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Realistic Squad Tactics

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Jagged Alliance 2 is by far the most realistic and fun squad tactics game. Getting shot in this game has ramifications that is almost real-life: A grazing wound is ok, but any solid hits will have the following effects:

In the head: you may permanently lose wisdom ability points.
In the torso: You get knocked out or almost knocked out unconscious if you are wearing armor.
In the limbs: possible permanent loss of agility points.
Anywhere: Bleeding wound, handicapped action points and manuverability, and speed, until healed during down-time.

On top of the wound system, taking cover and using smoke grenades for concealment has never been more important. Often times I will have one guy knocked unconscious or crippled, another guy administering first aid and revival, while two other guys laying down cover fire to ensure successful rescue, all the while exposed on a well-concealed but zero-cover cornfield, bullets flying everywhere.

Great story, great gameplay, great game.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: April 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Arulco is a tiny South American country that runs under the unique system of a democatic Monarchy...a family rules the throne, but every 10 years elections are held to assert their legitimacy. Enrico Chivaldori, trying to keep his family in power, took a wife, Deidranna Reitman, in order to boost his popularity as a candidate. Then everything began to tumble...
Deidranna killed Chivaldori's father and framed him through a large amount of circumstantial evidence. She turned him over to his political enemy, Miguel Cordona, in the hopes that Cordona would kill him, instead, they helped him flee. Deidranna has since turned the peaceful country of Arulco into a destitute land ruled by the whim of a rutheless dictator, acts of genocide are common, and anyone not of value of swiftly removed from the population...Now it is time to remove her.
A shadowy figure...you...meets with exiled Enrico Chivaldori in the Czech Republic, he explains what he wants you to do: build an army out of mercenaries, and topple Deidranna's regime.

This shows how rich and deep the story is, but it would be irrelevant if the gameplay wasn't good. Thankfully, the game play is brilliant. Using an ingenious laptop interface, you take the money given to you by Chivaldori and hire the best mercenaries you can. You figh from town to town and in the rural areas, killing Deidranna's forces with firepower and tactics. This is no mere "shoot-em-up," the player must train militas, guard mines, take down SAM sites to clear the skies, make sure your mercs interact well, train your mercs,talk to characters, some of whom can be recruited to your cause, some of whom will attempt to kill you.
But you also get to take on Deidranna's forces with over 25 weapons and other items. There will be weapons you haven't seen and creatures native to Arulco (more so if you choose the Sci-Fi) option. Combat is great fun, and there is a lot of it. Moreover, the game is completely non-linear, so if you wish to make a run on the Capital City of Meduna and Deidranna herself only 2 hours into the game, by all means do so, just dont worry if you're sent back in a body bag.

I can't reccomend this game highly enough...it has funny, interesting characters, outstanding gameplay, and a story that the game adheres to throughout the game, something that few games can claim credit to. Buy it, buy it now.

Realistic Strategic/Tactical Assault Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 10, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Jagged Alliance 2 is a Stragety / Tactics game with some RPG and adventure elements. The benevolent and rightful ruler of Arulco has been living in exile for some time, collecting funds for a military retaking of the island. You are the talented and competant mercenary he chooses to plan the assault and lead the insurgence. The game features faux internet connections for locating and hiring mercenaries to assist you and later to procure weaponry and armor. A strategic map is used for planning large movements and assigning your mercs to key duties (like training militia and repairing worn items). The key of the game however is the tactical scenarios. Once you have entered an area (or the nearly 200) you are alerted to an enemy presence and will automatically be sent to the location to control your mercs to a stunning victory. The system works on real-time until you or your enemy sight each other. Then the system uses a complicated turn based system. The combination of these elements can be used to a great advantage and enjoyment but requires a steep learning curve to understand the system.

When I first played this game I suffered through many hours of frustrating battles. I would choose a place to attack, send in my best team, but would get hammered during the battle and either lose half of my team or everyone would be half dead from wounds. After a bit of this I gave up and found other interests. Later, I returned and concentrated on the tactical advantages of cover and position and found the keys to success.

One of the main elements of the game is that constant improvement is absolutely necessary, as is conservation. To operate successfully with a minimum of cash, movement, and ammo (especially the limited amount of explosives) will help save you from difficult if not impossible situations later. Any setup you find successful in a scenario will be compensated for shortly down the road. Also, the wide range of mercs and weaponry will make keeping the integrity and organization of your team an important but entertaining goal. As is the case with most stragety games, the amount of time required to master the system and the resulting addictions afterwards may be the main deterrance to playing the game.

Due to a slightly buggy nature, I cant advise this game below PII 300mhz and even then some some situations cause the game (not the computer) to crash. This is somewhat rare however. (twice in 200+ hrs.)

