A few years back, Sir-Tech's wonderful Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games won itself a legion of rabid fans with a genre-bending mix of squad combat, economic simulation, and cheeky humor. Never taking itself too seriously, the game put you in charge of mercenary black-ops, shepherding a merc crew ... Read review
...few years back, Sir-Tech's wonderful Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games won itself a legion of rabid fans with a genre-bending mix of squad combat, economic simulation, and cheeky humor. Never taking itself too seriously, the game put you in charge of mercenary black-ops, shepherding a merc crew from assignment to budgeting to recruitment and, ultimately, controlling the troops on the ground. Mercs would bitch and complain if unhappy, and their allegiance ... ...field, and that combination made Jagged Alliance an absolute riot to play.
Jagged Alliance 2, under the publishing aegis of TalonSoft, is the long (long, long)-awaited sequel, and manages to throw some new ingredients into the old formula without abandoning the elements that made the original so entertaining.
The setting is a war-torn island nation called Arulco, where a military coup has installed a ruthless female ... more
A few years back, Sir-Tech's wonderful Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games won itself a legion of rabid fans with a genre-bending mix of squad combat, economic simulation, and cheeky humor. Never taking itself too seriously, the game put you in charge of mercenary black-ops, shepherding a merc crew from assignment to budgeting to recruitment and, ultimately, controlling the troops on the ground. Mercs would bitch and complain if unhappy, and their allegiance to the almighty dollar was constantly tested by political and nationalist squabbling. The front-office skullduggery was every bit as vicious as the action in the field, and that combination made Jagged Alliance an absolute riot to play.
Jagged Alliance 2, under the publishing aegis of TalonSoft, is the long (long, long)-awaited sequel, and manages to throw some new ingredients into the old formula without abandoning the elements that made the original so entertaining.
The setting is a war-torn island nation called Arulco, where a military coup has installed a ruthless female dictator. The new queen's exiled family members have hired you to spark a revolution in Arulco and supervise the guerrilla destabilization campaign against her repressive armed forces.
They sure as hell called the right man for the job. Using a clever laptop interface, you have access to a dizzying array of war-for-hire resources. Your first assignment is to recruit a guerrilla leader from the jungle hideout of a rebel band and hire a crew of mercs. Here's where we return to the wild and wooly world of A.I.M., the Association of International Mercenaries. A.I.M. is a network of the world's more scurrilous paramilitary elements. A motley roster of disgruntled ex-operatives and career criminals, these guys (and gals) are specialists in black-ops skills ranging from explosives to sniping to knife assassination. They're available for hire at rates that reflect their various strengths and weaknesses.
Putting together your team, and managing your bottom line, is half the fun of Jagged Alliance 2. Each merc is a unique and vivid personality; their interplay makes for high entertainment value. Some people refuse to work with Communists; others have long-standing grudges against colleagues who dropped the ball on past missions. You'll find yourself playing wet nurse as well as puppet master, assuaging bruised egos and juggling the various personalities of your crew members.
But the meat and potatoes of JA2 is the field action. Your missions begin with drops into the Arulco countryside, where you can almost always expect resistance from the queen's henchmen. The skill level of the opposition grows steadily stronger as the campaign unfolds, evolving from pistol-equipped thugs to superbly armed and coordinated commandos.
Combat itself begins with real-time movement around the pre- rendered 2D maps, but once an enemy is spotted, action shifts to a turn-based, action-points model. You can direct your team to run, crouch, lie prone, and belly-crawl, and open fire with the help of a targeting reticle that advises you on the likelihood of a shot finding its target. Sound tactical thinking is generally rewarded; in one satisfying gunfight, I had a shooter exchange fire with a barricaded enemy while a knifeman snuck around and took out the bad guy from behind. There's also a surprising amount of non-combat interaction during the missions - letters are delivered to non-player characters, interrogations are conducted, and items are picked up and added to your inventory list.
JA2's disappointments spring from the lapses of its design ambitions. The campaign is totally linear, and, as a result, replay value is not very high. Worse, the lack of a multiplayer element (in a game that positively screams for such a feature) means you'll never be able to match your wits against other human merc bosses. Fans of squad-based tactical combat games will find this one a bit simplistic and uninvigorating, but the engaging managerial elements will satisfy anybody who liked the original JA or New World Computing's underrated merc sim Wages of War. After all, there's nothing like watching a good plan come together.
