Although not having the global management, with research, engineering and stuff was a great loss, the combat felt more tactical and the game felt like XCOM, but without all the grinding bullshit like moving for 3 turns just to find where the enemies are, or moving everyone for a few turns to find the last hidden enemy, or trying to catch an ufo and just hoping for it to randomly appear before having to make one more generic abduction mission. The game felt faster and leaner, but without being rushed. The were some balancing issues, with some characters being terrible while others being killing machines, but that could be easily fixable in a sequel. I also enjoyed the history a bit more, but that's subjective.