Jagged Alliance 2
Encyclopedia
Jagged Alliance 2 is a tactical role-playing game
for PC, released in 1999
for Windows
, and later ported
to Linux
by Tribsoft
. It is the third game in the Jagged Alliance series, and was followed by two expansions: Unfinished Business (2000) and Wildfire (2004). Jagged Alliance 2 and the Unfinished Business expansion were combined in the Jagged Alliance 2 Gold Pack, released on August 6, 2002.
The game takes place in the fictional country of Arulco, which has been ruled by a ruthless monarch Deidranna for several years. The player is put in control of several hired mercenaries and with aid of local citizens and militia must reclaim Arulco's cities and ultimately defeat Deidranna.
The game uses a strategic map screen of Arulco where player may issue high level strategic orders for their troops, such as travelling or prolonged training. Combat and individual location exploration takes place in tactical screen, where player can issue individual direct commands to their mercenaries, such as run, shoot, talk and so on. The game features a wide variety of guns, armour and items that the player may use.
The game received positive scores from reviewers. It was praised for its non-linear gameplay, freedom of action, memorable characters and tactical gameplay.
– a monarch led the nation, but elections were held every ten years to assert their legitimacy. In 1988, election candidate Enrico Chivaldori took a wife, Deidranna Reitman of Romania
, in order to boost his popularity and consequently was victorious. However, Deidranna proved to be far more than a simple pawn; showing an unquenchable thirst for power, she soon framed Chivaldori for the murder of his father. Enrico managed to escape, faking his own death. Removing all other obstacles from her way, she soon consolidated her power and converted Arulco into an authoritarian
state.
When the game begins, Chivaldori has hired the player to remove Deidranna by whatever means necessary. He puts the player and his team of mercenaries
in contact with a rebel movement in the northern town of Omerta. Omerta suffered a massive raid shortly before the events of the game, leaving the town damaged and nearly deserted. The rebel leader Miguel Cordona, former election candidate and opponent of Enrico, guides the player to the city of Drassen.
The game also features a sci-fi mode that introduces an enemy not present in realistic mode – the "Crepitus", a species of giant insect living underground and occasionally emerging to the surface.
that must explore and reclaim towns and territories from enemy forces. As the game advances, the player can hire new mercenaries and acquire better weapons and armour to combat opponents. The game utilizes a map screen to show the map of Arulco and issue high-level orders to the troops. There is also a tactical screen, where the player takes control of individual mercenaries during real-time interactions and turn-based combat.
of Arulco in a square grid (called sectors) and the forces deployed by the enemy and the player. This is the strategic side of the game, as the player directs his forces, and controls the progress of time, which may be sped up or paused.
From here, the player can also access the game's laptop function, allowing the player to receive emails from characters in the game, buy weapons and equipment, and hire and fire mercenaries.
This screen is also used to give mercenaries tasks. Mercs with a medical kit and medical skill can be set to tend to wounded mercs; this significantly quickens their recovery. Mercs with a tool box and mechanical skill can be set to repair damaged weapons, tools and armour. Mercs can "practice" a skill by themselves or work as a "trainer" or "student". Training a student increases his or her chosen skill. A trainer may also train local citizens to become militia
to defend sectors while the mercs are away.
Mercs can be ordered to travel on foot between the sectors. If the player acquires a ground or aerial
vehicle in-game, he may load his troops into it to travel between sectors much faster.
The tactical screen shows a sector from an isometric
viewpoint. Here the player can view the terrain, explore buildings and find items. Although the game does not feature a visual fog of war, the NPC characters can only be seen if a player-controlled or allied character sees them. The game time advances in real-time on the tactical screen unless a battle is initiated, then the game switches to a turn-based combat mode.
The player can control an individual merc or group of mercs, issuing move, communication and various interaction commands. Mercs can run, walk, swim, crouch or crawl. Mercs may also climb onto the roofs of flat-roofed buildings.
