Jagged Alliance or abbreviated as JA1, is the first game in the Jagged Alliance series. It was released for MS-DOS in 1994 and for the Nintendo DS in 2009. The MS-DOS version was developed by Madlab Software while the DS version was made by Strategy First, Inc.
Storyline
During the Cold War, the South Pacific island of Metavira was the site of a series of numerous chemical and nuclear warfare experiments. Sometime later, scientists Jack Richards and his daughter Brenda discovered that the Metaviran Fallow Tree, mutated by these experiments, will produce a sap with wondrous medicinal properties that would cure any disease. These trees, rendered infertile by the same experiments that granted them their wondrous property, were quickly taken under the Richards' care, and they established a research facility on the island to research ways to turn the sap into medicine, and to find a way to solve the trees' infertility. Th processed sap is sent to a pharmaceutical company named Dynamic Labs.
However, one of Jack's most trusted employees, Lucas Santino, saw the value in the incredibly rare trees and sought to control them for his own gain. After convincing Jack to allow him to establish a second research facility on the other side of the island, Santino began bringing in numerous armed mercenaries, who killed the other research staff, intimidated the native population, and soon took near total control of the island. Beaten, desperate and with the-end-of-disease-as-we-know-it at stake, the Richards hired a commander from A.I.M. to help him fight back, recapture the island, and kill Lucas Santino.
Features
- Top-down turn-based tactical play based on action points.
- A sprawling map divided into 60 sectors. Every sector on the map is filled with enemies and the map must be conquered sector by sector. in order to secure victory.
- A wide array of weapons ranging from pistols to shotguns to grenades to choose from and equip your mercenaries with. Also items that are essential to the Quests can be found in boxes or urns. Notes can also be found. Further equipment can be found as well.
- Interactive environments and environmental conditions, such as bodies of water with Metavira Eels, sweltering heat, and densely forested jungles provide an immersive tactical experience.
- A continually ticking day, that begins at sunrise (7 AM) and ends at sunset (7 PM). If your squad is caught in enemy territory when the sun goes down, they can be wounded or killed whilst retreating.
- Various terrain so much that you may be be able to conquer some sectors once or have to try more than once or have to enter sectors via certain directions.
- Numerous side quests that impact the campaign as a whole.
- A fickle, sensitive and often temperamental cast of hirable mercenaries. In addition to fighting for you and taking your money, mercenaries in Jagged Alliance and its sequel Deadly Games were prone to:
- Stubbornness. Several mercs are of the type to not back down once a firefight has started, and will refuse to take orders until their target has been killed.
- Infighting. Many mercs have a severe dislike of others, and express this dislike in various ways. Some will quit if forced to continually work with the person they dislike. Others will go the extra yard and kill them during downtime between days.
- Buddyism. Mercs can quit in protest if a friend of theirs is fired. Persuading them to stay can usually be managed with a hefty raise.
- Toadyism. Several mercs will snitch on their fellows during downtime, letting you know if certain mercs are particularly dissatisfied or on the verge of quitting.
- Thievery. When money is found, certain mercs - especially cheap or poorly paid mercs - will take the money for themselves at the end of the day and disappear, assumedly to go on vacation.
- Cowardice. A few mercs are abject cowards and will not only perform poorly in combat, but quit the moment someone - anyone - is killed, including the enemy.
- Underhanded enemy tactics such as detonating buildings you are trying to capture or attempting to kidnap important NPCs means that tactics remain key both on macro and micro levels.
Characters
Mercenaries
- Main article: List of mercenaries in Jagged Alliance
There are 60 mercenaries to choose from in Jagged Alliance, listed here in alphabetical order, by nickname/callsign:
- Dr. Bernie Gloveless
- Mary-Beth Wilkens
- Biff Apscott
- Capt. Bob Adams
- Glen "Boss" Hatchet
- Lt. Bud Hellar
- Howard "Carp" Melfield
- Dr. Cliff Highball
- Dr. Ahmad "Doc" Koolhan
- Edward "Ears" Stockwell
- Dr. Eli Summers
- Elroy B. Tolken
- Fidel Dahan
- Cynthia "Fox" Guzzman
- Gary Roachburn
- Helmut "Grunty" Grunther
- Hector Alvarez
- Frank "Hitman" Hennessey
- E. "Hurl" Cutter
- Ice Williams
- Carl "It" Goodman
- Ivan Dolvich
- James "Jimmy" Upton
- Marty "Kaboom" Moffat
- Col. Leo Kelly
- Lance Fisher
- Larry Roachburn
- Timothy "Leech" Jenkins
- Corp. Len Anderson
- Rudy "Lynx" Roberts
- Earl "Magic" Walker
- Mike
- Dr. Mitch Shudlem
- Murray "Moses" Ebstern
- Dr. Mark "Needle" Kranhium
- Murray "Pops" McGillicutty
- Dr. Raffitto "Raffi" Leevon
- "Unusually Ruthless" Reuban
- Rev. Clyde "Rev" Potter
- Russell "Rusty" Hunter
- Samuel "Sam" Garver
- Patrick "Screw" Phillips
- Robert "Scully" Sullivan
- Sidney Nettleson
- Bruce "Skitz" Bonner
- Lesley "Smoke" Peterson
- Johnny "Snake" Edwards
- Megan "Sparky" Roachburn
- Speck T. Kline
- Maj. "Spike" Scallion
- Kirk "Static" Stevenson
- Dr. Margaret "Stella" Trammel
- Tex R. Colburn
- Herman "Turtle" Regents
- Victoria "Vicki" Waters
- Vincenzo "Vinny" Massimo
- Walter "Wally" Yuntz
- Willy "Weasel" Augustin
- Wink E. Dickerson
- Peter "Wolf" Sanderson
Native Guides
Other Natives
Other Natives who act as Guards for sectors and Tappers who tap sap from Fallow Trees.
Sectors
- Main article: Sectors
Quests
- Main article: Jagged Alliance quests
Useful Infomation
- Chunk of Steel upgrades .12g Rifle M14s and M16s.
- Molotov Cocktail - see instructions
- Eagle devices using Grenades.
- Jagged Alliance Key List
- Chunk of Steel Locations
- Strategy guide
DS Changes
The DS Version has various differences in addition to the control scheme:
- Some Graphics were re-done and all music was replaced.
- Healing mercs recover "Full" health instead of just stopping bleeding.
- The player starts with some more resources in their inventory (Such as a Knife) and the starting sector has more items, including a Smoke and Frag Grenade.
- Some Merc dialogue was made subtitles only due to space limitations.
- Mercs crouch back down automatically after shooting.
- Ivan's dialogue is translated to English.
- The Eels that attack mercs were removed.
- The Skeletons left by dead enemies remain instead of disappearing.
- A low health merc will start having their portrait replaced by a skull.
References