Rating: 
Summary: A game that should be in every hardcore collection
Review: I will stick to the point with this review; this game is excellent and is one of my favourite gaming experiences along with Outcast and the Fallouts. The graphics are dated, but they never dissuaded me from liking the game. The fights (although they may be long) are exciting and fun, and the depth of the game is on par with Fallout 2 (maybe not quite as deep). The story is a basic but perfectly fine affair, and the level of humour throughout the game make it even more playable. Get it now.
Rating:
Summary: works on many levels
Review: I will stick to the point with this review; this game is excellent and is one of my favourite gaming experiences along with Outcast and the Fallouts. The graphics are dated, but they never dissuaded me from liking the game. The fights (although they may be long) are exciting and fun, and the depth of the game is on par with Fallout 2 (maybe not quite as deep). The story is a basic but perfectly fine affair, and the level of humour throughout the game make it even more playable. Get it now.
Rating:
Summary: Realistic Strategic/Tactical Assault Game
Review: Jagged Alliance 2 is a Stragety / Tactics game with some RPG and adventure elements. The benevolent and rightful ruler of Arulco has been living in exile for some time, collecting funds for a military retaking of the island. You are the talented and competant mercenary he chooses to plan the assault and lead the insurgence. The game features faux internet connections for locating and hiring mercenaries to assist you and later to procure weaponry and armor. A strategic map is used for planning large movements and assigning your mercs to key duties (like training militia and repairing worn items). The key of the game however is the tactical scenarios. Once you have entered an area (or the nearly 200) you are alerted to an enemy presence and will automatically be sent to the location to control your mercs to a stunning victory. The system works on real-time until you or your enemy sight each other. Then the system uses a complicated turn based system. The combination of these elements can be used to a great advantage and enjoyment but requires a steep learning curve to understand the system. When I first played this game I suffered through many hours of frustrating battles. I would choose a place to attack, send in my best team, but would get hammered during the battle and either lose half of my team or everyone would be half dead from wounds. After a bit of this I gave up and found other interests. Later, I returned and concentrated on the tactical advantages of cover and position and found the keys to success. One of the main elements of the game is that constant improvement is absolutely necessary, as is conservation. To operate successfully with a minimum of cash, movement, and ammo (especially the limited amount of explosives) will help save you from difficult if not impossible situations later. Any setup you find successful in a scenario will be compensated for shortly down the road. Also, the wide range of mercs and weaponry will make keeping the integrity and organization of your team an important but entertaining goal. As is the case with most stragety games, the amount of time required to master the system and the resulting addictions afterwards may be the main deterrance to playing the game. Due to a slightly buggy nature, I cant advise this game below PII 300mhz and even then some some situations cause the game (not the computer) to crash. This is somewhat rare however. (twice in 200+ hrs.)
Rating: 
Summary: Extremely detailed but lacks soul
Review: Let me be the first to say the mechanics are there. There is so much detail to the game it hurts. It's got elements of RPGs and strategy mixed in with tactical combat. The tactical combat engine is ridiculously detailed. No other game comes close. It could have been a great game. But the problem is, it's not fun unless you have a lot of time and like tedious details. After a while your strategy will be the same all the time for the most part. You'll spend most of your time on LOGISTICS -- getting ammo and medical supplies from place to place, redoing your inventory, deciding who gets what gun, filling up clips, etc, etc. (...). Next, the tactical combat engine is so complex that the computer AI cannot handle it. So to balance it out the designers have the bad guys have much better aim that any of your characters. It's stupid and it takes away the fun of it all. What's the point of having your characters be all realistic if the computer is going to be a bunch of cartoon super heroes? Here's an example of why this game has been erased off my hard drive. It's midnight, I have class tomorrow somewhat early so I want to call it a night. There's one guy left in the level, I can't find him. I take 4 mercs on a search party for him. All of a sudden a shot comes out of nowhere, hits my custom merc (the best one -- your self-modelled merc) and he's mortally wounded. If he gets hit again or doesn't get medical attention QUICK, he'll die. Plus he's receiving permanent damage as he bleeds to death so this is a lose-lose situation no matter what. I haven't saved in a while because IF YOU SAVE A LOT YOU GET LESS STUFF OFF THE DEAD BODIES. The game punishes you for saving. Now, the sniper is protected on two sides by a neck-high cement wall with bushes and trees on his other side -- he's camping in a great position. Now, what to do? Well I tried everything. Smoke grenades to cover the wounded guy, charging the sniper, coming in at all different angles. Result is the same -- at least one guy dies no matter what. I charge the wall, jump over it and lay into the guy at point blank range with a burst of .45 rounds from my Uzi. Not ONE point of damage. Not ONE. The sniper turns and blows my guy's head off. Okay next turn. Uzi lays down cover fire while my other merc hauls butt into position. He's about 15 yards from the cement wall when he fires his grenade launcher at the wall. The grenade fires at a 90 degree angle from where I wanted shoot and hits a building 20 yards away. The guy firing was an ex-Ranger with 94 marksmanship so I don't think that was the problem. Oh did I mention the sniper stood up and shot said Ranger in the head after this? After about 45 minutes of this (...), this game was off my hard drive. I'm not having much fun anyway and this is the last straw. Games are supposed to be fun. Realism can be fun, but this isn't realistic! It's just frustrating and tedious. Overall the game had some good design but it just lacks the fun factor.
