This game is awesome. It is fun, there is a lot of replay value (especially when adding Enemy Within) and it's engaging, but most importantly, it delivers feelings of ACCOMPLISHMENT when you execute a mission well. And real DISAPPOINTMENT when your beloved high ranking soldier dies. With such a potent psychological aspect to it, no wonder I give this game a high rating.

However, there are two significant downs, and I cannot ignore them. First is the price. At nearly $70 for the complete package, 5 years after release, after the sequel and its expansion are released? You would think pretty much ALL the bugs would be gone? NOPE!

There are mission-breaking bugs, and if you are playing ironman for a challenge, then you have extra-challenge in the form of bugs that will ruin turns, missions, and entire games.

Also, the UI, while being overall well-designed, also hinders good gameplay. In short: it will pan the map automatically, but allows you to click the destination WHILE it is panning. The result is that if your move is near the (invisible) auto-panning trigger zone, you will likely click just when the auto-pan starts, and the game will give you a move to the wrong tile.

So this game might have been a 10. If at that 5-year price the bugs were almost all fixed, and if the UI didn't have such a game-breaking flaw, I would have given it a 9. So it's an 8.