JA: Back in Action - Preview @ GameSpy

Jagged Alliance: Back in Action has been previewed at GameSpy:

One area of the game that has changed (that we've talked about before) is the "Plan & Go" gameplay system, designed to replace the classic turn-based strategy mechanic from the original. To say that gameplay change is controversial would be an understatement, judging by the community reaction on the game's official forums. Honestly, I think the Plan & Go system is a nice compromise between action and strategy — there's still a significant amount of thought involved to determine the routes and actions for each of my mercenaries, much like the original Rainbow Six from an overhead perspective. There's even an option to swap to a real-time strategy mode at any point during a mission.

More information.

You'll accrue money as you complete missions

Wait… Missions?!

JA2 was openworld. Will this be a set of subsequent missions?

An option to swap in a real time strategy mode!

So…uh, no option to swap in a pure turn based mode but hey we can do THIS!

Yay for idiots who do not understand why the games were so popular continuing the "franchise"!

Sound like if the Thief games were taken over by Epic games and they were proud of how the new games used this awesome cover system but completely did away with a real stealth system. (no offense to them but first blah fps maker to come to mind)

The real beauty of JA2 is that we can still play it.

For me it was all about pondering each move, the depth of options and even the inventory micromanagement of each character, also the tension of seeing how it all played out. There is no way they can recapture that feeling in this bastardized RTS blasphemy.

Ahh, now I need to reinstall JA2.

JA2 is weird.

It's a game that I love, with a design that I have tremendous respect for.

I've never actually played it much, though I've always wanted to. For some reason, I just can't bring myself to play it - and I don't even know why.

It doesn't even look or feel particularly dated - and I'm a huge fan of TB combat when done right, which JA2 certainly is.

So, why don't I play it?

Just don't know….

For JA2, the English-language version received more patches than the German-language version, and they're not compatible with one another, if I remember correctly. I tried to play it years ago, and it was a pain to research which patches were the newest ones and if they were compatible, too.