I played this back in the day. I was a memorable experience to say the least. It's truly a "sandbox" game, in that you're dropped off in the wilderness completely unarmed and basically wander off to hunt and explore. Calling this an RPG though is somewhat misleading, as I don't recall there being much if any storytelling to his. The crazy part about this game is that's you're realistically fragile: you break a leg, and you'll be hobbling around on a splint. Like you may notice in the screenshot, you develop into a walking bandaged mess as you battle the terrain and wildlife. It's an extremely challenging game because of this and hence I never got very far in it. Still, although intriguing, this game suffers alot from the technology of its time. It tries to be Daggerfall in it scope, but suffers from a game engine that predates Doom. This gets especially ugly as you spend the beginning of the game with only melee weapons. Realtime first-person melee combat is fairly clunky (although far from unplayable) given today's standards. If you're a conoisser of innovative and rare games, give this one a spin.
Yes the graphics are dated, yes it crashes to desktop every few hours, yes the formulas are dodgy. Has there been been a similar game I've enjoyed as thoroughly in the past ~10 years? Surprisingly enough, the answer is no. (Fallout Tactics does deserve an honorable mention though.) Why? The world is sandbox-y enough for replayability, yet straightforward enough to enact a true plan. The MANY characters are unforgettably hilarious and have unique interactions with each other, all very well voiced acted. RPG style character and inventory building create clever logistic opportunites... hit the objective now or wait for your sniper get out of the hospital in 48 hours (with your mail order ak-47 in 72 hours) but face enemy reinforcements? PS There's a very active mod community out there that has fixed many of the ills and limitations of JA2 out there. You owe it to yourself to check them out.
