What irks me the most is the animation of the damage values which appear after a merc/goon is shot.
In JA2 the numbers are small, and drift upwards away from the character, leaving the character animation and model fully visible. It's more realistic, it isn't imposing and draws you into engaging with the game and not numbers. The font used is also consistent with the rest of the UI text/dialogue.
What we saw from the beta, GIANT RED numbers covering the whole character model. It makes it too cartoony/arcadey and takes away from the realism and grit that was the main draw of JA2. I don't understand the choice behind this, especially as this release allows the graphics/animations to be of a higher quality, so why hide them?
There was a turn-based tactical squad game a bit like JA2 from the 2000's on the PC that allowed you to control individual German solider's, anyone remember the name? Had exactly the same font and style for damage feedback, I couldn't stand it then and the lack of realism it emotes.
Something that takes away from the grit is how light it is, understandable given this is set on a "tropical" island. But generally it just doesn't feel dark enough, the darkness of JG2 is what allowed the comedy to really cut through and be more effective, there was a balance in tone, contrast. Where's the shadow pole in JG3?
