I really wanted to like this game...

[Lochmacher]

However...

 

Everything being relative, it's just not as good as JA2. There. It has fewer options, the skill system is tragically Diablo 2-esque, the UI looks like a cartoon. Grenade and sight ranges are ridiculous, and the troops are cardboard at best, in both AI and personality.

 

It's physics engine and building damage are neat, but gimmicky at best. Who would waste ammo to shoot a building down to scrap? It would take more than a BAR, that's for sure! A whole fence exploding from a pistol?

 

The fact that it is turn-based is a plus. Huge plus. Unlike JA2, it goes to TB as soon as you fire a shot, not when you are in combat. If you've played both, you know what I'm talking about. Sometimes, you just want to shoot a lock. When there are no enemies, why does it go to TB? Also, the animations take too damn long and it bogs the game down. Troop selection and pathing are also, due mostly to camera issues, iffy.

 

Inventory space is too liberal. I know, you can use mods. I hate using mods though. They always have an odd feel to them, due to the necessity of making them "workarounds" instead of engine modifications.

 

Now, to be fair, you are special ops in Europe, not a merc squad in Metavira/Arulco. There exist reasons for SOME of the differences. You won't be selling weapons, or buying them. You won't be requisitioning them either, however... They are just magically stocked over time based on the number of missions done. JA2 also does this delayed-release thing (as does Brigade-E5), and to be fair, I hate it there as well. Also, you are on home turf, so no militia training and defending. Sadly, you do a lot of crap that POLICE should do, or MPs, or the military itself; not a band of rabble armed with a mish-mosh of weaponry.

 

However, the "tree" approach to skills is weak at best. Really makes the game a drag to be forced to manuever your hard-earned (tediously-earned, more like) experience through the poorly-devised skill sets. A skill that allows you to throw grenades 10 feet? Wow. What a perk. No carrying weight does mean that your soldier can carry 20 grenades without penalty though... Blah.

 

Some features, such as MINES, are completely bugged to hell. In JA2, your merc would give some feedback on their confidence with a particular device. In S2, your guy detects mines through floors, and then CANNOT disarm some of them, despite being next to them and having the tools. No cursor change, nothing. It's also MUCH more random on your ability to defuse them, causing much reloading if your Engineer is your main character (which mine, before UNINSTALL, was).

 

Enemy AI also seems weak. They will only find cover in terms of squatting down and duckwalking back and forth behind the nearest scrap of terrain. They rarely throw grenades (or even have them), and do not act as a squad. Having to sit through Enemy and Friendly turns is a drag, as they are similarly disinclined to tactics that might render effect, and battles between the two usually end with a frustrated player turning the tide DRASTICALLY.

 

On Impossible, the game plays well enough. Having to carry wounded, etc. But it still falls short. I'm one who wants NEWER games to build on older ones, not make new mistakes. It still has the tedium of too few maps (a la UFO) and just not enough to keep my interest. I find myself NOT caring about the setting, characters, or objectives.

 

This post was made in anticipation of JA3, knowing that it uses the same engine and is out of fear. Any fans of the S2-S3 games will have to pardon me if my comments are not in-line with their beliefs, but everything is relative, so your experience might have differed from mine. I hope that you continue to enjoy this game and wish you luck in your future endeavours.