MagicShadow

Coincidentally I was just reading your comment on one of the Dev Diaries and I fully agree. The overall style is way too cartoonish for it to be a JA successor. Ergo: lets drop the JA name tag and lets just call this game differently. Someone else mentioned Tropico on this forum and I find that more suitable. Such a shame since the ideas behind this game are pretty neat. But the art style simply doesnt make me enthousiastic enough to pick this game up. It doesn't tickle any nerve in my body or reminds me of Jagged Alliance. Characters don't interact, are liveless and blunt. Emotionless and way to brushed up and clown-like while they are in fact Hitman, killing for money but with their own things. I'd urge them to seriously look into a different art style (it's just skins for the sake of god) that comes much closer to the original and just then sell this game as JA3. If not, please don't talk about Jagged Alliance anymore but name it differently. Since currently... its NOT. 😞

I'm just that type of guy that has high standards and most of all live up to the motto "don't fix what ain't broken" i guess 😄 And yes, that means i'm not easily satisfied. If more customers out there would be like that, only then game studios would raise the bar. Unfortunately these days (most) customers want everything at once, as fast as possible regardless the quality. And producers respond to that 😉

If have not seen ANY mugshot in JA3 that shows resemblance with the old characters. Let's take a few legends for example: Shadow: looks like a Toy Boy just gotten off from Spring Break, instead of a 'Bob-Lee Swagger' type of lonewolf that lives solitary in the woods. Magic: looks like a tapdancer you saw out in the streets of NY city back in the 50's. Or some jazz-band player. Downright awful and probably their biggest misfire. Vicki: looks like some weird Rasta Voodoo witch smoking pot all the time instead of an intelligent woman, hardened by life and a great technician. Fidel: Some Scottish grandpa coming straight from the series of Outlander instead of a Cuban explosive expert with a twisted mind and little patience. Ivan: Perhaps the most iconic character of all has been mutilated. As if he has been beaten up for years in a gulag and became some failed Frankenstein experiment instead of the battle hardened officer from the Russian army. He is way to bulky and beefed up now. Igor: looks like a mime player instead of a try-hard Balkan dude with hidden skills (one of the best bang for buck characters) Len: Tried to make him look like Denzel Washington or what? I can go on and on and one but it it seems their artist has never played the old games. Lets just face it.. JA3 is not to be regarded as a successor to JA1 and JA2 hence meant to pay tribute to the old franchise, but a game on its own.

Wouldn't pre-order this game if I were you (if there is any, since why would that be?) Just wait until others bought and played it (and shelved it) and after a few weeks you can pick it up for a couple of bucks at the Wallmart or flee market. That is usually what happens at spin-offs. Would have been a different story had they instead decided to actually develop a successor to the classic franchise 😞

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Some good points were made. I just have to try and not let emotions take the upperhand and try to see the possibilities this new iteration of JA might be able to give us. Unfortunately, for me the first impression is the most important which; is the general 'look & feel' of a game rather than the underlying mechanics. I simply can't live with this art work since it simply doesn't have the classic Jagged Alliance characteristics. It not's appealing for it to be an interesting spin-off of JA nor does it bring back memories and wanting me to purchase it for a whopping 45 bucks. I'd rather buy 9 digital versions of JA on GOG and give those away for free to newbs 🙂 In fact I do believe that if they did not put the Jagged Alliance stamp on it, lots of people wouldn't even recognize the franchise and that is a pretty big issue if you ask me.. Now it just seems they hang on the coattails of the JA franchise (like their predecessors) but dont really pay tribute to the earliest games. I wish them God's speed though. But i'll let this one pass even disregarding the 4h free to play period on Steam.

Over a page worth discussing the size of mugshots the most important aspect is being overlooked.. NONE of these characters show any resemblance with the original ones except for their names. Look at my profile pic.. THERE you see Shadow. Not that Dancing Bear - Toy Boy variant in the game 🤣

I think you misunderstood. I too rather see them sticking to the old stuff that made the early JA franchise titles so succesful and turned them into classics. But so far I have seen little of that in their latest iterations. What exactly are they trying to achieve I wonder. Don't you agree the current look&feel is uninspiring and kind of dull? Emotionless, no soul? None of the characters for example show any resemblance to the classical ones, except for their names. But they might as well called them Ross, Chandler and Phoebe, it would not have made a difference and that is a real downer. We have seen what happened to most other attempts in creating a hybrid out of a classic title such as JA, where devs gave it their own spin didn't we?... they all failed miserably doing the franchise no good (games won't sell, investors won't invest). So i'd rather seen them either making an exact copy of JA2 (and add a new storyline) or build a complete new game with fancy 3D graphics and CS:GO type of icons. And when reading reactions on the first footage which can be found across the web, I can assure you I am not alone on this. Bad news travels fast...

Well... from the moment I read the dev diary about the UI/UX ("how much work they put into the UI/UX" and that "it has gotten multiple iterations over the past years" since "this was such an important element in the game and it could make or break the game" etc etc) and seeing what they came up with.. I sighted and kind of lost all hope completely. Since in terms of graphics it doesn't even come close to the JA classic franchise. It looks like a complete different game. So for many JA 'veterans' among us, those that are simply wanting a JA2 with new storyline, this game is not appealing enough. We don't reconize this game at all in JA3. Perhaps JA3 should also not bear the name Jagged Alliance but rather their own name tag. Other than assembling a bunch of mercs and solving some missions on a checkboard, very little reminds of the old games. Then we have potential new customers that are unfamiliar with this game. What will appeal to them? What will make this game stand out from the rest? Other than the turned based mechanic, there is already games like Desperados and Commandos out there that look and feel exactly the same (in fact, tend to use the same tile sets) other than already being finished and can be picked up for 5 bucks. Long story short.. even with correct mechanics I don't think JA3 will be great but i'm afraid it will dwell in anonymity. Thank god we still have an original boxed copy of JA2 Gold 😄

Just let it go guys. I've been silently following this project for a long time now and so far the game doesn't even deserve the name Jagged Alliance. It's an insult to the franchise just like many other attempts at trying to recreate this classic game. While they will continue adding more CounterStrike meets Desperados meets Fortnite stuff to this game I'll fire up a new game in JA2.

Sorry hate to say it but I truly dislike your art style. This has nothing to do with Jagged Alliance; it looks like Desperados or Commandos really. In fact I even sense a hint of Team Fortress in here. Also the UI/UX doesnt give the same atmosphere/feeling that JA1 and JA2 did at all. Why having to create a beefed up 3D graphical environment instead of just sticking to (yes outdated but who cares) Isometric views? Why those tiny icons and emotionless faces? Why does Ivan not even look like the old Ivan (as goes for all AIM characters I have seen in here). Why those counter strike gear set ups and not the good old 'place item on bodypart' type of view? Why copying all modern games instead of sticking to the original old school versions. It all looks dull and uninspired. This will unfortunately be the next attempt at recreating a classic that will simply not hold and one I will pass. Hopefully one day there will be a company that truly understands what fans of the old games want; simply a new storyline in exactly the same classic setting as we remember and still play this game. RIP SirTech 😞

Err What is this? This suppose to be a new 'Jagged Alliance'?? For heavens sake, who asked for a yet another 3D butchering with emotionless facial expressions. True fans are simply waiting for new missions in the old JA style. So no thanks, I will stick to my original copy of Jagged Alliance 2. This project doesn't even come close to the originals. Please, just don't.