Jagged Alliance

I played it for the first time a couple of years ago so no nostalgia speaking. Graphics? OK for its age, I think. Just it might be censored as I've seen some screenshots of JA1 somewhere with blood under dead enemies which is absent here. The mercenary roster is great with their quirks and colorful personalities. Story and characters give a vibe of 80's action movie. Nice. Mechanics is a bit of a mixed bag. It lacks, of course, many modern features and is somewhat bare bone but one could get used to it. I'm not a fan of random loot. Your enemy throws grenades at you, shoots at you with a rifle but when you'll kil him, he drops just a box of 9 mm ammo. Combined with mercenaries owning just basic weapon when you hire them and no way to just buy necessary equipment, equipping your team with good arms and armor isn't easy. The game seems to be cheating with bushes. try to kill enemy hidden behind some bushes and you'll miss 9/10 tries, while he won't have any trouble to shoot you from behind such dense vegetation. When you hide behind a bush, it suddenly becomes much worse cover against enemy fire. I suggest shorter sessions of one two sectors at a time, so the game wouldn't be frustrating too much.

For me this is the best turn-based strategy game ever, easily on the same level as X-Com, just different. It not only has a good combat and inventory system, but also lots of interesting things around that, such as a micro- and macro strategy level. Story is great and the game has a nice ending sequence for the time, which also changes depending on your actions throughout the game if I recall correctly. There is also JA 2 with higher resolution graphics. To me neither the gameplay nor story of JA 2 are nearly as good as in JA1, however, so if you can live with the low-res graphics, be sure to try JA 1.

I like to play this game very much. You can try a lot of different tactics. They characters - and their interaction - are quite interesting. With a lot of possible features. You can buy a lot of greenhorns or start with a small group. I like the mechanic, that you have to find your equipment rather then buying it. You can play fast or conquer slower, you can - if you want - save VERY often. So this game reacts very flexible to your style of playing.

JA takes a little getting into, as the gameplay will be somewhat unfamiliar and the graphics are a bit dated - but seriously, give it a good chance. I played it for the first time last year, so I wasn't picking this up for nostalgia value. Initially I wondered what the heck I'd just bought, and that was only redoubled once I started playing it and wondering what was going on... but soon I was hooked. You have to think hard about your tactics - and yes, they matter. You will lose mercs you're attached to. You will come to truly hate deep water. You will develop an unhealthy love for sneaking up and knifing people in 8-bit glory. The game has some reasonably varied environments and it plays really well.

If you love turn based strategy games with a few RPG like elements in them, then this is the game for you. With a colorful cast of mercs that have distinct personalities to choose from, an island crawling with henchmen with itchy trigger fingers and plenty of weapons, armors and items to choose, Jagged Alliance never runs out of surprises. The game might be a little hard at first, but you will eventually get the hang of the turn based combat along with taking care of your mercs to make sure they stay in tip top shape and also protect the parts of Metavira island you free from the hands of Santino. The only question remains..... Can you free the entire island, stop Santino and bring hope to thousands of sick children with the fellow sap from the trees that only exist on Metavira? Only one way to find out and that is to play Jagged Alliance.