Jagged Alliance: Back in Action

 PC
User Score
5.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 189 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 67 out of 189
  2. Mixed: 52 out of 189
  3. Negative: 70 out of 189
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  1. Skyy
    Feb 11, 2012
    5
    The biggest problem of this game is it's name. The original Jagged Alliance 2 is just such a big and popular game that it's incredibly hard to compete with, especially if you make a remake and remove most of the critical gameplay elements. While not being a bad tactics game, Jagged Alliance Back in Action is a mere shadow of JA2, with lots of problems ranging from horrible controls, awfulThe biggest problem of this game is it's name. The original Jagged Alliance 2 is just such a big and popular game that it's incredibly hard to compete with, especially if you make a remake and remove most of the critical gameplay elements. While not being a bad tactics game, Jagged Alliance Back in Action is a mere shadow of JA2, with lots of problems ranging from horrible controls, awful character images, removal of almost all tactial-map features and more.… Expand
  2. greywolf00
    Jun 27, 2013
    6
    Definitely a deviation from the JA series but is an ok game in it's own right. By far, my biggest complaints are with the AI.

    Your soldiers are absolute morons and can't do anything without being micromanaged. Even when set to guard your Mercs often won't shoot at enemies within range and sight zone, you have to manually tell them "Hey kill that guys who's raping your face." They see a    Definitely a deviation from the JA series but is an ok game in it's own right. By far, my biggest complaints are with the AI.

    Your soldiers are absolute morons and can't do anything without being micromanaged. Even when set to guard your Mercs often won't shoot at enemies within range and sight zone, you have to manually tell them "Hey kill that guys who's raping your face." They see a mine? Better halt em or they'll run over it. This is super annoying when splitting a squad into smaller teams for flanking. Want them to go talk to someone? Better hope there's no closed doors in the way. They are incapable of opening them to get to somewhere on their own. Also ran into several issues with game freezes & crashes.

