Ultimately, I'll probably enjoy the game a bit more once I've settled in, but I'm missing the more open and simulationist set-up of X-Com. A lot of things feel like they're kind of pantomime version of how X-Com did it on a computer with loess power than the 360's controller, let alone the box

Way back when XCOM was first announced I talked about how "move+shoot" would mess up the design by giving the developers too much information. You can see how the maps are designed with precisely spaced cover and built out of setpieces

I've done two of the Slingshot missions and I have no fucking idea who thought it would be a good idea to have this whole "it's raining men" mechanic in a game that's supposed to be about positioning and tactics
There's not even a monster closet, it's just "use Overwatch or suffer"

A Chryssalid pod moving into view, opening, and then getting a free move doesn't feel challenging, it feels like a bullshit trick, especially when they don't seem to attack when they do it. The pod system in general feels more like jump scares than real fights

The cover system is silly, and seems to favour the aliens. If I can't get eyes on, I can't shoot, but they can and will shoot through stone statues and brick walls to take out my guys because accuracy and cover are dicerolls

A squadsight sniper on Overwatch in the back helps but feels... gamey

Russia doesn't even make much sense at the table for global trade, all they really do internationally is sell hydrocarbons and gold. Letting them into the G7 over, say, Brazil or South Korea, has always been about managing the ego of a nuclear power, which we've discovered doesn't work

Russia's GDP is similar to Brazil, Canada or Italy, and honestly, outside of hydrocarbons and gold, they're not especially relevant in world trade. Objectively speaking there's about as much justification for adding Ukraine, given their role in global food trade, so that'd be a fun condition to add

Myrient is a good one, and they have Dark Resurrection. Files>Redump>Sony - PlayStation Portable and scroll down

The artist formerly known as Prince was a beta tester for the first Oregon Trail (he was in third grade at the school near the developers)

You can download the Brave browser on your phone. Youtube's a bit jank on it, but nothing that's worse than dealing with ads