Recent reviews by Cabusha

Completed my first run of the game the other day, Veteran difficulty. This game rocked. Great strategic play, I loved the randomized maps, research felt a lot clearner than the last game. The revamped classes kick ass, although certain skill still seem to be no-brainers for Snipers. Heavies are probably the most ballanced with some really hard choices.

Gameplay is still as brutal as ever. Missing a shot can really hurt your team bad. Expect to regularly bring home injured crews. Most of the missions have turn limits for objectives, so you can't always just move/oversee/move/oversee your way through every map. Sometimes you have to play it more fast and loose.

The bad: 30gigs was a bit large for my SSD, so load times were slow off of my 7200RPM disk. Once a mission is loaded though they generally run well. Some animation issues here and there where they may forget to play in combat. A couple of odd sound buggs. In my first play through, I only had one actual crash. The interface isn't always obvious if you'll have Line-Of-Site to a target when you move.

Overall: If you liked X-Com 1, this is more delicious X-Com goodness. If you didn't like the first, skip it.

A very good, old school RPG with modern style and gameplay concessions. You control a group of 4 shadow runners, taking various jobs to stay alive, all the while trying to figure out who put a hit on your head.

The Good:
Beautiful, pre-rendered back grounds with 3d characters in front.
Spellbinding story that keeps you hooked.
Interesting characters. I'd put them above Icewind Dale/Baldur's Gate, but less than Baldur's Gate II.
Great visual style.
The character classes seem very ballanced - didn't find anything obviously game-breakingly-overpowered in my first playthrough.
Oh yeah, and fantastic music! Doesn't get tired or annoying.

The Bad:
Interface can be a bit glitchy - doesn't always detect mouse clicks.
Some lag when switching scenes.
Game starves you for money in the last couple of chapters.
About it.

Overall, highly recommended!

Just finished it and loved it!