Jagged Alliance: Gold Edition

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Jagged Alliance: Gold Edition is a turn-based strategy game that includes Jagged Alliance and Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games. As a commander of a mercenary force, you must help Jack and Brenda Richards reclaim the island of Metavira from the evil Santino, who has taken control of the precious, medical sap from the Fallow trees. Reclaim the island sector by sector, and manage your mercenaries to complete the mission.

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Jagged Alliance: Gold Edition screenshot

94%

Audience ScoreBased on 95 reviews

gameplay7 positive mentions

graphics3 negative mentions

Jagged Alliance is a classic turn-based strategy game that combines deep gameplay mechanics with memorable characters, making it a must-play for fans of the genre.
The game features a rich atmosphere and engaging story, where players manage a team of mercenaries with unique personalities and skills, adding depth to the gameplay.
Despite its age, the game remains enjoyable and challenging, offering a nostalgic experience for those who played it in their youth.

The graphics and user interface are outdated and can be frustrating for new players, making it difficult to navigate and understand the game mechanics without prior knowledge.
The game's difficulty can be punishing, with mechanics that may feel unfair, such as enemy AI that seems to have an advantage in combat.
There are significant quality of life issues, including a lack of tutorials and opaque controls, which can deter modern gamers from fully enjoying the experience.

gameplay
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
58%
13%
The gameplay is characterized by its deep and complex mechanics, requiring players to manage a diverse team of mercenaries with unique skills and personalities while liberating an island from enemy control. While the combat can be slow and the user interface complex, the game offers a rich tactical experience with high replayability and engaging interactions. Despite some frustrations with saving mechanics and pacing, the overall gameplay is praised for its strategic depth and immersive atmosphere.
- “One of the standout features of Jagged Alliance is its deep and complex gameplay.”
- “Its deep and complex gameplay, memorable characters, and immersive atmosphere make it a standout game that is sure to keep you hooked for hours on end.”
- “Everything about the game, from the gameplay, the atmosphere, the music, the depth of strategy, the challenge, etc. is superbly crafted.”
- “The combat gameplay is very slow, but still quite less than JA2 because of the extra elements added in JA2.”
- “But saving during the 'day' gameplay has just one slot, so if you make a mistake and save it and want to redo it, you need to redo the entire day.”
- “Its mechanics lack a lot of things that were addressed in Deadly Games and later in JA2, and a few things can be quite frustrating.”
story
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
65%
18%
The story revolves around a mercenary company tasked with liberating the island of Metavira, known for its unique medical sap, while battling against a villainous scientist. The main campaign offers a rich narrative with engaging characters, contrasting with the standalone "Deadly Games" add-on, which focuses on a series of tactical missions without a cohesive storyline. Overall, players appreciate the depth and tactical choices in the main campaign, despite some criticisms regarding the dated UI and technical issues.
- “The story starts off with your merc company being contacted to help liberate the island of Metavira, where a unique sap that has medical properties is produced.”
- “Even though this game is rather old at the moment, it features an excellent storyline coupled with absolutely fantastic characters and items.”
- “This release contains an original game, a campaign about capturing Metavira Island from the forces of the bad scientist in favor of the good scientist.”
- “This release contains an original game, a campaign about capturing Metavira Island from the forces of the bad scientist in favor of the good scientist, and a standalone add-on, Deadly Games, which does not hold a story, being just a list of separate missions.”
- “Deadly Games instead provides a set mission-by-mission campaign that means you will really struggle with injuries unless you're save-scumming or replaying until you get it perfect, but adds more mercs and improves on UI features.”
- “Although the challenge of those missions in the Deadly Games makes it a very good tactical game on its own.”
graphics
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
50%
30%
The graphics of the game are widely regarded as outdated and jagged by modern standards, often described as "atrocious" or "ancient." However, some players appreciate the nostalgic charm and recognize that they were considered detailed at the time of release. Overall, while the graphics may be a drawback for some, many players prioritize gameplay over visual fidelity.
- “Even though the graphics are really old school, it still has its charm!”
- “While I think Jagged Alliance 2 is the best one in the series (seriously, if you haven’t played that, you should), you could do much worse than playing JA if you’re willing to put up with ancient graphics.”
- “In today’s world, the graphics are atrocious, but this was considered fairly detailed when released.”
- “Bear in mind that the graphics are rather dated.”
- “Yes, the graphics look ancient today.”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
17%
50%
The game's music features a limited number of looping tracks, including a combat theme and an all-clear tune, which effectively enhance the immersive tropical island setting. Players appreciate the nostalgic quality of the music, noting that it contributes significantly to the overall atmosphere and mood of the game. Overall, the sound design is praised for its role in creating a captivating experience.
- “The game's depiction of the tropical island setting is immersive and believable, and the game's music and sound design do an excellent job of capturing the mood of the game.”
- “Everything about the game, from the gameplay, the atmosphere, the music, the depth of strategy, the challenge, etc. is superbly crafted.”
- “There are only a few music tracks in the game that loop continuously, which is fine, but there is just a combat tune when fighting and an all-clear music when there are no enemies around.”
- “I bought this for the nostalgia; the music and speech take me back to when I first got this game and I had no idea what I was doing.”
- “The music in the game lacks variety and becomes repetitive quickly, which detracts from the overall experience.”
atmosphere
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere of Jagged Alliance is highly praised for its immersive quality, enhanced by deep gameplay, memorable characters, and superbly crafted elements such as music and strategic depth, all contributing to an engaging experience that captivates players for hours.
- “Its deep and complex gameplay, memorable characters, and immersive atmosphere make it a standout game that is sure to keep you hooked for hours on end.”
- “Everything about the game, from the gameplay, the atmosphere, the music, the depth of strategy, the challenge, etc. is superbly crafted.”
- “The atmosphere of Jagged Alliance is also noteworthy.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game excels in character development, offering unique skills and abilities for each character that can be enhanced over time, fostering effective team building and individual growth.
- “The game also has a strong focus on character development, with each character having their own unique skills and abilities that can be improved over time.”
- “Team building and character development is great.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users report significant stability issues, particularly noting that the game frequently freezes at mission 34, leading to frustrating setbacks and a loss of progress.
- “Every time I get to mission 34, it freezes up.”
- “I hate these glitches because I'm pretty much back at the start.”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
150%
The game boasts high replayability due to its three difficulty settings and multiple routes for completion, offering players varied experiences and engaging gameplay that encourages multiple playthroughs.
- “The gameplay is very interesting, and the replayability value is high.”
- “Replayability is high; the game has three difficulty settings, and players can choose different routes to complete it.”
- “Once you finish the game, there’s little incentive to play again since the story doesn’t change much.”
- “The lack of meaningful choices and consequences makes replaying feel like a chore rather than an adventure.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted by the extensive and amusing voice acting that accompanies various soldier events, adding a lighthearted touch to the gameplay. However, players note that while the second installment requires significant fixes post-installation, the first game remains enjoyable and functional even after 21 years.
- “A lot of voice acting has been done for each specific event a soldier might experience, which is nice and funny.”
- “The funny thing is that the game I'm calling the king, the second Jagged Alliance, in Gold Edition, which Steam sells now, requires quite a bit of fixing after you install it, but the first game, aged 21 years now, runs smoothly out of the box.”