WGAME REVIEW
J
agged Alliance: Rage is in love
with busywork. At every stage of
the game I’m bombarded with basic
maintenance tasks, survival elements,
weapon degradation and looting—so
much looting. It wouldn’t be so bad if
there was more variety to the combat,
but sadly I found myself using the
same few tricks over and over.
It works like this: You take your two
mercs (you won’t unlock another for
hours) and liberate a jungle island
one turn-based combat encounter
at a time. Each merc is a bundle of
skills and quirks. This is the game’s
biggest strength, as each character
feels different, if not exactly balanced.
Raven is a sniper who can’t carry heavy
weapons. This is more useful than Ivan,
a tank whose bad knees hurt him every
time he jumps down a step.
The story is as deep as it is original
— which is to say not at all — yet takes
up a surprising amount of time, full of
conversations I quickly checked out
from, but couldn’t skip. It can’t decide if
it wants to be gritty (they’re kidnapping
children!) or cartoonish (they’re mind-
controlling people!). The mercs are, to
put it charitably, a broad collection of
national stereotypes. The one clever
idea the game has is to emphasise how
old they all are.
The fact that you only get two
mercenaries to start with is important,
because those opening few hours are
brutal. I haven’t played any of the
previous Jagged Alliance games, so
I don’t know if they were always this
hard, but even as an XCOM veteran I
was initially worried I wouldn’t be able
to finish more than a few levels. Things
do get a little easier a few hours in when
you’ve managed to scavenge some armor
and healing items, but even then you’re
often saddled with awkward objectives
that force you to take action before
civilians are killed. The result is a game
that often needs you to stealthily kill half
the enemies on the map before you get
spotted, which isn’t easy when your two
soldiers are often facing 20 guards.MAKING CAMP
The difficulty is also increased by
the fact that there is no post-mission
recovery. Your wounds from the last
battle carry over to the next one unless
you rest, which carries the risk ofWHY
SHOULD
I CARE?+ You love a
challenge...
+ Your knees
hurt too
+ You just NEED
more Jagged
AllianceJagged Alliance: Rage
All busywork and no play.
DEVELOPERCLIFFHANGER PRODUCTIONS • PUBLISHERHANDY GAMES
jaggedalliance.comVERDICT:
Too hard, too dull and
too much, Jagged
Alliance: Rage is a
sequel that doesn’t live
up to the success of its
forbears.^4being discovered by a patrol. The only
equipment available is that which can be
looted from corpses and containers.
There is an overmap, though, which
enables you to traverse the island,
moving your troops from node to node
while pursued by enemy squads. In
theory you can avoid these, especially
as the game eventually gives you a
squad of rebels you can use to delay
them. In practice you’ll almost always
end up getting caught in a series of
frustrating ambushes, especially as the
troops move while you rest to heal up
and repair your weapons.
The good news is that we’re living
in a golden age of turn-based tactics
games, and both Jagged Alliance fans
and the rest of us can do better than a
lukewarm game with a beloved name.
TOM HATFIELDSadly no, you cannot
aim for the groin.WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ISLAND OVERMAP
1 ALLIED
Yourrebelalliescandelay
enemy troops.2 TAKEABREAK
Resting is vital to heal, craft,
andrepairyourtroops’
weapons.3 ON THE MOVE
Enemysquadscanmoveonce
a turn, even when your own
units are resting.4 STORY NODE
A major objective, useful for
advancing the story.5 SPAWN POINT
Aguardpost,these
continually spawn new
armies until defeated.6 ‘OPTIONAL’
An optional objective (but in
reality you’ll do them all).1
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