Each force takes alternating turns to move, attack, and perform various other actions. Each character has a limited amount of action points, which are spent to perform actions. The action points are renewed at the beginning of each round, depending on the physical state of the merc. Some unspent action points will also be carried over to the next round. If a combatant has some action points left over during the enemy's turn and spots an enemy, they stand a chance of interrupting the enemy turn and performing actions.
The game may be played using stealth elements. Mercs may move either in normal or stealth mode. In stealth mode, the merc attempts to move without making any noise. Moving stealthily costs more action points, but may successfully hide their position from enemies. The game also features weapons that do not cause loud noise and camouflage
kits, which when used may disguise the merc in his environment. Merc attributes and some special skills affect how stealthy they are.
Mercs can attack enemies in many different ways. Firearm
s such as handguns, machine guns, rifles, close combat and thrown weapons like knives and hand grenades, heavy weapons such as mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and light anti-tank weapons and explosives like mines, and bombs. When a merc attacks, he or she has a certain chance to hit the target depending on the appropriate skill, obstacles in the line of fire and the amount of action points spent aiming. Walls, doors, and many objects can be destroyed using explosives or heavy weapons.
Some battles may be automatically resolved if the player chooses to do so.
The game is played almost entirely through the mercenaries chosen. Mercenaries can be hired from private military company
websites, or recruited from the local citizenry. The player may also create one personalized, unique mercenary.
Characters are defined by their skills expressed in character point
s. Every character has an experience level, five attributes (agility, dexterity, strength, leadership, wisdom) and four skills (marksmanship, explosives, mechanical, medical). A character's level is increased by actively participating in the game. Skills are increased by performing actions based on these skills or by training. Attribute points may be lost if a character is critically wounded. Apart from this, a mercenary can also have two (or one highly developed) special skills enhancing a certain aspect of his or her performance such as night operations, or lockpicking.
Each character has a certain amount of health points
, which are reduced when he or she takes damage. Wounds can be bandaged by using first aid kits. This prevents the character from bleeding and losing more health but doesn't restore health points. A wounded mercenary is given less action points proportionally to his or her wounds. Health can be restored by resting, being treated by another mercenary with 'doctor'-'patient' pair of commands or visiting a hospital. When a mercenary runs very low on health, the character falls to the ground slowly dying, unable to do anything until medically treated. If a character dies, he cannot be resurrected.
Characters have an energy level, restored by sleep, rest, fluids or injections. Moving, using stealth and getting hit saps energy. Tired mercs who have not rested for a long time become exhausted faster. Exhausted characters will fall to the ground until they regain some energy.
Mercenaries also have a morale
level, mainly increased by victories and successful kills and decreased by the opposite. Happy mercs perform better, while unhappy mercs will complain and may leave the player's forces altogether.
Mercs who like each other and work together will have a higher morale than others. Mercenaries who dislike each other will complain often and eventually one of the two mercenaries will quit. Mercenaries may also refuse to be hired if the player has already hired someone they dislike.
Items can be traded between mercs, picked up, dropped or thrown. If a merc dies, he drops all his items. Enemies will sometimes drop items upon dying. Mercs can be hired with their own combat equipment. As the game progresses, the online shop offers a larger and better variety of weapons, armour and tools for sale.
Mercenaries can equip and carry various items in their inventory. The mercs can wear armour on their head, chest and legs. Certain skills and interactions require a certain tool or object to be held in the hand.
The mercs can hold one large weapon or dual wield two small weapons. Weapons may be improved via special attachments, for instance a silencer
or bipod
.
The player may choose between a very large array of different mercs, allowing combinations for specific purposes - e.g. stealth combat, night-time combat, close-quarter combat and so on.
The game features random treasure chest
s, characters and certain events that differ from game to game.
have been released.
Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business, alternatively known as Jagged Alliance 2.5 is a short, mission-based standalone sequel released by Sir-Tech
in 2001. This release adds some tweaks to the combat engine, as well as a scenario editor, yet the gameplay remain largely unchanged.
