Update: I apologize about the statement I made originally about this being ported to mobile after six months - that did not happen. Turns out this game is so bad they likely decided not to port it to mobile at all, which is probably for the best.

Not the JA we needed OR deserved. I'm about 6 or so hours into the game and after struggling to make it that far, after giving it chance after chance, realized it's just not at all a game I am willing to spend time playing.

The only feature remaining from the original games is the turn-based combat.

Everything we loved is gone - the custom merc we got to make, the huge choice of mercenaries (there are SEVEN total in this game), the militia training, the chopper, the used gun shop, the detailed artwork, the laptop with all the extra value features, actually managing income/salaries/gear.

Everything that made Jagged Alliance a deep and rewarding experience is missing in this game.

In the same a way the bad guys chop down an entire forest in movies, leaving just stumps - that's what this developer created - a stump.

A once beautiful, blossoming franchise cut down to a bare bones mobile game (I give it six months before this is ported to mobile) with about 1/10 of the features of JA 2.

I wanted to take a bit of time and reflect on the game, without a knee jerk reaction, but here is the final verdict: not recommended.

I typically stay away from harsh criticism of games, but in this case it's hard to imagine that the developer released this thinking feedback would be in any way positive and this is coming from someone who really wanted to like this game.

Doesnt deserve to be called a jagged alliance game. No where near the quality of gameplay found in its predecessors.
Maps are tiny, AI is incredibly stupid, and only being able to play two prepicked chars is just stupid.

Another thing that is incredibly stupid is the fact that its turnbased out of combat. Ruins the fluidity of the gameplay when sneaking around.

Can someone please just make a remastered of JA:II, you know like the EE-Versions of the Baldurs Gate games, or the remastered Command & Conquer?

Well, I really don't wanna be overly critic of fellow austrians, but this game is NOT a JA game. Yeah, it got action points instead of the "do 2 things per turn" turn action, and a jungle environment. It might even be an enjoyable tactics game, BUT

.) limited to two mercs instead of having multiple squads of up to 6 mercs.
.) only a handful of mercs at least initially, leaving out many fan favourites (where's fidel, lynx, speck, etc.)
.) The few mertcs there are share the names, but not the voice actors and personalities of the old ones. (why does Ivan look like Bobby "Steroid" Gontarski?)
.) no AIM
.) very "streamlined" aka dumbed down
.) gimmicky gameplay with the new "rage" mechanic.

This isn't Jagged Alliance. The character pool is small, and lacks many of the "better" mercs. And while the game acknowledges that a significant amount of time has passed and all of the formerly great mercs have aged, none of them have any personality. The voice acting is terrible, to the point that it sounds like the actors are just reading lines.

The gameplay is bland and feels like something I would expect from a mobile game. AI is wonky, survival elements feel like a last-minute addition and there's no character progression to speak of. Rage! is what happens when you take a classic franchise and wring out everything that made the franchise great in the first place.

So many regrets.

It's just not what you expect. If you'd knew beforehand that this is more like 'Jagged Alliance Deadly Games', probably you would not complain about Rage not being JA2.

I liked the game. I was disgusted by graphics at first, but i got used to it quickly. Same goes for the story - it's cheap and dirty, trying to pull some emotions about the loss of several beloved mercs and the rest going nuts. I'm OK with the lack of stats on mercs and weapons (especially since JA Flashback which had stats just for lulz it seems).

But the gameplay - oh my, it's good old game of wits. 2 mercs vs 20 in one sector. Hunt them down. Shoot them from covers. Stealth kill each and everyone. Loot'n'run. Make story decisions. Many things to do here, actually.

All in all, if you're 'JA 2' fan, skip this one. If you're more like 15-20 hours of tactical survival, than it's your game.

