Jagged Alliance 3

Jagged Alliance 3
DeveloperHaemimont Games
PublisherTHQ Nordic
Directors
  • Boyan Ivanov
  • Boian Spasov
Producers
  • Bisser Dyankov
  • Pavel Peychev
Designers
  • Boyan Ivanov
  • Boian Spasov
Artists
  • Nelson Inomvan
  • Dimitar Nikolov
Writers
  • Ian Currie
  • Daniel McClure
  • Radomir Mirchev
ComposerGeorge Strezov
SeriesJagged Alliance
Platforms
Release
  • Windows
  • July 14, 2023
  • PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Series X/S
  • November 16, 2023
GenresTactical role-playing, turn-based tactics
ModesSingle-player, multiplayer

Jagged Alliance 3 is a 2023 tactical role-playing video game, developed by Haemimont Games, and published by THQ Nordic initially for Windows, but later released on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. The game is the fourteenth entry in the Jagged Alliance series, and the first mainline entry game since Jagged Alliance 2, and sees players leading a group of mercenaries as they focus on assisting a small African country end the chaos it was thrown into by a rogue paramilitary force who kidnapped its president, along the way dealing with other issues including seizing diamond mines, dealing with criminal factions, and uncovering a conspiracy behind the paramilitaries.

Gameplay involves both the use of a dynamic strategic map - where players can move mercenaries, conduct operations, and review active missions, enemy activity, and intel acquired - and tactical exploration that involves turn-based combat with the option of stealth to weaken enemies -with each conflict featuring differenes in terrain - ranging from mountains, swamps, savannahs, and urban environments - and weather conditions; some also featuring wild animals. Mercenaries each have their own strengths and weakness, as well as preferences to who they will and will not work with, with a wide selection of real-world firearms and melee weapons, most of which can be enhanced with upgrades, as well as armour, tools, explosives and grenades to help with combat and other situations. Alongside the main story, players can engage in a variety of side missions, with choices made during the campaign impacting later events and rewards.

Jagged Alliance 3 took several years to move beyond the concept stage, switching between different developers, before development began in 2021. The final version received positive reviews from critics.

Gameplay

Played from an isometric perspective, Jagged Alliance 3 is a turn-based tactics video game in which the player issues commands to a squad of mercenaries. Each member of the player's squad has their own unique backstories and personalities. The game features a roster of 40 mercenaries, including several returning characters such as Vicki Waters, Ivan Dolvich and Fidel Dahan.[1] Weapons can be customized and the mercenaries can aim at individual body parts of an enemy.[2] They can also be looted for their resources.[3] Players can access a dynamic campaign map, which will provide more context about each individual turn-based battle, and how the enemy forces react to them as they attempt to retake these territories.[2] Players will gain intel as they progress, thus unlocking additional side missions and opportunities.[4] As the mercenaries level up, they will also unlock new skills and abilities.[5] The game features a cooperative multiplayer mode.[6]

Plot

Alphonse LaFontaine, president of Grand Chien, Africa, is kidnapped by a rogue paramilitary force known as "the Legion",[7] led by a mysterious figure known only as "The Major". The Legion threaten to kill him if his government attempts to interfere, and demand control of the diamond mines in the country for his release. Emma, Alphone's daughter, fearful for her father's safety and concerned his political enemies will take advantage of the situation, flees to the small island of Ernie off Grand Chien's coastline, with the aid of Corazon Santiago, a representative of the Adonis Corporation, who secured a contract with the country for control of the mines. With her help, Emma contacts the mercenary leader "Boss" (the player) to ask for their help in stopping the Legion and rescuing her father with a group of mercenaries from the Association of Internal Mercernaries (AIM).

Upon arriving on Ernie, the Boss' team encounter Legion forces, and aid Emma in liberating the island whilst seeking information to locate Alphonse. Corazon provides an advance payment to fund their operations, advising them to secure control of the mines for aditional funding. As they head for the mainland and work to take back the mines, the Boss listens to conversations between Corazon and the Major, the latter hinting to the pair knowing each other. During the course of their work, the Boss and their mercenaries find out that Corazon originally hired a team of mercenaries to assist - led by a former AIM member who founded their own mercenary company - but that the group proved useless. The Boss eventually discover she had been responsible for hiring the Major to help her company secure the country's diamond mines; until the Major went rogue and betrayed them.

After learning of what she did, Corazon frames the Boss for killing refugees at a camp, and sends in her own troops to eliminate them, forcing the mercernaries to fight back and eventually deal with her. Upon locating the Major's camp, where Alphonse was being held, the Boss' team launch an assault, rescusing Alphonse, while finding out the Major was a former AIM mercenary; they are left deciding on whether to spare them, recruit them, or kill them. Alphonse thanks the team for their help, whereupon the fate of the country after his rescue is later determined by what actions they took with various factions and situations they encountered during the course of their mission.

