Jagged Alliance 3 PC Review

I was surprised at how well Jagged Alliance 3 turned out in the hands of Haemimont Games, given their prior attempt at turn-based tactics. It’s a good thing too, seeing as they were responsible for a sequel to Sir-Tech Software’s nearly 20-year-old but much-loved classic Jagged Alliance 2.

If you’re going to pick a topical premise, do something with it.

Now I wouldn’t say those classics games ever had much of value to say with their narrative. The setting, protagonists, and antagonists were all pulled from America-centric action movies of the 1980s and ‘90s. Jagged Alliance 3 still takes this approach to some degree – but the choice of location and the real-world premise are perhaps a little too topical.

The quirky “Association of International Mercenaries” returns when you, the commander, is hired to stop a coup in a fictional developing African nation with all the stereotypical hallmarks you’d expect. It’s rich in resources, poorly developed, and every faction is corrupt and self-serving while the population suffers.

Things stray a little too close to reality when you realise your client is a diamond mining company, funding the operation in support of the kidnapped president and their family, who were facilitating their exploitation of a mineral-rich valley. Colonial powers and Western corporations have done this for centuries, while Eastern superpowers are increasingly complicit in the same behaviours.

My problem is not that the premise is based on real-world events, rather that it does nothing of interest with it. The bad guys are unambiguously bad, the good guys are insidiously bad, and your mercenary forces are just after another pay-check. Maybe that in itself is saying something but it really feels like they only did the bare minimum to justify your constant battles with mostly nameless militants.

Solid turn-based foundations and the return of action points!

The good news is that Jagged Alliance 3 is almost as good a tactical turn-based game as its predecessors – which means it’s still a great pick for those unfamiliar with the IP but fond of the genre.

A big part of the fun is how Jagged Alliance 3 sticks to the “Action Point” (AP) system rather than the common two- or three-action per turn approach. It gives you greater flexibility in how you approach combat and way more tactical options once you’ve engaged. You could stick to the usual move, shoot, and overwatch approach, but you control how much AP is invested in any action. A big part of this system is the ability to target specific body parts, with more invested AP increasing the likelihood of inflicting greater damage or even critical damage.

As an example, you could have most of your team invest their AP in the overwatch ability to suppress enemies, while your sniper spends all their AP climbing to an advantageous flanking position before popping heads. Another advantage to this system is the ability to target exposed body parts in cover, ensuring a strong defensive position is never entirely safe. Of course, the same applies to your mercs, making for a great risk-reward system that can turn the fight in your favour, or leave a flanking merc crippled and vulnerable.

Thankfully, Jagged Alliance 3 is happy to learn from the best and most levels now play out as a mix of real-time stealth and turn-based combat. It uses the system pioneered by Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden allowing you to move freely if undetected and thin out enemy forces using takedowns or silenced weapons. At this point, you’ll come to appreciate the beautiful and diverse environments – think winding jungle paths, rural towns, and even a large city – all clearly designed with potential strategies in mind. There’s a good mix of stealth objects, natural and man-made cover, and different elevations to consider.

Managing mercs means making money

As in the prior games, A.I.M. offers a quirky mix of skilled, somewhat-skilled, and rookie mercs to consider. They all have their specialities and generalist skills but once they’re in your employ, they level up and you can mould them as you see fit. Medics can become great snipers to keep them out of danger, while front-line fighters can become explosive experts to better clear a path for the rest of the squad.

Of course, you still need to consider your budget when hiring mercs and you can’t afford the best right out the gate. One or two skilled mercs can make all the difference in a squad, but squad size still counts when you need to cover multiple angles. As such, a mix of rookies and a few specialists is crucial, and you need to consider your long-term squad ambitions vs. your potential income stream.

Much of this plays out between missions, when you can assign mercs to scout new areas to uncover information on enemy positions, discover supply caches with new gear, and possibly treasures that generate instant income for a new hire or purchasing the best quality gear. Ideally, you also want to spend some between-mission time assigning your veteran mercs to train others in their speciality, but assigning injured mercs to recovery units should always take priority.

Quality where it counts

Now I’d have liked to see more done with the story in Jagged Alliance 3 given 20 years have passed since the original and storytelling has evolved massively, but Jagged Alliance 3 still gets the core gameplay loop right and that is what ultimately counts in a video game. It’s a great addition that will hopefully revive a stagnant IP (I’m just going to ignore Jagged Alliance: Rage!), with excellent tactical turn-based combat and engaging management elements that’ll keep you entertained for hours.