A new plot is introduced in Unfinished Business. The original owners of Arulco's lucrative mines have returned and established a missile base on the nearby island of Tracona, demanding the mines are returned to them. They destroy the Arulco's now empty Tixa prison to show an example for if their demands are not met. The player must put a team of mercenaries together to infiltrate Tracona and disable the missile base. Alternatively, the player may chose to use the characters from a previously saved Jagged Alliance 2: Gold savegame. Unfinished Business is notably harder than the original.
The product appears to be rushed as the gameplay is virtually the same as the original's, the play-time of Unfinished Business is much shorter, and the plot is linear and thus lacks replayability value. Sir-tech was experiencing financial problems at the time, most significantly trouble finding a publisher.
Jagged Alliance 2: Gold Pack was published by Strategy First
on August 6, 2002 and adds the improvements of Unfinished Business to the final release of Jagged Alliance 2. The Unfinished Business and a scenario editor are also included in the package.
Gold Pack introduces notable changes to the difficulty setting. The player choosing an advanced difficulty level may also decide to make the player turns timed and whether to disallow saving during combat, as opposed to the original Jagged Alliance 2, which set these settings automatically.
As of July 2006 it is available via the Steam content delivery system, as well as Turner Broadcasting's GameTap
. This version has a bug which causes the player to have infinite money rendering financial strategy irrelevant, however an updated version released a while later fixed this issue. Unfinished Business contains a bug which results in the player being unable to save his or her progress. Strategy First has acknowledged the issues but has failed to provide a fix.
Jagged Alliance 2: Wildfire was published by i-Deal Games in 2004 as an official expansion pack
by Strategy First. The game's source code
was also published in the package, albeit under license.
Comparing to the original Jagged Alliance 2, Wildfire has not altered the game engine or controls. The focus was instead directed into designing revamped environments, new items and stronger enemies. This presents players with a more challenging campaign, however the goals and progression remain the same. In terms of the gameplay features, the game remains almost unchanged.
A renewed commercial release of Wildfire, dubbed version 6, through European publisher Zuxxez Entertainment
in the spring of 2005 saw the Jagged Alliance series staying on shop shelves more than five years after the debut of its second iteration. WF6 contains changed sourcecode, a tweaked graphics engine that allows for a higher resolution, introduces new mercenaries and increases squad size from 6 to 10.
after its release. Most notable include, but are not limited to: v1.13, Urban Chaos, Deidranna Lives, and Renegade Republic.
of Jagged Alliance 2 Gold and partial conversion mod of the game. The main change from the original code is the "externalisation" of many previously hardcoded variables to editable XML files, allowing users a great level of modding flexibility. It introduced many new features and items, as well as a multiplayer mode. Since July, 2007, 1.13 has been successfully ported to Linux
and is available via GPL license.
Tactical role-playing game
A tactical role-playing game is a type of video game which incorporates elements of traditional role-playing video games and strategy games. In Japan these games are known as , a designation which might seem peculiar to native English speakers...
for PC, released in 1999
1999 in video gaming
-Events:*British Academy of Film and Television Arts hosts the 2nd annual BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards*March – Game Over republished as “Game Over: Press Start to Continue”...
for Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, and later ported
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
to Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
by Tribsoft
Tribsoft
Tribsoft was a Canadian software company that specialized in porting computer games to the Linux platform.It was responsible for porting Jagged Alliance 2, as well as gaining the porting rights to Europa Universalis, Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim, and Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business...
. It is the third game in the Jagged Alliance series, and was followed by two expansions: Unfinished Business (2000) and Wildfire (2004). Jagged Alliance 2 and the Unfinished Business expansion were combined in the Jagged Alliance 2 Gold Pack, released on August 6, 2002.
The game takes place in the fictional country of Arulco, which has been ruled by a ruthless monarch Deidranna for several years. The player is put in control of several hired mercenaries and with aid of local citizens and militia must reclaim Arulco's cities and ultimately defeat Deidranna.