    For a real time squad based game, which I tend to hate in comparison to turn based, it isn't too bad thanks to the ability to pause and issue commands. Though sadly, even that system has it's flaws. Once your guys run out of shoot commands, they'll stop shooting. I often found myself just staying in real time or loading up with dozens of shoot commands to cut down on the micromanaging.    … Expand
  3. prymekbad
    Oct 26, 2013
    5
    It is not a bad strategy game, but is not good either. And having in mind how long it took to get in done, and how huge the fan base od original JA is (they could limit marketing spending to zero and even then fing millions of potential buyers), a mediocre game is not an option. And it is sadly a mediocre game. Damn You Kalypso...
  4. modboy84
    Feb 14, 2012
    7
    For as many reasons this game upsets me it also makes me happy. The biggest disappointment was the lack of custom character generation. This was an integral part of Jagged Alliance 2 as it affected the balance of your mercenary squad to a point where you could not only control it by having money but by having a character generated to your spec. There is a lot to speak good about though,For as many reasons this game upsets me it also makes me happy. The biggest disappointment was the lack of custom character generation. This was an integral part of Jagged Alliance 2 as it affected the balance of your mercenary squad to a point where you could not only control it by having money but by having a character generated to your spec. There is a lot to speak good about though, you have the characters and the story you loved from Jagged Alliance 2 but the play style is different. It's different in a way that makes it more challenging, and makes you want to plan your infiltrations better. I liked Jagged Alliance & Jagged Alliance 2 dearly even though this isn't an exact remake it still hits an enjoyable note. Don't expect a true to life remake if you decide to try this, the turn based aspect is gone and replaced by a pause,think-and-move style. Overall the voice acting could be better, the AI could be better and they could definitely add IMP back. I would recommend giving this game a try if you haven't already.… Expand
  5. Rattlefinger
    Feb 21, 2012
    7
    First: I played JA2. Second: I loved it. Third: It was a cheating b***ard (don't tell me, that in the middle of the night someone shoots me in the head with a .38 repeatedly, from it's max effective distance, and it's not "cheating". Or when 2 consecutive bursts from an Uzi directed to an enemy 1 (one) step away miss completely....). Maybe JABiA cheats too, but not as hard, and frankly, itFirst: I played JA2. Second: I loved it. Third: It was a cheating b***ard (don't tell me, that in the middle of the night someone shoots me in the head with a .38 repeatedly, from it's max effective distance, and it's not "cheating". Or when 2 consecutive bursts from an Uzi directed to an enemy 1 (one) step away miss completely....). Maybe JABiA cheats too, but not as hard, and frankly, it needs it. The AI is not too bright, however it could surprise you a few times. Anyway most of the enemies can be eliminated by lure tactics, but when the AI is on the defence, you can count on that it will not send all its men to the slaughter; you have to go in, to finish the job. -- I like this game, although it's far from perfect. Sometimes I experience unexplainable slowdowns, mostly occurring when the roof of a building is removed for a better view. You can't remove the roofs of "distant building" (more than a few feet away...) so it's quite possible, that you can't issue a fire order, even if the enemy is in your mercenary's line of sight. You have to get used to the camera; in my opinion it's movement is too restricted. There are clipping problems, which will not only look weird, but will hinder you: f.e. your mercenary lies behind a cover, but their weapon and hands clip through it, making them a shootable target. Of course you can pull them back a bit, but still, it's annoying. There are problems with issuing orders, especially when you want them to shoot on a moving enemy at close range. They will aim, then state they can't hit the target, turn to face it, aim again, state it's impossible to shoot at it, etc. Especially annoying when they can't finish a single axe-armed guy off, and thanks to it he kindly chops a few of your men to pieces. The militia, in its current form is quite unusable, or should I say, it's not worth investing money, or loot in it, but hey, you have mercs, to defend your territory. -- What I mean to say is that this game has it's own share of problems, _but_ it's still a good, enjoyable game. The graphics are outdated, but it's far from ugly; the sounds and music are good (in my opinion), and when those annoyances mentioned earlier don't make their appearances, the action is quite enjoyable; for me, it has that certain urban warfare feeling with the heavy need to use cover, popping out from behind it just for a few moments, to harass the enemy with a handful of bullets. JABiA is not a genre defining product, it was never meant to be that, but I enjoy playing it. I would give it an 8, were it not for the number of minor, more or less avoidable glitches.… Expand
  6. Vasot
    Feb 14, 2012
    7
    A good game but ithe gameplay is inferior compared to JA2. After Kalypso launched the latest patches for the game the A.I is improved and some bugs were fixed. Unfortunately still the game lacks a lot of the features of JA2 and the the combat becomes monotonous after a while. Anyway this is a good reboot of the series but it is not great
  7. Diaord
    Feb 11, 2012
    7
    This game is an interesting experience, it provides the player with the kind of game-play that is oft ignored or unheard of in modern gaming. The game has a sense of tactics that many RTS games eschew in favour of faced based game-play. The game provides an interesting set of characters and a sometimes humorous set of Easter eggs. In addition, it seems the writers decided to bypassThis game is an interesting experience, it provides the player with the kind of game-play that is oft ignored or unheard of in modern gaming. The game has a sense of tactics that many RTS games eschew in favour of faced based game-play. The game provides an interesting set of characters and a sometimes humorous set of Easter eggs. In addition, it seems the writers decided to bypass copyright law by mixing names, like the hallowed SAM-AF and the Klock 18. Finally, the game provides a half-decent [not completely decent] UI that ranges from intelligent in some areas and even enlightened, to completely idiotic in others. There is a lot to be said for this game. It has its flaws and it has its pros. Among the many flaws of this game are the huge amount of system-crashing bugs one will experience when playing the game, which effectively limits the employability of the game with their continual and common occurrence.… Expand
  8. JKaylor
    Feb 14, 2012
    6
    It's such a disappointment yet I can't stop playing it. The game is clearly unfinished, from the bland character models, lack of the personality and charm from the original series, and no polish. You can even hear the gore exclamations, "Wow, that was gross!" and the enemy models fall in the same tired fashion. You know there is a horrific death animation that just wasn't added in. TheIt's such a disappointment yet I can't stop playing it. The game is clearly unfinished, from the bland character models, lack of the personality and charm from the original series, and no polish. You can even hear the gore exclamations, "Wow, that was gross!" and the enemy models fall in the same tired fashion. You know there is a horrific death animation that just wasn't added in. The mercenaries are all generic character models, with almost no details to distinguish them. How is it that the game from 1999 has better portrayals of these classic characters in terms of graphics and voice acting. Remember those cutscenes from JA2 that showed Elliot getting slapped around and feeling the genuine rage of the Queen and the progression of your campaign? Well, those are gone too. The tactical aspect of training rebels, and mercenaries has also been removed. You collect a weapon and hand it to an available freedom fighter. He becomes militia. Which you might as well give them all knives because the weapons and armor seems to make almost no difference, and they will lose the battle. Most of the game will be limited by retaking points and stationing your mercenaries near various parts of the map to intercept and defend the cities before the squads even get near them.

