That Lovin' Feelin'

[Thorondor]

With a demo finally out and about it's your turn to sample Jagged Alliance: Back In Action and see if the developers managed to capture that loving tactical feeling so characteristic of the series.

 

For this tasting you'll be put in control of a pre-selected group of mercenaries tackling a tutorial and one mission, "Orta Laboratory":

(...) which takes place about 2/3 of the way through the game and will challenge players to demonstrate their advanced tactical planning skills through the "Plan & Go" system

You can get the fairly lightweight demo from one of several mirrored locations (i.e. Gamer's Hell).

 

If it turns out you do get kind of sweet on it you'll be happy to know a date for release has been set for Valentine's day on the US (and, seemingly February 10th on the UK/Europe).

[silencer_pl]

14 February is US release date I think. Steam says it will be available in EU on 7th although I've read that premier should be 9th.

 

Also check my demo AAR in the Jagged Alliance section.

[Thorondor]

Thanks for the heads up, silencer.

 

Apparently the official site has it as February 14th on the US and the 10th on the UK, which should match Europe, though it's not a sure thing with all the dates floating about. Also, and as you say, Steam has it as a February 7th release, so it's sort of a strange staggered release approach.

 

::

 

Right, jumping over to see your AAR right now.

[flark]

I finally got around to playing this demo last night and I'm sad to say I'm very disappointed. It looked great on the screenshots, but unfortunately the controls and user interface just feels slow, awkward and cumbersome to me.

 

First I tried to jump straight in without playing the tutorial, but couldn't do anything so had to quit to play the tutorial. I think a good design of controls should enable a player to be able to jump straight in without needing a tutorial.

 

Anyway, the tutorial was far from being fun andf the whole thing just felt like a chore. It was late and maybe I was being impatient, but I quit the tutorial and called it a day in the hospital after my guys firstly couldn't find their own way down the ladder, then mysteriously became injured, and then magically healed again before I actually had the chance to practice healing them. The whole thing just felt annoying which is a sad thing for a huge JA2 fan to have to say.

 

Edit: I forgot to add, the characters sadly seemed to be lacking a certain amount of "character" too.

[Sunflash]

I finally got around to playing this demo last night and I'm sad to say I'm very disappointed. It looked great on the screenshots, but unfortunately the controls and user interface just feels slow, awkward and cumbersome to me.

 

First I tried to jump straight in without playing the tutorial, but couldn't do anything so had to quit to play the tutorial. I think a good design of controls should enable a player to be able to jump straight in without needing a tutorial.

 

Anyway, the tutorial was far from being fun andf the whole thing just felt like a chore. It was late and maybe I was being impatient, but I quit the tutorial and called it a day in the hospital after my guys firstly couldn't find their own way down the ladder, then mysteriously became injured, and then magically healed again before I actually had the chance to practice healing them. The whole thing just felt annoying which is a sad thing for a huge JA2 fan to have to say.

 

Edit: I forgot to add, the characters sadly seemed to be lacking a certain amount of "character" too.

 

I keep reading that the demo has several bugs and whatnot that the release doesn't, supposedly confirmed by several devs. I wouldn't seppuku yet.

[silencer_pl]

Have you read Sunflash what this game will not have ?

[CapnKill]

Damn it. I think the game looks great!! But its just not right, I can't get behind this combat system. It works for Frozen Synapse, but just does not translate well to this game.

 

I so wish it was the classic turn based game, it would be so much more fun to play. It doesn't help that the demo mission is insanely difficult to boot, but still.

 

Another major complaint I have is that I feel that I'm getting shot when I'm behind cover. I can go prone behind a big boulder, but once I'm spotted I'm basically getting shot, and its hard to tell, because it seem as if I'm in a well protected spot, but I guess not?

 

So yeah, all in all, very disappointed, especially because I really like the look and feel of the game, just not the combat system

[mockingbird]

Being a long-time JA2 fan, I kept my eye on this, just like on all the other remake attempts.

I approached the demo preparing to be dissapointed, I didn't follow the development very closely, but from what I read, it wasn't going to be the jagged alliance remake I've been waiting for. Still, I was looking forward to checking it out, I was a squad based tactical game after all.

So, I played the demo, completed it, time for some impressions.

Wall of text incoming:

 

The graphics are easily the best part of the game. They aren't partricularly impressive, but the environments are detailed and, overall, it's what I would expect from a strategy game in 2012. Only the character faces are less-than impressive - it's essentially the same mesh with different texture and hair.

