Jagged Alliance

Infobox VG
title=Jagged Alliance


caption=
developer=Madlab Software
publisher=Sir-tech Software, Inc.
designer=
engine=
released=1994
genre=Tactical role-playing game, Turn-based tactics, RPG
modes=Single player
ratings=
platforms=MS-DOS
media=
requirements =
input=Keyboard, Mouse

"Jagged Alliance" is a tactical role-playing game for MS-DOS, released in 1994. It is the first game in the "Jagged Alliance" series, and was followed by "" (1995) and "Jagged Alliance 2" (1999).

Plot

"Jagged Alliance" takes place on a south Atlantic island of Metavira, a fictional former nuclear testing site. The nuclear testing altered some trees on the island, and several years later it was discovered by a scientist (Brenda Richards) that those trees, known as Fallow trees, produce unique sap that prove to be a medical marvel. However, Brenda also discovered that the trees couldn’t reproduce. Her assistant (Lucas Santino) realized how profitable this sap would be and managed to convince the leader of the scientific mission (Jack Richards) that it would be beneficial to have two independent science teams, and consequently established a new base on the other side of the island. He immediately began to recruit new people and gradually took over the island by force.

When the game begins, the player has been contacted by Jack Richards and invited to the island. There, Brenda and her father request that the player hire mercenaries through an organization called A.I.M. to take back the island from Lucas Santino’s forces sector by sector.

Gameplay

Players start in their room. There the player end the beginning of every day and starts when he first time loads the game. There the player can load and save saves, change settings, access the computer to hire new mercenaries or sleep to begin the next day. The player can only recruit up to eight mercenaries and they are all in single team. Some characters won't agree to join your team from the start, as they want to see if you can be trusted to lead them in hostile territory.

When player starts a new day he is transferred to screen that displays Metavira in a square grid. The map and its terrain also includes information like how many Fallow trees is in the sector, is the sector enemy or player controlled, how many players own guards and tappers are in the sectors that he can add and decrease at will, enemy forces when they invade player owned sectors. Player can also decide what mercenaries and equipment he takes with him on the field and what player owned sectors they start from. Player also has to be careful with his money, as mercenaries, guards and tappers need to be paid and the player can raise guards and tappers salary to make them happier. Mercenaries can also be left to base to either heal, train or repair items. For example leaving another mercenary to be a doctor when another is healing he heals faster. A gunrunner named Micky who usually offers to sell some weapons and equipment that might have somewhat shady history sometimes approaches the player in an effort to make a deal. Sometimes player’s employers Jack or Brenda Richards also contact the player and ask him to do something for them, usually something important like securing clean water source.

When the player has decided who and what to take to the mission. Player founds himself on the sector he chose earlier looking on his mercenaries on isometric viewpoint. Now the player gets to command his chosen mercenaries and decide where he wants them to go. If the player decides to attack an enemy sector he has to move characters on the edge of the screen and chose the compass point witch he wants to move towards. When the player arrives to the sector he arrives near the edge of the sector parallel to the previous sector. When enemies are in the same sector all characters on the sector start to use their action points to do actions. Action points are determined by characters stats. Both sides take turns to move and do their actions. Interrupts are still possible and happen when character manages to surprise the enemy character and so can act before the enemy does. Mercenaries can also crouch to make themselves a smaller target or to cover behind objects. Player can also save the game during the day but there is only one save slot.

When attacking, there is a certain chance that the mercenary will hit. This can be done in a wide variety of ways, using firearms, close combat weapons like knifes, throwing weapons such as grenades and indirect weapons like mines. When the day ends mercenaries come back to the base to sleep. Day can also end during a battle and some mercenaries might get additional injuries when they have to retreat from the enemy sector.

Characters

There are 62 hirable mercenaries in the game and they make up most of the characters but there are also other NPC characters like your employers Jack and Brenda Richards, your enemy Lucas Santino and shady arms dealer Micky. There are also two different native characters that might be offered to the player as a guide. They are Hamous and Eliot but only one of the two will be offered to the player during the game.

kills

The skills that every mercenary has are health, agility, dexterity, wisdom, medical, explosives, mechanical and marksmanship there is also experience level for every mercenary. All the mercenaries player employs will gain experience of the things they do. For example mercenary that bandages other mercenaries might get point or points to the medical skill or person who disarms a bomb might get point or points on the explosive skill and so forth. When they get hurt they bleed slowly losing additional health and bandaging the wound stops the bleeding. This only gives the mercenary bandage points that change back to normal health points over time or leaving the mercenary to the base as a patient. Mercenaries can lose stats from an injury for example if he is hit in the head he might lose wisdom or if he is hit in the leg he might lose dexterity. Every character also has a level stat that determines how much the mercenary gets paid and when a new level is obtained they demand a raise that the player either has to agree to or lose the mercenary.

Equipment

There are many different kinds of items in the game - some of them play a significant role in the plot and others are just there for miscellenous use. When the player hires a mercenary he comes equiped with some weapons and other equipment usually reflecting what kind of stats he has and sometimes with a vest to carry them in. There are five different kinds of vests in the game and they determine how many items the character can carry. There are normal vests that have pockets and another that has no pockets but gives additional protection. The vests that have pockets vary from two to five pockets and each pocket can handle one item or a certain number of same items like ammo magazines or grenades. Each mercenary also has two hands to carry things so max item slots from one mercenary are seven. The player can also equip the mercenary with different kinds bulletproof vests, helmets, goggles and radios. In the player's base he can store unlimited amounts of weapons, ammo and other equipment but has to first bring them with his mercenaries from the sectors to the base.

Personalities

There are also different personalities in the mercenaries’ player can hire. There are several characters that don’t like another mercenary and can decline joining players team because of it. Some characters still can be hired but later loudly complains about the other mercenary. This can lead to lose of the mercenary when he leaves during the night and is shown to be missing on A.I.M. site. There are also stubborn characters that might refuse to move until an enemy they were targeting has been killed or the enemy moves out of the mercenary’s sight of view.

References

I demand to know when the Jagged Alliance 3 will be released!

External links

* [http://www.jaggedalliance.com/ Official homepage]
*moby game|id=-group/jagged-alliance-series|name=The "Jagged Alliance" series
*dmoz|Games/Video_Games/Strategy/Turn-Based/Jagged_Alliance_Series|The "Jagged Alliance" series
* [http://www.ja-galaxy-forum.com/ Bear Pit] Jagged Alliance Form Rooms