Not a bad game but suffers from many technical glitches. Patch 1.2 is a must, and the community mod is recommended
To give an outline of the game, it is of course very similar to the prequel UFO-Aftermath where you are in control of a group of soldiers who's ultimate aim is to wipe out the alien invaders. It is a strategy game, so don't expect any quick fixes, it takes a while to get anywhere, but it's generally worth putting in the time
The positive things about the game:-
-It is an engrossing game that should last you for quite a while, there are far too few games like this on the market anymore
-There is a fair variety of equipment, both human and alien which you can research and use against the aliens and their allies
-There's evidence that Altar has tried to improve the graphics and make more effort in areas to improve the series
Now for the negative points:-
A visit to the Altar Forum though will show you that there are many outstanding issues with the game, even after a second patch (1.2) and the Developers are already calling on the gamer community to help to "mod" or modify the game to help improve it. As others have mentioned, the game does seem to have been rushed through development, as an extra month or 2 of beta testing would most likely have ironed out a great many of the problems with this game:-
-The game can crash back to the desktop of the PC, or simply lock the PC up during play
-The games "levels" do not vary enough, as you will often find yourself playing through the same bunkers or buildings, there is no variation to the scenery at all, and no random map creation
-To little has changed from the previous game overall, and many of the ideas that were put forward by the gaming community were never implemented, which no doubt is another result of the rushed development
So to finish off, if you like this kind of game, then it's probably worth taking a look at. It's not a bad game, but it's disappointing in the fact that it could have been so much more if only more time had been devoted to its development and testing
I've given the game 7.8 but thats with the 1.2 patch installed and with the knowledge that there is a mod on the Altar forum which helps fix problems and adds extra features etc
*Note* I paid £19.99 in the UK for the Special Edition version of the game (just extra artwork, poster, pack of playing cards etc) and thought that was a reasonable amount for the end product (I would *not* pay £30/£35 for it)