Jagged Alliance 2

I'm old and have been playing computer games since before computers had hard drives. Really. Hundreds of them. This is the best game ever imo. Ah to be lying on a roof under the tropical night sky with a Dragunov sniper rifle at the ready and Raven and Buzz on full auto covering the approaches. Just can't be beat.

Even with the recent revival in turn based combat genre, this game is still unique in its complexity and strategy. For instance, with Xcom or Xcom-like, the positions of enemy and the start of battle are randomized and steamlined, along with other features. This is not the case with JA2, there are patrol routes and fixed position guards, etc. In general, you have more control over how you approach a battle, night time stealth raid or day time full on assault. Also, even for newer players, get the 1.13 unofficial version. It's not the vanilla experience, but it offers tons of customization options and make the game smoother to run in newer machine.

Game's great, but when I first started it up, everything was kind of 'lagging,' especially in the battles. I thought it was broken, but it's actually just because the system is old. Go figure. I needed a mod to make it work right on this gen's computers. There's a couple that i saw people talking about in forums, but the one that worked for me was stracciatella - https://ja2-stracciatella.github.io/ - this one is the closest to the vanilla experience, while other mods change things a bunch. Install is pretty straightforward. After that it worked fine with no stuttering. In terms of the game: I had never heard of jagged alliance until recently, it's kind of like a strategy game crossed with the sims lite, since your people need sleep and have stamina, have relations with other mercs, and alot more. Think Xcom, but instead of aliens, your battling corrupt gangsters. It's freaking excellent, brutal, hilarious and action-packed all in one. I guess the reason most games don't go for this level of design is because it's got a bit of a steep learning curve, and some of the systems are a bit complicated. Still, this only adds to the game. Definitely worth a few bucks.

Reviewing games like Jagged Alliance 2 is both difficult and exciting at the same time, it is an honour and a challenge because this title is unique on so many levels, describing every aspect and every strong side in one short review is impossible! To start, this game hits the nostalgia spot almost like no other old game that I've played (and I've played many!) I first played JA2 as a 10 year old kid somewhere around 2000-2001 and instantly fell in love with this TBT, every little detail of the game just resonated with me (the Sir-Tec Laptop with the cool music, the way you could hire all kinds of unique mercenaries, the E-Mails you would receive from various senders, etc) and relatively quickly,I learned how to actually deploy the mercs onto the field. The combat elements in the game were just as well made as the OST and UI, and i was excited to see the HUGE variety of the guns that the game offered - I still remember the thrill of finding some kind of a new, unknown rifle or an odd item. But despite all these things, as a child, i didn't grasp the economical/strategic aspect of the game and have eventually abandoned it for a few years. Later, I would play and beat JA2 and UB on Normal Difficulty. But now when I have just replayed and finished the game on Expert Mode with Iron Man being selected, all can say is - JA2 is amazing this day still, the replayability value is insane and I recommend playing this game on Expert & Iron Man mode to see the game in all its beauty. JA2 has so many hidden sidequests, unique NPC's, different approaches to major challenges (You can outright exterminate the Crepitus with sheer firepower or use stealth, or even assemble a freaking mini-robot) and finishing the game in one take is essentially impossible - you will find yourself coming back to this game, almost like you re-read a favourite book once in a decade again. Despite 22 years (!) later, no-one was able to make anything close to JA2 - This is a legendary game like no other!

Thinking about what i could write as a review then the nostalgia hit me. I remember seeing the game box at a store for software i guess soon after the initial release. Being underage i think you could buy this game at 16 or 18 years of age in Germany. I was like 12 or 13 years old and i had to convince my mom to buy this game and the box art didn't really help me to convince her. But somehow, I got her to buy me the game. I don't even know how i convinced her. The game is great and really unmatched in athmosphere, jokes and characters that really was only possible in the 90's. Thanks mom