Jagged Alliance 3

THQ took the safe – and sane – approach and did not try to change, what worked. As always, you are getting your AIM mercs together, to boot some evil guy from a made-up country in the name of it’s rightful ruler. You take cities, mines, and enhance your mercs – this time more directly, than before, as you will hit level-ups, and can choose from a set of skills, based on the corresponding attributes of your merc.
Big change in gameplay: this is closer to Wastelands 2 and 3, than JA2 – there are so many sidequests, and optional missions, where you have to gather or find stuff, and deliver them to certain characters, you can drown in them if you want. Attributes and perks guide everything, and most quests are tide to one of them: sometimes you need wisdom, or medical skills, to finish a quest. If you don’t meet the required level, you will not be able to get the reward.
The majority of the old mercs are back – from AIM, anyway, and those, who were cut, like Buzz, or Rothman, are replaced with new guys – or some returning, old ones, like Mouse. All established relationships remain as always, so Raven and Raider are still an item, Fox is still dating… everyone, but mostly Wolf and so on. This is where the game shines: the banter is back, and it works. It was good, hearing Grizzly and Shadow, or Igor and Grunty talk. They are funny, charming and they do deliver, what was missing from all other attempts of a sequel.
Even the voiceovers are very decent! Sometimes, I could swear, they got the original actress or actor back. Great work!
The legendary 1.13 arsenal, however, is gone. This is much closer to JA2 vanilla levels – without the ‘tons-o-guns’ options! That was a shame, but I learned to live with it.
The game is now full 3d, rotatable, and all the rest. It looked good enough, but it does not push the envelope, that is for sure. Does it have to? I don’t think so – if it delivers on the gameplay, I am happy.
So did it?
Yeah. Mostly, it did.
Enemies are challenging, but I got a bit tired at the end, of all the same encounters. Some enemies are overpowered, some levels are pushing it. If you remember 1.13 siege of Meduna, with those neverending 60+ elite guards battles, well, brace yourself. I had some issues with how unforgiving the skill-check system is: you can manage the game with a medic, who has 72 points in her attribute – but if a skill check requires 75+, you will never meet that level. You will have to hire an expert just for that specific task. That results in the in-between guys having less value, than the high-end specialists. Why bother with Wolf, and his 67 points in medicine and mechanics, if he will never be able to disarm a mine, that need 70+, or heal someone, who needs 85+, to pass? I also got tired with some of the fetch-quests, like finding 12 chairs, of going to 5 different locations, to collect virus samples, erecting effigies 9 times in the jungle. Those were more bother, than what they worth, but they were all optionals, thank God.

That being said: I had a fun time with the game.

It’s not perfect, but it is still good.

8/10