White Lion, thanks for your comment. I didn't realize that "last stand" had changed -- I guess war is hell.
Anyway I earned VC but I don't get a drop every level. Isn't that how it should work?
Agree about the genes -- they get worse as you get higher. No way is taking up a whole row to get a net +0 worth it.
Otherwise a great sequel, very thoughtful, the scenarios are superb.
Nice cinematics, really high quality. Theme and game play are quite original & really well done. The radio hint feature is very useful and well done, but absolutely necessary for solving some of the puzzles without becoming bored through trial and error.
The only bug I could find is that if you leave the alien storage pods all closed, even after you've retrieved the goo and shut down the gravity generator and so on, the captain keeps advising you to open one of the pods again.
It seems to block him from giving you any other useful advice (not that you really need any at that point) ...
... and/or it makes him sound like an Ahab-like creepy obsessive. "No, no, we must not leave the planet until we unlock those pods! More, more!" Maybe that's on purpose too!
(No, I really think it's a bug, just not a big one. But easy to fix maybe?)