Yesterday was my first mission with Chryssalids in X-Com (at least in the past year.) Damn, games these days just don't know how to incite mind-melting terror anymore. Things were going well until two soldiers got off on their own, and were jumped by a Chryssalid I thought I had shot down earlier, but apparently only knocked out. Cue the entire town getting zombified along with most of my squad. Two rookies, Neil Day and Mark Johnson, were all that was left after only two rounds of instant slaughter. They fought their way to an apartment complex, ran up the stairs, and hurled grenades to remove the staircase. There were a few snakemen left outside, so it was a little tense. Neil's plasma pistol was out of ammo (new recruits don't get the best equipment...) so he spent most of his time hurling grenades and healing Mark. He got blown up by a launcher, though, so Mark was left to kill literally two dozen chryssalids on his own.
He would go on to solo a muton-staffed Harvester ship after the entire replacement wave got its collective ass handed to it, being the first time I've encountered Mutons.
My first ethereal terror mission starts, and immediately half the squad gets mind-controlled. He runs around like a lunatic with his stun rod to knock them out, and basically wins the mission by himself with some supporting fire from the three half-panicked new recruits that survived.
Went into an alien base staffed by snakemen and chryssalids. (Fuck I hate those things.) I had my squad equipped in the very best equipment, nearly two dozen of the finest soldiers the world has ever seen. We went in guns a-blazin', mowing down an endless stream of snakemen, but then the true horror began. Six chryssalids sprinted down the hall where my troops had deployed, and almost nobody had time units left to spend on reaction fire. The shots that did hit were shrugged off, and half the squad died in a single round, slaughtered by the wicked sons of Mars.
However, there was hope. As soon as the troops rose as zombies, Commander Mark Johnson was at the ready. He mowed down all six of the attacking chrysallids with a few bursts from his Heavy Plasma gun. The squad ran back down the hall from whence they came, hoping for an abort before things went even worse. Mark stood at the base of the lift to cover the slower troops. The zombies shuffled forward, entering his range. With deadly accuracy, plasma tore apart each of the walking corpses, releasing the beasts within. They charged the lift, but a well-placed grenade and a quick snap-shot from Mark's trusty gun ended it immediately.
I figured I'd keep going at this point, and it turned out that only one alien was left, and they were trapped on the command deck after I had destroyed the grav lift with a blaster bomb.
Cydonia awaits!