Well I had my first game in, 4 players, first scenario.
I was most impressed by the productionvalue of the boardgame. Gorgeous art, beautiful floortiles and the miniatures make a wargamer like me drool! (they shall be painted!)

As for the game...

I really enjoyed it. It was fun and challenging but it also took quite some time to adjust to the playstyle. It seems a very difficult game and a bad turn setup-wise or AI draw-wise can really make the game almost insurmountable. Half the game we spent in the first room though after a while we began to realize how to use the cover and 'follow' commands better. Still even had we done so sooner it would not have made that much difference I think.

The most challenging thing about this game is the correct use of cards. The slightest error can have very unforgiving results. And both cover and 'follow' are not always an option. I liked the block option and although this might have been due to the first scenario, a bit more ammo would've been appreciated.

Grenades are very effective and using abilities well seems important. Some of the character abilities are far better than others making them a must in 2 player games.

The game clearly allows for expansions. Some more gear, critters and missions would add even more replayability to a game that is already quite rich. (partially due to the randomness at setup and the need to try and try again to finish a mission) One element that would be fun to implement is a sort of 'campaign' system.

Another rule I myself would enjoy to see implemented is an 'easy' rule to slightly downscale difficulty without loosing balance. Especially to draw in new players, this would be most welcome. I'm not sure how to do this. Perhaps a revived character gets one card still?

I seem to be only getting the grenades to work when sealing the emergence hole. I say "the" emergence hole since all my six plays so far have been the Emergence Mission (each possible pairing of COGs once). First five games, I sealed the hole with the first grenade, sixth game finally had to resort to two grenades. But beyond that, it sucks that the omen for grenades doesn't inflict additional damage of any kind, it makes killing mobs a bit harder.

Grenades always seem to work better in colder climes.

TK

A way to scale back the difficulty (easy mode) is to set up as if you had 1 fewer player.