 

The second good thing is the AI. While it doesn't really contribute much to game difficulty (I'll get to the issue later), the AI looks pretty decent. Has some random brain fart moments (ie.g. sometimes not reacting to gunfire just a few meters away), it often tries to flank you, takes cover and stays put when it seems the logical thing to do. Overall, the AI feels natural.

 

Unfortunately, that's the end of the good stuff. Now, as said, I am a big fan of JA2. Unlike some of the fans, I've partially gotten over the fact that turn based JA2 is unlikely to happen and thus I'm not going to bitch how BIA is RtWP. Actually, I've played most (if not all) of the squad based RtwP games, and had good fun with each one. What about this one?

 

For starters, I kinda like what they did with the strategic (or whatever it's called) panel, that lets you pause, plan, synchronize and review actions. Unfortunately, the rest of the system does not live up to the standards. Compared to virtually ANY rtwp game out there, BIA is missing several small components that make playing it a chore. Examples: no "shoot until target is killed" command means you either plan 20 shots for each guy, or risk that they stop shooting in mid-combat. There is no indication whatsoever to tell you when the currently planned action will be completed. Which means, you order the unit to fire, and you only have a vague idea when the shot will be taken. Third thing, no time compression, which means you have to pause a lot when fighting on two fronts. These are small things, but they were present in the Brigade E5 and the UFO: After---- series. And they do affect the game. Without them, unit management gets really tedious.

 

Next comes game difficulty. When I dowloaded the demo, I saw a disclaimer that it is supposed to be hard. Bring it then, says I. Unfortunately, the demo mission failed to deliver. Yes, I reloaded a number of times, but most of my deaths were caused by either:

(o) me struggiling with the interface - I queued a few shot orders less than I should and the soldiers stopped firing in the middle of combat, or they just refused to shoot for some unknown reason.

(o) the AI scored a random critical hit vs. a prone target far away.

 

Take these two away, and the mission wasn't all that hard. It got even easier when I chose to abuse the almighty Draganoff (sic!) to pick offenemies at a distance - apart from a lucky scritical hit, the AI was powerless against it, although it did cower behind obstacles and attempted flanking maneuvers from time to time.

 

The final nail to the game's coffin is the lack of fog of war. I actively sought for a justification for this decision on the official forums, but couldn't find anything close to a reasonable justification.

What's more, I've found many users actively defending it as a "feature", because y'know mang, we got them predator drones and stuffs. Fog of was is apparently last-gen.

 

What can I say, I've seen fog of war in 7.62 and in Aftershock series, and it's not true that it doesn't work for such games. As a matter of fact, it actually adds a lot of depth. Without it, the game fells too easy. To add insult to injury, one of the devs said that they actually had fog of war in one build, but as for now, the feature is out.

 

I made a promise to myself not to compare the game to JA2 too much, but alas it's inevitable. One major step-down is the health and injuries system, which was a big thing in JA2. You most likely remember it - you had to bandage your wounds so as not to bleed to death, then the merc would be out of commission for some time, untill treated by a competent medic. In BIA, you can get shot at as much as you want, medikits will restore your HP instantly. The only penalty is when you get hurt badly - the merc will fall over and require immediate treatment in order to survive (although the time limit is pretty generous here), afterwards, a chunk of health will be removed until the unit rests. No biggie, because lost HP do not affect unit performance for as much as I could see.

What can I say, I preferred the earlier system more, but the current BIA system actually works well with the current gameplay. With the amount of lucky hits the AI gets in, you will get shot often.

 

Weapon customization got really simplified when compared to JA2. Now you only have one attachment slot, so you have to choose, silencer or scope. I suspect that this means laser sights and bipods are out. Not to mention retractable stocks and all that. Shame.

 

Merc personality was a big thing in JA2. The colorful personalities and banter actually made a great portion of the game's atmosphere. Recreating it with 100% fidelity would be very hard, if not impossible. Unfortunately, my opinion on the actual design skills of the BitComposer folks is not too high, but I have to give them that, they tried hard to capture some of this. The voice acting is decent (but not spectacular), and it appears that the mercs have some stuff to say. Unfortunately, it falls apart in practice. The pace of the game is largely to blame here, in turn based JA2 you had all the time in the world to listen to your mercs' one-liners, but in the frentic rtwp, they all get lost in the racket.

What's worse, the mercs repeat themselves much too often.

 

Unfortunately, I cannot say anything about the strategic layer of the game, cause there wasn't any in the demo.

 

Verdict:

This is NOT Jagged Alliance, BIAtch!

 

Well, that didn't turn out too well...

 

Overall, the game has potential for future development. As for now, it desperately needs some polish. It's not a total disaster like the Jagged Edge game, but it feels subpar when compared to the other rtwp titles out there. I really like the environments and it's a shame that the assets would largely go to waste on a game that only vaguely resembles the original it claims to remake.

