this will contain my thoughts and only one real minor spoiler

I just finished the game after yrs of never playing it and wow still lives up to the hype. I thought maybe I remembered this game thru rose colored glasses, and after playing it as an adult my opinion would change.. but hell no this is still a masterpiece. the story is amazing and even though some of their haircuts didnt age well lol, the story itself is still spectacular. the graphics and game play still hold up well too. I played the game on the hard level, I cant remember the name its the one above veteran. (although I did change the difficulty twice on two mission) but 24/26 missions on hard is not bad especially using a laggy 360 controller.

my only semi negative thing about the gameplay is (and this is where there is a minor spoiler) after you get the prototype ship aka the dragon ship the game becomes so simple its ridiculous. On one hand it makes sense to the story of how and why you get these ships (and you do feel like a badass flying them), but on the other hand it makes the final 5 to 6 missions so dang easy. its not that big of a deal though bc 80 percent of the game you will be fighting tooth and nail to beat some of these missions, so it all evens out.

I still love this game 9.5/10

Were you playing on normal difficulty? You could always turn it up...

I was playing on the level above veteran cant remember the name of it. there is like 6 difficulty settings lol