Advantages: Complex compelling and you get to blow s**t up Disadvantages: Can be confusing when using lots of Mercs
...for the older game and Jagged Alliance II is no exception. Don’t get me wrong. I love the new games on the market but sometimes one of the older games sticks out in my mind as something that even in today’s high-tech 3D graphic driven game market actually still has something to offer. As well as not taking a gig and half in install space on your hard drive and sapping your system resources like most new games do.
So after writing ops about yummy ... ...again into the realms of “ blowing s**t up “ all be it on a smaller scale. However I wouldn’t take that as a bad thing as this game had me engrossed for weeks on end.
The thing is this is not an easy game to write about if I want to give you a really good idea of what the game consists of. So with that in mind I will break the game up into smaller chunks and hopefully that will allow me to explain things better.
I am that concerned about writing ...
gabrielangeles 26.11.2002
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Jagged Alliance 2 (PC)
Advantages: Varied, full of character, immersive, tense and exciting, addictive Disadvantages: graphics are dated looking
First released back 1999, Jagged Alliance 2 has you play as a soldier-for-hire who has taken on a mission to rid a small independent island republic in the Pacific of its tyrannical ruler Diedrianna and her murderous army, who are terrorising the starving population whilst she lives in the lap of luxury on her palatial estate. The game is split into two main sections- a resource-management section and a combat section. The resource management section ... ...contract has expired. Jagged Alliance 2 is an incredibly addictive and hugely immersive tactical strategy game that has kept me entertained for many years now, and is so full of variety and charm that it has lost none of its appeal since its initial release a full decade ago. Its true that the VGA graphics are crude and dated looking, but then this was the case even when the game first came out, and the gameplay is so strong that the poor graphics ...
Burning_Darkness 30.07.2009
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Jagged Alliance 2 (PC)
Advantages: The best turn based strategy game on market Disadvantages: 256 colour, 2D graphic
I stumbled upon the original Jagged alliance in 1995. I was given the game, and at the time, I didnt know what to expect. I sat down one afternoon playing it, and then I was glued to the game for the next 3 months (I subsequently failed my GCSE exams... :\ )
When the second Jagged Alliance came out in mid 1999, I was very excited but cautious. I brought the game, but didnt open the box until my university exams was over in June. Instead of exposing ... ...============================
Starting scene-
It is set in the present time in a fictional country. This country was once a democratic kingdom (yes the people can vote their ruler). The Queen of the last voted king was evil, she took over the kingdom, try to kill the king, and became a dictator.
The old king was still alive somewhere, and he paid for you (you are an organiser who organise mercenary operations) ...
st_mak 18.08.2003
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Jagged Alliance 2 (PC)
Advantages: Good graphics, sound and also storyline Disadvantages: Turned base combat can be annoying
...i was unfamiliar with the Jagged Alliance series untill i bought this game, but now that i have it i do not regret buying this game. This game takes place in a small island called Arulco, this island i rulded by an evil queen and you have been hired to dispose of her by any means. You take control of a squad of mercanaries that you have to hire and equip them with the best wepons that you can afford or get off the fallen enemies. You will need all ... ...you if you let off rounds willie nilly. The tactics you use will change when you do missions at night as well. Overall this game is designed well with good graphics and sounds and there is a large range of wepons that you can have in your arsenal from the desert eagle to my favorite the mini mi. You can also customise the wepons by adding things like laser sights, sniperscopes, barrel extenders and more. Your mercs have an arrange of skills like ...
robin_best 09.04.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Jagged Alliance 2 (PC)
Advantages: Very Addictive Disadvantages: Over hyped
This game can be very hard at times and fairly slow moving, although it is extremely playable and has a great story line. You may often find it annoying when you aim a unmissable shot at someone near your merc, and he/she misses and the next go your target shoots him/her dead I like the prospect of taking over towns mines airports and hospital, as well as training your own militia to guard them. I think it would improve the game if your militia was ...
Ed_Dunhill 30.09.2000
· Read full review
Review of Jagged Alliance 2 (PC)
Product Information for "Jagged Alliance 2 (PC)" »
Product details
Age
12+
Publisher
3DO
Genre
Strategy
Release Date
22nd November 2002
EAN
5390102450922
Operating System
Windows 98 / NT / Me / XP
Manufacturer's product description
A ruthless dictator has taken control of the tiny nation of Arulco. The country's large army has a terrified population in its iron grip - its only opposition is a ragtag bunch of rebels. The bad news: you're in charge of the rebels. The good news: some of the world's best mercenaries will fight on your side, if you can afford them.
