JA: BIA First Impressions

[Deadly Ramon]

I've been playing Jagged Alliance since the first DOS one in 1995, on a Packard Bell 486 DX-2 50 MHz with 512k of video RAM and 8 megabytes of system RAM. I've played all of the commercial releases (none of the mods), Deadly Games and JA2 and JA2 Unfinished Business, even Hired Guns: The Jagged Edge (in which I couldn't get through the first combat), so you can say I'm a Jagged Alliance fan. I even have and enjoy Jagged Alliance on the Nintendo DS!

I installed Back in Action around 9 o'clock this morning. It's almost 5 pm now, and I have a graveyard shift to work at 10 o'clock. I have to get to bed soon, but I'm really digging this game!

Granted, the storyline seems to dismiss or ignore crucial continuity from the previous Sir-Tech titles, the voice acting is by different actors and is slightly amateurish, the character portraits while 3-D rendered just aren't as memorable as the old VGA and Super VGA ones, and item descriptions and mercenary biographies have sentences in which key words are deleted with no substitute to replace them (e.g., "he last saw action in." or "This weapon's been used in ,,,and.") Very sloppy work in many areas.

But the combat mechanics are surprisingly strong. I was worried when I read about it being real-time strategy, yet the pause-and-issue-commands feature, with the ability to issue sequential waypoints and to even coordinate everything between several mercenaries, is very similar to that in Baldur's Gate and Dragon Age, and so far it's working wonderfully. Conquering each sector on the island (whose name is borrowed from the second game) feels fresh and exciting, even though I've done this all before in the previous titles.

So I realize that a lot of avid Jagged Alliance enthusiasts are very vocal in criticizing this game, and I share many of their less than favorable opinions, but for me are the faults overriden by the fun, and at least some of those shortcomings (lore, missing pieces of the bios and descriptions) can be easily corrected in a patch. So while the game seems to be a bit rushed, I'm still glad that it was released because I got to start playing it earlier!

I'm in this for the long haul, and I hope the game is at least a modest success for these new developers and producers so that an expansion or dlc will be made. Maybe Ian and Linda Currie can be involved again in the franchise they created, too.

[Deadly Ramon]

Also, there's no quick-save/load, and it seems that to switch from the overhead/strategic map view to a more ground/tactical view of a sector which one of your squads occupies, you have to move the squad to another sector and then back in, whereupon you immediately switch modes. I hope they get around to correcting these oversights soon or at least someday.

[shammy360]

yep pretty good game what annoys me is the close quater combat inside the building is really awkward and enimies shooting thru windows where as your mercs cant

[trucane]

Camera is a huge disappointment for me. Take a look at Brigade E5 or 7.62mm for how a good camera should look. Whats the point of a 3d camera if I can't see if I'm in cover or not?

[shammy360]

would be so much better if it had a cover system even if it just like company of heroes

[Ashkent]

pretty cool and fun with a few minor annoyances.

[Harle]

A very good and well thought-out appraisal of the game. There was clearly a bit of a rush to get the game on the market, but the game hasn't suffered any foundational problems for it. The problems (UI, camera) are almost all easily corrected with a patch, while the actual gameplay is very strong and engaging. They have even said they would implement fog of war as a patch (I am less bothered by this than some, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays with it on).

The only problem I have that is unlikely to see a patch is the lack of a character creator. But there are so many characters in the game that every time I wanted to make a certain kind of character, one more or less already existed. Also the characters are more realistically balanced because of it; chargen'd characters tend to be min-maxed and overpowered. But maybe if JA3 sells well, they will include the feature in an expansion. I'm sure it would be appreciated.

For the person saying there's no cover system: there is. If there is an object between you and your enemy their chance to hit goes down. If you step out from behind that cover, chance to hit goes up. Try shooting a dude through a small window, it can be very very hard.

[Gryndyl]

Does this game have destructible environments like Silent Storm? If not it kind of seems like this genre is regressing.

[WarmachineX0]

Does this game have destructible environments like Silent Storm? If not it kind of seems like this genre is regressing.

I haven't been able to destroy anything with basic weapons, but there are breech points where you can plant an explosive and blow a hole in the wall. From what I've seen about every large building has a breech point or two.

[firemane]

I agree with Ramon. Even though it has a number of shortcomings when compared to the original, the game is fun and feels fresh. Even to those of us (8-bit Dinosaurs!) who've done it all before.

A big part of the problem is that they decided to do JA2 all over again. That, I think, will bring them a lot of grief from people like us (die hard fans). They should have gone straight for a fresh story and setting. There are, after all, plenty of good examples to draw from (The contra-revolution in Nicaragua, the Sierra Maestra insurgency on Cuba, the Bush Wars on Africa, Colombia's civil war, and a long Etc.)

When I bought this game I thought of it as financing a real JA3 (that will, hopefully, involve all the awesomeness of the community-made JA 1.13 mod/patch). JABiA is a solid game though, and so far it is a lot of fun.

Sidebar here: You know, it wouldn't be that hard to do UFO: Enemy Unknown Reloaded on this engine/system.

[Baresark]

I'm so on the ropes with this... I used to sneak my discs into school and install it on one of the few good machines the school had to play it during lunch........

[Deadly Ramon]

I just noticed that Back in Action is supposed to be a retelling of Jagged Alliance 2, which explains why so many elements are rehashed from JA2. It doesn't explain the gaping holes in biographies and item descriptions, nor some of the gun names that have been changed (like the "Klock 17").

I'm seriously missing Unusually Ruthless Reuban and Hamous, too.

[DShadow]

Hamous is in game, I found him just not his track which i wanted to get my hands on.

[dvdmonster]

I agree with you the combat mechanics are surprisingly good!

The few issues are in no way overshadowing the good parts of the game.
Fortunately the issues possibly can get fixed in further patches, or user mods.

[mailor]

What I don't understand is, that they removed the strategic part totally. You can do nothing on the strategic map: No rest, no injuries, no repairs, no training, nothing except walking from A to B.

Repairing weapons and healing is instantly, which is an awful idea.

If I had researched about this beforhand, I would not have bought the game, honestly. I actually liked the demo, and I like the tactical part (somewhat).

All in all it is a very shallow game, and I would never give someone the advice to buy it.

[Pheace]

As someone who has not played any Jagged Alliance's before this I must say I'm having fun.

[sirchet]

I sure wish the screen moved when the cursor hit the edge.

On another note;

It is funny to watch your mercs run around in circles as they try and figure out how to climb a latter to a roof.

[Saolite]

After playing the game for a few hours now, as far as a stand alone game : it is very fun to play.

However, comparing it to the same vein as Jagged Alliance 2, I was extremely disappointed. I would not call the game the true successor to Jagged Alliance 2, simply due to the numerous game play elements about Jagged Alliance 2 that made it so great seem to have been removed or altered ( and not for the better ).

That being said, though, if you go into the game and don't judge it based off of the other games, it can still be a fun game in its own right.