JA:BiA takes a lot of heat, some deserved, some not. It's still fairly entertaining and even addicting.
This game was done on a low budget. That is very evident. Many features from JA2 have been removed, Fog of War, MERC, climbing onto roofs (replaced with ladders on some), you can't even delete your emails or sort the hiring screen. The character portraits are terrible, and the voice acting is almost as bad. The humor of the original has been almost entirely removed. Trading your equipment and picking inventory items up from the map is tedious and lengthy. You have to manually move around the mini-map to pick anything up and characters have to physically trade items. This goes the same for the militia, which you no longer train, but must manually and physically go to each one to arm and clothe them. Weapons can only have a single attachment, and there aren't many to pick from.
However, there is hope. The combat system, with its flaws, glitches, and annoyances at times, is still entertaining and addicting. CQC is better than it was in JA2, as is throwing grenades. The 3D environment is well detailed, and the physics system ensures enemies will always drop and be thrown in unique ways like a ragdoll. Buying and selling equipment is simple, whether through a mini-map tradesperson or online store. The structure of progression and questing is done in a more modern fashion, the way you see in other RPGs such as Fallout 3.
In order to enjoy this game, you absolutely must remove all your hopes of what a Jagged Alliance game should have. This is Jagged Alliance reinvented. For what this developer did on a low budget, it is quite good. But they clearly couldn't afford to bring back all the features we loved about JA2. It's disappointing, but doesn't make the game bad.