Making The Cut: Jagged Alliance Online
Emerging from the jungles of Cologne is news of a classic PC series getting a reboot. Jagged Alliance is back as a browser based tactical MMO. And yes, there's I can hear the sigh from here, even before I've published the story. But abstractly, this is the sort of game which could transfer interestingly across and - hey! - at least it's turn based. There's little details and certainly no screenshots I can find, but looking at the feature list one of the more interesting ideas is that as well as managing your own mercenary company, you can rent out your carefully trained troops to your friends to help them out. I'm going to publish the whole press release below, as there's so few details and you'll probably want to pick over them yourself, but if you're really interested you can register for a chance of getting into its closed beta.
Jagged Alliance Online: a classic game returns
Hamburg, August 18, 2010 – An online version of the classic game Jagged Alliance will be released in 2011. Today bitComposer Games and gamigo announced that development of the browser-based tactical MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game) has begun. Jagged Alliance Online will follow the same basic principle as its predecessors, keeping the popular mixture of tactics, strategy, role-play and management and transferring it to a modern MMO world. The game is being developed by Cliffhanger Productions and is a cooperation between bitComposer Games and gamigo.
Jagged Alliance Online will be built around the familiar Jagged Alliance games mechanics, which are a mixture of turn-based battles and real-time action. The player takes control of a group of soldiers, commanding them from an isometric perspective to complete tasks in order to earn cash as well as renown. If a player wants to stay on top, mercenaries will need to be trained and equipped with better weapons. If that's not quite enough, then mercenaries can be borrowed from friends or alliances can be formed with other players.
"The Jagged Alliance series is a cult classic and an online version has been on gamigo's wishlist for a while now," said Patrick Streppel, executive board member at gamigo. "So we're all the more excited to have the global rights to this exciting project and will do everything in our power to live up to fans' expectations!"
"We looked very hard for the right partner for this project and we're confident that this partnership lays the foundation for long-lasting cooperation," said Oliver Neupert, CEO of bitComposer Games. "gamigo has many years of experience publishing browser-based online games and thus is the ideal partner for us to ensure a successful international launch of Jagged Alliance Online."
Visitors to this year's gamescom will have the opportunity to register for beta testing of Jagged Alliance Online at gamigo's booth in hall 9.2, booth C-36.
Fans can stay up-to-date on all the latest developments on the official website and the all-new Facebook page.
You can find details about bitComposer Games products as www.bit-composer.com. Information about the Jagged Alliance series can be found at www.jaggedalliance.com