I base this review on SP campaign because MP Warcraft was never a big factor. I'm pleased to say this game aged much better than Warcraft 2 which now is just ordinary by-the-book RTS. Warcraft is a curious old game that predates many things we now take for granted in RTS, and comes better thanks to it. The supplies are gathered slowly and there is no way to build more town halls to make gathering faster. The units are built slowly, too. You can select only 4 units at the same time. Finally, there are no turrets or other defensive builds. This results in a game with no unit spam (large armies are unwieldy to use effectively), no rushing (things are to slow to build), no winning the mission by sending overwhelming numbers into enemy base all at once (unwieldy again!), and no allmighty tower line that kills attacking computer units by hundereds. Instead, you defend your town with force about 20 strong that are still to numerous to micro manage, and must rely on positioning, combined arms tanker/missle lines, careful pulling enemy groups into your line and micro-managing small support groups that intercept enemy WMD, catapults and mages - because one hit from these wiping 6 of your units is already a crippling blow. Instead of making self-defending base and launching hit and run atracks to cripple enemy base, you must defend the base with troops line then move the frontlines from your doorstep to enemy through choke points, all the while keeping it supplied, and repell everything thrown against you with little casualties. The result is surprisingly tactical and real world medieval tactics -like.
The second installment of X:COM series is, basically, X:Com Enemy Unknown with game-breaking design flaws straightened out for much better replay value. The one real problem of the original X-Com was that a player who already knew the research three could jump to endgame technology in just few months, then turn the tactical part into point and click slaughter, delivered by mind controlling soldiers in flying suits, armed with automatic heavy plasmas of doom and guided blaster missiles. TftD goes to great lengths to re-balance the game and keep it challenging until end stage; more complicated research tree stops player from getting endgame tech and mind control early on, surface missions stop some game-breaking equipment from working and the most powerful guns are semi automatic option. Along with more challenging aliens it forces player to stick to squad level tactics (with emphasis on concentration of fire and mutual support) to the very end, rather than coordinating invincible exterminators. If you start X-Com series with this one rather than Enemy Unknown, the original game will always feel simplistic . The changes to the story, artwork style and atmosphere - which was very generic in original - may be a welcome change, too, depending on your tastes.
