Jagged Alliance: Rage! Announced

THQ Nordic announces Jagged Alliance: Rage!, a new installment in the turn-based tactics series coming to Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One this fall. This will be the first game published under their HandyGames label which they say "will act as an independent publisher, focussing on small and mid-sized projects or 3rd-party indie games." Word is: "In Jagged Alliance: Rage! you are constantly on the brink of breakdown. Badly equipped and outnumbered, it's up to the player to lead their seasoned mercenaries in tactical turn-based missions and to light the spark of a revolution." Here's a trailer showing off cinematics and gameplay, and the Jagged Alliance website (https://jaggedalliance.com/) is updated to support the new game. Here's the announcement:

[i]Jagged Alliance is back – With a new take on turn-based tactics, adventure elements and the well-known quirky mercenaries! Set 20 years after the first Jagged Alliance, this spin-off lets you experience a road trip into a jungle hell to test your mind and body to the limits!
This time it’s just you and a few allies versus an entire island ruled by a drug overlord and his crazed army.[/i]

The Features:

2 Player online co-op mode
Deep turn-based tactical gameplay mixed with adventure elements
Choose a variety of tactics ranging from stealth to brute force
Strong character personalities with own skills, desires and personal conflicts
Rage skills: Unique character abilities that get more powerful over the course of the battle
Powerful Commanders coordinate enemy troops on the battlefields
Face terrifying experimental drugs and use them to manipulate your enemies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEBUerJ5NMQ

Sounds not too terrible, but looks like crap (of the mobile-oriented sort)?

I've got to wonder - that game looks *so* terrible in that graphics style, is it because nothing else is available? I mean, the graphics from JA2 would be a significant improvement over that, if nothing were changed except perhaps scaling it to fit modern resolutions natively. Can it really be that the older art style of JA2 is harder to do than whatever that atrocity was? I mean, it looks like the first-generation 3D games from the mid 1990s.

It's absolutely true that graphics aren't everything but those are so bad it looks like it's a joke. Made me want to double check the calendar to ensure today's not 1 April.

The humorous and comical cut-scenes remind me of Team Fortress. It's not great but it's also not a tragedy. The original series had many funny moments. What looks really bad is the actual gameplay. JA2 in 1999 had better animations than this. Looks like we'll get another crappy installment of the series.

THQ Nordic referring to it as a "spin-off" is curious though.

I'll adopt a cautious wait and see.

Unless they are going to do something with the background characters featured in JA2 they would be better off imo rebranding a name, but then I guess the JA name will attract a lot more fans on it's own then a new title.

Rage, huh? Fitting.

Better direct link.

Well, for JA, graphics are least significant thing. Ja2 with 1.13 still rocks... Also, Linux?!