TLDR: An amazing tactical shooter that still holds up today. Hard difficulty provides an engaging, strategic challenge that relies on commanding squadmates with pretty good AI. A little bit of bugginess from the age and the port, but nothing too major.

An old classic I remembered faintly from my childhood. A while back I got it on steam, and I must say, it really holds up as a great game today. That isn't to say there aren't a few bugs here and there, and some questionable design choices, such as extreme camera shaking in one of the earlier levels (which thankfully doesn't happen again, so if you can get past it, you're good).

CHALLENGE
I highly recommend playing it on hard difficulty. It makes good strategic decisions a necessity, because you'll have to rely on your squad a lot to help take things down or complete tasks. On hard, you take SIGNIFICANTLY more damage than your squad-mates, so you can't always go in guns-blazing on your own without even thinking about ordering your squad around. The only issue with doing this is that there are a few sections of the game that are much more difficult because you're forced to go solo for a while, leaving you VERY vulnerable.

ATMOSPHERE
I really like a lot of the details they put into this game, like how blood and oil will splatter the visor and it will wipe itself clean after a moment. Really makes you feel like you're in the thick of it, especially when there's a lot of incoming blaster fire.
The dialogue and the characters are great too, when you give orders the responses are snappy and clear. The animations are pretty great- your squadmates even have special takedown animations with enemies in melee, just to add a little flair.
Each of the three stages you perform missions on have their mostly unique motifs, particularly the second one. I won't give too much away, but I was surprised at the amount of variety in the enemies.

GAMEPLAY
Since the game revolves entirely around commanding your squad, it's good that your squadmates have pretty good AI. Their pathing is good and they know how and when to take cover, and they certainly know how to put the hurt on the enemy when you give them the means to. The only issues I've seen is sometimes a squadmate will get stuck in a wall or something and won't be able to follow you, but I think that's more of an environment issue than it is a pathing one.
The gunplay itself is pretty good and very satisfying, and while the selection of weapons is somewhat limited, it's not at all the focus of the combat and thus doesn't leave you really wanting.

CAMPAIGN
The missions were each unique enough that each new situation felt like a new challenge to overcome, and the story was pretty alright, certainly enough to get you invested in the situation. Some of the moments were more interesting than others, though I also feel like a few sections were cut off rather abruptly.
Somewhat of a spoiler(?): The ending felt somewhat anticlimactic, like there was meant to be one final mission after a really intense moment and it seems like a tough decision needs to be made... then it cuts away abruptly and a text box describes what happens before loading the epilogue. It didn't necessarily take away from the whole thing, but it was a little disappointing. I wonder if they had more planned but couldn't put it in in time.

Overall I found it was a very fun game to play through. It doesn't really have much in the way of replayability, unless you play it on a lower difficulty first and want to try going through it on hard later. It was a pleasant surprise that something from my childhood still holds up today, and its quality wasn't just nostalgia.
If you've read this far into my rambling review, I'm not sure what else I can say to convince you. It was a lot of fun, especially for an old game. Check it out.

TLDR: An amazing tactical shooter that still holds up today. Hard difficulty provides an engaging, strategic challenge that relies on commanding squadmates with pretty good AI. A little bit of bugginess from the age and the port, but nothing too major. An old classic I remembered faintly from my childhood. A while back I got it on steam, and I must say, it really holds up as a great game today. That isn't to say there aren't a few bugs here and there, and some questionable design choices, such as extreme camera shaking in one of the earlier levels (which thankfully doesn't happen again, so if you can get past it, you're good). [u]CHALLENGE[/u] I highly recommend playing it on hard difficulty. It makes good strategic decisions a necessity, because you'll have to rely on your squad a lot to help take things down or complete tasks. On hard, you take SIGNIFICANTLY more damage than your squad-mates, so you can't always go in guns-blazing on your own without even thinking about ordering your squad around. The only issue with doing this is that there are a few sections of the game that are much more difficult because you're forced to go solo for a while, leaving you VERY vulnerable. [u]ATMOSPHERE[/u] I really like a lot of the details they put into this game, like how blood and oil will splatter the visor and it will wipe itself clean after a moment. Really makes you feel like you're in the thick of it, especially when there's a lot of incoming blaster fire. The dialogue and the characters are great too, when you give orders the responses are snappy and clear. The animations are pretty great- your squadmates even have special takedown animations with enemies in melee, just to add a little flair. Each of the three stages you perform missions on have their mostly unique motifs, particularly the second one. I won't give too much away, but I was surprised at the amount of variety in the enemies. [u]GAMEPLAY[/u] Since the game revolves entirely around commanding your squad, it's good that your squadmates have pretty good AI. Their pathing is good and they know how and when to take cover, and they certainly know how to put the hurt on the enemy when you give them the means to. The only issues I've seen is sometimes a squadmate will get stuck in a wall or something and won't be able to follow you, but I think that's more of an environment issue than it is a pathing one. The gunplay itself is pretty good and very satisfying, and while the selection of weapons is somewhat limited, it's not at all the focus of the combat and thus doesn't leave you really wanting. [u]CAMPAIGN[/u] The missions were each unique enough that each new situation felt like a new challenge to overcome, and the story was pretty alright, certainly enough to get you invested in the situation. Some of the moments were more interesting than others, though I also feel like a few sections were cut off rather abruptly. Somewhat of a spoiler(?): [spoiler]The ending felt somewhat anticlimactic, like there was meant to be one final mission after a really intense moment and it seems like a tough decision needs to be made... then it cuts away abruptly and a text box describes what happens before loading the epilogue. It didn't necessarily take away from the whole thing, but it was a little disappointing. I wonder if they had more planned but couldn't put it in in time.[/spoiler] Overall I found it was a very fun game to play through. It doesn't really have much in the way of replayability, unless you play it on a lower difficulty first and want to try going through it on hard later. It was a pleasant surprise that something from my childhood still holds up today, and its quality wasn't just nostalgia. If you've read this far into my rambling review, I'm not sure what else I can say to convince you. It was a lot of fun, especially for an old game. Check it out.