A guard stood just six spaces away from me waiting for a rogue mercenary to cross his path. There were a few spaces of tall grass cover behind him, and I had just enough action points to sneak up behind him this turn. He was mine. I switched my movement from run to sneak and waded my way through the grass until I was just behind him and ready to strike with Dr. Q. I ended my turn thinking I was going to breeze right through this guy on my way to the next level when the guard turns around and kills Dr. Q and Grunty on the spot sending me back to square one.
Jagged Alliance: Rage! is the latest installment in the Jagged Alliance series that started back in 1995 when the original Jagged Alliance was released for MS-DOS. Over the next 23 years, the game has gone through many different iterations by a handful of different gaming companies with some following the main storyline and others taking the story in different directions with varying levels of success. Cliffhanger Productions and HandyGames took the reins for Jagged Alliance: Rage! and brought back the original characters with the story set 20 years after the original game.
Jagged Alliance: Rage! plays like a long chess match with the player and the computer getting a certain number of action points to perform tasks like moving, attacking enemies, and healing the other members of your team. When you start a new campaign, you choose a duo of mercenaries to be your team throughout the entire game. Each character has a unique set of traits and abilities so there are a lot of options depending on your style of play. In addition to their unique skill sets, the characters also have different dialogue and reactions depending on who they’ve been teamed up with. I went with Dr. Q and Grunty so I could balance some healing traits with a character who is good with heavy weapons.
The action points system took some getting used to, but became more natural as I got deeper into the game. Like most mechanics in Jagged Alliance: Rage!, I got better at managing my action points through a lot of trial and error. I had to die a few times by sneaking up on or attacking a guard only to run out of action points before I understood how and when to use my action points. There is a sense of values for running, sneaking, melee attacking, and shooting that I had to get down before I could effectively get through the levels of the game. This definitely adds to the strategy component of the game, but can get a little frustrating when you’re surrounded by enemies and don’t have enough points to get away.
One of the highlights of Jagged Alliance: Rage! is the maps. Their intricate and huge relative to the size of your characters which offers a lot of options for different strategies on each level. There are cover spots spread out through the map that keep you out of sight and offer varying levels of protection. This also makes it easier to sneak up on guards and perform stealth kills without giving away your position. After killing an enemy, you can loot the bodies for weapons and other items like med kits and water that keep your mercenary alive throughout the game since your health carries over from one level to the next.
The other highlight of Jagged Alliance: Rage! is its unpredictability. No matter how many tries it took me to get through a level (which was usually quite a few), the enemies never reacted the same way. I did pick up a few things like how to whistle and draw enemies in or when to shoot and actually hit the target, but I never found a surefire strategy to beat the level every time.
Jagged Alliance: Rage! is a strategy game in the truest sense of the term. The action points system and the mapped out squares for movement forces players to continually experiment with different strategies throughout the game. This gets tedious at a few points and definitely led to some frustrating hours trying to maneuver my way through the mission, but it also made the payoff of completing a mission and progressing in the game that much sweeter.
7/10
Check Out the Jagged Alliance: Rage! Trailer:
Jagged Alliance: Rage! is available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC via Steam.
My first console was the original Playstation and I would play Twisted Metal every now and then but games didn't hook me until I played the original Halo at my friend's house. As soon as I picked up that controller, I knew I needed an Xbox and I had to have that game. Since those early Halo days, I've branched out and played any game I could find with a great story and memorable characters but Master Chief is still my favorite. @thenotoriousTGT on Twitter
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