Xenome Review
What’s it all about?
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Xenome has become a rather popular title on the iPhone App Store lately. Some may be surprised by this due to the fact that Xenome is a full $7.99 title. To put that in perspective; iPhone stars Doodle Jump and Angry Birds are just 99 cents. So, is it possible that the game is eight times as enjoyable as some of the most popular games on the system? Unfortunately the answer isn’t a simple yes or no, but will rather depend on what you’re looking for in an iPhone game.
It stands to reason that rapid pick-up-and-play titles are popular on a device that is almost always by your side. They are good time killers and can make things like waiting for an elevator a fun diversion. However, if you’re looking for a deep, expansive gameplay experience, you’re probably going to think first of your home gaming console.
Xenome is trying to change that, with a huge open world RPG experience that simply won’t be bested in a quick bathroom break at work. Think of it as having a game like Fallout at your side at all times. Sure, you can boot it up for a minute or two and maybe talk to a few in-game characters, but if you’re going to make any serious progress in the game you’re going to want to set aside a good chunk of time and a comfy chair.
In Xenome you take the role of a mysterious wastelander who wakes up and finds that every living thing in the vicinity wants to rip him limb from limb. He sets out on a mission to find out why. Along the way he’ll encounter a whole host of interesting characters, some dangerous and some helpful, and he’ll traverse a massive open landscape that has many hidden secrets.
Graphics, Audio and Verdict
Xenome, for better or worse, really does want to believe it is a full console title. Using a fully 3D rendered world and a ton of polygonal graphics, it looks a lot like a game developed for the original PlayStation. Sure, the characters can look blocky, and the environment is pretty sparsely populated, but this IS a wasteland. There’s not supposed to be much stuff laying around aside from sand and a little bit of vegetation, and that’s exactly what you get.
The game’s audio is on-par with the rest of the production, but nothing spectacular. Some enemy noises can get repetitive but all-in-all it isn’t something that detracts from the rest of the game, it just doesn’t add anything particularly fancy either.
Xenome is advertised as the first episode in a series, and as such you have to weigh the rather beefy $8 price with what you will get in the end. If you’re itching for some true console-style RPG action on the go, you can’t do better than Xenome, but if you’re only looking for an occasional diversion it is probably not for you.