Jagged Alliance 2: Wildfire

In all honesty, this looks like a good attempt to update the game, but there are sadly so many issues here. While I applaud the effort to update the locations and make settlements more vibrant, the tweaks in the graphics of the world map, and the improvement of the UI to allow control of more mercs, this is where things go downhill. Firstly, the difficulty of the game is a lot harder; even on an easier setting, you still find yourself getting your mercs being hit and having trouble taking down a goon. Secondly, the story is nowhere different to the original. Where are the mafia and the drugs? You can tell that this is mentioned within the in-game e-mails, but cutscenes are exactly the same as the original, as if they didn't bother to make new ones, only tweaked by the changes in location setups. There are other changes which just make this not a worthwhile title to play. All in all, if you are looking to play a more updated version of Jagged Alliance 2, this is for you. But if you want to experience the Jagged Alliance series, stick to the originals - if Dmitri could say it, he'd be more willing to fight in the original Arulco than this updated look...

For as long as I've been a fan of the JA series, I've known of this, and it had always been listed out there on fan forums as a free mod. It never seemed like my cup of tea to begin with, and seeing this on the store now makes me think of the oft bemoaned game spoken only in whispers that got made commercially under the same circumstances, Master of Orion 3. I'd give this game 0 stars if I could. Save your money, it's not a sequel, and it's not official.

I thought I was a fan of strategy games, especially the turn-based kind, but quite frankly this game is a massive let down. It's my first experience with the Jagged Alliance series, and I seriously hope that this game is NOT exemplary of the series. It's hard to know where to begin really - but it's biggest flaw has to be the difficulty curve like a overhanging cliff that really prevented me from getting into the game. Add to that the all too easy possibility of the pyrrhic victory wiping out your entire game, and the whole thing really devolves into a tedious nightmare of loading and reloading, and you play with a rotten RNG that doesn't hold back on the one-hit kills - and don't save in the wrong place either, because there's no new random seed on reloading either, if you want something different to happen you have to DO something different. I get that the game is supposed to be an uphill struggle as your band of mercenaries takes on the might of the army of Alruco, but there's uphill, and then there's vertical. This is a game that clearly didn't get much playtesting - and was aimed for an audience that already knew how to play it. Even if you get through the first area, which I find is a bit hit and miss in terms of difficulty, there's the fact that you seem to run into a brick wall. You look into online guides, even the official stuff, and they mock you - they all advocate tips which are bordering on cheating, that few people who want to play this game just to play it will actually ever think to do. This is a game that will troll you, testing your patience, pretending to be a legitimate game. Maybe I'm more demanding from my games, and like to be able to have fun playing them, rather than wining through cheating and save-reloading my way to victory. Where I'd rather not have a game ruined by a RNG because computer opponents don't care if they live past the next encounter or not. Where I don't have to spend four hours trying to find a weak spot while crawling through scrubland to have a bunch of dicks with a granade wipe out my entire squad - because for some reason, the AI always manages to have the perfect counter to everything I have, being able to make shots that my team clearly find impossible at half the distance despite maxed out Marksmanship...

I've played and participated in large JA mods and really enjoy being part of the JA mythos. WF6 has some intersting tweeks and looks to be a lot of fun, but I have just had my 8th or 10th crash and I am just now getting out of San Mona. I hope some gaming genius with nothing better to do will jump in and fix this... Fo now I have to give it 3 stars and move on. Windows 10, Dell Precision t3500 12GB GTX 1050TI

I love JA, but wildfire is merely a remake of JA2, a modded half official build that only ever created confusion to players for what version to play...