Having bounced back and forth between countless publishers and developers since as early as 2004, Jagged Alliance 3 is finally released, with credit going to Publisher, THQ Nordic, and developer, Haemimont Games. As with most games that struggle to land a consistent team able to work together at length to produce a release-worthy title, this game, despite being long awaited by a seemingly loyal fanbase, does seem to resemble the typical flaws expected from such a messy development cycle. Regardless, the big question is how does the final product hold up? Overall, not too shabby, however, it’s possible that some bias might come from the fact that there really just aren’t too many turn-based tactical strategy games out there, with its predecessor, Jagged Alliance 2 having been released way back in ‘99.

The story for the campaign in Jagged Alliance 3 is a simple one, which is to say is all it really needs to be. You manage a small mercenary company hired by the Grand Chien Nation, and their President was kidnapped by a group of paramilitaries called The Legion. The President’s daughter has contacted you and your crew to recover her father and restore order and balance to the nation through more or less whatever means necessary.

The game is split into 2 modes of gameplay; the Sat-Com is the world map point of view that allows you to conduct various tasks such as recruiting mercenaries online for your team, crafting and repairing weapons and gear for your mercs, or using your medic/s to heal up team members between fights. The other mode is the Tactical View, and this is where your guys are boots on the ground, sneaking around enemy camps, looting gear, and ammo, and engaging in firefights with The Legion.

Having very little gear at almost all times really does make you feel like a bit of an A-Team, where everything your soldiers have equipped is mostly old worn out remnants of decades past that are very likely to break or seize up in a fight, and many of the merc’s perks (lol) have a focus on being able to manage and work around this unique problem. Sure, you might find a neat AK early game, but how many rounds do you think you can put through it before you waste precious action points trying to fire it, only to have it jam, leaving you exposed and in a bit of a bind?

Action points are the bread and butter of turn-based gameplay, so if you’re not familiar, you have “X” amount of points per character to perform actions; move, shoot, stab, cry, etc. Once your turn is over, the opposing team’s forces do the same, and you’re forced to watch and pray you made the right tactical choices between turns. This style of gameplay can be fun and very rewarding, but it’s a difficult juggling act to balance out, especially when stealth is brought into the mix. Jagged Alliance 3 does an okay job of this, but I’ve definitely seen better with the likes of XCOM really being the closest to perfecting this gameplay formula. These guys really could take some notes from the team at Firaxis Games without copying too much in order to smooth out and perhaps improve the overall experience here.

To my surprise, Jagged Alliance 3 also includes an online co-op mode. In short, you’re able to invite a friend into your own campaign and manually assign mercs for them to control. They won’t be able to bring over mercs from their own playthrough, but you’ll still have the option to hire anyone you feel like the team might be missing. The host player can also save and load at any time, while the second player will merely tag along for the ride.

Visually this game holds up okay. There’s a nice mix of colour owing to the different regions you’ll get to play in, such as tropical island forests and World War II-era bunkers. As far as visual quality and frames are considered, it’s adequate, but with the perspective being top-down, this can make the game world a bit hard to read. The HUD feels like it’s missing a few elements too, especially regarding hit chance when engaging enemies. The game does not necessarily need a numerical value telling your shot hit probability, but aside from a seemingly unclear voice line from the mercenary while lining up the shot, there’s really no way of telling whether the shot will even hit its target.

Jagged Alliance 3 is rich with pop culture references and tonnes of voice lines unique to each of the many mercenaries at your command. The NPCs you come across also appear to be bristling with personality, and while it’s all a bit cliche, it never seems to go overboard with it. The combat sounds are serviceable, most notably being the distinct thuds and pings of bullets ricocheting all around your team while they’re dug in.

For fans of the genre, this game does have a lot of potential, and if Haemimont Games really stick with this one and offer some decent updates and regular patches post-release, this game could really be something for both fans of newcomers alike, but if you’re a bit of a turn-based strategy fan like myself, I’d sit on this one for a bit and see if the developers flesh out the gameplay and mechanics a bit and really show us what they’re capable of.

Written by: Jayden Healy