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As I installed the game, Xena Sola immediately presented itself as being a simple piece of programming. The installation file is rather small, and it comes with a relatively simple setup procedure that left me not expecting a great deal from the program. There is still no clue as to what the style of game actually is, and it is only as I load the game do I discover its true nature. Tile placement. Yes. You guessed it. The flashy space-age name can only hide it for so long, and here it is. A truly underwhelming experience.

The opening menu screen splash is a rather childish Anime drawing of a woman dressed in what one would assume to be some sort of space age uniform, but this is neither here nor there. The background music is one single piece of music which again conforms to the space-age theme of the game but neither varies nor change at all throughout the entire game. It is not particularly good music either, just one big medley of synthesisers that loops endlessly as you play.

Graphically, it is nothing to gasp and stare at, either. If you are like me and not wholly concerned with graphics then it serves its purpose more than adequately. The game remains clear and concise to navigate for as long as you can bare to play it. However, this game will not win any awards.

So how do we actually play this tile placement game? The question will burn on many a mind for a long time to come. The 'tutorial' lists the three different tiles available to you and advises you to 'place tiles to construct a space station!' Whoopee. The screen also tells you to place bets on tiles to score points but even after playing for the five minute time-limit on the demo the computer still manages to score hundreds of points more than me. This is largely due to the fact that I have no idea what I'm doing thanks to the rather fruitless 'tutorial.'

I have little clue as to what I'm doing as I place tiles in the places I am told to. I am sure that the creators of Xena Sola had a good initial idea when coming up with this game, but I can not help thinking that the creators are the only people alive that can actually play it to any workable degree. A old fashioned trek back to the drawing board for this game is really the only thing that will do this program any good.

Concept: 2/5 = I get the feeling the game has potential.
Gameplay: 0/5 = I just have no idea what I am doing.
Grapics: 3/5 = Nothing special, but the job is done.
Sound: 2/5 = The one music track gets very annoying.

Overall: 1/5 = This game could potentially be much better, but at the moment it is just terrible.

Learn more about this author, Drew Singer.
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