Jagged Alliance 2

good game childhood memories and stuff

Its obtuse and tough, decently unfogiving even on novice, which really shows my lack of skill. but its also very fun and rewarding so far, im not very far in

The pinnacle of the squad-based TBS genre. I started it dozens of times, just to hear Elliot get called an idiot. I only finished it twice because I am strategically and tactically challenged.

First of all, ignore people who say that JA2 has "slight" RPG elements or some such. It has ALL the elements ESSENTIAL to what an RPG actually IS. People don't like to hear it because there is some silly meme that causes people to stick their noses into the air and droll on about "role playing" as if it had something to do with drama class, improvisational acting or something. RPGs are tactical simulators and always have been. JA2 is simply one of the best of the tactical RPGs ever released for the PC. Now if you are more into interactive fiction, along the lines of Planescape: Torment...reading page after page of ho-hum writing rather than playing a game- then steer clear of JA2. It does not pretend to be the next great novel and the developers never encouraged anyone to sit behind their monitors with LARP gear on speaking in bad accents. JA2 is all about tactics and strategy. Don't get me wrong - You will not find a CRPG with better dialog or character interaction anywhere. JA2 blows Planescape out of the water on this matter! But it does not take itself too seriously and is not afraid of comedy. As for those strategies and tactics, hold onto your hats! JA2 aptly demonstrates why real-time games cannot hope to compare with turn-based games for tactical matters. You can control up to 18 different PCs in this game in a single combat! Interrupts, aimed shots, firing two handguns at once, mortars, planted explosives, tossed grenades, hand-to-hand/martial arts, stealth...JA2 has it all! There is no better feeling than sneaking your commando up behind an armed guard and slicing that guy's throat while your sniper makes his/her way up to the rooftop and your explosives expert plants dynamite along the back wall of the compound. Yes, THIS is what the "role" in "role playing game" is meant to indicate.

12 years later and $50 lighter thanks to "Jagged Alliance : Back in Action", I turn back to the one true turn-based strategy game that rules them all. To be fair, the plethora of Mods give it quite more replayability (GET v1.13 !), and the graphics are still from 1999, but I'm loving it ! :). Given the price, Wildfire and Unfinished Business are thrown in the mix as well.