Jagged Alliance is a unique franchise. With the first two games being incredibly good and majority of the games that came afterwards being incredibly bad, nowadays, the Jagged Alliance name has a weird effect on people. If you'll call your game “Jagged Alliance”, it'll mean two things. First, the people would buy it. Because the original games were that good. Second, the people would b***h about it. Because, obviously, the Jagged Alliance games would never be the same. For many reasons. Even Firaxis Games' XCOM is not the same with the one from Mythos Games. Sure, the last two Jagged Alliance games are not Firaxis Games' XCOM. Not even close. But I don't think they're that bad. I mean, sure, both Russians and Germans f***d things up with their Jagged Alliance: Back in Action and Hired Guns. But they're Russians and Germans! That's how they make games! Now, with Jagged Alliance: Flashback and Jagged Alliance: Rage! it's a different story.

See, neither of them are actually bad. It's just... those are not really Jagged Alliance games. XCOM got lucky. It got both talented team of developers (no, seriously, Firaxis are cool, love 'em) and the budget. As the result, even though the rebooted XCOM feels less ambitious than the originals, it's still pretty awesome. Especially the first one, 'cause you know... you've just missed and stuff. Anyway, Jagged Alliance series didn't get that. And as the result, all we've got is the cute little indie-like games. Call them something else and nobody would b***h about 'em. Especially since we don't have enough turn-based games nowadays. But, then again, if you won't call them “Jagged Alliance”, nobody would buy 'em. That's the trick here. Before starting Jagged Alliance: Rage!, you should totally forget about the fact that it's called “Jagged Alliance. Just... forget about it. It won't have that huge open world, it won't let you properly manage your mercs and heck, there's no even A.I.M. website! You just select two mercs at the beginning of the game and you're ready to go.

Yes, only two mercs. That'll be your biggest “Say wha-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a...” moment at the beginning of the game. Does it get better? Well, kinda. I mean, at the certain points of the game you will be able to recruit more mercs, but still, you won't have that awesome feeling that you're in charge of some serious s**t. You're either pick up the new merc, or ignore him / her. That's the only big choice you'll be able to make here. Jagged Alliance: Rage! feels like a generic tactical game and that's it. You're just controlling a few characters, not managing the complicated team of the unique soldiers. Forget about making sacrificing, switching people, managing the team... you have your guys and that's it. Your mercs will be unique, though. I can give it to this game. Every character here (and I must say, this game brings some good ol' names back) has his / her pros and cons. For example, Vicki has claustrophobia and won't feel well inside the building, while our good ol' comrade Ivan is an alcoholic and will require you to give him alcohol on regular basis to keep him in shape. Because that's how they roll in Russia.

The entire realism of the original Jagged Alliance games was downgraded to a single thing. All of your mercs will need water. No food, just water. Looks like everybody's in diet nowadays... Anyway, you'll need to give your mercs water very often. Otherwise, they'll suffer from thirst and their stats will go down. You'll find some water during the missions, but... it's kind of annoying since you'll need to check every single corner of the map just for that reason. You won't need to care about money, though. Because the entire payment thing disappeared together with the proper merc management. Your characters are just a bunch of heroes now. Because, like I said, it isn't really Jagged Alliance. Deal with it.

The world map is done in the tabletop-like way and has pretty much nothing in common with the first two games. It's sure nice to actually have a map, but aside from the fact that you'll be able to intercept enemy convoys and get ambushed (totally not as exciting as you may expect), there's pretty much nothing to do aside from choosing the order, in which you want to play missions. As for the missions themselves, there aren't that many and majority of them is just “kill 'em all” stuff. Which may be nice if you like turn-based action, b-u-u-ut pretty disappointing in general. Especially since gameplay mechanics are lacking and come with our usual “cheap turn-based game” kind of problems. Add the fact that controls are pretty poor (the game feels especially bad with the keyboard / mouse combo) and the balance is laughably bad, and, well, you'll get the idea. The entire thing didn't get that far from Jagged Alliance: Flashback. It did. But not that far. Also, the game can feel extremely annoying. See, the maps are pretty small here. And developers tried to preserve at least some realism. Unfortunately for us, it means that most of our weapons will jam after only a few shots and other crap like that. Sure, it's hard to imagine a tactical game without such stuff, but since everything in this game was so... shrunk, having bad things happening so often just... isn't fun. Move for two blocks on the world map – everybody's thirsty. Shoot for a few times – your weapon begins to act... it's just... annoying. So-called “rage” skills (hence the title) would help a bit, but not that much and... those are not that big of a deal. Long story short – your characters get some bad things happened, they get angry, they get some extra actions as the result. End of the story. Hardly even worth mentioning.

