Jagged Alliance - the ultimate sight and sound extravaganza that combines strategy with incredible role-playing action is now available on the DS! Jagged Alliance DS is the much awaited introduction of the award winning Jagged Alliance franchise on the Nintendo DS. Desperately you are called to the island of Metavira by scientists Jack Richards and his lovely daughter Brenda. You hear of their plight - the Fallow tree, its precious, medicinal sap on which countless lives depend, is under the control of the evil and traitorous Santino. With most of the island already in his grasp, you must hand-pick a commando force of renegade mercenaries and take back the island by force.

User Reviews about Jagged Alliance

Jagged Alliance is probably not for everyone but I really enjoyed playing through to the end, a feat that took a good month or so. This game certainly isn't easy, nor would I say it is particularly "fun". If you're like me though and you enjoyed games like Front Mission then this game will be a good choice. If you try this game, read the manual. There is a lot you can do and it isn't the most intuitive game out there. I almost gave up playing until I realized I had to move to the edge of the screen and traverse into enemy territory. Once you figure that out, it's on like Donkey Kong. Oh and you can create items but you have to put them in your characters right hand and then combine the items, same way you add scopes and silencers to your gun. I also recommend reading the FAQ for the PC version of Jagged Alliance as the games are very similar. -- A Pretty Unique Experience if You've Never Played the OG

I'm thrilled that there is still community interest in this beautiful franchise. I think perhaps a bit more attention to detail may have made this into a springboard towards more of the same, but as such I think this game is a bit lacking, mainly because of the overly simplistic gameplay and the failings of the control system. I realize Jagged Alliance 1 is very old, and the graphics were redone quite well. Unfortunately, I find myself advancing in a brute force firing line, and wondering what is happening (i.e. What blocked my shot? How close should I be with this gun? Is this cover effective at all?). The tactical aspects of the world map work quite well, but in a tactical combat game the combat is key and I think we have come to (and should) expect more from this. A little modernizing would have gone a long way. -- A stumble in the right direction.

I've been hoping to see JA come out on the DS ever since the DS Phat first came out, so am really excited about this game. I played the original on the PC back in the day, and enjoyed it then, but JA2 came out before I explored JA1 very much. Now I get the chance to do that.

The Good: This is a fun turn-based strategy game, so if you like turn-based strategy games, you'll like this one. The mercenaries are what makes it so fun. Each has a personality, and they come out during gameplay.

The Bad: Some nitpicks. Inventory management is somewhat of a pain, when compared to more recent games, including JA2. Merc replies get repetitive when you are searching sectors for loot.

Finally, I realize that this is a port of a PC game, which would make it really difficult to do, but wish that the programmers could have somehow figured out how to put the manual on the cartridge. I had to carry it around with me for the first couple of days before I was comfortable with how to access controls and do other things. When you get this game, Read The Friggin' Manual before you start to play. It comes in handy. -- Awesome game, but RTFM!!

If you were expecting Jagged Alliance 2 this is not it. I know the box art is misleading, but the name of the game is Jagged Alliance DS not Jagged Alliance 2 DS. Even the actual box art is only similar to the PC version of Jagged Alliance. If you have only played Jagged Alliance 2 (JA2) or if JA2 is your favorite then you might be let down by this game like the other reviewer.

Now that this is all sorted, how does this game play? Well it plays just like Jagged Alliance and that is a bad thing ONLY if you didn't like the first one on the PC. Personally, I liked the first JA. JA2 is a deeper game and I might like JA2 more, but I still like my JA. If JA2 was out for the DS now, I might say get it JA2 over JA. However, JA is a great game in its own right.

Good:

+ True to the original. This is the most important part, there weren't any shortcut taken with porting this game over
+ Voice clips from the original made it in the game. Not a huge deal, but nice
+ I am having a good time playing it

Bad
-Using the stylus can cause mistakes if you are not careful. I have forgotten to "clear" my command and wound up moving people when I don't mean to. 99% of the time it works if you are careful. You can also use the d-pad and buttons to move your people if you would like.

If you have never played JA or JA2, game movement is real time unless there are enemies in the area and then it becomes turn based until they have been eliminated from the area.

Similar to:

The old X-COM games
Fallout 1/2 (the combat is anyway)
Rebelstar on the Gameboy Advance -- Nice port