This game has serious problems. The interface is complete garbage, to the point that you will see experienced players waste a soldier's turn because both movement and select are LM button. Every turn you will spend about 20 seconds watching civilians run around aimlessly. None of the quick keys are labeled in tool tips. How "Opportunity Fire" (Overwatch) works is horribly explained, even if you take the 20 or so pages to read in the manual. There is just huge barrier to entry for a game that, even judged by it's contemporaries, is unnecessarily obtuse. I play and enjoy Angband and understand the quick keys of Vim but the interface of this game is so poor it's hard to recommend to anyone who wasn't already in love with it from '97. Speaking of '97 just compare this game's interface of others of the same year FFVII, FF Tactics, Diablo, Imperialism, Worms 2 etc., etc., etc....
Once you get this game running on modern systems, (the PCgamingwiki is always a useful resource for playing retro games) I have to say it has aged awfully. The level design is excellent, real places, authentic feel, a bit barren but expected for the time. The AI is horrible. Especially when you compares this game's AI to Swat 3. They can't handle stairs; any quick movement will have your overwatch running past you and headlong into danger, destroying your meticulously made plan. I want to like this game, because the planning stage is interesting to me, but the AI just does not seem to have the competency to execute it.
People that say this game does not work on their platform are either talking about old issues that have now been resolved or don't know to run the game on windows XP SP 3. Plus there is a mod to optimize for wide screen and with the voodoo emulator of the graphical issues (slowdowns) are resolved. On to the game. It's a near perfect game. The shooting feels good, but that is not really what the game is about. The best way to resolve a situation would be to not have to shoot anyone and have none of your officers' shot. This slow methodical process requires many retries but it does not feel tedious. Like with any challenging game, the failures that you experience as a player are an opportunity to learn. Perhaps you didn't take the corner wide and slow enough, perhaps it was near the end of the mission and you got complacent, boom you lost a team mate or you are looking at your own flat lined heart monitor. If there is a criticism it is that occasionally your team mates don't operate well in small spaces, but if you put them on over-watch (cover position) you can easily push them around. And often the developers created work arounds for tight situations. So exploring the levels pays off. This is a great game that I highly recommend to someone who may feel intimidated by tactical shooters. It's not as overwhelming as Rainbow Six or Ghost Recon but has just as much depth. You can see the care and attention the developers put into it. Highly recommended.
