Jagged Alliance: Flashback: Review

Danes from the studio Full Control Today we found ourselves in the role of the hero of the Russian folk proverb “It’s not Senka’s hat”. And all because they weren’t just going to release a sequel to the cult tactical strategy Jagged Alliance, but they also publicly promised to make the best game in the series. Call them as such Jagged Alliance: Flashback until the tongue turns..

Island of Unfreedom

And after all, unlike the authors who are not at all canonical Back in Action And Crossfire, developers Flashback Everything seemed to be done correctly – apparently they understood that the people who supported them on Kickstarter would not forgive any dubious innovations or deviations from traditions.

And above all, the Danes have preserved the spirit of the original game. Again the 80s, a small island suffering under the yoke of a tyrant, again we act as mercenaries, whom representatives of the local resistance ask to help, overthrow, free, and so on. This time, the tyrant is a smuggler and illegal arms supplier nicknamed the Prince, who has seized power on the Caribbean island of San Germanos.

We start again with guerrilla warfare, searching for contacts and establishing secret contacts with those who know how to reach the right people and how to get to the Prince’s fortress. And after a while we already capture entire sectors, cities and mines that bring in a certain income, train the militia there and protect strategically important points.

But at the same time, no one bothers you to simply explore individual locations, communicate with the population and complete various side tasks in order to increase your popularity among the locals. Moreover, in addition to some standard assignments (free a farmer’s daughter from prison, neutralize dangerous criminals for whom a reward has been announced, destroy a gang terrorizing the city), there are more, let’s say, original situations. So, in one of the cities we came across a man who offered to sleep with his wife: they say, he owns a bar and is so busy with business that he physically does not have time to pay off his marital debt, from which his wife suffers immensely.

In general, there are plenty of surprises here. While exploring the map, you can stumble upon a huge cage with a bear, around which some people are crowded; While on a quest to find a supposedly lost weapon, you are ambushed; rummaging through drawers and cabinets in search of weapons and equipment, no, no, and you’ll find some porn magazine, a bottle of beer or a funny plush toy. And the leader of the aforementioned gang will tell you this, after which you will obviously have questions for those who wanted to destroy him – you will have to decide whose side you are on. And in all this you can feel the spirit and atmosphere Jagged Alliance.

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In principle, according to external signs, all Flashback – pure nostalgia. We still call available mercenaries (some are temporarily unavailable), pay them per day, week or two. Moreover, among the “soldiers of fortune” there are a lot of old acquaintances – here is the Shadow, and the Fox, and the fiery Cuban Fidel, and the stern Russian Ivan Dolvich.

We form squads on a familiar strategic map, send someone to train the militia, someone goes to capture a new mine or stays to rest – in this case, it is better to assign one soldier to treat the wounded, and another to repair equipment. The main thing is to have the appropriate tools and skills available.

“Medicine”, “explosives”, “mechanics”, “stealth”, “shooting”, “melee” – all skills are “pumped up” as you use them. But the main characteristics (“physics”, “coordination” and “intelligence”) will automatically increase when the fighter receives a new level. In addition, everyone also has innate “perks” that give various passive bonuses – they increase, for example, critical damage in melee or reduce the chance of accidentally hitting friendly. And the same Ivan Dolvich has the “Maniac” skill – it allows you to fire two additional bullets when firing from a submachine gun.

By forming your own hero with whom you start the game, you, as in Jagged Alliance 2, you can take the test, answer funny questions and thereby determine his psychotype and starting “perks”. The questions, naturally, have changed, and in some there are what are called fashionable themes. “What’s the first thing you’ll do when the zombie apocalypse starts??"- says one of them.

Finally, the authors left the battle mechanics practically untouched, adding only a system of shelters from Jagged Alliance Online. Your subordinates spend valuable turn points to change their body position and aim, with a certain chance of hitting, to shoot in the head, body or legs. You can also order them to “target” a certain point and set up an ambush by turning on the move interception mode. At the same time, in battle you need to monitor indicators such as fatigue and morale, otherwise your players will refuse to move or, in theory, will panic and take flight.

The roof was blown off..

That is, everything seems to be in place. No blasphemous innovations or dubious experiments. But more modern graphics and atmospheric weather effects have been added – often it rains so much in San Germanos that you want to duck under an umbrella. Moreover, in such weather, your “soldiers of fortune” see, hear and shoot worse.

The problem is that, having retained the main external add-ons, the authors were unable to at least convey the depth Jagged Alliance 2, not to mention doing something better. The strategic map is smaller, personal likes/dislikes between mercenaries have disappeared, there are no modifications or attachments for weapons. The new trading system is puzzling: it is implemented through dialogue with the merchant, and during the process you don’t even see the characteristics of weapons and armor.

But these are all little things. The main thing is that the game has become easier. Already at the start you are given a decent amount of money to form a powerful squad or even two. Sectors come under your control quite easily, the still green militia independently repels enemy attacks and “pumps up”, money regularly drips into the account, there are no problems with finances and new mercenaries.

And enemy AI only rarely offers really serious resistance in battle. Enemies know how to change their body position, sometimes they even try to get closer to you, but this is the maximum their silicon mind can do. Throwing a grenade or flanking, encircling – if this happens, it is extremely rare. As a rule, it all comes down to the fact that the enemies just stand still and shoot at your fighters. And with such “tactics” it’s easier for us to give everyone sniper rifles and shoot the reptiles from a distance.

The game has generally become poorer tactically. Climb onto the roof and shoot the guards, blow up the wall and enter the building not from the front entrance at all? Forget – no roofs, no sane physics of destruction in Jagged Alliance: Flashback No. As well as normal stealth, which allows you to make full use of camouflage, the environment and the time of day for camouflage. And the morale of your subordinates does not seem to decrease, even if two comrades just died before their eyes.

Jagged Alliance: Flashback really had every chance to become the best in the series. The Danes had money, player support, a license, the opportunity to draw on the experience of previous parts, modern technology, and finally. They regularly reported on how they listened to the wishes of workers and what else they wanted to add. But either this was just a bluff designed to maintain interest, or the developers simply did not have enough time, desire, resources, and perhaps talent to actually convey the depth for which the series is so famous. Flashback looks like a participant in a parody show: appearance and voice seem similar, and the special effects are beautiful, but the original is still better.

Pros: the spirit, atmosphere and basic mechanics of the original are preserved; believable weather effects.
Cons: the battles became tactically impoverished; weak physics of destruction; sluggish AI; unfinished stealth; no weapon modification system.