Much better game than expected
All the other reviews, including Gamespot's, tend to hype up how difficult this game is. And yes, while the game is challenging, it's not quite as hard as it's made out to be if the appropriate strategies are used. I enjoyed Soldiers tremendously and had that experience coming into this game, so that helps. However, this game like it's title suggests is much more reliant on stealth and covert operations. Even though Soldiers is often compared to the Commando series, Silent Heroes is much closer in comparison. You really can't run into a firefight with guns ablazin'. What really works is a more methodical approach by using the various options to hide in cover and sneak up on the enemy. In fact, I often use just one of the available heroes and load his inventory with ammo from the other units, then use him to take out enemy units and tanks. This proved very effect and fun. I also used my knife and melee much more in this game than I did in Soldiers. You'd really be surprised what you can do with just one or two units, even though you are given usually 5 or 6 units. One unit hiding in the bushes can take out hoards of the enemy by using a combo of grenades to set things up and then the smg using direct control.
As stated before, this game is less polished. The graphic engine is basically the same as Soldiers with no upgrade. Fine with me because I thought Soldiers graphics were excellent for the time and this type of game. Basically the game is made up of one campaign of ten missions. The overall time to play varies, I guess, by how fast you want to go and how methodical one is. I like to play slowly and methodically and try different approaches to wiping out the enemy. I'd say the game is fairly short overall. The story is fairly thin. You play as Russian saboteurs conducting covert sabotage missions behind Nazi lines. Each mission has one or two main objectives and possible additional secondary missions. A couple of the missions are not thought out that well and the endings are a little strange. For instance, one mission you are required to rescue a Russian officer held in a Nazi camp. However, you can complete the mission by raiding a German village and driving some vehicle to point X. I reaching on this, but I think part of the problem is translation in cases like this, because this game is clearly marketed to Russians and not a lot went into translating for other gamers. In fact, your units constantly shout out exclamations in Russian. This did not bother me very much because the subtitles were in English.
Overall, I found the game to be quite enjoyable and not has brutally hard as it's made out to be. Again, this game is about hiding and sneaking. Even in the first mission, your first objective should be to get our units in cover. Also, important to remember the firing controls - Fire at Will, Hold Fire, and Retaliate . Often, you will want to set your units to Hold Fire until you are ready to attack, as they will begin firing before you want them to and all hell will break loose.
A must play for Soldiers: HOWWII fans but I think it's a good game for other strategy fans that like a challenge.