The game uses a strategic map screen of Arulco where player may issue high level strategic orders for their troops, such as travelling or prolonged training. Combat and individual location exploration takes place in tactical screen, where player can issue individual direct commands to their mercenaries, such as run, shoot, talk and so on. The game features a wide variety of guns, armour and items that the player may use.
The game received positive scores from reviewers. It was praised for its non-linear gameplay, freedom of action, memorable characters and tactical gameplay.
Plot
Jagged Alliance 2 takes place in the fictional nation of Arulco, ruled until the late 1980s by a unique democratic monarchyMonarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
– a monarch led the nation, but elections were held every ten years to assert their legitimacy. In 1988, election candidate Enrico Chivaldori took a wife, Deidranna Reitman of Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, in order to boost his popularity and consequently was victorious. However, Deidranna proved to be far more than a simple pawn; showing an unquenchable thirst for power, she soon framed Chivaldori for the murder of his father. Enrico managed to escape, faking his own death. Removing all other obstacles from her way, she soon consolidated her power and converted Arulco into an authoritarian
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
state.
When the game begins, Chivaldori has hired the player to remove Deidranna by whatever means necessary. He puts the player and his team of mercenaries
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
in contact with a rebel movement in the northern town of Omerta. Omerta suffered a massive raid shortly before the events of the game, leaving the town damaged and nearly deserted. The rebel leader Miguel Cordona, former election candidate and opponent of Enrico, guides the player to the city of Drassen.
The game also features a sci-fi mode that introduces an enemy not present in realistic mode – the "Crepitus", a species of giant insect living underground and occasionally emerging to the surface.
Gameplay
The game puts the player in control of several mercenariesMercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
that must explore and reclaim towns and territories from enemy forces. As the game advances, the player can hire new mercenaries and acquire better weapons and armour to combat opponents. The game utilizes a map screen to show the map of Arulco and issue high-level orders to the troops. There is also a tactical screen, where the player takes control of individual mercenaries during real-time interactions and turn-based combat.
Map screen
The map screen displays the world mapOverworld
An overworld is, in a broad sense, an area within a video game that interconnects all its levels or locations. They are mostly common in role-playing games, though this does not exclude other video game genres....
of Arulco in a square grid (called sectors) and the forces deployed by the enemy and the player. This is the strategic side of the game, as the player directs his forces, and controls the progress of time, which may be sped up or paused.
From here, the player can also access the game's laptop function, allowing the player to receive emails from characters in the game, buy weapons and equipment, and hire and fire mercenaries.
This screen is also used to give mercenaries tasks. Mercs with a medical kit and medical skill can be set to tend to wounded mercs; this significantly quickens their recovery. Mercs with a tool box and mechanical skill can be set to repair damaged weapons, tools and armour. Mercs can "practice" a skill by themselves or work as a "trainer" or "student". Training a student increases his or her chosen skill. A trainer may also train local citizens to become militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
to defend sectors while the mercs are away.
Mercs can be ordered to travel on foot between the sectors. If the player acquires a ground or aerial
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
vehicle in-game, he may load his troops into it to travel between sectors much faster.
Tactical screen
Isometric projection
Isometric projection is a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions in technical and engineering drawings...
viewpoint. Here the player can view the terrain, explore buildings and find items. Although the game does not feature a visual fog of war, the NPC characters can only be seen if a player-controlled or allied character sees them. The game time advances in real-time on the tactical screen unless a battle is initiated, then the game switches to a turn-based combat mode.
The player can control an individual merc or group of mercs, issuing move, communication and various interaction commands. Mercs can run, walk, swim, crouch or crawl. Mercs may also climb onto the roofs of flat-roofed buildings.
Battle
Battles occur whenever the player's and enemy forces occupy the same sector. This can happen if enemy or player forces arrive at a hostile sector or the player's actions cause a previously friendly or neutral force to become hostile. The game proceeds in real-time until a member of one force spots an enemy. The game then switches to turn-based play. The battles are played on the tactical screen.Each force takes alternating turns to move, attack, and perform various other actions. Each character has a limited amount of action points, which are spent to perform actions. The action points are renewed at the beginning of each round, depending on the physical state of the merc. Some unspent action points will also be carried over to the next round. If a combatant has some action points left over during the enemy's turn and spots an enemy, they stand a chance of interrupting the enemy turn and performing actions.
