A grandiose remaking of an amazing classic!
I remember being introduced to the series on a High School friend's original Playstation (as in, PS1 or PSX). While the atmosphere seemed a little darker then, the overall experience is still there. I enjoyed both the original and this greatly called-for remake.
I'll hit on a few points.
I would list the gameplay that improved on from the original, but let's face it, 18 years after the original game's 1st release, and you'd have to expect everything to be improved on. And it was.
I'll hit on a few things that were not part of the original (at least, as far as I could see) that I found detrimental to the experience.
-Bugs. There were a few odd glitches. I seem to, for some reason, get them more than most people have accounted for. However, they weren't all that bad. The addition of frequent auto-saving really helped out in this area.
-Camera movement. Panning the camera was not easy to get used to. I wanted it to do the exact opposite of what it was doing. Perhaps I did not dig deep enough in this instance, but I could not find an option to change it.
That pretty much sums up the negative points. The positive points in comparison to the original is that everything was, for the most part, improved upon. Obviously after 18 years, the graphics are much better, sounds and everything else tech-wise was much more modern, awesome and well, 3D. Things that really stuck out for me were the UI (the original was kinda horrid), the base system (that would be used in place of the Geosphere of old) and the fact that you could distinguish the harder versions of the various aliens from their weaker counterparts. 16 bit(?) graphic pixels had their downsides, who knew?
At any rate, I thoroughly enjoyed the game. Even if you had not played the original, this is a highly recommended turn-based strategy game that will fill your hours with entertaining gameplay.
