A very tentative recommendation.

On the one hand, Soldiers delivers one of the most incredibly detailed simulation experiences I've ever played, especially back in 2005 when I first played it. From the destructible environments to the individual inventories of units and vehicles. It even simulates fire propagation to an insane degree of spectacle, and all of these detailed interactions serve to offer you a multitude of tactical options in moment to moment gameplay. When it hits its stride, the number of clutch moments, tension and payoff the game affords you can be staggering.

It's also immensely frustrating. Your units require extreme micromanagement and more often then not, the AI pulls some absolutely brain-dead manoeuvres when left to its own devices. This wouldn't be so bad if the missions themselves didn't have such a thin margin for error, but they often do. To the point where the odds can feel borderline masochistic at times. With random groups of enemy re-reinforcements rolling into the map without warning or notice. I get that it's consistent with the theme of guerrilla 'against all odds' warfare, but it more often than not ends up devolving into tiresome save-scumming.

Then there's the control issues. The camera can be very unwieldy, often pinging across the map if you dare to move your mouse cursor towards the edge of the screen and have a second monitor. This coupled with the nigh on pixel perfect interactions to pick up weapons or items in the heat of battle, it is exhausting to manage. Even save states are unreliable. I’ve had units prone near an unmanned vehicle, only for a reload to kill them instantly as if they’d been run over. Unfortunately, when all of these issues stack up, the entire game starts to fall apart into a finicky, clumsy trial-and-error chore.

With all that said though, I cannot deny the exhilarating and down right cinematic moments that this intricate game has taken me on either. For every issue I have, there's an equal number of qualities I really appreciate and admire about how this game was designed. The vision behind its unconventional approach of marrying strategy to direct player control can be incredibly fun to engage with. Flawed as it is, I’d rather wrestle with a messy game full of great ideas than coast through a polished one with none. But that's just me, your mileage may vary.