[FullAuto]

no "shoot until target is killed" command

 

That's just madness.

 

the lack of fog of war

 

Again, pretty mental design decision.

 

I made a promise to myself not to compare the game to JA2 too much, but alas it's inevitable.

 

It is inevitable, as a remake it invites comparison. Such a shame that they look at a game more than a decade old and decide to go backwards from that point.

[silencer_pl]

no "shoot until target is killed" command[

 

Madness? There is GUARD command But seriously there should be that option

 

the lack of fog of war

 

The only reason the gave was that QA (aka testers) said that FoW ruins their fun because they have to pause to often because they spotted new enemies. Yet still you do that if you set your pause action like that. And as he said and I said - snipers can now have free reign over the map.

[mockingbird]

I am aware of the guard command, still I'd prefer to issue the fire order myself. Feels much more personal and involving this way.

 

My biggest gripe is that apparently BitComposer chose to ignore virtually every RtwP game out there. I mean not just 7.62 and Aftershock, but even Fallout Tactics. If they handled line of sight and guard mode at least the way Tactics did, the game would be so much better. No, really, I remember the guard mode in Tacics allowed you to set the %cth treshold and which body part to aim at. Shame nobody thought about that.

 

Yeah, supposedly fog of war screws the pausing and I like it that they chose to axe the entire fow system instead of just tweaking the pause settings. This doesn't make sense to me, the game would be so much better with fow, and they even made a spotting skill for the mercs that would go with it perfectly.

 

Now, I've read some of their justifications. I know that community manager guy is neither a dev, nor is he very proficient in English, but it's absolutely heart-melting when I read that they cannot include a custom MERC in the game, because it destroys game balance. The mind, it is blown.

 

And I begin to wonder, are they THAT incompetent? I mean they're supposed to be the professionals here?

 

The game is full of these little things that make you wonder what sort of twisted logic is behind that. An example straight off the top of my head: C4 charges can only be used in pre-defined spots. Ok, I can accept that, engine limitations, etc. etc. Problem is, there is one, just ONE such spot in the entire demo mission, and blowing it up is of extremely limited tactical benefit. I mean, none of the QA testers bothered to point that out?

 

Then you start comparing these things to the original JA2 and wonder, why the hell they did go on about fixing stuff that wasn't broken? The changes to the levelling system, the changes to merc contracts (they chose the Unfinised Business over the original JA2 contracting method), weapon attachments, etc.

 

What can I say, I played the demo, I dicked around on the official forums, the whole experience left a lot of bitter bile in my system, hope you don't mind me sharing.

[flark]

What can I say, I played the demo, I dicked around on the official forums, the whole experience left a lot of bitter bile in my system, hope you don't mind me sharing.

I thank you for sharing your opinion. You were a lot more patient and tolerant than me. I tend to make quick decisions on my initial gut feeling. These are usually the correct decisions for me, and my initial gut feeling told me that I would not enjoy playing this game however much I tried to persevere.

 

I'm putting all my gaming eggs in the new XCOM basket now and praying the same thing wont happen.

[mockingbird]

Well, no point in forcing yourself to like stuff that doesn't agree with you. Although it's sometimes worth it. I remember I didn't like Brigade E5 and E6 at first, but with some patience, I got a few weeks worht of entertainment out of them.

 

 

Trying to do the same to the Paradox games. Tried Europa Universalis and it didn't agree with me. Mostly because of the scale, I'm not too keen on the grand strategy bit. But, I know they are nicely detailed strategy titles and I think I'll be getting back to them sometime. Now if I were a fps player, I could afford to be picky. With strategy games there's no such luxury, and dammit I need that quality mental masturbation fix every now and then.

 

 

Now, when it comes to the BIA demo, I subconsciously wanted to find any kind of redeeming features in it because it's a tactical squad game. Not many games like that come out recently, so I though, what the hell, let's see if it's enjoyable at least.

Turns out it didn't.

 

This makes me wonder, BitComposer spent all that time and resources and ended up alienating the only fanbase they would have hoped for. Are the JA2 fanboys rabid and self-entitled? Sure they do. But that's what you become if you are faithful to a single game for 13 years now. Had they chose to humor the fans, make a 1:1 remake rules-wise, they would earn a sure buck and wouldn't have to worry about this whole balancing thing that obviosly gives them a lot of trouble. Turn based does not sell very good in the XXI century, that much may be true (Although Civilization 4 and 5 beg to disagree here), but I'm not really sure they'll be better off at the rtwp market (which is only slightly less niche, imo).

