Jagged Alliance 3

Jagged Alliance 3 – Review

No matter which mission you take on, the approachable tactical combat that you will come across in Jagged Alliance 3 gives you satisfaction that you are unlikely to find elsewhere. You have to manage a group of memorable mercenaries and schedule turn-based takedowns, which feel great with the numerous playstyles and in-depth squad customization.

The plot

Jagged Alliance 3 has a very basic plot and you can understand it quite easily, but it does have a touch of moral complexity. A mysterious bad guy named The Major has kidnapped the president of Grand Chien, a fictional nation in West Africa. Your team of mercenaries have been hired for his rescue. The game takes place in early 2001 and the conflict it presents seems like it was just taken from the headlines.

Once the tactical combat begins, you are going to forget about everything else and get engrossed in it. There are six mercenaries in your custom squad and they are expert in everything from demolitions and sniper rifles to heavy weapons. You can choose to incorporate whatever role you prefer, including a medic. One of the good things about the game is that it gives you a lot of freedom in terms of playstyle, while allowing you to maintain a consistent level of difficulty.

The unique factor

One of the areas that have helped distinguished Jagged Alliance from similar games is that most of the mercenaries are not a blank state. Instead, the characters are actually pre-written and have a distinct visual style and personality. In fact, some of them also have unique combat traits. However, the suppression is something that will be difficult to deal with.

You will not be able to suppress enemies even with burst-fire weapons, much less single shots, even when multiple mercenaries are firing at the same enemy. This makes it very difficult to use traditional tactics like move and fire with the rifle team because it creates very awkward situations. The world map is another impressive feature that has helped Jagged Alliance 3 stand out. There are more than 100 accessible tiles, all of which come with their own 3D battle map. All of the maps are readable and attractive and they have made excellent use of lighting and colors.

The activities

You will have plenty to do as you move across the Grand Chien map, whether it is training the local militias, securing the important diamond mines so you can pay your mercenaries and prevent them from leaving, or having some relaxation time for keeping everyone’s morale up. There are a couple of interesting side quests in every town and you are rewarded in the form of increased income and loyalty.

You should also have a tech nerd and at least one explosive expert with you, as they will come in handy for disarming a container that has been booby-trapped, or for stealing classified data.