Free Agent: Jagged Alliance Online

GameSpy's Free Agent is your advance recon into the world of free-to-play games. His mission: jump into a free game every week and put in some hours to see how much fun can be had without spending a cent, then try out some paid items to see if they're worth the asking price. This week Free Agent is deployed to the island of Arulco to wage guerrilla war in Jagged Alliance Online -- but is it a pay-to-win quagmire?


The Jagged Alliance brand of turn-based tactical gameplay isn't a bad fit for the free-to-play model. Cranking out a continuous stream of new maps, mercenaries, and weapons offers plenty of free and premium fodder. But if you want to make good on that promise and see everything Jagged Alliance Online has to offer without spending a dime, be prepared for a serious grind. (It plays in your browser here.)

No Money Down

For veterans of past tours on Arulco, the core of Jagged Alliance Online will feel familiar enough. You hire mercenaries to limited contracts, several of whom, like Arnold-wannabe Steroid, are carried over from previous games. However, the non-linear strategy map is gone, replaced by a progressive series of freely accessible story-based missions in which you chase down an unidentified forces who attacked your base camp.

Zooming into one of those missions initiates the classic style of turn-based combat, where each mercenary spends Action Points for movement and attacks each round. Accuracy is extremely important, as it's possible to target different body parts, with the head being both the hardest to hit and the most rewarding. Not surprisingly, snipers are a valuable commodity in Jagged Alliance Online.



Every one of the 60-some mercs can be hired to three-day contracts (in real time) using in-game cash, and since Jagged Alliance Online starts you out with some jingle in your pockets, you can hire freely at first. The hidden cost is in the contract renewal, which can cost upwards of $60,000 of in-game cash for a level 25 character. For perspective, mission payouts only yield about $9,000 in rewards, and grinding for cash is heavily discouraged. Just replaying one mission requires oil, which is a the time-based currency, plus money to heal injured soldiers, and still more money to repair degraded items. As such, it's incredibly difficult to maintain a stable of more than one or two mercenaries over the long haul.

I found the smarter tactic as a free player is to maintain one high-level mercenary (in tandem with the main player character, who is free) and put all my resources into him, who will in turn be more than a match for any NPC. That's because, as it is right now, the combat AI just isn't that smart. Enemy NPCs' favorite tactic is to stand in the open and fire, which means they can be quickly dispatched by even junk-level free weapons. Later on the bad guys get tougher, thanks to body armor and other more advanced equipment, but higher-level mercenaries can still bring them down quickly with a well-placed headshot. Compared to the original games (and Jagged Alliance: Back in Action), the margin for error is much greater here -- and even a stone-dead mercenary can be revived with a $1,000 defibrillator. Put enough points into one weapon, and maybe a few into resilience to keep from dying from a headshot, and you'll be fine.


Player-versus-player, however, is another story. Bounty Hunter (race to kill a target), Search and Destroy (destroy the enemy targets while protecting your own), and traditional Deathmatch are freely accessible, but free gamers are at a disadvantage. Interestingly, it's not necessarily the weapons that are unbalanced -- though additional range and accuracy can make all the difference in a pitched match -- but rather the specialized ammo, which brings +60 percent damage modifiers to the table. Of course, a high-level sniper with one of the higher-accuracy premium weapons can plug one of your mercs in the head before you can even blink. It's not like everyone is running around with this kind of gear, but be prepared to be outclassed by those who are willing to dole out some cash.

Insert Coin

As of right now, Jagged Alliance Online's premium content is mainly limited to premium weapons, ammo, insta-heals, and permanent mercenary contracts. There are no vanity items or weapons yet, and the regular campaign and player-versus-player modes can be accessed in their entirety by both free-to-play and premium players. The shop items are mainly around to offer a leg-up and reduce the day-to-day grind, and in that capacity, they are extremely tempting.


The mercenaries in particular would be hard to resist if they weren't so pricey. For instance, a lifetime contract with Buns, a sniper that starts at level five, costs a whopping $15. But she'll do her best to earn it: drop her in with your player character and one additional temp merc and you're set for the rest of the game. Given the huge burden of the mercenary contracts at the later stages of the game, even one permanent contract is a huge advantage, as it frees up precious capital for buying new weapons and other issues.

It also means a lot for PvP, as it's possible to bring up to four squad members into a match. Having one or two members under permanent contract means that they can actually be leveled up, rather than dismissed and reset to their original level next time you scrape together enough cash to rehire them. Free-to-play users can do the same, but only if they play a large number of missions over the course of the three-day window, which is really tough given the limitations imposed by time-based currencies and all the rest.


Really, beyond a certain point, spending money is a necessity in PvP. It's less necessary in the campaign, but permanent contracts sure do remove a lot of headaches. Of course, old-line Jagged Alliance fans will probably welcome the challenge.

Free or Flee?

Once you understand the basics, Jagged Alliance Online is enjoyable on a mission-to-mission basis, which figures given how much it borrowed from the original game. For genre newbies, the mandatory tutorial is a solid enough introduction, even if it does little to prepare you for the reality of playing long-term. For example, the immense cost of renewing mercenary contracts is only apparent after blowing a bunch of cash on weapons, ammo, healing items, and temporary mercenary contracts. And it's sure painful to be stuck with three expired contracts and know that two mercs worth of progress are about to go down the drain. For those of you thinking about dropping $15 on a permanent merc contract, keep in mind that Jagged Alliance 2 is only $10 over on GOG.com.


Spy Guy says: After more than 10 years, we finally get two Jagged Alliance revivals. So which one has you more excited? The free-to-play brower game or Kalypso's real-time remake Back in Action?