Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games

• Platform: IBM PC Compatible
• Release Date: 1996
• Genre: Role-Playing
• Style: Strategy RPG
• Similar Games: X-COM: UFO Defense (IBM PC Compatible), Jagged Alliance (IBM PC Compatible)

Game Description

Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games, gives players many of the features they asked for from the original Jagged Alliance. Instead of a main story campaign, as in the original, Deady Games gives you the chance to make your own story.

Full Scenario and campaign editors are included for those of us who want to make our own stories using the lively and oft humorous cast of mercs that makes Jagged Alliance the experience that it is. The editors allow the budding storyteller to create almost any type of man-to-man conflict imaginable.

The core gameplay of Deadly Games focuses around the mercs that make up your team. These killers are highly vocal about what's going on, even going so far as to refuse to work with other mercs. The game includes ten new mercs, making a total of over seventy hired killers to choose from.

You can now take on your friends with the extensive multiplayer options as well. Options for LAN and hotseat play are available. Included is a second disk to lend to a friend so that they may play with you. This disk is for multiplayer games only.

Choose your team and get out to the battlefield with a stunning array of weapons. Death can come in many different forms in Deadly Games, and it'll be up to you to see that you deal more of it than the enemy. If you think you have what it takes to lead your mercs to victory, then load up Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games and see if you've got the right stuff.

Roots & Influences

Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games was born from many customer comments and wish lists. They wanted editors and multiplayer capabilities, and that's exactly what Deadly Games gives them, at the cost of a story-based campaign as in the original.

Review: Overall

Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games (JADG) is the sequel to the highly acclaimed Jagged Alliance. Jagged Alliance featured an infectious mix of great tactical combat, a great campaign, humor, charm, and a bit of role playing into what has usually been a very dry exerience. JA had you taking your mercs across an island to restore its former leader to power. JADG has no such storyline, but what it does have, as JA had, were the mercs.

The mercs are your arms, eyes, ears, and might in any mission in JADG. These mercs, rather than being just a collection of stats as in other games, are full of personality and charm. They have thoughts, feelings, and goals that can even get in the way of a mission. Mercs will comment on just about everything that happens during a mission, and even sometimes before it. If you have a particular merc hired to your team, for example, another merc may refuse to work with you because the two of them REALLY don't get along. It's this type of charm that really sets the Jagged Alliance games apart from the pack.

Once you've committed to a mission, you'll find some dated, yet nice graphics. The interface for using your mercs is totally mouse based, with right and left buttons both being used. The options available in using your mercs are extensive. These options help you during your fight, which is completely turn based. Each merc has a number of movement points to use during a turn, and these points are used for everything from movement, to opening doors, to picking up objects, to firing weapons. A nice option allows you to automatically save enough MP's in case of opportunity fire. This is a great feature that can mean life or death to mercs.

Mercs can carry a dizzying array of equipment, from guns, to radios, to first aid kits, and so on. Each item must be placed in the hand before use, so you'd have to take out the mercs gun before using the first aid kit or the mine sweeping metal detector. Thanks to the game's turn-based nature, the action feels much more tense than any real time game at the time.

While in combat, line of sight makes a big difference. While there's only one level to the combat (ground, nothing higher), many other factors can come into play. Obstacles such as buildings, doors, and boxes can be used for cover and stealth, and these are essential to success.

While the tactical gameplay is the core of Deadly Games, the story was also a core of the original Jagged Alliance. Deadly Games lacks such a story, but includes a couple of editors in order to roll your own. The scenario/map editor allows you to create a wide variety of scenarios over almost any type of landscape, including swamps, jungles, cities, and snowscapes. Using the editor is quite easy, and one can place tiles, buildings, NPC's, and enemy mercs. Mercs may also be customized for different levels of ability and difficulty, and may also be outfitted with equipment before hand. The editor can create many fun and interesting scenario. One scneario I saw had you kidnapping Bill Gates after being hired by the CEO of Netscape (I never knew Microsoft was so well fortified).

Once scenarios are made, they may be strung together into campaigns with the campaign editor. This editor is very easy to use, and can also set campaign briefings and events that only add to the user created story. These two tools go a long way to add a lot of life to what is a great gaming engine.

The final addition to this game comes way of multiplayer options. These include LAN and Hotseat options. This is a great way to take on your friends, and services like KALI let you play the game over the net. The multiplayer options are comprehensive enough to allow a few friends to have at it with some great mercs.

Overall, Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games is a great game. It's got lots of depth, humor, and charm that make up for its dated graphics. If you like games like X-Com or Syndicate, you should own this game as well, becuase it's as least as good, if not better, than them. One can only hope this string of games continues long after the current sequel, Jagged Alliance 2.

Review: Enjoyment

If this is your thing, you'll love it.

Review: Graphics

The VGA, fixed resolution graphics look somewhat dated.

Review: Sound

Fantastic voice acting and sound effects.

Review: Replay Value

Mission/Campaign editors and multiplayer options ensure a long life.

Review: Documentation

The manual is adequate.

Production Credits

---

Copyright © 2012 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Game Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.

---