I'm really tempted by the Steam deal. Does anyone else here have Hired Guns? I've heard of so many problems - most notably the difficulty IIRC. Have these been fixed? Are there any notable mods by the community?

I remember that vanilla was pretty lousy. I can't say much about the patches though, perhaps they make the game playable. But i'm a JA fan, and i accept no imitations. ;)
The mods are here.
If anyone played this one fully patched, i'd be interested in knowing, if the game is actually good now, too. :)

What about the other JA-like games?
I remember seeing Hired Guns, Brigade E5, 7.62 High Calibre and others... but was never quite convinced enough to buy any of them.
I'm assuming they don't live up to the high standards set by JA2?

Wait till you see XCOM and X-COM.

Things like that do annoy me too...
I mean, I played Alone in the Dark many times, but haven't played Alone in the Dark...
In much the same way that I tried many times to complete Prince of Persia, and yet I've never played Prince of Persia.