A ‘Jagged’ Flashback
DISCLAIMER:
As this title is currently in Early Access, Not all of it’s planned features have been added yet. This preview is of the game in it’s CURRENT state. A more in-depth perspective will be posted upon the games full release.
As a fan of the original Jagged Alliance title from the early 90’s, playing Jagged Alliance: Flashback most certainly felt like a ‘flashback’. However, it is not fair to entirely compare Flashback to it’s predecessors, as it makes it seems to make its own attempts to remain slightly original, despite having some small issues in it’s current state.
If you’re someone who has never played a previous Jagged Alliance game before, let me give you a quick ‘briefing’, of sorts, and explain the main principles as best I can. The Jagged Alliance series are a large selection of tactical, turn-based, RPG games, in a similar vein to XCOM and Fallout 1 & 2. On one aspect, Jagged Alliance features a high emphasis on squad management, and on the other… it’s a hardcore tactical shooter.
These are the aspects the current build of JA:Flashback get right. The combat encounters are slow-paced and engaging, with a real feeling of threat (despite some minor issues with enemy AI), and the squad management aspect is definitely one for the books. HOWEVER, I must point out that JA:Flashback does not currently feel like a ‘full-package’, despite it’s ambitions and potential.
If you were to purchase JA:Flashback in it’s current state, you would be in-turn purchasing a very barebones ‘concept’ of the game Full Control hope to release in the future.
Firstly, the tutorial… or lack thereof. Now, don’t get me wrong, JA:Flashback actually does attempt to teach you it’s BASIC gameplay mechanics in it’s ‘tutorial’, however it doesn’t cover everything in as much detail as you would like. Often leading to some slight confusion when you attempt to play the game on your own. I am hoping that the developers go back to the tutorial and beef it up a little for many of the new players out there.
Another feature that really doesn’t translate with me is the User Interface. In all honesty, it’s the most clear aspect of the game that isn’t completed as of yet. It can often seem slightly daunting, with almost no tooltips to explain many of the key elements. The overall feeling and design of the Ui just seems clunky too, considering the amount of time the game has been in Early Access and the amount of updates it has received, you would expect the Ui to be a little more refined, unfortunately that isn’t the case… and it even goes as far as to include many basic Unity (game engine) menus.
The main issue I have with the current state of JA:Flashback would be it’s general lack of depth. However, this could be expected from an Early Access title. The game just doesn’t have the depth or content at the moment to warrant a long playtime, which is rather disappointing considering the amount of time I have spent in previous iterations of the series.At the moment, the story is not complete, and there simply isn’t enough missions if anyone hopes to sink long periods of time into this game.
However, there are many good aspects of JA:Flashback that make me feel optimistic about the games future. All the core elements are here, they are present in the game… and to some extent they are great, it’s just the fact that they aren’t completed and will need a big makeover. Combat is tense, as it should be. The story is campy, but interesting, along with some interesting characters (although they aren’t going to win any awards for dialogue anytime soon). And in general, the game has a significant vibe of… ‘Good, but could be better’. Almost every aspect will warrant the same reply, ‘Good, but could be better’… and if you’re willing to risk $39.99 (£29.99) on it, then please don’t expect a finalized masterpiece. But it does feel like it’s one step closer, with each big update.
The Freelance Critic 