The game may be played using stealth elements. Mercs may move either in normal or stealth mode. In stealth mode, the merc attempts to move without making any noise. Moving stealthily costs more action points, but may successfully hide their position from enemies. The game also features weapons that do not cause loud noise and camouflage
Military camouflage
Military camouflage is one of many means of deceiving an enemy. In practice, it is the application of colour and materials to battledress and military equipment to conceal them from visual observation. The French slang word camouflage came into common English usage during World War I when the...
kits, which when used may disguise the merc in his environment. Merc attributes and some special skills affect how stealthy they are.
Mercs can attack enemies in many different ways. Firearm
Firearm
A firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...
s such as handguns, machine guns, rifles, close combat and thrown weapons like knives and hand grenades, heavy weapons such as mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and light anti-tank weapons and explosives like mines, and bombs. When a merc attacks, he or she has a certain chance to hit the target depending on the appropriate skill, obstacles in the line of fire and the amount of action points spent aiming. Walls, doors, and many objects can be destroyed using explosives or heavy weapons.
Some battles may be automatically resolved if the player chooses to do so.
Characters
The characters in Jagged Alliance 2 are mercenaries, enemies, allies and the townsfolk; many of the NPC characters may be interacted with.The game is played almost entirely through the mercenaries chosen. Mercenaries can be hired from private military company
Private military company
A private military company or provides military and security services. These combatants are commonly known as mercenaries, though modern-day PMCs refer to their staff as security contractors, private military contractors or private security contractors, and refer to themselves as private military...
websites, or recruited from the local citizenry. The player may also create one personalized, unique mercenary.
Characters are defined by their skills expressed in character point
Character point
Character points are abstract units used in some role-playing games during character creation and development.Early role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons assigned random values to a player character's attributes, while allowing each character a fixed number of skills...
s. Every character has an experience level, five attributes (agility, dexterity, strength, leadership, wisdom) and four skills (marksmanship, explosives, mechanical, medical). A character's level is increased by actively participating in the game. Skills are increased by performing actions based on these skills or by training. Attribute points may be lost if a character is critically wounded. Apart from this, a mercenary can also have two (or one highly developed) special skills enhancing a certain aspect of his or her performance such as night operations, or lockpicking.
Each character has a certain amount of health points
Health (gaming)
Health is a game mechanic used in role-playing, computer and video games to give value to characters, enemies, NPCs, and related objects. This value can either be numerical, semi-numerical as in hit/health points, or arbitrary as in a life bar....
, which are reduced when he or she takes damage. Wounds can be bandaged by using first aid kits. This prevents the character from bleeding and losing more health but doesn't restore health points. A wounded mercenary is given less action points proportionally to his or her wounds. Health can be restored by resting, being treated by another mercenary with 'doctor'-'patient' pair of commands or visiting a hospital. When a mercenary runs very low on health, the character falls to the ground slowly dying, unable to do anything until medically treated. If a character dies, he cannot be resurrected.
Characters have an energy level, restored by sleep, rest, fluids or injections. Moving, using stealth and getting hit saps energy. Tired mercs who have not rested for a long time become exhausted faster. Exhausted characters will fall to the ground until they regain some energy.
Mercenaries also have a morale
Morale
Morale, also known as esprit de corps when discussing the morale of a group, is an intangible term used to describe the capacity of people to maintain belief in an institution or a goal, or even in oneself and others...
level, mainly increased by victories and successful kills and decreased by the opposite. Happy mercs perform better, while unhappy mercs will complain and may leave the player's forces altogether.
Mercs who like each other and work together will have a higher morale than others. Mercenaries who dislike each other will complain often and eventually one of the two mercenaries will quit. Mercenaries may also refuse to be hired if the player has already hired someone they dislike.
