This is a game that made me create an account here, simply because i was baffled about its high user score and lack of warning for potential buyers.
Flashback - made by people who claim they loved the originals and were so disappointed that no company made a proper sequel they decided to do it themselves. Thing is, they missed the mark by as much as you can possibly miss it. The game isThis is a game that made me create an account here, simply because i was baffled about its high user score and lack of warning for potential buyers.
Flashback - made by people who claim they loved the originals and were so disappointed that no company made a proper sequel they decided to do it themselves. Thing is, they missed the mark by as much as you can possibly miss it. The game is truly bad, and this is coming from someone who doesn't mind playing bugged or not-so-pretty games as long as they have something going for them. This fails on virtually every level.
Graphics. I know in a tactical game it doesn't matter all that much especially for fans of the genre. I agree with that. Problem is this game looks truly bad, think Silent Storm (which is over 10 years old, remember!) but not as pretty or as detailed. Add to that unreasonable system requirements and choppy framerate even at high end computers. The menus and ui look bland, font is poorly chosen, game view doesn't cut away walls, trees or any other obstacles so you constantly rotate the camera to see anything, which more often that not barely helps. It's just bad.
Sound is there, that's about the only positive thing about it. Gunshots are most likely chosen from some cheap sounds library off the internet, character voices are mostly okay, especially the ones with accents. That being said some are truly horrific, for example 'Spirit' - she sounds like a broken cyborg from an old movie. Somewhat redeeming here is the music, which in some places is really nice, even if it isn't the kind you'd listen to outside of the game. It does the job and adds to the atmosphere.
Gameplay. Oh dear me. This is the worst thing about the game. I don't mind streamlining features and simplifying combat for the sake of more fluid and faster paced action, i very much like UFO: Enemy Within. Problem is, this is much simpler technically and worse in pretty much every aspect. Enemy AI is shocking, they use maybe four tactics to... well, i don't really know what they're trying to do, because it isn't winning fights - of that i'm sure. They either run straight at your guys who are prone and mowing them down one after another, or they stay miles back outside your sight range and take 0% hitchance potshots at You, or, most sensibly, they sometimes will go prone near cover and try to duke it out. Even if they have a pistol and that cover is 20 tiles away from you which does them no good at all. There are times when one bright spark will accidentally find decent cover at an angle and is able to hit your men, but i suspect that's purely by chance that the cover was there and he just happened upon it, not that he chose it as a tactically viable position. Sometimes they run back and forth like headless chicken, out of cover, few steps here or there and then back behind the same cover without even firing. It's embarrasing and sad to watch, and the only way they can harm you is by attrition and the fact that sometimes, especially early on, you simply cannot kill them fast enough even as they run at your much better armed squad.
Now, weapon balance. For the most part it isn't actually so bad, except... If, like me, you happen to find a M82A1 Barrett on 4th map (!!!), you'll think to yourself 'aha, now you evil soldiers are so dead you won't even know how dead you'll be when i kill you with my silly powerful rifle!', and you'll be sadly mistaken. .50 cal sniper rifle is barely more effective than an old Russian RPK light machinegun.
There is no tactical depth, cover system is unintuitive and badly implemented - in XCOM your guys peeked out to fire and went back smoothly and sensibly. Here this doesn't happen, if You hide behind high cover You have to get out, shoot and go back wasting points and time on moving and turning towards enemy every single damn time. It's tedious, unnecessary and makes no sense. There is also no height advantage to be had, stealth is virtually non-existant unless You count going around building and shooting enemies in the back during combat itself.
Inventory is not bad suprisingly, but stats, skills and all the information are crammed into that one screen which just goes to show the lack of depth. The game is barren, item descriptions are barely there, weapon names are of course fake and not as funny as developer thought they would be.
There is also plenty of typos and the whole game feels clunky, cursors get stuck all the time, there is no quicksave system and the whole thing feels like an early beta.
One positive thing i suppose is the fact that i haven't encountered any game-breaking bugs with quests being stuck etc.
Summing up, this is one of the worst tactical games i've ever played, and more insulting when you consider it bears Jagged Alliance logo. Even worse, you pay full price for a game that feels unfinished at best. If you like tactical shooters stick to old JA2, Silent Storm, 7.62 High Calibre with Blue Sun Mod or even XCOM. I wish i had.… Expand
Jagged Alliance: FlashbackYour Score0 out of 10User Score
