Still the best tactical wargame on the market in 2009
If this game had been based on paratroopers dropping into Normandy in 1944 it would have been lauded as the ultimate historical tactical wargame.
With that said, yep, the graphics are a bit dated (even in 2006 when it was released they were a year or so behind the times IMHO) and the sounds are dated as well. But, when it comes to good, solid, tactical WARgames picky things like this don't bother me anymore (beggars can not be choosers!)
The gameplay itself has a few issues...but nothing major and is very stable (even on Vista). All in all, this is a fun game and it hits the mark as a tactical, squad level wargame. It even works if you do NOT really want all that "realism".
Basically, the battles of the game entail that you play the game with the and plot out your fire-fight strategy second by second...not everybody's cup of tea, but then again not everyone likes the twitch-twitch-twitch of Halo-type games either. I am sorry, this does not make it a bad game, nore does it mean that adreniline-hyped-twitch-games like the above mentioned really earned the insanely high scores they seem to have on this site either...
As stated below, Brigade E5: New Jagged Union is truly an old school game: it can be HARD. Part of this can be due to the settings. For example, if you set the damage on "realistic" do not expect your soldiers to be doing much after they take a 9mm round to the head. One bullet wound can kill, and those that don't generally will ruin your merc's day.
The much maligned pause-able real time is just that…and now in 2009 it is pretty common place. As a matter of fact I find some of the posts from 2006 whining about this type of pause-able real-time pretty humorous considering how much more wide-spread it is now. Re-reading some of the below posts now makes it quite clear that the posters never did really figure it out back in 2006...
As a long time wargamer and lover of tactical sims, this is the one to beat; even today in 2009 this game stands as the hands down best tactical warfare simulator.