Jagged Alliance Online [Game Review]

"Arulco! There is so much in this sound. » – says the hackneyed introduction to every second review of the game series Jagged Alliance. One can, of course, question such an interpretation of literary classics, because there were at least Metavira, yes, but hardly anyone would dare to argue with the fact that Jagged Alliance 2 is a cult representative not only of his series, but of the entire genre. Such daredevils will simply have their heads bitten off.

Jokes aside, but sometimes it seems that the developers from the now deceased Sir-Tech Software made a deal with the devil, which ensured Jagged Alliance 2 status of a cult piece of digital art. But, as you and I know, any such deal always has a downside, and this series is forced to pay for the success of the second part to this day.

From the moment of release and triumphal procession Jagged Alliance 2 many years have passed around the world. During this time, the series managed to wander around to different publishers and acquire a bunch of spin-offs. The fact that in all these years no one has dared to take on a numbered sequel Jagged Alliance, is not something surprising. Judge for yourself: can a studio, the scale of which is comparable only to a roadside cheburek, create a worthy continuation of the once popular series? A little exaggerated, of course, but remember the same Fallout Flat Out 3, For example.

A full-fledged sequel, however, was in development for the time being, but the miracle never happened. Clue: JAZZ.

To date, the most daring project bearing the name Jagged Alliance, is Back In Action – a rather mediocre retelling of the events of the second part, which is positioned as a full-fledged remake. Having received the long-awaited “continuation” of the series, fans were furious (and they are quite understandable). In commercial terms, the game also did not produce the expected impact from it; the rights to the series again went in circles and reached Cliffhanger Productions, which (like previous craftsmen) promised that: “that’s it, guys, everything will be right now, we’ll give you back your 1999”, and in the end it rolled out a browser misunderstanding with voluntary-compulsory donation.

After some time, they refused to donate, making the game paid and releasing it in Steam called Jagged Alliance Online: Reloaded. As you have probably already noticed, the game is so popular that in the game library StopGame to this day only its browser incarnation is listed.

Also, Reloaded doesn’t have its own poster. Such things.

The main and almost only advantage of https://casinokaramba.co.uk/bonus/ this game is the return to the roots, namely the turn-based combat system, which the developers Back In Action considered a vestige. Let it be from mechanics Jagged Alliance 2 and only a pale shadow remained, but even such a shoddy implementation of the turn-based mode warms the soul much more than a “tactical pause”.

The first thing that catches your eye is the reduced variability of the mercenary’s movement: now you can only walk, run and sit on the courts. The aiming system seems to have remained, but only in the form of decoration, because hits to the head are equivalent in damage to hits to the enemy’s carcass. The arsenal also suffered: the game completely lacks grenades and other explosive weapons, and the only explosive elements are barrels and cans of fuel.

Local “pumping”, like mercenary classes, are also present only for show. The only useful item is perhaps increasing the field of view, because enemies often like to take you by surprise by appearing out of thin air. In conditions of local imbalance, knowing the location of opponents is practically the only way to complete the mission without significant losses, but more on that later.

Another positive point Jagged Alliance Online: Reloaded is a partial change of setting. May fans of the “canon” forgive me, but the excessive abuse of conflicts in the territories of various banana republics is already quite boring. Missions in urban landscapes, with their neon signs and car parks, look at least fresh and almost never boring, because.To. competently alternate with various landfills and other backyards of big cities. The hit list also matches the setting: hucksters, gangsters and bikers. Why bikers??

Because Stifler’s mom.

The phantom of the “free-to-play” past reminds itself at every opportunity. As they say, the circus left, but the clowns remained. Most of all this affected the equipment (and we’re not just talking about his appearance here), as well as on the behavior of opponents.

Let’s start with the fact that the prices for weapons and uniforms are simply prohibitive! At the same time, the selling price of a new identical item is at most 10-20% of the cost of its purchase, and dead opponents very rarely drop anything useful. And in general, after the reputation of the “company” exceeds 10, even the most expensive wardrobe items will lose their magical properties.

There’s no point in fighting it. You can carry out all the previous battles in conditions of total economy, in order to then load up the mercenaries with the most expensive trinkets from the store, but what’s the point in this when an enemy, armed with only a pistol, can knock the whole thing out of any mercenary in a couple of moves? kepchuk?

If you haven’t received a mower from StopGame, don’t be upset – after all, you can sell your dad’s biker jacket at any time!

The only way to fix the situation is to buy first aid kits, but you just can’t save enough money for them. The only way to earn any money is to repeat previous tasks. The most obvious option is to find the easiest mission and replay it over and over again until you start to feel sick.

A small outlet that allows you to take a break from this Groundhog Day is "Jolly Mercenary" – local analogue you-know-what browser game. But here everything is not as smooth as we would like. It’s not entirely clear: either the skis don’t work, or I’m doing something wrong, but endless injections of money into the camp’s infrastructure yield absolutely nothing.

Having had your fill of single missions, you suddenly remember that the word appears in the title "Online" and trying to find at least someone who will share your pain. But you very quickly realize that there is no one to play with. In the chat built into the game, tumbleweeds pirouette and only once or twice a week you can meet lonely wanderers in it, praying to the void for PVP.

The agonizing wait for at least someone didn’t lead to anything, so here’s an empty chat window with a system message and Stifler’s mom. Again.

In general, the developers once again shit ourselves. The small advantages of this game cannot completely cover its more significant disadvantages. If the developers had put a little more effort into polishing the mechanics after abandoning the donation, the game could have been a good ideological continuation Deadly Games – a plotless add-on to the first part Jagged Alliance. But, alas and oh.

However, from Jagged Alliance Online: Reloaded you can get some pleasure, albeit a very perverted one. Thanks to its trivial gameplay, the game can help while away an evening or two. All that is required of the player is to come to terms with the fact that no one will ever return to Arulco.