Great review thank you! I think my younger self would have loved this back in the day, until the point you mentioned it goes from strategy into puzzle. I always get disappointed when that happens, not that I don't love a puzzle game but it feels like a different itch to scratch.

I think the puzzle direction the game later goes into was somewhat inevitable due to it being the only way to really increase challenge with the static unevolving simple mechanics for 60 levels. I enjoy puzzley strategy games (Disgaea 1 springs to mind), but I also very much love more open ended strategy games like 4X and sim games, so I get the disappointment ahaha. Glad you enjoyed the review!