So... yeah. Even though the developers are different now, Jagged Alliance: Rage! feels a lot like a sequel to Jagged Alliance: Flashback. For both good and bad. Sure, it's better than Flashback and it has more features. So, if all you want is a cheap turn-based game, then... maybe this one will do. Especially if you'll be able to get it with 50% off. It's not like we can be picky nowadays. But if you want it to be a real Jagged Alliance game, then sorry. It's not that different from Flashback. It's a small and basic game with a cheap aftertaste. Nothing more. How should you feel about that is entirely up to you, but since it's clear that we didn't get the real Jagged Alliance here, I feel like there's no other way for me but to give it a thumb down. Sorry.

I really want somebody to make a remaster of JA2 or make game with same/similar game mechanics. So far every new game with JA name has less and less features and game mechanics.

I tried to like this game I realy did, but even if you ignore all the other issues there are just too many bugs.

The AI lockups completely - the only fix to tab out, kill the game and try again.
The AI can randomly attack you at stupid ranges (in the fog) and ignore the cover rules, the only fix reload and try again.
The AI, is supposed to be trained elite mercs. So why do 20 guys all run into the killzone -
apart from the sniper shooting me from insde the fog of war through 3 walls of a building.

Pros -
A great looking game and a very nice turn based engine. Multiple levels to combat and ammo / inventory management.
Nice cover options, that make a difference in combat.
Crafting modifications for weapons and armour that make a big difference to your gear.
Humorous and interesting characters, fully voiced.
Rage skills are interesting and work well as do character traits -
My sniper with a 3 shot burst assault rifle was able to kill 3-4 enemies a turn and having a mechanic made repairing weapons and armour a doddle

Cons -
Weapon degration, an awesome feature implemented so badly. How many modern assault rifles stop working every 3 shots?
Very little replayability. Your not going to mix it up alot choosing different mercs.
When a merc is unconscious they are removed from battle and magicaly get better again if you clear the map -
Without there equiped weapon. You know that awesome assault rifle you put 3 mods on. Gone
An infuratiing inventory management/ map looting system at the end of a map. That on some occasions will take longer than clearing the map did.
You HAVE to loot becuase you NEED the upgrades, new weapons, new armour, ammo, water and antibiotics.
This means you have to loot every container and corpse on the map. Some that are now out of range in the fog of war.
Small maps and repetition depending on how you play. Have you got free roam? NOPE still turn based with NO enemies.
WATER - a limited resource in a tropical jungle. Unless, I dunno you liberated an entire water treatment plant maybe, but nope.
ANTIBIOTICS - a limited resource. Unless, I dunno you liberated a plantation with an onsite doctor.
And then after you have put up with all that for 15 or so hours you get to the end map and are
expected to kill 25 enemies whilst taking no damage as you get ZERO chance to heal or repair your items before your onto the next stage.
You cannot remove shrapnel or use surgical kits in a map so good luck in stage 2. Your guys have 2/12 HP and your about to take 4 grenades in the face.

This game may take place in the same universe as Jagged Alliance 1 & 2, using a few of their well known characters but it feels much more like a stealth-puzzle game in the style of Commandos or Shadow Tactics than like the turn-based tactical strategy games that the original Jagged Alliances were. Gone are the exciting fire fights of the originals, replaced by sneaky but tedious assassinations.

This conceptual change might be acceptable if it worked. But it doesn't. There is so much wrong here, from bad design choices (no sector looting, laborious "maintenance" of your soldiers) to balancing issues (item durability, thirst, armour and damage) to simple bugs (line of sight issues, crashes, AI droputs) that I very much doubt that Rage will ever become the game it tries to be. And that's a shame because the game Rage tries to be could actually be good.

The game has its moments but overall it's just disappointing. I'm two steps away from storming the bad guy's final holdout but I just cannot bring myself to continue. Uninstalled.