    But even with all the bugs, poor AI at times, and just lack of any type of production value, there is a solid game hidden behind it all. The mix of real time and planning during battles is challenging and addicting. You'll find yourself re-loading after getting wiped out over and over again and enjoying every minute of it. Learning from each approach until you find the perfect strategy to clear the immediate area and move on. There is still a large selection of weapons, armor, camouflage and items which stay true to the Jagged Alliance style.

    This game could have been so much more and it falls short on so many levels. I really hope the modding community can fix this mess of a game and bring out the amazing potential that it could and should have had.    … Expand
  9. madcat75
    Feb 19, 2012
    5
    As much as I love the first two Jagged Alliance games there is no way that a game this bad can be compared to them, the AI is stupid, the pathfinding awful and the graphics are not much better than JA2, I played this in the end using a trainer I gave my mercs 100 in everything and the best weapons and armour and even then 6 of my mercs were taken out by 1 enemy because I didnt tell them toAs much as I love the first two Jagged Alliance games there is no way that a game this bad can be compared to them, the AI is stupid, the pathfinding awful and the graphics are not much better than JA2, I played this in the end using a trainer I gave my mercs 100 in everything and the best weapons and armour and even then 6 of my mercs were taken out by 1 enemy because I didnt tell them to attack him, even on guard they will only guard in the direction you tel them too.

    The lack of a way to change formation, the so called tutorial that teaches you next to nothing ( shows you othing about things to do with the main ma, doesnt tell you how to give militia weapons etc) and the so called 'stealth' aspect is a joke no matter what you do you can crawl and sneak your way to the enemy but there are times you tell your men to shoot someone ad they run towards him and hug him, also it doesnt help that the enemy sometimes have xray vision and supre accuracy, the delay between giving an firing order and them shooting is laughable, told them to fire once and took them 20 seconds to shoot and by that time the enemy had wiped out 5 of my squad.