Late night gamer.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: December 28, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The game put me in a night mode that you completely forget what time it is. Yes it does have long fight battles and you have to save your game alot. They should improve thier scale of dying. (I mean come on, 4 shots point blank to kill a guy) But, overall the game will keep you playing for months.

Extremely detailed but lacks soul

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 12
Date: December 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Let me be the first to say the mechanics are there. There is so much detail to the game it hurts. It's got elements of RPGs and strategy mixed in with tactical combat. The tactical combat engine is ridiculously detailed. No other game comes close. It could have been a great game.

But the problem is, it's not fun unless you have a lot of time and like tedious details. After a while your strategy will be the same all the time for the most part. You'll spend most of your time on LOGISTICS -- getting ammo and medical supplies from place to place, redoing your inventory, deciding who gets what gun, filling up clips, etc, etc. (...).

Next, the tactical combat engine is so complex that the computer AI cannot handle it. So to balance it out the designers have the bad guys have much better aim that any of your characters. It's stupid and it takes away the fun of it all. What's the point of having your characters be all realistic if the computer is going to be a bunch of cartoon super heroes?

Here's an example of why this game has been erased off my hard drive. It's midnight, I have class tomorrow somewhat early so I want to call it a night. There's one guy left in the level, I can't find him. I take 4 mercs on a search party for him. All of a sudden a shot comes out of nowhere, hits my custom merc (the best one -- your self-modelled merc) and he's mortally wounded. If he gets hit again or doesn't get medical attention QUICK, he'll die. Plus he's receiving permanent damage as he bleeds to death so this is a lose-lose situation no matter what. I haven't saved in a while because IF YOU SAVE A LOT YOU GET LESS STUFF OFF THE DEAD BODIES. The game punishes you for saving. Now, the sniper is protected on two sides by a neck-high cement wall with bushes and trees on his other side -- he's camping in a great position.

Now, what to do? Well I tried everything. Smoke grenades to cover the wounded guy, charging the sniper, coming in at all different angles. Result is the same -- at least one guy dies no matter what. I charge the wall, jump over it and lay into the guy at point blank range with a burst of .45 rounds from my Uzi. Not ONE point of damage. Not ONE. The sniper turns and blows my guy's head off. Okay next turn. Uzi lays down cover fire while my other merc hauls butt into position. He's about 15 yards from the cement wall when he fires his grenade launcher at the wall. The grenade fires at a 90 degree angle from where I wanted shoot and hits a building 20 yards away. The guy firing was an ex-Ranger with 94 marksmanship so I don't think that was the problem. Oh did I mention the sniper stood up and shot said Ranger in the head after this? After about 45 minutes of this (...), this game was off my hard drive. I'm not having much fun anyway and this is the last straw.

Games are supposed to be fun. Realism can be fun, but this isn't realistic! It's just frustrating and tedious. Overall the game had some good design but it just lacks the fun factor.

What a great game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 06, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I just got this game, and am still figuring it out, but wow is it great. This game superbly incorprates many aspects of tactical combat that have been attempted in other games, but were done poorly. This game is sort of like a hybrid betwen X-Com, SWAT, and its own unique spin on Role-Playing. It is a RTS/TBS/RPG.

The game is set in modern day pseudo-cental America, and you are a mercenary that has been hired by a dissident of this war-torn region to come in and eliminate this evil warlord, and her army. To do this, you must hire other mercenaries via "the web" and bring them in to help with the task. You also train militia as you gain support of the local population, and various non-player characters join your army as well. You gain income from seizing control of numerous gold and silver mines in the region, and from selling weapons and stealing money. There are also other side quests/bounties, etc.

The game play is really excellently designed. You play in real time isometric view most of the time until you encounter an enemy, and then the game goes into turn based tactical mode, which is excellent. I personally think some of the interface could be cleaned up a bit, but once you memorize the hot keys for common commands this is less "clunky." There is also an overhead map view wherein you canb check the status of your various troops/squads, and direct them around the large grid map to different sectors.

Another aspect of this game I love is the depth of development of the NPC's and your own special merc or "player character" (you in the game). There are various attributes like in other RPGS (Strength, Agility, etc.) but then there are random special abilities your PC will obtain (based on a psych profile you fill out at the begining). These include stealth, martial arts, hand-to-hand, night ops, knifing, ambidextrous, heavy weapons, electronics, automatic weapons, teaching, camouflage, lockpicking, etc.

There are too many features to list, but this an engrossing well designed game with no bugs to speak of. I only hope they come out with a JA3 with fancier graphics, and perhaps some more portrait options for your character. ;^)

The most overlooked GREAT game you ought to play.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: September 29, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is one of the most FUN games ever. Every game is slightly different, many mods have been made, I can't stop replaying this game!