Rating:
Summary: By far one of the best of this year
Review: Sir-Tech has rewarded our long wait with an amazing product. It actual gets 4 1/2 stars, but I rounded up. If you're tired (aren't we all getting there) of over-duped real-time strategy, you'll love this wonderful blend of RTS, turn based, and role playing.
Rating:
Summary: This game is going to kick me out of law school
Review: Stress is building up...but I don't care. These mercs are keeping me true to what actually matters: Denial of reality! Seriously, if you liked "JA" or "JA Deadly Games", then you will adore this game. Be sure you have a computer that can run it at max performance, because otherwise the action is intolerable. There are a lot of new weapons, some cool mercs (with lots of good jokes), and only a slightly annoying plot line.
Rating: 
Summary: turn-based strategy strikes back!
Review: Thank God this game finally came out. After playing the three-level demo for a full year I was almost getting sick of it. That said, the full version of JA2 lived up to my expectations and then some. The variety and quality of the mercs is outstanding (I still reload the game whenever any of them gets killed). There is a huge selection of weapons from the Glock 9 to the AKM to the LAW rocket launcher to keep things interesting, and the battle interface expands on the brilliant simplicity of X-COM. Replay value is better than any game I`ve played besides Fallout, with loads of secret quests, mercs, and locations. A few minor gripes: The "Create-a Merc" feature could have been better implemented; it`s more or less a case of building a custom merc from readymade portraits and sound file groups, and a wider variety of locations instead of the same rundown, nondescript towns would have been nice, plus the game has a tendency (at least on my rig), to crash a lot. Still, these minor setbacks don`t keep me from playing at least 1 1/2 hours a day and enjoying it the whole time.
Rating:
Summary: Late night gamer.
Review: The game put me in a night mode that you completely forget what time it is. Yes it does have long fight battles and you have to save your game alot. They should improve thier scale of dying. (I mean come on, 4 shots point blank to kill a guy) But, overall the game will keep you playing for months.
Rating:
Summary: A game that should be in every hardcore collection
Review: This game is a masterpiece that has everything you could want except for muti-player( which is made up for by the fact you can play it so many ways). The graphics are alright but as long as you can see graphics don't matter, although i think the head blowning off animation is great. The sound is great with pops, explosions, groans and most of all the mercenaries themselves who can be pretty funny(Da ting say dere be bad guys, i hope it be right:)). The interface is pretty streamline with most functions controled by the mouse with some usefull hot keys. Now to the strong point of the game, The gameplay which is awesome. First you can make your own merc who can be almost everthing you want him to be then you hire some more mercs from AIM.com(you use a "Laptop" to purchase weapons, hire mercs and receive e-mail) then you fly your team into arulco where at first you are in real-time mode and can move freely but once you spot an enemie you go to turn based mode where everything you do cost AP or Action Points, in turn-based combat you can snipe the enemy making careful shots which cost more AP but are more likely to hit, sneak up on enemies and use a silensed gun or knife to kill the enemie silently or you could going in guns blazing which is not reccomended. Finally there are lots of toys to play with ranging from the lowly Colt 45. to the all powerfull Dragunov sniper rifle to TNT to C4 and you can combind stuff with other stuff and put things like a sniper scope, bipod or laserscope to the gun to increase the range or accuracy. Over all i would reccomend this too any gamer who can get past the fact that it is hard as hell to beat.
Rating:
Summary: An immersive, addictive game
Review: This game was worth every penny when it came out. Now that it is selling for a deep discount, it should be on your list of must-haves if you don't already own it. JA2 is an exciting, immersive game in spite of its slightly outdated graphics. The interface is fun and user-friendly and the replayability is outstanding. That's because the game has so many options with regards to which and how many mercenaries you choose to build your team, and what weapons and equipment you use along the way (you can even build items with stuff you pick up in the game). Also, the game is non-linear. You can attack the towns on the map in any order you wish, although like most games with a role-playing element, the increasing difficulty factor tends to encourage you along a certain path. Again, though, it is the tremendous freedom this game gives you that makes it so great time and again. You can, as I mentioned, build your team from a number of mercs with very different abilities and personalities that have a genuine impact on gameplay. For example, mercs with high medical skill may be invaluable after a tough firefight, but in the heat of battle they may be more liability than asset. Snipers my be critical to one mission, while strength may be what's needed in another. As your mercs increase their skills, you may find yourself growing attached to them, like any good role-playing game. You can even break your team into numerous squads and send them all over the map. All these choices make the individual battles as much a puzzle-solving exercise as a combat action sequence. You are almost always outgunned, so rarely will a straight-ahead firefight get you where you need to go. You have to plan carefully and usually have to play a map several times, trying different strategies until you find one that works. In spite of all the planning and the fact the battles switch into turn-based mode, the battles themselves are pretty hairy and immersive, and will usually get your adrenaline pumping. To summarize, this is a great game. Though violent, it's not overly gory and it is as much a mental exercise as anything. I heartily recommend JA2.
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