I just finished the game on the normal level of difficulty. It is a wonderful game. It may not be historically accurate, technically, but it FEELS authentic always. What's good about it? The first thing is probably the story: within its world, it is consistent all the way through. You want to act cold and heartless, the story will back you up. You want to be caring and concerned, the story will actually go the way YOU prefer. I love the egalitarian troops, with females being the precise equal of males - surely not historically accurate for the period, (not even THIS period,) yet refreshing and elegant. You command 'real' troops with 'real' personalities, personal problems, and hopes and dreams. Select different troops, you will get a significantly different set of reactions. Second thing that really works are the paintings used in the intro, loading, and the conclusions. They establish an atmosphere and help you to identify with your troops. Combat is also strong: you can keep your personnel on their feet almost all the time in normal difficulty if your strategy is solid enough, despite increasing numbers of opponents as the story progresses. Negatives? The biggest thing is that the night battles are a bit too dark for my taste - I'm thinking that it might have worked to outline the soldiers and key elements with a white line - yet since the game is turn-based, there's no hurry in moving the map around until you're clear what's going on Well, that should be enough to pique your curiousity - I'm gonna try the hard level next!
I really love Space Rangers 2. I bought the package others have talked about with both 1 and 2 in it. I started with 2 and it is a truly unique and wonderful game. Adjustable difficulty factors make it infinitely playable. However, I have tried to play 1 a few times and find the interface just a bit awkward, so I've never completed it. It seems to me that in 2 they cleaned it up just enough to make it work well. I'll try 1 again, sometime - I really love the variety and creativity behind the concept.
