I began playing Jagged Alliance at the age of 14 with the 2nd part. I was really hooked on it. I remember that the German version was cut and certain death animations, like exploding heads, were missing. As a response, I had to get the English version in other ways. What made Jagged Alliance so special were the unique mercenary characters. I'm very pleased that they've finally managed to recapture this in the 3rd part, after the previous attempts in the spin-offs were rather flops. The initial graphics glitches have also been fixed now and the nostalgic Jagged Alliance 2 feeling has returned.
As some reviewers have already said, the game is struggling with performance problems in its current state. It makes no difference whether the graphics settings are set to high or low. In addition, there is the long waiting time at every game start until the shaders have been compiled. The game is definitely not unplayable, but it is not as much fun with the performance problems. I can't say too much about the story because I've only played about 45 minutes so far. I'll probably pause the game for now and wait for a few patches.
It's actually a great sequel, but what annoys me is the forced god mode (undead mode), which is automatically activated if you use too many continues. This then remains permanently activated for the save slot. The only way to get rid of this flaw is to delete the slot and start all over again. The game is difficult and you will inevitably need several attempts. This could perhaps have been included in some accessibility options, but playing through the game in undead mode triggers one of the 6 endings on the game (the worst ending). So I don't expect this to be an optional setting in the future. The only advantage of going through the god mode is that all levels are unlocked for the practice mode. Once you have practiced enough in practice mode, you can then perhaps attempt the final, ultimate run.
The game immediately reminded me of the old game Blobby Volley. The gameplay is also fairly simple. You use WASD or the directional pad to control the character. The goal is to hit the ball over the net and onto the ground on your opponent's side. Apparently you can play with up to four players. Empty spaces can be filled with bots. In contrast to Blobby Volley, Volley Pals has several twists when it comes to the courts. Unfortunately, there is only a local multiplayer mode. In Blobby Volley you could also play via LAN. I still remember how I used to secretly play against my classmates during IT lessons. :) I also remember that you could choose different AIs for the bots. That's not the case here. Nevertheless, the game is great fun and is probably also suitable as a party game. Because of the nostalgia factor alone, I can only give it five stars.
As mentioned in other reviews, this is not a wine growing simulator and/or complex business simulation in that sense. In terms of gameplay, I would compare it most closely to the game Game Dev Tycoon. Basically, the goal is to produce the best wine possible, to increase the level of awareness, to achieve the highest possible profits and not to go bankrupt. There is no direct competition with other winemakers, and a market that regulates itself based on supply and demand. A market is more or less simulated by random events. I see the story mode more as a tutorial. After the rather short story you have only unlocked a small part of the technology tree. However, the story mode then flows smoothly into the endless mode, so that you can continue playing the game you started. In my opinion, the heart of the game is the challenge mode, in which you have to achieve certain goals with predefined starting conditions. Various actions in the game are triggered by playing cards. When played, these turn into Tetris-like blocks that have to be placed on a field. This limits the number of actions that can be performed simultaneously. However, this field can be increased over time by unlocks in the technology tree. Even though viticulture is probably more of a sneeze topic, I still find the game very addictive. Besides, you learn something about the production process of wine.
