Jagged Alliance 2

by TalonSoft

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00002STLK
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: August 27, 1999
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,751 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Much like the original Jagged Alliance before it, Jagged Alliance 2 offers a tremendous mix of strategy and role-playing. Players take charge of a team of mercenaries and attempt to rid the fictional island Arulco of its tyrannical dictator. After recruiting your team from a vast and often entertaining corps of mercenaries (each with his or her own unique personality and verbal quips), you create a merc to represent yourself in the game and then hit the beach on Arulco.

The game play is much like the original Jagged Alliance and the earlier X-COM games from Microprose. You control the action from an overhead, isometric angle and move your troops about in real time until an enemy is spotted. At that point, the game shifts into a turn-based mode, where everyone moves and fires their weapons by spending action points. Though the pace is slower and more deliberate than real-time strategy games, the turn-based mode also allows for more tactical planning, and works exceedingly well in this game.

You move through the game by clearing the bad guys from each individual sector of Arulco. As you do, the support of the people grows and you can then recruit and train militia to support your cause. Combined with the need to find a source of income to finance replacement mercs and additional equipment, your to-do list for Jagged Alliance 2 becomes quite full.

With a solid story, a great array of entertaining mercenaries, addictive game play, and enormous depth, Jagged Alliance 2 is an excellent all-around package. It can be extraordinarily difficult as you near the end of the campaign, but aside from that, it's tough to find fault in this game. --Michael E. Ryan

Pros:

• The unique personalities of the mercenaries
• Addictive blend of strategy and role-playing
• Nonlinear game with lots of depth

Cons:

• Graphics could use improvement
• No multiplayer support
• Extremely difficult toward the end

Product Description

Jagged Alliance 2 Gold Pack, featuring the wildly popular strategy title Jagged Alliance 2 and its mini-sequel, Unfinished Business, immerses you into an elaborate role-playing universe where you will interact with more than 150 characters, recruit your own band of soldiers and create your own custom mercenary to win back Arulco - not once, but twice! The perfect blend of strategy, role-playing and tactical combat!

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best strategy game I've ever played, June 6, 2000

By 

Splatt (Utah) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jagged Alliance 2 (CD-ROM)

What struck me the most about this game was the attention given to detail. I don't mean visual detail (although the graphics are good), I mean the details that make any game good.

This is a combination turn-based and real-time, role-playing and strategy game, and it takes the best elements from all worlds.

All player attributes (health, strength, HP, wisdom, etc.) are used and monitored. Players have their own abilities, personalities, likes, and dislikes, and gameplay is affected by them. Abilities increase with use and experience, but can decrease due to injury. Each player has it's own morale, and performance will vary with morale level.

Combat is intense. There is a suprisingly wide array of weapons, explosives, accessories, and other items that can be used, and each behaves in a unique fashion. Various parts of enemies can be targeted.

Gameplay is non-linear. You are able to go anywhere in the game at will (although it may not always be advisable to do so).

I've played this game three times, and I'm still not tired of it. I never buy games right when they come out -- but I bought this one. Download the demo and take a look!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most overlooked GREAT game you ought to play., September 28, 2001

By 

Jim Bryan (Cedar Park, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jagged Alliance 2 (CD-ROM)

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:)

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Five Reasons Why JA2 Deserves Five Stars, August 3, 2000

By 

Justin Tomlinson (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jagged Alliance 2 (CD-ROM)

1) It's a wonderfully multi-layered strategy game. Everything from the position of each merc in a battle, to the level of confidence the citizens place in you, to the training and progress of your mercs -- and much more -- is carefully balanced. It's amazing, actually, how delicately fine-tuned the game is. None of your myriad concerns obscure any of the others, and each is dealt with in a level of detail appropriate to it. They intertwine smoothly, both requiring and rewarding a balanced, flexible approach.

2) The available mercs (there are plenty to choose from) are quite distinct, each with his/her own abilities, face, personality, voice, and play-affecting quirks. This is one of the most enjoyable aspects of the game, and an area where JA2 markedly outshines the rest of the strategy genre -- yes, including X-Com -- and, in fact, much of the RPG genre. Every bit of dialog in the game is spoken aloud, and you'll likely find yourself laughing out loud frequently at the things that will pop out of your mercs' mouths. Most game situations draw from a basic set of responses (many of which are still quite enjoyable), but it's fleshed out by a large amount of dialog that's custom-tailored for specific situations in the game (and for each individual merc). Sir-Tech went far beyond the minimum here. And yet the "personalities" aren't just for fun: they're also practical. You'll have no trouble with confusing your mercs with each other, and vocal cues can alert you if, for example, you've accidentally selected the wrong one. It's quite a good idea, actually, and I don't understand why more games haven't taken this approach. It's a fairly simple system that doesn't reach for the stars, but enhances the game considerably on many levels.

3) The game lets you develop your own strategies. For real. The items, skills, and actions can be combined flexibly, opening the possibilities up to include your own wild ideas, instead of limiting you to those "allowed" by the programmers. There's no satisfaction like coming up with an unusual solution for a tough situation, only to stare open-mouthed as the game actually lets you do it. (My stock response to questions from new players: "Try it.") Furthermore, JA2 is chock full of "Easter eggs". There's a wealth of clever responses waiting for anyone who's crazy enough to do the ridiculous things that "normal people" wouldn't think of.(cough)

4) The learning curve is rather easy for a game this complex. Don't get me wrong -- there's plenty to learn, and it will take a while before you've discovered all of the details you can manipulate. But while details abound, they never become cumbersome, and you don't need to master them all in order to play successfully. The controls are easy to learn, and delightfully smooth once you're familiar with them. Shortcuts, audiovisual cues, and intuitive alternate input methods abound. The interface is really quite impressive, especially given the number of different things you have to handle. Almost always, it actively assists your gameplay, instead of interfering with it -- and that's unusual in a game of this type.

5) There's something indefinable... something that keeps you on the edge of your seat, that makes you say "I'll just stay up a little bit longer", and leaves the taste of the game in your mouth well after you stop playing. It's not just the addictive quality of a well-designed strategy game. I don't know what it is, but it's frighteningly strong. (If I had a dime for every hour of sleep I've lost...)

I cannot recommend this game highly enough. It is literally my favorite game I've encountered in the 15 years I've been playing computer games. I have a friend with no patience for turn-based strategy games (didn't even enjoy Civilization or Alpha Centauri); after much prodding, he reluctantly tried JA2, and much to his surprise (but not really to mine), he became thoroughly addicted, and has remarked repeatedly since what a fun, impressive game it is. I know that I can't stop playing it, and I've spent waaay too much time with it already in the past year+.

Keep in mind, it's not easy. (There probably should be an easier level for new players -- even "novice" has plenty of tight spots.) But that is really the best part of all. It will give your brain a thorough workout, requiring careful planning, attention to detail, and lots of creativity. If you consider yourself intelligent and are looking for good brain-toys, you owe it to yourself -- bigtime -- to pick this one up. At the end of your struggle, your hard-won victory will truly be sweet. And then, of course, you'll have to start over, just so you don't have to stop playing it...