Items
The game features a large array of various items. These include weapons, armour, tools and miscellaneous items.Items can be traded between mercs, picked up, dropped or thrown. If a merc dies, he drops all his items. Enemies will sometimes drop items upon dying. Mercs can be hired with their own combat equipment. As the game progresses, the online shop offers a larger and better variety of weapons, armour and tools for sale.
Mercenaries can equip and carry various items in their inventory. The mercs can wear armour on their head, chest and legs. Certain skills and interactions require a certain tool or object to be held in the hand.
Weapons
Almost all weapons in the game exist in real life. Each weapon has a brief description. The descriptions are informal and often humorous. Each weapon's main strengths and weaknesses are pointed out. Both expansions feature additional weapons not seen in the original game.The mercs can hold one large weapon or dual wield two small weapons. Weapons may be improved via special attachments, for instance a silencer
Suppressor
A suppressor, sound suppressor, sound moderator, or silencer, is a device attached to or part of the barrel of a firearm which reduces the amount of noise and flash generated by firing the weapon....
or bipod
Bipod
A bipod is a support device that is similar to a tripod or monopod, but with two legs. It provides significant stability along two axes of motion .-Firearms:...
.
Economy
The player needs money to pay the mercenary hire fees and to purchase equipment. At the start of the game, the player is given a set amount of money. The main source of income in the game are silver and gold mines located in several towns. The player has to reclaim these town sectors and convince the local miners to work for the player to receive a daily income. Weaponry, equipment and miscellaneous items may also be sold to local merchants.Replayability
Although the player is directed by rebels to head to Drassen first, the player may choose to capture the towns and explore the countryside in any order he or she desires. In fact, it is not required to capture any towns. Additionally, almost every sector may be entered via two or more entry points.The player may choose between a very large array of different mercs, allowing combinations for specific purposes - e.g. stealth combat, night-time combat, close-quarter combat and so on.
The game features random treasure chest
Treasure Chest
Treasure Chest was a Catholic-oriented comic book series created by Dayton, Ohio publisher George A...
s, characters and certain events that differ from game to game.
Versions
After the release of the original Jagged Alliance 2, two sequels and various modsMod (computer gaming)
Mod or modification is a term generally applied to personal computer games , especially first-person shooters, role-playing games and real-time strategy games. Mods are made by the general public or a developer, and can be entirely new games in themselves, but mods are not standalone software and...
have been released.
Unfinished Business
Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business, alternatively known as Jagged Alliance 2.5 is a short, mission-based standalone sequel released by Sir-Tech
Sir-Tech
Sir-Tech Software, Inc. was a United States-based video game developer and publisher founded by Robert Woodhead and Norman Sirotek. While the original company closed its doors in 2001, its Canadian counterpart Sir-Tech Canada continued to operate up until late 2003.Sir-Tech is best known for the...
in 2001. This release adds some tweaks to the combat engine, as well as a scenario editor, yet the gameplay remain largely unchanged.
A new plot is introduced in Unfinished Business. The original owners of Arulco's lucrative mines have returned and established a missile base on the nearby island of Tracona, demanding the mines are returned to them. They destroy the Arulco's now empty Tixa prison to show an example for if their demands are not met. The player must put a team of mercenaries together to infiltrate Tracona and disable the missile base. Alternatively, the player may chose to use the characters from a previously saved Jagged Alliance 2: Gold savegame. Unfinished Business is notably harder than the original.
The product appears to be rushed as the gameplay is virtually the same as the original's, the play-time of Unfinished Business is much shorter, and the plot is linear and thus lacks replayability value. Sir-tech was experiencing financial problems at the time, most significantly trouble finding a publisher.
Gold Pack
Jagged Alliance 2: Gold Pack was published by Strategy First
Strategy First
Strategy First is a software company based in Montreal, Canada. Founded in 1988, the company has published numerous well-known games, such as the Disciples series, Jagged Alliance series, Space Empires series, and Galactic Civilizations....
on August 6, 2002 and adds the improvements of Unfinished Business to the final release of Jagged Alliance 2. The Unfinished Business and a scenario editor are also included in the package.
