Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business

First of all if you don't have JA 2 and have never played it out fully, don't bother playing this game. In the previous game you were ordered to take over a whole country in an attempt to depose of a dictator. While you cleaned out area after area of enemies your soldiers grew literally stronger, becoming better with the experience they gained. In JA 2 UB you could transfer those stronger players into the game you were playing now supposedly to make your job easier (I'll get to that in a minute). You can beat the game without this advantage, but doing so would waste your time since first of all, your missing out on playing the more enjoyable game, and secondly you'll be spending so much of your time saving and loading (otherwise known as "cheating") while wondering why you decided to waste your money on this garbage...

Secondly this game is a pain in the rear for experienced JA 2 players. I beat JA 2 on its hardest level, and found that only on Novice level do I actually stand a chance against "super-soldiers" who are clearly more powerful than the X-men, and the Justice League combined. Your guys don't start out with the guns they had in the last one, rather they are replaced with pathetic pistols than couldn't knock down a flower nonetheless a fully armored soldier. I found that even with my super mercs who I had brought over from the last game, my chances had actually DECREASED to hitting a shot. That's right it seemed to me that the more experience fighting my troops had, the more incompetent they were. This is on Novice mind you... the first time I played it on the second highest level of difficulty my soldiers were slaughtered without mercy by three guys armed better and trained better than my clearly more expensive mercs. Only after a while did I realize that no real strategy was involved, just flat out cheat until you reach the ending which is pretty crummy in itself...

Enough about Gameplay which is sure to drive you insane until the point where you try to light your hard drive on fire to erase any knowledge of you owning this game in the first place. JA 2 UB is filled with options that are sure to make you wonder why Interplay would pursue creating a game like this. The game, unlike its predecessor features virtually no side quests whatsoever, a big downer considering how much fun the side quests were to play in the original. This is replaced by a crummy "scenario" creator, which allows you to design additional maps with additional enemies for you to mow down. Basically this is where the creators say to you, "We made an unbeatable game, so here is your chance to create a bunch of soldiers you can cut very easily through take their guns and slaughter the game the way you should have." It would've been nice to see them add that into the instruction booklet beforehand. Since the actual game itself features very few levels and very few missions this might be worth going through, though it should be noted that the creators placed in ludicrously difficult requirements that would take someone hours to reach...

In conclusion if you like impossible games that you need to cheat at to win, game creators that take hours to use, and setting your own money on fire and throwing it down your toilet, JA 2 UB is the game for you. I can't believe that this game is actually related to its predecessor and I personally cannot wait until JA 2 Wildfire comes out in a few days so I can get back doing to what JA2 players do best. Freeing the worthless third world country of Arulco...


did they think this would be fun?   January 6, 2002
 6 out of 16 found this review helpful

i can't believe my very own cousin suggested this annoyingly frustrating game. if you enjoy fighting against all conceivable odds depending on your wit, if you enojoy a game that requires tactics and good strategy accompanied by good graphics and storylines then move along, there's nothing to see here. i truly believe this was created as a quick way to make a buck, there was absolutely no thought process involoved in the making of this game. if you do buy it don't panic, just tuck it under your arm, calmly walk outside, place it on the ground in the street, find a seat and take bets with your neighbor as to how many cars pass until one finally puts it out of your misery. now your talking fun.


Way too hard with no real strategy   May 31, 2001
 19 out of 21 found this review helpful

After playing and loving JA2, I looked forward to the Unfinished Business expansion pack. Unfortunately, after I getting it installed and importing my merc from JA2, I was disappointed to learn that 90% of what made JA2 great was gone.

JA2UB has the thinnest of plot lines and provides no flexibility in terms of exploration or order in which you accomplish tasks. When you crash land on the island, you must battle through 5 or 6 consecutive sectors with 20+ enemies waiting for you in each (all better armed than your 6 mercs). If you get hurt and want to rest up, go for it, but expect another group of 6-12 enemies to pop into your sector every few hours to disturb your rest.

Because you're forced through these sectors in order, there's no opportunity to attack from multiple sides, go exploring, retreat, etc. Every sector was the same thing -- come in at night (daytime attacks were suicide) and stumble around from one side of the map to the other until you find them. I don't know why they even bother with a map -- the game would have been virtually the same if they just gave you one random sector after another loaded with enemies. When you finished one, just start the next.

I played through to the first town and then quit -- just couldn't stay interested (which wasn't a problem with JA2).