TROPIC PLUNDER

After 24 years, JAGGED ALLIANCE 3 is here to take a shot at the squad tactics crown

- Dominic Tarason

After nearly a quarter of a century, Jagged Alliance is kicking my arse again, and I couldn't be happier. Poor luck, hubris, cheaping out on mercenary contracts plus a drizzle of enemy mortar fire has ended a 25-hour campaign with little chance of recovery. I'm not even mad - that was a spectacular last stand. I know what I did wrong. I start again, hiring an all-new team. Next time it'll be different.

While XCOM has become synonymous with squad tactics, I've always carried a torch for Sir-Tech's 1999 gem Jagged Alliance 2. A heady, mix of tactical gunfights, mercenary management and RPG dialogue, sidequests and looting. It was also hard, but frustration was kept low through depth of combat and a deeply irreverent tone halfway between Commando and The A-Team, riffing on action films of the era.

Until now, nobody has recaptured that spark. The darker, edgier and joyless Jagged Alliance: Rage! felt like the end. Thankfully, Tropico developer Haemimont Games had other ideas. Even though squad tactics aren't their usual wheelhouse, I'm happy to say that Jagged Alliance 3 modernises and streamlines while still capturing the original's spirit. It's old-school at heart, and goofy as ever.

DOG-EAT-DOG WORLD

Taking place just a couple years after the '90s original, JA3 is set in the former French-African colony of Grand Chien (translated: Big Dog), rich in diamond mines and opportunists. A local warlord has kidnapped Grand Chien's president, and his daughter wants you to lead a squad of bad enough dudes/dudettes to liberate him and possibly the country too. Unfortunately, with only $40,000 you'll be calling on the B-Team. I wouldn't have it any other way.