I have been playing this game on and off for more than twenty years now. Still, I never finished it. Back then, when I was still a teenager, it didn'nt occur to me that it was exceptionally hard. Most games back then were equally demanding. It was normal. I used to play the game with a friend: We would sit in front of the computer together, takting turns, advising each other, figuring out the next move together.
The game is still a lot of fun, altough I play alone by now and know most of it well. Nevertheless, it was my buddy from back in the day who mentioned some years ago that the game was almost unbeatable. That's when I found out about the now known bug that made it almost impossible to finish it. Among all the other challenges the games includes, that one flaw just didn't stick out as such, I guess. At least not to me. Maybe it just made it perfect. Getting there is usually have the fun. In this game, it used to be all of it. I read the other reviews and cannot quite understand why the game is called frustrating or a grind at times. I enjoy it a lot. It occured to me that the fact that it is a war game may be overlooked or not fully understood: Everytime you think you develeoped a gamechanger that keeps your troops from dying, the enemy will fight back even harder. There'll be waves of attacks, conterattacks, defenses, assaults and so on with different outcomes. For me, it's not that much about winning, really. Although I can understand that it is for most people.
In the end, it's the immersion that does the trick, I think. A term, by the way, that came about only recently to describe games if I remember correctly. But you have to be sort of open for it: If your not ready for some terror from the deep, ready to spent hours on a scenario, if necessary, evaluating every threat, considering every possible move carefully, every step even, every shot of the rifle and every grenade, while forgetting time and your real-life, you will not be getting that x-com-experience.
Take cover, always whatch your back and don't forget your flares!
