I remember I enjoyed this game several years ago far better than the modern xcom reboots. Many people complain the difficulty is too high. It's not it's a part of the story- you're defending the earth against superior enemy for the gods sake! Your soldiers and aircrafts will be dying like flies. The biomass is an awesome idea which gives a reason to the invasion, and makes the game harder on the strategic level in the later game. I don't remember the RT tactical mode caused any real problems, as the events can be set up to pause the game. It felt more natural than the enemy waiting for its turn without any retaliation so the player can wipe out it's units in a single turn. This is the first one in the serie delivered by the Altar Interactive and the best one.
In the begining it doesn't look so great, but it gets better, and better with time. It doesn't have this hard-to-easy curve of citi builders but rather the oposite - like now I got some epidemy on earth of some spacebug one tourist got on mars. Also it has the mods available to download with Paradox Workshop.
Great game. I've got it couple years ago on steam, and i'll play it once again someday. It is reasonably difficult - especially on hard, when most interface aids are switched off, so wind and ballistic correction must be done by intuition. Soundtrack is so good I bought it as an addition some time after purchase when it was available. Atmosphere is way better now with more populated villages. Missions are absorbing, locations well done. It is not true saving doesn't work - progress is saved between missions, or on checkpoints when on a mission. It is a design choice, and gives an extra thrill when knowing there is no second chance.
- True medieval atmosphere, and history - may be used as teaching aid. - complex mechanics - interesting storyline - long (houndreds of hours) gameplay - Pretty difficult at start, but doesn't get boring in the middle of gameplay (haven't finnished yet) - Nice graphics using CryEngine.