of occasion. Losing a soldier becomes less of a shock and more of an administrative headache, as you need to recruit a replacement and manufacture a whole new inventory to give them a fighting chance.

But as your operation spreads across the globe, Phoenix Point’s systems grow unwieldy. Such micromanagement is enjoyable at first. You even need to manage the weapons and ammunition of each individual soldier. Its tactical battles include a special targeting mode that lets you aim at specific enemy body parts for different effects, destructible buildings that radically alter the layout of a battlefield, enemies that evolve over time to wield different weapons and abilities, and a complex move/fire system that requires you to exercise tactics with precision. Phoenix Point is similarly granular during combat encounters. Needless to say, this game is doing well for itself as it hits and exceeds many marks players want out of a game like this. Since being released in December of 2019, the game has seen great reviews from fans, an anniversary release with pushes to consoles, and several DLCs. This complex political metagame offers greater strategic opportunity than X-COM’s head-to-head grudge match. Phoenix Point is the most recent project of his. None are ideal bedfellows, but you’ll need at least one of them on your side to stand a chance against the virus, and making allies of one may require you to make enemies of another. On the Geoscape, you don’t only have to worry about the Pandora virus but also three other human factions that include transhumanist religious zealots and an oppressive military dictatorship.

Phoenix Point’s approach to building tension aims to be more organic. It was frustrating, it was annoying, and it was fun. I remembered playing games similar to this several years ago. Firaxis played on those emotions brilliantly, with spectacular, action-movie-like battles, agonising decision-making and a soundtrack that made you feel as though you could knock out the sun, even if you were far more likely to be immolated by your opponent. Review Phoenix Point: Behemoth Edition is nostalgic for me even though I had never played it before.

The death of a single soldier is a tragedy, the loss of a squad is a catastrophe you may never recover from. You control one cell, gathering some of the world’s best scientists, engineers and soldiers.

#Phoenix point ps4 review upgrade

We’ll share more details on the next-gen upgrade soon for PS5 and Xbox Series X, but thanks for your patience as we investigated these issues.X-COM-style games are designed to be engines of tension emotional rollercoasters that pit you against impossible odds and challenge you to carve out victory from almost certain defeat. The Phoenix Project is a worldwide organization designed to be activated when the world is in peril.

#Phoenix point ps4 review update

New for this update specific to console are the following patch notes:įixed an issue with a save file or autosave file becoming corrupted when the game crashes during the game save.įrame rate and performance of the game is improved.įixed a game stuck in the 'Vehicle available' window if a vehicle is manufactured after opening the aircraft menu.įixed a problem with selecting mutoid skills. Most importantly, we’ve also increased the stability of the game, improved some frame rate and performance, and included a fix to prevent saved games from being corrupted.įull patch notes for the original Hypnos release are here, while the v.13.2 update additions can be found here. We’ve released our latest Hypnos update for the Behemoth Edition on PlayStation and Xbox, which includes some game changes, quality-of-life features, and other fixes.