I'm interested but haven't picked up the game yet because the price point seems a little high without there being much in the way of reviews on the web with which to support a purchase decision.

What are your first impressions of the game?

Without having delved into it too much.. It seems very similar to the original X-Com, just with slightly upgraded graphics and interface. Considering all the other X-Com games out there, I kinda don't see the point of this. If you want something more modern, Enemy unknown does the trick. If you want the old X-Com with 3D graphics I would recommend UFO: Alien Invasion (it's free). Xenonauts just doesn't fit anywhere in my mind.

Then again, I only played a few hours of it so far. Maybe it differentiates itself more deeper into the game.

I picked this up and have played a few hours as well and I pretty much agree. Hopefully the mid/late game is a bit more distinct.

@loafsmooch: Alien Invasion does apparently not have a destructible environment? Which is a big part of any X-com/UFO game.

To me this is probably the closest you can get to the original x-com right now. It's better than Enemy Unknown (2012) in many aspects that's for sure.

It is lacking in a few places compared to the original x-com.

1) explosions are lackluster imo. In the old game I remember being amused by throwing an alien grenade into a building I knew held aliens. Or rocket launcher the side of it to expose them. In Xenonauts it's almost impossible to blow up walls with anything you can throw and that bums me out.

2) Aliens have no moral. In the old game it felt great when the alien leaders panicked after their entire platoon got wiped out.

3) No psi powers available. The aliens have them though.

4)The game sells all the ufo parts and destroys the bodies. I miss having to manage and sell from my storage. In this game I mainly went there to transfer between bases. In the old I would manufacture and sell laser cannons and make dough mostly that way. And selling all the alien parts I didn't need.

5) personal opinion, many might disagree. I am just not a fan of the cold war setting. Underground bases are just cooler.

it does improve on a lot of aspects though.

Research reports are very descriptive, I love that. Might be my favorite part when it comes to x-com games. Air battles are great and the geoscape is a huge improvement. And I think by enlarge there are more stuff to discover and research. despite the 5 reason I listed above, I would definitely recommend this to any x-com fan.