Discovering a Legend

MMORPG.com:

Can you tell us about the strategy in Jagged Alliance? What is it like from a player perspective?

bitComposer:

The strategy in Jagged Alliance Online is a lot like the strategy from the old Jagged Alliance games from the 90s. The game still consists of two layers of gameplay: First of all you've got the tactical map where you have to accomplish various different mission objectives using the mercs and their abilities to their full potential. You decide where they go and what they do, for example whether you flank your enemies or try a frontal assault. Top strategists will be able to earn some extra cash by completing special mission achievements like finishing a map only using pistols. And then you have an additional meta layer where you hire and fire mercenaries, upgrade your headquarters and accept some of the contracts you are offered. Here you have to choose an overall strategy for your company and how you want to evolve it.

MMORPG.com:

How does a player pick up missions in the game?

bitComposer:

From their headquarters, players can access the world map where all available contracts are displayed. A contract is a series of 3 to 8 missions that are connected by a story. As each of these missions builds upon the missions before. They have to be played in order, but if you want to you can return to a mission you already completed as many times as you want.

MMORPG.com:

Tell us about the game map? It seems to cover a lot of ground.

bitComposer:

Players can accept contracts from all over the world covering a wide variety of locales. While a contract is always set in a specific region, the mission environments in one contract are different from each other. For example, a contract on the west coast of the United States takes you from the dark streets of a city at nighttime to a hideout in the countryside and ends in a junkyard full of wrecked cars.

MMORPG.com:

What can players do in terms of their characters? How can they customize?

bitComposer:

Your mercenaries have more than 10 different skills representing their physical characteristics and their abilities using different kinds of weapons. You can distribute the skill points you get for every level-up freely in these categories. Apart from that, you can customize your mercenaries by equipping them with different gear, armor and weapons. This will not only affect their stats but also their appearance.

MMORPG.com:

Can you tell us about some of your favorite parts of the game?

bitComposer:

As a long-time fan of the Jagged Alliance franchise, you'll feel right at home in Jagged Alliance Online. The game captures all the things that made the franchise such a hit with the fans, like the tactically challenging turn-based combat or the tongue-in-cheek humor, and combines them with great graphics, improved accessibility and a modern interface. You get to take all of your favorite mercenaries back to the combat and pit them against a sophisticated AI that is powered by special AI servers to provide you with a worthy opponent instead of just cannon fodder. And let's not forget the environments in the game, which are totally amazing. The maps for the missions have been created with an absolutely stunning attention to detail.

MMORPG.com:

What plans do you have for Jagged Alliance in the near future?

bitComposer:

Jagged Alliance Online will be released in the first quarter of 2012 with more than 100 PvE missions and a PvP mode featuring diverse winning conditions and sometimes additional NPC enemies to increase the tension. Among the features we are planning to introduce after the launch is a co-op mode that lets you tackle some of the most difficult mission objectives with your friends.