A game about taking risks
On the strategy layer the player manages the base building, research, soldiers and much more. There are a lot of things to keep track of and the game does a wonderful job by presenting the base in an ingenious “ant-farm” view. The complexity of the base and amount of things to manage increase each simulated month and the player is forced to make hard decisions what to prioritize. The game excellently builds up tension leading to a great finale.
Core of the game is the tactical layer. The turn-based ground combat has a superb presentation and feels just right. Here the game really shines. Every misstep can mean death for a soldier and the failure of the mission and in turn more death and failures in following missions. But time is of the essence to collect the resource “meld” (introduced in the expansion Enemy Within) or disarming bombs, etc.
The best way to play this game is with iron man mode enabled (= no reloads), which means all decisions are final. Never did I experience so much tension, drama and relief in any other game.