Jagged Alliance 3 Review (Steam)

by Jim Smale · Published August 21, 2023 · Updated August 18, 2023

For our Jagged Alliance 3 Review, where The country of Grand Chien is thrown into chaos when the elected president goes missing and the paramilitary force known as “the Legion” seizes control. Hire mercs, meet interesting characters, and fight in tactically deep turn-based combat in this true successor to a beloved franchise.

Jagged Alliance 3 Review Pros:

Decent graphics.
14.65GB Download size.
Steam achievements.
Full controller support.
Graphics settings – fullscreen mode, resolution, v-sync, graphics adaptor, frame rate limit, brightness slider, and ui aspect ratio, graphics preset, anti-aliasing, resolution percent, shadows, textures, anisotropy, terrain, effects, and lights.
Multiplayer settings – friends only, with modes, no mods, and join by code.
Full mod manager.
The forgiving mode will make the game a bit easier with health regent etc.
Three actual difficulties – first blood, commando, and mission impossible.
Dead is dead mode is an option that saves after every choice and every death.
To the bitter end, the option doesn’t allow you to save during combat.
Excellent voice work.
Tongue-in-cheek humor throughout.
Strategy action gameplay.
Cutscenes are a mix of FMV and in-game interactions.
Can skip cutscenes.
At the start of the game, you have to pick your team and contact them to see if they will join, not all will.
The mouse cursor is controlled with the left stick.
You start the game and deal with missions and backend systems using a faux computer interface.
Fast loading times.
Turn-based combat and you can swap between units at will.
Out of combat, you are free to walk around.
Handy button to highlight and move the squad as one unit but you can break them off separately.
When aiming you can choose which body part to hit, which body part is showing or you can do free aim.
Three stances – standing, crouched, and prone. Affects accuracy and Stealth.
You can do stealth kills and use the scenery to hide and shoot.
Melee and ranged weapons.
Full inventory management and you can give items to other units instantly.
Shortcut menu options.
The satellite view allows you to give travel orders and skirmish options.
Different weather types along with day and night.
Button icons show on the screen.
Click a button to show all Interactive points on the screen.
The help screen acts as a tutorial library.
Encounters are varied and can be as in-depth or as fluid as you like.
Generally, the ai does a good job of playing like a real gamer.
You do get tutorial pop-ups at times.
A lot of comical dogs in action movies and current affairs.
Very difficult regardless of game difficulty.
There is a friendly fire that can be comical.
When you go to do a move you will see an outline of where you will be.
You get hit and damage percentages.
Beautiful looking locations.
Multiple choice encounters.

Jagged Alliance 3 Review Cons:

Cannot rebind controls for either the controller or the mouse and keyboard.
No benchmark test.
Doesn’t offer a colorblind option.
The tutorial pop-ups are less than ideal.
Doing basic actions is very clunky with the controller.
The controller is not the best way to play and I ditched it for the mouse and keyboard.
Can be hard to see the enemy at times.
Some of the dialogue is pure cheese.
It just takes so long to get to the point where you feel comfortable.
Small text in a lot of places.

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