Difficulty:

Very Hard

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Highly addictive"

If you are reading this review then by now you know this game is a turn based strategy game and you manage a base, purchase upgrades and organize your troops in a varieties of ways.

All that is top notch, but that's not why i gave the game a 10. In fact, it could be argued that some of the games bugs, the lack of depth compared to the original should dock points off of the games entire score, which in any other case, would be justified.

However, in this case the game has achieved something no other game i ever played, over the 24 yrs of gaming, has achieved: A great sense of risk and a great sense of lose. Those two things make the rewards feel all that much better when you overcome the risk and advert the losses.

If you play the game, you must play on Ironman and on the higher difficulty settings, cause then and only then you'll be in for a treat, cause there are no "reloading your last save cause you just lost you best soldiers." Every thing is do or die.

Just last night i was playing a new play through. I played 8 straight hours. I had two Col. a two Majors, and two Lts. (High rank soldiers). I summoned my best warriors for this mission cause we just shot down a very large UFO, the biggest we've seen yet.

These guys were my best of all my soldiers. We were going on this typical raid on a down UFO. All was well, like every other mission. Then all hell breaks loose. I lost 2 of my lower ranked soldiers by the time we neared the end of the mission. Although i did have one Major who was stabilized, thus abandoning the mission to leave a second to highest ranking solider in the field to die was not an option.

I still had my two Col. and a major in the fight. We only had to clear out 4 more enemies. It sounded simple enough. Besides i didn't want to abandon the mission when i lost 2 good soldiers and had Major that was stabilized on the battlefield, which means the only way to save them is to revive them which i couldn't or finish the mission.

It was at this point we began our final assault into the UFO control room. Then this alien from no where go a pop shot on one of my Col. He goes down and has 3 turns till he bleeds out. My two remaining soldiers, a Major and Col. took out the alien that critically wounded my Col.

However, time was now of the essence. I now had one of two of my highest ranking officers down. Thus, my two remaining soldiers make a B-line to the control room. My Major got to the door first and did not plan to open it so he could wait for my Col. sniper to get in position. However, Some bulking alien beast opens the door up on him first. The Major at the door opened fire but did not kill him. Next turn the alien returned fire leaving him with one bar of health, and at that time two of those aliens that are made of pure energy comes into play.

The next turn my major kills that alien beast. Thus, the game is at 2v2 for the win. I figure i'll lose my Maj, but save the mission and save the two critical wounded soldiers in the field. Well, as i predicted, the Major gets hit, but to my relief doesn't die, he is critical wounded. I return fire killing one, and the remaining one fires at me taking my health to about 3 bars.

Thus, it all comes down to this, its 1v1. I have 3 soldiers in the field that are incapacitated, the mission is on the line and it all comes to down to this:

All i have to do is make a 95% shot with my sniper rifle to win this mission. If i make this 95% shot, i save 3 of my best soldiers and come back home with some of the best UFO loot yet.

So, i take the shot thinking nothing of it and i miss! I missed a 95% shot with all this at stake no F*CKING way right? Well anyway, the dam alien killed me the next turned I turned off the game pissed off at the sense that i lost all my best soldiers.

Then it dawns on me, what game have i ever played that felt so intense, rewarding, yet so dam risky, punishing and unforgiving at times that gave me a real sense of lost when i didn't complete an objective? Well never.

Its those things that tie all together that make this game so dam addicting, and enjoyable. Each mission your left wondering will it be your last with the squad you put together? Even when you take one loss you feel the shame and pain for losing that solider. However, magnifie that by 10000X when your whole crew gets swiped and you'll begin to understand the stake in this game.


If you don't have this game buy it. Its these experiences that make this game a salty 10.