While there is a good weapon selection (if you choose the tons-o-guns option), my only wish is that it were even more extensive. The game mechanics also over looked the fact that a .45 ACP slug (or 5.56N, etc) does the same damage regardless of what gun it comes out of (the damage results are different for the M1911A1, Thompson, and UZI, for example). The type of firearm determines reliability, effective range, difficulty to hit, number of rounds in a burst, but the damage from a caliber is the same. One other thing that would have added realism would have been the ability to pop .38Spec ammo into a .357Magnum revolver (they use the Barracuda). Beyond that the weapons system is great.

Example of gameplay: You start taking fire from a building, but you can't get a fix on him. every thing shifts from real-time to turn-based the moment the shot is fired. You could advance to the building until the sniper comes into veiw, or fire a burst of auto-fire into the offending window(possibly hitting the sniper), or pull back, wait a couple of turns so that the game goes back to real-time, sneak up from a different angle, and hope the enemy hasn't moved.

Bodies catch fire (and run around like headless chickens), chest cavities explode flinging the rest of what was the enemy backwards, heads come clean off with a fountain of aortic spray, and explosions take out entire sections of builings. Small arms, big guns, even chemical weapons, what more could you ask for (outside of more small arms, big guns, and chemical weapons:)?

The blending of RTS, Roleplaying, and TBS is great, and keeps the action pumping; the initiative system for interupts keeps you jumping; and the story line keeps keeps your heart thumping(watch out for Bloodcats and Big bugs in Sci-Fi mode).

The puff of smoke, sound of an RPK-74 ripping people into pieces, the thud of the body(parts:), man there's nothing like it:)

An immersive, addictive game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: January 08, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game was worth every penny when it came out. Now that it is selling for a deep discount, it should be on your list of must-haves if you don't already own it.

JA2 is an exciting, immersive game in spite of its slightly outdated graphics. The interface is fun and user-friendly and the replayability is outstanding. That's because the game has so many options with regards to which and how many mercenaries you choose to build your team, and what weapons and equipment you use along the way (you can even build items with stuff you pick up in the game). Also, the game is non-linear. You can attack the towns on the map in any order you wish, although like most games with a role-playing element, the increasing difficulty factor tends to encourage you along a certain path.

Again, though, it is the tremendous freedom this game gives you that makes it so great time and again. You can, as I mentioned, build your team from a number of mercs with very different abilities and personalities that have a genuine impact on gameplay. For example, mercs with high medical skill may be invaluable after a tough firefight, but in the heat of battle they may be more liability than asset. Snipers my be critical to one mission, while strength may be what's needed in another. As your mercs increase their skills, you may find yourself growing attached to them, like any good role-playing game. You can even break your team into numerous squads and send them all over the map. All these choices make the individual battles as much a puzzle-solving exercise as a combat action sequence. You are almost always outgunned, so rarely will a straight-ahead firefight get you where you need to go. You have to plan carefully and usually have to play a map several times, trying different strategies until you find one that works. In spite of all the planning and the fact the battles switch into turn-based mode, the battles themselves are pretty hairy and immersive, and will usually get your adrenaline pumping.

To summarize, this is a great game. Though violent, it's not overly gory and it is as much a mental exercise as anything. I heartily recommend JA2.

A game that should be in every hardcore collection

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 03, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game is a masterpiece that has everything you could want except for muti-player( which is made up for by the fact you can play it so many ways). The graphics are alright but as long as you can see graphics don't matter, although i think the head blowning off animation is great. The sound is great with pops, explosions, groans and most of all the mercenaries themselves who can be pretty funny(Da ting say dere be bad guys, i hope it be right:)). The interface is pretty streamline with most functions controled by the mouse with some usefull hot keys. Now to the strong point of the game, The gameplay which is awesome. First you can make your own merc who can be almost everthing you want him to be then you hire some more mercs from AIM.com(you use a "Laptop" to purchase weapons, hire mercs and receive e-mail) then you fly your team into arulco where at first you are in real-time mode and can move freely but once you spot an enemie you go to turn based mode where everything you do cost AP or Action Points, in turn-based combat you can snipe the enemy making careful shots which cost more AP but are more likely to hit, sneak up on enemies and use a silensed gun or knife to kill the enemie silently or you could going in guns blazing which is not reccomended. Finally there are lots of toys to play with ranging from the lowly Colt 45. to the all powerfull Dragunov sniper rifle to TNT to C4 and you can combind stuff with other stuff and put things like a sniper scope, bipod or laserscope to the gun to increase the range or accuracy. Over all i would reccomend this too any gamer who can get past the fact that it is hard as hell to beat.

works on many levels

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: September 01, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I will stick to the point with this review; this game is excellent and is one of my favourite gaming experiences along with Outcast and the Fallouts. The graphics are dated, but they never dissuaded me from liking the game. The fights (although they may be long) are exciting and fun, and the depth of the game is on par with Fallout 2 (maybe not quite as deep).

The story is a basic but perfectly fine affair, and the level of humour throughout the game make it even more playable. Get it now.

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