 

This is infuriating, because I look at the whole Back in Action project and all I see is missed potential and a bunch of resources that could have been put to much better use.

 

There, the bile is almost gone, let's carry on with the conversation, shall we?

 

I'm putting all my gaming eggs in the new XCOM basket now and praying the same thing wont happen.

Same here. I really hope Firaxis manages to deliver. I had my moment of doubt after Civ5, but right now I'm cautiosuly optimistic. I disagree with some of their design choices, but from what I saw and read, it still may be a decent game after all. For one, they aren't as clueless as the Bit Composer guys.

[silencer_pl]

I wouldn't jump to that conclusion that game will not be enjoyable. I know it will be but it not will be what it was meant to be. I know that many people are so up their ass about what should and what shouldn't the game look like. I try to be open minded about it. We can all let our frustration out it won't change what is now but maybe it will change what will be in future. It is still better game than the russian shit called Hired guns.

 

In all my gaming experience I played only few games from both german and russian companies that were good others had good intention but overall were crap.

[mockingbird]

Oh yeah, Russian games are... peculiar. The Brigade E5-6 series are a good example of that. Usually they have lots of nice ideas and attention to detail, but unless you figure out the exact way the developer intended you to play them, you're in for a rough ride. They usually require fan-made mods and patches, too. Had the same situation with City of Abandoned Ships.

 

But, when it comes to German games, I remember Blue Byte, I remember piranha bytes. Germans used to make good games. Dunno what happened, as recently they mostly seem to churn out shovelware tractor simulators mostly.

 

I think the future of BIA depends a lot on the modding. I saw one guy managed to unpack the game files, but it remains to be seen what can actually be done. Analyzing the list of problems I have with this game, they all seem to be easily fixed, and it seems many guys on the official forums seem to share my sentiment.

 

But, the point still stands, based on demo impresions, I'll definitely give it a pass, until I hear abut some serious patching, or modding going on.

[Space Voyager]

I know that many people are so up their ass about what should and what shouldn't the game look like. I try to be open minded about it.

Very well said!

[ShadowBlade]

Nowadays, demos are generally pieces of beta versions more than a demonstration of the final game. That makes for bad demos, since they're usually poorer representations of the game they're supposedly encouraging you to buy. Makes it harder to be "open minded" about it. Particularly when that entails shelling out cash.

[silencer_pl]

In old days short show of what game looks like was called SHAREWARE - though this name was abandoned I don't think that DEMO is a full replacement over that. Of course some game have their demo released after the original product is released and they are called demos too. My take is that demo and shareware are two different things yet they were combined to one term.

[mockingbird]

Shareware releases, as the name implies, were meant to be shared among people so that everyone could try and form an opinion about the product. It was in the pre-internet times, so people actually relied more on cover cd and copying stuff from friends.

 

Some shareware versions were actually full versions, some had limited functionality, others would nag about registering and paying the author.

 

I think with the advent of the Internet as we know it, the term shareware became confusing, because it's essentially an umbrella term, hence, people chose to use the more specific distinction into "Demo", "Freeware/Open source", "Trial version" releases.

 

Nowadays, demos are generally pieces of beta versions more than a demonstration of the final game.

I can't really blame them, with the tight budgets and deadline. I mean, creating a proper demo takes resources which could have been better spent otherwise. On the one hand, I'm glad that for once I am not forced to use your friendly p2p tracker to make an informed purchase, on the other, it's a shame that they advertise their product via an imperfect build.

[FullAuto]

I've lost count of the amount of times I've been turned off by a demo and then went on to enjoy the full game.

 

It does sound salvageable with a few alterations, albeit they are quite big design choices.

 

The only reason the gave was that QA (aka testers) said that FoW ruins their fun because they have to pause to often because they spotted new enemies.

 

That's ridiculous. It's the thing I like least about the RTwP system, but there's really no other alternative (unless you do something silly like leave out FOW), it's got to be that way. if they don't like it, perhaps they should have stuck with TB.

 

"Oh no, I spotted another enemy. Eh, I can't be bothered to change my tactics, just carry on guys..."

[silencer_pl]

You don't have to tell me that FA. But if you still set pause to pause when enemy spotted or your merc is spotted then it is the same for me as pausing with FoW. Purely lame on QA side - I don't know who tests them... surely someone will bring a pic from the net

[Thorondor]

When things go right the adrenaline rush is incredible, but when things go wrong several times in a row you'll want to rage-uninstall immediately.

::

 

JA: BIA Strategy Informer review.

[Space Voyager]

It seems as Strategy Informer's review was the upper end of ratings...

 

Gamerankings says 58.75% so far.