JA: Back in Action - Worldwide Release in February 2012

BitComposer let us know that Jagged Alliance: Back in Action is on track for a global release in February next year. Here's the PR minus the company blurb:

“Jagged Alliance: Back in Action” set for global release in February 2012“

Eschborn/Worms, November 29, 2011: The long-awaited latest part in the Jagged Alliance universe, Jagged Alliance: Back in Action, will finally be released next year. The Windows PC version of this strategy spectacular from bitComposer Games and Kalypso Media will arrive in stores worldwide in February 2012. Jagged Alliance: Back in Action will be distributed by NBG EDV Handels & Verlags GmbH priced €44.99 (RRP) in the German-speaking territories.
You can find more details on all the Jagged Alliance products on the new website: www.jaggedalliance.com and on Facebook http://facebook.jaggedalliance.com
Back in Action takes players to the fictitious country of Arulco, where a ruthless dictator has seized power and only a small group of rebels stand to resist him. Tasked with freeing the island from the dictator’s iron grip, players will command rebel and mercenary forces while using tactical, diplomatic and economic tools to keep troops supplied and ready for the next flight, all while commanding them directly in nail-biting battles.
Back in Action’s innovative “plan & go” combat system combines real-time strategy (RTS) with turn-based elements to guarantee that the intricacies of tactical warfare are rendered in dynamic, exciting gameplay. This challenges would-be commanders to master not only strategy and tactical combat, but also to maximize their team’s capabilities through RPG-like character advancement.
KEY FEATURES

• The Jagged Alliance series achieved numerous awards and is considered to date as milestone in the genre of real time strategy
• Unrivaled mix of combat (tactics), roleplay, business and strategy
• Innovative "Plan & Go" combat system combines RTS gameplay with turn-based elements
• Liberate a fictitious island from a dictator
• Realistic war setting with authentic-looking firearms
• Laptop/computer menu as a central anchor point for the player
• Assemble your own unit of mercenaries from over 60 unique mercenaries
• Simultaneous control of multiple squads using a strategic map
• Every mercenary has a detailed set of likes, dislikes, strengths and weaknesses
• Convincing characters who interact with and comment on the game events
• All the dialog has audio
• Train your mercenaries to improve their effectiveness
• Acquire resources by capturing mines and encampments

More information.

Saw it at the GC. Left a very good impression.

JA2 will always be my favorite game ever. I hope this reboot works. I could sure use a real sequel.

"Liberate a fictitious island from a dictator" is a "key feature"?

Since JA2 is my favorite game of all time and the TB combat is what I like the most, I do not like the sound of this.

The Jagged Alliance series achieved numerous awards and is considered to date as milestone in the genre of real time strategy

Does the person who wrote this even know anything about Jagged Alliance or is he just plain stupid. I guess they were entirely mistaken about the game they were making and thought Jagged Alliance was a series of RTS games instead of TBS games.

They're only trying to broaden the target audience as much as possible.

Originally Posted by Gorath
“plan & go” combat system combines real-time strategy (RTS) with turn-based elements

Anybody pick up on what they meant by turn-based elements? There may be hope yet.

Overlapping comand queues for all squad members. Their actions can be coordinated on the timeline.

This is no RTS. Not even close.

No, this looks closer to what you have in the UFO games (Aftermath, afterlight, cybershock, not X-com). And I actually really like that kind of system if well implemented. For me the best tactical combat ever was actually Fallout tactics, which also shares a similar system.

I wouldn't call any of those RTS, more like tactical pausable real-time. And no one on this forum dislikes that right?

JA is in my top 3 of a 1000 games i played. But this game il MOST certainly wait for a review by rpgwatch !.

The Turnbased is gone, in the way i would like to see it anyway. So iam sceptical.

Nevertheless, i really do hope its good and looking forward to it.

Originally Posted by tomasp3n
I wouldn't call any of those RTS, more like tactical pausable real-time. And no one on this forum dislikes that right?

I'm not going to say I dislike it before I try it, but I like turn-based more.

I have never played any form of paused RT simultaneous action game than came close to the quality of the TB combat of JA2.

Any RTwP game I have ever played would have been much better with real TB combat.

Really? I've always been a fan of turnbased, but I can't honestly say I would have enjoyed Fallout Tactics (played in real-time), Baldurs Gate and several others more if they had been turn-based. I like both systems. What I don't like is "regular" real-time and AI-controlled party members, and no need for other tactics than pressing. the awesome button. But if well implemented pausable real-time can be brilliant. In tactical RPG's that is.

In grand strategy games I want turn-based all the way, can't stand real-time in those.

The problem I have with RTwP such as Baldur's Gate is the simultaneous action. With all actions occurring together I don't have the time to fully analyze all of who is doing what to who and for how much damage.

I find a RTwP game to be "choppy" with periods of RT frantic action and information overload followed by weird periods of frozen time.

With a good TB system as each enemy is taking their turn I can be taking in the data and making my plans. So that when its my turn I am ready to go.

I find TB games to have a nice rhythm. The my turn…your turn essentially defines game playing for me.

It's not really RTwP because you have much more control. You're meant to pause often and coordinate each party members' actions via timelines. Just rushing forward will lead to a quick death. You can order A to wait until B starts firing before starting to run from X to Y. This kind of coordination is the difference to the typical TRwP RPG.

So again, JA:BiA is no action game. It's more like a puzzle game. How easy the puzzles will be remains to be seen. There's hope though that the game will be challenging on the highest dificulty level.

There is still the issue of keeping track of simultaneous actions in RT. In JA2 you could have up to 18 mercs under your control (3 teams of 6). You could have mercs acting on different screens from each other. It will be interesting to see if they manage to keep any of this complexity with their switch to RT.

Multiple teams are in. If you can coordinate the actions of members of different teams remains to be seen. I doubt it though.

Was given a private showing of this at PAX East 2011 I liked what I saw planning on getting it via steam.