The story starts out with a great Shadowrun tone, but loses it in the middle. It strives to bring it back at the end, but the feeling of hopelessness is not easily re-achieved. There is a hacking mini-game, that while fun, is timer based. I haven't checked if in mods it can be turned off, but I hope it can. The advantage of a turn-based game is it can be very inclusive of its player base (if you have reading problems you have all the time in the world to read whatever you need to..or if you are missing a hand going from keyboard to mouse for a FPS definitely raises the difficulty level). Hacking should be character-based like strength is, and basing it off player skill makes having a balanced adventure tougher to design. Overall, pretty much like the other two games-very good.
I loved the first Jagged Alliance 2. When I played it, an enemy was in the water. I wounded him, he fell and the game crashed. I had to figure out a way to eliminate him and not get my boys hurt. This game has swimming and drowning, so that is not a problem here. It is the same Elliot-slapping good story, but the fights are more obviously puzzles than they were in Jagged Alliance 2. Not a game breaker, but a definite ouch.
It manages to be more bleak than I can think even the RPG every could convey, so much so that I would not recommend it to children. Its beautiful, with decent fights and great story, but oh those load times.
I am old and the games of my youth were full of chit. Age of Wonders would have been so good for my Defender of the Crown/Genghis Khan playing self, or my tabletop war game teen years. I play it now, and it explodes my brain to want other possibilities., other ambitions. I want to change it to make it more perfect than the perfection it is. Age of Wonders, I think I love you. It crashes every once in a while, so saving each turn can help.
Going from Warband, where a suit of armor can protect you, to the exposure of Fire and Sword makes it seem like two completely different games. Fire and Sword is also tougher to make a friend of nations. There are some bugs, but the excellence of the game seem like freckles on a loved one.
When you can finish in a day because the game offers enough variety to keep your interest, but there are not a lot of levels, it is a bittersweet moment.
A few times arrows find themselves suspended in midair. If you walk into this arrows, they can still damage you. Despite a few bugs, this is a truly great game. I would recommend never playing it iron man style, since bugs can happen at an important time. If you ever wanted to few like a medieval leader, this is your chance.
A friend managed to defeat the big bad at the start of his game, but scripting being what it is, he gained nothing from it. The atmosphere is less bleak than Shadowrun Returns. A beautiful game. The fighting is true to the RPG, so no Jagged Alliance 2 in brilliance, but passable.The story isn't bad. It does take a long time to load a scene, so if you don't have a high end machine, schedule other things to do when you play. Going back to a save in the same area does not require the whole area to load again, so that is the upside.
Some of the best cut scenes ever offered in a game, as well as real humor in a game about stealing cars. Loads of mini-games which are quite fun on their own. I will get the rest of the series (I've already played through 3), but I am giving it 4 stars just because it is not my type of game.
The fighting is very fun and captures the genre pretty well. The comics feel great in a 60's Spiderman type of way. Personally, it goes in a way I don't care for, and was hoping it would be an endless beating up on Nazis. At the end the fighting became a chore unfortunately.
