I completed Unfinished Business. The balance was weird, but not unusual for a role playing game, in that it started off difficult, had a mostly-easy mid-game, and a difficult end. During the middle portion I was starting to regret my decision to set it to novice, but considering the end, I'm ultimately okay with how things turned out. Map-by-map impressions, skipping the first which I've already covered:
Guard post: Pretty easy just using two people for the most part. The armored sniper on the roof required using the whole team.
Forest: Still easy. It could get a bit rough with the long-range guys at the end, but a scoped sniper made em trivial.
Town 1: Still easy despite going up against 15 enemies. Sniping guys by shooting out through windows is super-fun. As an aside, I was disappointed with the white Canadian woman they got to voice a badly accented Asian woman, as well as the sexist description for batteries.
I'm surprised Linda and Brenda let that through.
Town 2: A bit more demanding. It was fun tackling the guys clustered behind cover in the center of town with the roof sniper, as well as distracting a guy in a house so I could ambush him from behind.
Town 3: A small optional breather level that exists so you can get the best sniper rifle for a discount. The guys at the top had some range on them.
Forest 2: An even easier breather level.
Power plant: Another easy level; though I like how you're given a choice between blowing up the fan, leading to extra fights inside, or leaving one person behind so you can sneak the rest in. Better C&C than choosing whether or not to save some drowning kid.
Complex 1: And here's where difficulty ramps up. Close-quarters fighting in narrow corridors, and enemies with plenty of interrupts and grenades. Need that coated spectra armor with plates or any given enemy shot will do tens of damage.
Complex 2: More of the same. Grenade smoke everywhere. It was like reenacting Ferguson, Missouri indoors.
Complex 3: Huh, a short breather level.
Complex 4: Difficulty came back. An (admittedly optional) group of enemies who would interrupt and immediately kill whoever opened their door finally encouraged me to make an entrance with a LAW (not my preferred playstyle, I'm just not into property damage) followed by grenade pelting.
Complex 5: Loved the centerpiece battle in the big room with the ping pong and pool tables and men coming in in waves. Not so much the hallway filled with mines before the end-boss. Speaking of which, I liked how that guy was coated with the best armor and the best sniper rifle. I didn't give him any chance to make use of it since I opened the battle with a LAW rocket that knocked him down, allowing my people to have a turn's worth of free shots (while not preferred, it's the absolute best thing to do).
Thirteen maps, 166 enemies killed, took me about a week and a half to complete (so in-between Dead Man's Switch and Dragonfall: Original Recipe in terms of length but without any of the dialogue). It was enjoyable and all, but I wouldn't put it on a pedestal. I don't mind the Wasteland 2/Shadowrun Returns approach to battles, and the hardest parts of Dragonfall and even DMS were definitely more demanding than the easiest parts of UB. JA2's implementation of targeted shots is as disappointing as Wasteland 2's/Fallout's since headshots are boring more-damage-for-less-accuracy stuff, and leg-shots seem like a waste of time (if you want to knock someone down, use a grenade). I think a lot of the hype over JA2: Base Game is due to all the changes that super-simmy 1.13 mod does, as well as the time pressure that comes from hired mercanaries that would be inappropriate for most RPGs. I do think it's too bad more pseudo-iso games don't copy JA2's after-mission abstract looting, one of the finest convenience features.
If I ever get over my dislike of ugly-3D and panzerkleins I guess I might give Silent Storm a try eventually. Maybe Wasteland 2 or D:OS will be ready before then.