On the one hand the literal poster child of the "games are art" movement. On the other, a bit too modern and postmodern. If you ever make the "games are art" argument and want to win it, just use this game. It's hard to deny this games mastery. If on the other hand you are after a video game masterpiece...well, it's good, I just don't know if it's "masterpiece" quality is as universal as some of the reviewers here think it is. You are unlikely to regret buying it. It's is beautiful and the work behind it is readily apparent. I doubt there will be many if any people actually wanting their money back. That being said, this game is as much a puzzle game as it is an experience. If you had a problem with other titles that revolved more around exploration, and the experience the developers wished to convey, this might not be the game for you.
But you'll need mods to make it worth your time. Here's the thing, this game is a classic that's been continuously played since it came out. The problem is that hardware has moved on and now you need at least the HD mod to make this playable on modern HD screens. And if resolutions keep on going up even that might not be enough. It's a great strategy game with incredible depth and pixel art that still holds up 20 years later. The UI needs a bit of a massage via a mod or two but all in all you couldn't do any better when it comes to turn based tactics. Worse? yes. Better? no.
This game is a great adaptation... unfortunately it's showing it's age. I liked it and loved the story but I'll be honest here: if you're under 40 the user interface might be nostalgic, if you're under 30 it might be annoying. If you're under 20 though, painful might be the best way to describe the UI of this game. Great story, but the game part needs a bit of patience.
As it can be seen from other reviews on here, depending on how old you are and when you grew up this will either be an unsurpassed masterpiece, nowhere near as good as it's predecessors, or nowhere near as good as it's successors. I'm from the group that grew up with this one so this is a masterpiece in our eyes. Older people will disagree, younger people won't even look at this ugly mess.
