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Playing Xeno Sola is a little like canoeing without a paddle. You know there's something fun to it: you just don't know how to get there.

Xeno Sola's bewildering. Playing against four other players (in the full version you can choose between computers or humans) you're tasked with building a space station. You do this, predictably, by placing tiles on a huge game board. Each tile represents a different part of the space station, be it a power conduit, a pathway, a landing pad or a combination of the three. You place a tile, then one of the computers places a tile, then another computer places another tile and so on. The idea is to build an unimpeded pathway around the board.

The object of Xeno Sola is to get more points than your opponents. You do this by bidding on the connections you make. Every time you've placed a tile you can place a marker on it. If the tile placement is sound you'll get a certain number of points depending on which marker you placed. Naturally this will lead you to place the highest denomination marker every time. So why bother with different marker denominations at all?

There's probably a reason. But the game doesn't help you find out what it is. And that's Xeno Sola's biggest flaw: it doesn't explain itself. Sure, there's a minuscule help screen before you start the game, but it only gives you the barest idea of what you're supposed to do. You may think on looking at this screen, however, that aid is forthcoming, as it suggests you switch help bubbles on while playing the game. Apparently that's an option.

And it is - if you've bought the full game. You don't get any helpful in-game hints with the demo. You're forced to muddle your way through a strange process of tile placement using tiles that don't even look like what they're supposed to represent. How can people sample a game and be expected to buy it if they don't know how to play?

Xeno Sola doesn't really strike a cord on visuals, either. It's bland. I understand that it's supposed to be a board game and thus shouldn't require an excess of flashy graphics, but lacking a comprehensible system of play Xeno Sola really needs a pleasing aesthetic to keep the player, well, playing. Aside from a few well-drawn anime characters serving as your personal avatars there's little eye candy. Throw in some boringly repetitive sci-fi techno music and you've got a losing combination.

I'm sure somebody out there will enjoy Xeno Sola. There's probably a lot more to it beyond the demo. But I can't recommend this game based on how little is explained in the demo. There's too much risk of the rest of the game turning out the same way. I wouldn't buy it. 1/5

Learn more about this author, Matt Bird.
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