    I am in agreement with the rest of the reviews here that this should have either been released at a different name or in coming patches be fixed so that you can actually play the game without screaming at your monitor at how stupid your mercs are.    … Expand
  10. Baronz
    Feb 14, 2012
    5
    Despite the poor AI and the lack of the fog of war, i quite like the game. I really don't want to play turn based games anymore and this is a good alternative.
    However the interface and the management of the inventory is awful. You have to manually go to every militia in the town to give them weapons, and you need to pick up every single loot after every battle. This is very annoying after    Despite the poor AI and the lack of the fog of war, i quite like the game. I really don't want to play turn based games anymore and this is a good alternative.
    However the interface and the management of the inventory is awful. You have to manually go to every militia in the town to give them weapons, and you need to pick up every single loot after every battle. This is very annoying after a battle with 45 soldiers.. it takes half an hour just to loot everything.    … Expand
  11. exiter123
    Feb 18, 2012
    5
    It is game for anybody. It most likely will not interest fans JA2. New players will be confused with a genre in general.
    In game is not present turn-base a mode (and it is one of the basic counters JA), opponents are very silly, balance of the weapon awful (sniper rifles most abruptly!), there is no convenient distribution of subjects both other and other...
    Graphics quality at level of 2005.
  12. Scritty
    Feb 17, 2012
    5
    Do you know what. Turn based strategys were REALLY popular, and every time someone demolishes one and turns an IP into a completely different game, TBS fans go ape. And so they should. I mean why? Why not make the game that JA fans actualy WANT rather than the one you assume they want?
    What makes a game it's it's playstyle - not it's name. If someone brought out the next Battlefield game,    Do you know what. Turn based strategys were REALLY popular, and every time someone demolishes one and turns an IP into a completely different game, TBS fans go ape. And so they should. I mean why? Why not make the game that JA fans actualy WANT rather than the one you assume they want?
    What makes a game it's it's playstyle - not it's name. If someone brought out the next Battlefield game, and it was a point and click adventure game...well it wouldn't be Battlefield would it? Oh yes - in BF now you do "point and click...when you shoot something what else are you doing but "pointing and clicking" dullards might argue, but the point would be the gameplay is the game - NOT the name. Calling this game Jagged Alliance is a mistake. It's pausible for sure (and that's rolled out as a reason why it's "similar"....meh) Taken on it's own merits it's a lot more like Commando's 2 (rather than the first one) and that's no real bad thing. It's a solid pausible strategy game - no more - no less. and I would have given it a 6 if it hadn't tried to hide under the name Jagged Alliance. Remember we've got another monstrous garbage pile coming up soon with X-Com - the first person shooter - god save us!    … Expand
  13. dajarvi
    May 27, 2013
    7
    I've never played the previous games. This is my first Jagged Alliance experience. Fun game and most of the time, I feel its potential. The game's major downfall is its lack of realism: Highly experienced and trained mercs are being gun-downed easily by these so-called bad guys. Often times, I find the enemy has quicker firing and reflex timing on average than my own mercs!

    For the    I've never played the previous games. This is my first Jagged Alliance experience. Fun game and most of the time, I feel its potential. The game's major downfall is its lack of realism: Highly experienced and trained mercs are being gun-downed easily by these so-called bad guys. Often times, I find the enemy has quicker firing and reflex timing on average than my own mercs!

    For the most part, it should be the opposite. If anything, have lots of enemies for my mercs to have to deal with in any given circumstance in order to circumvent this strange phenomena. I can understand if there are a few crack elites, but even on easy, bad guys have better response and accuracy time than even Wolf or Raven. The lowest of mercs should have a better response and firing timing than the "average" opponent. Not only that, a lot of bad guys come better equipped than most mercs!

    Other than that, I enjoy the game. The constant demand on having to be critical all the time against the "average" enemy is kind of a game breaker. I'd rather bugs than this. And I'm not looking at an action game experience. I understand strategy and critical analysis. Problem is, the tactical side, given the environment, doesn't fit the mold.

    Another drawback is inventory management at a base level. Poor. In addition, not having the ability to pre-plan base defense before an attack is also a drawback. Very critical factors in any tactical strategy endeavor.

    Despite these drawbacks (which have nothing to do with my personal difficulty level as it does not wanting to crunch through worthless battles of superior militia), the rating I give I feel is complete and whole. The game could have been better.    … Expand
  14. Karolus
    May 14, 2012
    7
    Used to play XComs and original Jagged Alliance 1,2 games. This one (patched to 1.13) is not bad one. Quite entertaining in fact. I would say it keeps the level of unmodded J.A. - playable but not exceptional.
    Graphics and controls are the bright sides. Pitty you cannot jump and climb the roofs , the AI is not stellar and targettig feels sometimes unfinished (especialy with sniper rifle)    Used to play XComs and original Jagged Alliance 1,2 games. This one (patched to 1.13) is not bad one. Quite entertaining in fact. I would say it keeps the level of unmodded J.A. - playable but not exceptional.
    Graphics and controls are the bright sides. Pitty you cannot jump and climb the roofs , the AI is not stellar and targettig feels sometimes unfinished (especialy with sniper rifle)

