OK,

So I'm off work today, I feel terrible, I'm coughing, sneezing and spluttering all over my keyboard. :bad:

I post has just been delivered. Hammer & Sickle has arrived!!!

Suddenly, the day doesn't seem such a bad day after all

I'll send first impressions later this evening, provided I survive.....

A good day to be ill then! Let us know what you think

Well, first impressions.

I like the combat. The changes to damage work very well and I like them. Find a sniper somewhere with a good view of the battlefield and he can dominate the proceedings very easily, which is as it should be IMHO. Similarily the soldier can do some damage with a smg at a long range. I like the way this works

Things I'm not to sure about. The hiding skill seems much diluted for this game. For example the scout suddenly only seems to be useful at night. I had one mission in a wood and the game never let me hide. Fair enough it was broad daylight but with all those trees and bushes? This seems a bit strange to me, especially where some of the enemy clear were hiding (i.e. they kept "disappearing") Am I missing something obvious?

Secondly, is the selling of loot the driver for making money or am I missing something? It took me about 3 missions before I found someone I could sell stuff too, and by this time most of the stuff had disappeared. I was in desperate need of some ammo too!

Lastly, the AI seems better is some respects (e.g. surrounding an occupied building for an assault from all sides) but other times my allies can see the enemy and will do anything (run around, do star jumps, change weapons etc) but shoot at them! Very annoying!

The thing I flat out don't like is the total lack of guidance about exactly what it is you are supposed to be doing. Sorry guys, while I appreciate a game in which you have to think about what you are doing, the flow of things does not follow any particular logic for me and is not very straight forward at all. This is a tactical combat game and that's where I like to do my thinking in these type of games! If I wanted a mystery adventure I would have bought Myst instead! I suppose it isn't that bad, but I have had to reload a couple of missions due to the lack of guidance about what I do when I get there.

Overall, I do like it, especially the combat. you have to think a lot more about your tactics when it is a lot easier to die.

Anyway, that's my honest opinion