Development

Jagged Alliance 3 was first announced in 2004. Strategy First and Game Factory Interactive initially partnered with Russian studio MiST Land South to produce a sequel to the game. However, a year later, Strategy First withdrew the title from MiST Land South and began developing the title internally. In December 2006, Strategy First outsourced Jagged Alliance 3 again. The publisher, along with Russian developers Akella and F3games, were to create the game, setting an approximate release date of late 2008. As of October 2008 the game had been delayed again and Akella's website was displaying a release date of Q1 2010, but the studio also stopped developing the game in 2009.[7]

On March 9, 2010, German outfit bitComposer Games (now bitComposer Interactive) picked up the rights to the PC strategy series and started "preliminary development" on the third full game for release in 2011.[8]

In August 2015, Nordic Games acquired the rights from bitComposer during their insolvency.

On September 17, 2021, during the THQ Nordic 10th Anniversary Digital Showcase Jagged Alliance 3 was announced for PC, now in development by Haemimont Games, the developer of the Tropico series. Haemimont Games initially pitched a spin-off project to THQ Nordic, but the publisher was very impressed by the studio's work and instead recruited them to create a mainline sequel instead. THQ Nordic recognized that previous attempts at reviving the series had received a very mixed reception and Jagged Alliance 3 was designed to cater to the "hardcore" fans of the series.[9] Unlike other strategy games such as the XCOM series, Jagged Alliance 3 will not inform players regarding the chance to hit an opponent or their responses to attack. The team believed the franchise should be about responding to unpredictable and chaotic combat situations, and an over-abundance of information may cause players to be too cautious and calculating.[4] The game was released on July 14, 2023 for Windows, and on November 16, 2023 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.[10][11] Modding tools were released for the game in February 2024.[12]

Reception

Jagged Alliance 3 received "generally favorable reviews", according to review aggregator Metacritic.[13]

References

  1. ↑ Blake, Vikki (September 18, 2021). "Jagged Alliance 3 is coming "soon" to PC". Eurogamer. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
  2. 1 2 Smith, Graham (August 13, 2022). "Jagged Alliance 3's new trailer shows a few seconds of the only feature I care about". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
  3. ↑ Macgregor, Jody (September 18, 2021). "Jagged Alliance 3 announced, please let it not suck". PC Gamer. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
  4. 1 2 Savage, Phil (August 12, 2022). "Jagged Alliance 3 wants to escape the spectre of XCOM by never telling you the odds". PC Gamer. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
  5. ↑ S. Good, Owen (September 17, 2021). "Jagged Alliance 3 brings PC tactics series back after 23 years". Polygon. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
  6. ↑ Romano, Sal (August 12, 2022). "Jagged Alliance 3 – THQ Nordic Digital Showcase 2022 trailer". Gematsu. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
  7. 1 2 Nunneley, Stephanny (September 18, 2021). "Jagged Alliance 3 is in development again and coming to PC 'soon'". VG247. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
  8. ↑ Sinclair, Brendan (March 9, 2010). "Jagged Alliance 3 back on track". GameSpot. Retrieved April 1, 2010.
  9. ↑ Smith, Graham (September 17, 2021). "Jagged Alliance 3 is coming from the developers of Surviving Mars". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
  10. ↑ Wales, Matt (May 17, 2023). "Nearly 20 years after its announcement, Jagged Alliance 3 has a release date". Eurogamer. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
  11. ↑ "Jagged Alliance 3 for PS5, Xbox Series, PS4, and Xbox One launches November 16". Gematsu. September 13, 2023. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
  12. ↑ Lane, Rick (February 8, 2024). "Jagged Alliance 3 promises to let you 'rebuild most aspects of the game' using all-new rulesets and mod tools". PC Gamer. Future plc. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
  13. 1 2 "Jagged Alliance 3". Metacritic. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  14. ↑ "Jagged Alliance 3 Reviews". OpenCritic. July 18, 2023. Retrieved December 29, 2023.
  15. ↑ Hafer, Leana (July 14, 2023). "Jagged Alliance 3 Review". IGN. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  16. ↑ Taranson, Dominic (July 13, 2023). "Jagged Alliance 3 review". PC Gamer. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
  17. ↑ Denzer, TJ (July 13, 2023). "Jagged Alliance 3 review: Pretty dang smooth, actually". Shacknews. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
  18. ↑ Cattanach, Finlay (July 13, 2023). "Jagged Alliance 3 review - A diamond with some jagged edges". VideoGamer.com. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
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