    Hoping for further improvements and mods.    … Expand
  15. Silentstorm5
    Sep 13, 2012
    7
    When this game came out, I was not a fan, it was riddled with bugs and game-play errors. These have for the most part been fixed, but there are still some major issues that need to be addressed: The learning curve is extreme, you go from fighting guys with fire axes to heavily armed assault squads with insane accuracy, but I could overlook all of that, IF you could repair armor. In the endWhen this game came out, I was not a fan, it was riddled with bugs and game-play errors. These have for the most part been fixed, but there are still some major issues that need to be addressed: The learning curve is extreme, you go from fighting guys with fire axes to heavily armed assault squads with insane accuracy, but I could overlook all of that, IF you could repair armor. In the end this game just doesn't live up to the jagged alliance series we expect ,but the game in-itself is a decent and I do enjoy playing it (For the most part).… Expand
  16. medith007
    Apr 5, 2013
    7
    I suggest you to try the demo first. If you like it, you will enjoy the rest of the game. If you don't, then leave it. For me, I've played through until the end and this means something to me. Even the well-reviewed games like Assassin's Creed, I was not able to see the ending. There's no eye candy and it has an issue with A.I. Managing inventory is somewhat a chore and missions can beI suggest you to try the demo first. If you like it, you will enjoy the rest of the game. If you don't, then leave it. For me, I've played through until the end and this means something to me. Even the well-reviewed games like Assassin's Creed, I was not able to see the ending. There's no eye candy and it has an issue with A.I. Managing inventory is somewhat a chore and missions can be repetitious. But I liked this game. It felt like Commandos to me. Can be frustrated but quite enjoyable if you like this kind of game.… Expand
  17. Grmljavina
    Dec 18, 2013
    7
    Good thing
    -RPG system
    -Combat system "Plan and Go" -World map which not many games of this genre have that -Squad customization -satisfactory graphics Bad thing -inability to control militia which is a little annoying thing especially in late game -Minor bugs -It lack of some depth of game play such as random event's on world map lack's of some side quest Overall I give    Good thing
    -RPG system
    -Combat system "Plan and Go"
    -World map which not many games of this genre have that
    -Squad customization
    -satisfactory graphics

    Bad thing
    -inability to control militia which is a little annoying thing especially in late game
    -Minor bugs
    -It lack of some depth of game play such as random event's on world map
    lack's of some side quest

    Overall
    I give the game 7
    The game could be expanded in terms of exploring Alurco territory and quest to do    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

65
#65 Most Discussed PC Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
62

Mixed or average reviews - based on 35 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 27 out of 35
  3. Negative: 4 out of 35
  1. PC Master (Greece)
    May 16, 2012
    55
    Ignore Back in Action and just buy Jagged Alliance 2 to cherish the original version of a great game. Then again, if graphics are so important to you, go ahead and buy Back in Action- you might enjoy it but you will have paid four times more, for an inferior product. [May 2012]
  2. Worth Playing
    Apr 10, 2012
    67
    As you manage your squads and try to take down the Queen's men in Jagged Alliance: Back in Action, you can't help but feel that the game could have been a lot more. The open premise really works and allows for you to tackle nearly any obstacle in the game as you see fit. The game is fun, but it has a lot of baggage and head-scratchingly rough edges that dull the enjoyment. The title does a passable job of bringing the Jagged Alliance series back to life, but it's not as good as it could've been, and it doesn't live up to the legacy of its predecessors.
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  3. PC PowerPlay
    Apr 5, 2012
    50
    The real-time combat isn't the problem; it's everything else, which was done with a depth and confidence 13 years ago that this reimagining lacks. [Apr 2012, p.54]
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