Jagged Alliance 3

Jagged Alliance 3 is an example of a game that traps you, kicks you as you lie, and leaves a live grenade by your lifeless body. You take on the role of a commander of an international mercenary force, and your goal is to locate and rescue the leader of a fictional state. Your journey takes you through jungles, over islands and across continents, all to locate and rescue the missing leader of the state. Along the way, however, you will murder people, take over diamond mines and be generally unpleasant.

When I initially wrote that this series is a bit like getting a slap in the face, it is both in a positive and negative sense. I really liked the second title and the third follows in the same footsteps. If you thought XCOM was a bit overpowering, this is a step up. More outside factors affect whether shots land and you can't see how likely you are to hit in the turn-based combat mode. Thanks to the lack of a proper training mode, it's very clear that you have to die and learn, or use good guides on the Internet. I had the advantage of having some familiarity from its predecessors, which made my journey easier. This being said, conceptually it is absolutely brilliant. All the soldiers you recruit are not faceless zombies but have voice acting and background stories, and this gives the game a lot more personality than many competitors.

The personality of the troops helps you get through the difficulty level even though the loss of the soldiers stings. Your troops are permanently dead if they fall in combat, as you can't stabilise defeated comrades in battle, they are gone forever. You can recruit novice mercenaries or pure killing machines depending on your income. In the beginning you will probably only be able to buy the cheapest ones for a few days, and I think it's kind of a cool concept. You don't buy soldiers that are always yours, but you rent soldiers for a certain number of days, and should you appreciate their efforts, you can extend their employment. It is probably the highlight of the game to juggle your finances in the bid of crafting the best temporary force on this side of the equator.

To build up your strength in the hunt for the missing leader, you need to carry out missions in zones and take over diamond mines. The campaign map is huge and divided into a grid-based network. You travel between these and each individual square is its own map with characters, items to find and potential missions. The scale and pace means you're in for a 48-60 hour experience on your first playthrough. It's a journey I can highly recommend to those with some experience in the genre, but for others, prepare for what could be a hopelessly frustrating game you need to give a lot of time to.

For the player who is new to the genre, a baptism of fire awaits without mercy. Especially if you go in without a guide. Even with easier settings turned on, it can be challenging, and I even found the default setting challenging at times. It's a major barrier to entry. Despite the difficulty level, there is no one to help you understand how the game works, and some mechanisms are not really explained at all. Keep that in mind if you're curious. Otherwise, it is one of the surprises of the year for me. Haemimont Games developed it and it's not easy to take over an established series. Sure, the studio has experience with historical real-time strategy games and its award-winning Tropico series, however, I can't help but wonder if the experience with Tropico helped the developers with the design of the world, which is tropical in nature and consistently well done.

I really like the scenery and environments. The map design is relatively straightforward and simple, however, there is always a tower to position a sniper in or an obstacle to lay soldiers down to shoot through. The environments encourage you to come up with perfect ambushes and strategies. Just like in XCOM, you have varied amounts of cover, and some doesn't protect you at all, while others can never be destroyed. That's one aspect of this adventure's design that I both like and dislike. The rules are not clear and this has caused frustration on a number of occasions. At the same time, I love the chaotic nature, as it gives me a bit of a Bad Company 2 vibe with its destruction.

Battles can really go either way. Even if you planned ahead by buying equipment in the towns or raiding a not-so-abandoned bunker in the title's opening hours, one shot can set off a frenzy of explosions, machine gun fire and sheer destruction. When aiming, you can do so manually not unlike the system in Phoenix Point or with body part selection options. Depending on how you stand, protection from the enemy, whether you are crouching, lying down or what skills the soldiers have, the chances of hitting are affected. If you want to sneak and kill someone with a knife, you need to have good skills and open the said menu and press the right body part. If you try to stab someone without these steps, you will be detected. A lot of the game is about trying to figure out what does what, and through experience getting an idea of which shots are likely to hit and which are guaranteed to miss. This determines the outcome of more difficult battles and is the root cause of its difficulty. Sometimes there are no explanations you can see, and you have to live with that here.

The rest of the title, walking around in real time on the maps, doing missions, talking to people and enemies, and so forth, is light-hearted. It rewards your curiosity and exploration, but it can also get you into trouble if you're not careful. You can control soldiers individually outside of combat and even sneak around like an old-fashioned isometric role-playing game. It's easy to position troops in advance and that's a key to your success, and I appreciate that you have more control over positioning and planning before each battle, despite this being quite unusual for the genre.

Of course, it also helps to equip your troops with weapons, proper ammo, protective clothing if you can find it, and more. Each mercenary has a limited amount of inventory space, so you need to think carefully. Some also have other skills like hacking, opening locks and healing soldiers faster so it's important to know who does what. In many ways, it's similar to an isometric role-playing game, although it is described as a tactical turn-based strategy game with real-time elements.

I am more than satisfied with my time in this action spectacle. It's a worthy sequel to the series' established titles. However, the infamous humour is so bad that I have to write off that side of the series. It tries really hard to make fun of things but doesn't really succeed. There is a certain lack of flair in the writing and narration, which permeates everything in the game. I think this is because the game focuses on this, which detracts from the comments the troops make. It's the gameplay that keeps the whole thing flowing. It is done with finesse, style and complexity. I haven't even got around to mentioning things like the need to repair equipment, rest troops and constantly have income or you'll lose quickly. Because it's a bit like an onion with many layers, there are 150 ways to fail a campaign and many of the reasons don't become apparent until it's too late. You have to be able to restart, you have to be willing to make mistakes and take hits. The game doesn't hesitate to kick you when you're down.

Sound and graphics are probably the last thing a strategy enthusiast cares about, but it's beyond expectations here. The game looks crisp and inviting, and it sounds great and there is little to complain about. What I can mention in passing is that the sound mix sometimes falls short a bit. Things can be a little too high or low, which is noticeable in some sequences. Plus, some shadows behave a bit strangely. Otherwise, I am more than satisfied with the technical aspects, and I've been lucky enough not to encounter much in the way of bugs. It's been a relatively painless experience and I've never had to reload or quit because of these types of issues. However, I have a high threshold for this, so your experience may vary.

If you like to be challenged, if you loved the second game or if you have one foot in the genre with XCOM, you probably own this game already. Jagged Alliance 3 pays homage to its predecessor and is one of the stronger turn-based titles of the year. It's intense, difficult and manages to enchant with its addictive gameplay. If you are completely new to the genre, it tries very hard to dissuade you to keep playing, but if you get comfortable with the set-up, everything changes. I would have liked a little more clarity in certain gameplay elements, in particular, I think that stealth is a bit too unpredictable. Yet overall, it is a great continuation of the series and a good game for veterans of the genre.