Gold Pack introduces notable changes to the difficulty setting. The player choosing an advanced difficulty level may also decide to make the player turns timed and whether to disallow saving during combat, as opposed to the original Jagged Alliance 2, which set these settings automatically.
As of July 2006 it is available via the Steam content delivery system, as well as Turner Broadcasting's GameTap
GameTap
GameTap is an American online video game service established by Turner Broadcasting System . Dubbed by TBS as a "first of its kind broadband gaming network", the service provides users with classic arcade video games and game-related video content...
. This version has a bug which causes the player to have infinite money rendering financial strategy irrelevant, however an updated version released a while later fixed this issue. Unfinished Business contains a bug which results in the player being unable to save his or her progress. Strategy First has acknowledged the issues but has failed to provide a fix.
Wildfire
Jagged Alliance 2: Wildfire was published by i-Deal Games in 2004 as an official expansion pack
Expansion pack
An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
by Strategy First. The game's source code
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
was also published in the package, albeit under license.
Comparing to the original Jagged Alliance 2, Wildfire has not altered the game engine or controls. The focus was instead directed into designing revamped environments, new items and stronger enemies. This presents players with a more challenging campaign, however the goals and progression remain the same. In terms of the gameplay features, the game remains almost unchanged.
A renewed commercial release of Wildfire, dubbed version 6, through European publisher Zuxxez Entertainment
Zuxxez Entertainment
Zuxxez Entertainment is a video game developer and publisher based in Karlsruhe, Germany. It was founded in 2000 by former TopWare Interactive employees...
in the spring of 2005 saw the Jagged Alliance series staying on shop shelves more than five years after the debut of its second iteration. WF6 contains changed sourcecode, a tweaked graphics engine that allows for a higher resolution, introduces new mercenaries and increases squad size from 6 to 10.
Modding
Jagged Alliance 2: Gold has seen numerous community modsMod (computer gaming)
Mod or modification is a term generally applied to personal computer games , especially first-person shooters, role-playing games and real-time strategy games. Mods are made by the general public or a developer, and can be entirely new games in themselves, but mods are not standalone software and...
after its release. Most notable include, but are not limited to: v1.13, Urban Chaos, Deidranna Lives, and Renegade Republic.
v1.13
v1.13 is a complete rewriteRewrite (programming)
A rewrite in computer programming is the act or result of re-implementing a large portion of existing functionality without re-use of its source code. When the rewrite is not using existing code at all, it is common to speak of a rewrite from scratch...
of Jagged Alliance 2 Gold and partial conversion mod of the game. The main change from the original code is the "externalisation" of many previously hardcoded variables to editable XML files, allowing users a great level of modding flexibility. It introduced many new features and items, as well as a multiplayer mode. Since July, 2007, 1.13 has been successfully ported to Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
and is available via GPL license.
Reception
Jagged Alliance 2 received high scores from many reviewers. The game was praised for its non-linear gameplay, freedom of action and variety of tactics, mercenary character traits, story-telling and role-playing, detailed world, challenging opponents and excellent audio.See also
- Jagged AllianceJagged AllianceJagged Alliance is a tactical role-playing game released in 1994 for MS-DOS and in 2009 for the Nintendo DS. It is the first game in the Jagged Alliance series, and was followed by Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games and Jagged Alliance 2 .-Plot:Jagged Alliance takes place on the fictional south...
, the first installment in the Jagged Alliance series. - X-COMX-COMX-COM is a series of strategy games created by Julian Gollop. In 2010 2K Marin announced the official reboot of the series, entitled simply XCOM. The original game has a cult following.- Original series :...
External links
- Official website, jaggedalliance.com
- GameSpot review, gamespot.com
- Jagged Alliance 2 (straciatella) port for AmigaOS 4, os4depot.net
- Official page for version 1.13 patch, ja2v113.pbworks.com