Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business

The Good
What I liked most about this game was the minimal amounts of "resource managemnt" carried through from Jagged Allience 2 and the increased action. The addition of new mercs and weapons is a welcome surprise, as is the ability to select exactly what your custom merc stats are to be, each of the mercs has their own personalities and voice acting which is one of the biggest features of the whole series and this edition is no exception, all the characters have dozens of lines of dialouge and unique personalities, including the NPC's. Just like JA2, UB has one main goal with a few minor sub missions for your team to complete along the way, while you could still complete the game without doing them, it would be very difficult if you don't (one mission rewards you with the ability to purchase medical supplies.). The game is also extremely addictive although you may count this as a down side.

The Bad
One major problem with Unfinished Business is that on some computers, the AI turn runs incredibly slow, this can drag the AI turn on for upwards of 5 minutes in sectors with higher numbers of enemies. Another down side is the extremely repedative gamplay, how ever the failry short overall lenght of the game(another down side) helps to deminish the feelings of repedativeness.

The Bottom Line
JA2:UB is a modern, turned based, 3/4 down perspective, small unit combat game with stats improvement elements akin to a traditional RPG and dangerously addictive gameplay that will make you loose sleep playing the game. If I had to compare JA2 or any of the Jagged Allience series to a similar game, the closest game would have to be the Fallout series, although it has lots in common with the earlier X-Com series. Great fun even for people who don't realy like RPG's and this "lite" version is perfect for those who don't want to pussy foot around with mediocre functions when they could be fighting enemies.

The Good
Well, every good thing I said about JA2 goes for this game, plus the fact that it doesn't require the original JA2 to function. The isometric graphics, the digitized sound effects and silly voice acting, and the variety of available equipment and tactics all put together make this one of the best squad-level combat games available. It's also a whole lot easier to play than JA2 because you tend to have more money and better weapons all through the game, and because you can now easily see where to have your mercs hide in combat.

The Bad
It's short. Damn short.

The Bottom Line
If you can get it for 30 FIM (or whatever) like I did, have a go, especially if you're a Jagged Alliance fan. I wouldn't buy it at full price, however, as it's really just a couple dozen (or less - I didn't count) new sectors with some nice new weapons and very little NPC interaction or plot. It kinda seems Sir-Tech are hoping people will be too excited about the editor to think about how little they're getting for their money.

The Good
This game is more challenging than its' predecessors, and it eliminates the tedium of worrying about income. You just begin getting down to business!

The Bad
Graphics were not quite state of the art when released, but it's not distractingly bad, either.

The Bottom Line
This is not truly a sequel nor an expansion. It is a stand-alone game that engages you in turn-based tactical combat with squads of mercenaries. Included in this game are indicators of your soldiers' line ot sight and weapons range, which allows a little more intelligent planning. You will need it. There are no substantial opportunities to upgrade anything in about the first half of the game, and you will be challenged from start to finish.