Jagged Alliance: Rage! - Preview @ Wccftech

HiddenX

The Elder Spy
Staff Member
Original Sin Donor
Original Sin 2 Donor
Joined
October 18, 2006
Messages
19,818
Location
Germany
Wccftech has previewed Jagged Alliance: Rage!:

Jagged Alliance: Rage Preview – A Veteran’s Touch

Time hasn’t been kind to Jagged Alliance. At a ripe old age of 23, the series has seen its fair share of ups and downs. To be more accurate, it performed incredibly well when it began, which rose even higher with the second release, to then slump into a drunken stupor offering only a glimmer of hope.

[...]

Set 20 years after the original, one of the major focuses for Jagged Alliance: Rage is showing just how human your ragtag band of mercenaries are. Over the past twenty years, what were strong, almost superhuman fighting machines are showing the effects of constant battles. Ivan, a mainstay of the series is now an alcoholic. Grunty, who idolised Ivan, has lost the heart for the business. Sadly, Grunty also has high blood pressure and is at risk of a heart attack when under strain. Shadow, from Jagged Alliance 2, now prefers to work alone and has a terrible immune system following a friendly-fire gas attack. Others also have their downsides but are still excellent fighting machines when they need to be.

These elements are more than just flavour text to enhance the characters and show the passage of time. Simply put, they have a huge effect on the game. If Ivan doesn’t have a bit of booze, he’ll get the shakes and his accuracy is largely diminished as a result. Shadow, one of my personal favourites, best hope he doesn’t get a wound – infection is a seriously high chance and can lower his HP, making it much easier to kill him. The tradeoffs are interesting and seriously add to the difficulty of Jagged Alliance: Rage, they certainly make you think too.

[...]
More information.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
19,818
Location
Germany
Oh man, how I want to like this game. But then I read the preview (which, I know, is very diferent from playing a demo) and I just don't get to.
 
Joined
Nov 15, 2013
Messages
3,753
Location
Brasil
All in all that review is positive, so there's hope.

I struggle to believe that I’d miss multiple shots in a row that had above a 90% chance of hitting. One turn which led to me restarting the mission saw me missing four out of 6 shots, leaving me in far too vulnerable of a position.
Another gamer complaining about RNG because he doesn't understand what random means…
90% chance doesn't mean a 9 out of 10 guaranteed succes. That's not how random works.
 
Joined
Jul 27, 2018
Messages
1,026
Location
France
6 mercenaries and you only play with 2? Simplified combat… Some things sound interesting, but I love JA2 not only because of the combat but because of the strategic layer and managing several teams. This doesn't excite me at all sadly, because I really want to be excited about a JA game.
 
Joined
Dec 20, 2010
Messages
3,216
Location
Sweden
I still remember playing the original and having a lot of fun. Hopefully an installment will eventually come along that properly embodies that again.
 
Joined
Dec 5, 2009
Messages
117
Location
New York City
Jagged Alliance 2 was/is a perfect game.

All successors failed so far.

Only a 1:1 engine remake with a new story makes sense.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
19,818
Location
Germany
I have doubts about this but I enjoyed the last three games I played.

  1. Jagged Alliance: Back in Action
  2. Jagged Alliance: Crossfire
  3. Jagged Alliance: Flashback

 
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
36,181
Location
Spudlandia
I honestly can see no connection with previous games, apart for name, trying to draw on nostalgia. Only 6 mercs and two available for the team, no custom merc. Instead of squad tactical game, we get a sneaking game? Meh, it will flop as other "sequels" did.

Meanwhile JA2 1.13 is still running good, as far as I know, with new and improved mods. If they tried to redo that, well, with new engine, easy to add/code mod support, etc., then it would be something worth trying. This way, I shall stay away from the attempted butchering of one of favorite games.

Now, I have bunch of enemy forces, supported by tanks, trying to take over Drassen. Lets see how this goes...
 
Joined
Oct 11, 2018
Messages
2
I have doubts about this but I enjoyed the last three games I played.

  1. Jagged Alliance: Back in Action
  2. Jagged Alliance: Crossfire
  3. Jagged Alliance: Flashback



You're a case to be studied by Science.
 
Joined
Nov 15, 2013
Messages
3,753
Location
Brasil
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
36,181
Location
Spudlandia
Jagged Alliance 2 was/is a perfect game.

All successors failed so far.

Only a 1:1 engine remake with a new story makes sense.
Same thought comes to my mind everytime I hear about a new "JA" game. It's so bizarre that companies insist on continuing to make such huge changes to the JA formula and churn out endless follow-up flops, when the path to greatness has been in clear sight all along and is right there for the taking.
 
Joined
Sep 26, 2007
Messages
3,444
I actually enjoyed JA:BiA for a while as well, I especially really liked their take on RTwP where you could plan and execute quite sophisticated tactics. But the scaling of the game was atrocious and after a while you had hordes of enemies that were bullet sponges.

Flashback I tried but it felt like a mess, Crossfire I never tried.
 
Joined
Dec 20, 2010
Messages
3,216
Location
Sweden
Back
Top Bottom