A game that is greater then the sum of its parts. Too bad its parts aren't as great as they could be.
Jagged Union is a game set in a fictional tropical Island that is being crushed under the jackbooted heel of a cruel dictatorship. As a mercenary your job is to either help overthrow the government, help crush the revolution, or help the islands organized crime syndicate rake in the cash. If all this sounds kind of familiar, thats because it is. If you've already played Jagged Alliance 2, you've already played a better version of this game. Thats not to say you should just give this one a miss though, and I'll tell you why.
Gunp0rn:
Thats what we call it. More guns then even Jagged Alliance could shake an AKM at, and so many pieces of optional hardware for them that people who look for that kind of thing will be very happy. The stats for the weapons are not hardcore real world, but they are close enough for me, and I've got several years of military service, and a lot of real world use under my belt. By the end of the game, you'll have guns coming out the wazoo, but you'll probably find a couple you really like and stick to them. Gun wear and condition is tracked as well, so carry a cleaning kit with you and visit a dealer every so often to make sure your weapon stays in good shape, or it will jam at an inopportune moment.
Real Time with Pause:
Let me just say, I hate real time with pause games. I was really hoping this would be a solid turn based game, and it simply isn't turn based. Actually, thats a good thing. Unlike Jagged Alliance, where every action costs a character action points, and everyone takes their turn like a nice little soldier (Barring interrupts) everything is happening at the same time for everyone. Certain character and weapon stats affect the speed at which these things occur, but generally there is no polite waiting. If three people come around a corner, they wont do it one at a time as their turn comes up, they'll do it all at once and, just as in real life, you will have to deal with them all at once.
The pause feature is good, and you can issue all orders while paused. The game will pause for anything on its long list of events, which you can modify at will. At first I didn't want to like this feature, but after spending time with it, I realized it forces me to use more realistic strategies to win, and thats a good thing in my book.
Branching Campaign:
Not unlike JA2's campaign, you are given a large map, a couple of locations on it, a basic goal based on which side you chose to support during character creation, and thats it. More locations will be revealed as you discover or are told about them. The Campaign story is where the game is really weak, but it makes up for it by giving you a sandbox to shoot up to your hearts content. The fact that you can be working for as many as 2 of the opposing sides at once really gives your mercenary a very, well, mercenary feel. There are also many "Side Quests" that can net you anything from discounts at stores, high interest bank accounts, cold hard cash or high end weapons. They are worth doing, although they tend to stick to "Fed Ex" or "Execution" jobs. For the English version, the translation is very poor, although somewhat comical in an unintentional way. This may be a deal breaker for some, others, like me, can play the Russian version to avoid this.
AI:
This is where things get a little mucky. The AI is not brilliant. It will run around blind corners, sit from too far away shooting at you when it can't possibly hit you (Unless you get very unlucky) and waste the occasional grenade. It will also mercilessly suppress and flank you. It will flush you out with explosives and even wait for you to emerge from cover on your own. When its good, its brutal but rewarding to fight. When its bad, it makes you forget it can be clever. Overall, a very mixed bag.
Mercenaries:
Your starting Character, and the one with whom you will spend the most time, is actually chosen from one of 6 base characters, whose abilities are then customized by you in a brief "Interview" where you also choose what side to support initially. The rest of the soldiers you pick up will be located in Pubs and Taverns around the game world, waiting to be hired. They can be very expensive, and lack the personality of the JA games, but they will serve you well and quest giving citizens reactions do tend to change based on what mercenary is talking to them.
Conclusion:
There is a lot to not like about this game. Its graphics are sub par, the game itself has several strange and sometimes game stopping glitches. The translation to English is rough, at best. The story is virtually non existent. So why would you play this game? The gameplay, while not superb, is very solid. If you can get over the bumps, a violent and fun sandbox game awaits you.