Here Come the Linux Games! JAGGED ALLIANCE 2 FIONN BEHRENS

063ja2sbd.qxd 29.06.2001 16:52 Uhr Seite 63 JAGGED ALLIANCE 2 COVER FEATURE Here come the Linux games! JAGGED ALLIANCE 2 FIONN BEHRENS The Canadian company Tribsoft has gone to the manual. After starting the installation program, you trouble of converting the game to Linux, which has are met with a simple shell script which has four in turn been brought to us by Titan, among others. installation variants, requiring between 305 and The game itself is almost more complex than the 850MB of space on the hard disk. And yet, story of its development – but let’s start at considering the free-of-charge, easy-to-use the beginning. installation tool, a somewhat more click-friendly Whenever there is a TV report about distant installation wouldn’t have hurt. This game looks set to countries, in which dictators are oppressing people The instructions come in the form of a 50-page, become a classic on by the thousand this all somehow seems very far illustrated booklet, which gives a comprehensive away. Anyway, there’s nothing you can do about it. introduction to all aspects of the game. Especially useful Linux computers. With Jagged Alliance 2 deals with just such a country. at the beginning is the short reference on the first three JA2, Sirtech has come An evil tyrant named Deidranna is keeping the pages of the instructions, because there are quite a lot small, poverty-stricken country of Arulco enslaved of functions and keys to memorise. The objective of the up with a hitherto with great harshness and in dire conditions, and she game – liberation of the country piece by piece, gaining unknown but successful is also squeezing the last drops from her tormented new confederates, money and sources of raw materials subjects, in order to spend the money thus – can only be achieved, even at the easiest level of the mixture of action game obtained on the army and her game, with brains and hard work. and strategy terrorist state. After the intro sequence, the extremely The former ruler, long believed dead, is in hiding homespun graphics with a skimpy, unalterable simulation, which has abroad and commissions you, as an experienced resolution of 640x480, seems more than a little won the hearts of many mercenary, to liberate the land from its ruler with unpleasant. But as we all know, strategy games hired troops. To do this, you receive precisely 40,000 often are not primarily defined by their graphics. So, gamers, and not dollars start-up capital. This whole process is packed if you aren’t put of by this glitch, you will soon find without good reason; into a very well-made and very long out that JA2 is a game whose playing levels set new introductory film. standards for Linux software. its predecessor, Jagged The game comes in a typical DVD plastic case, On the other hand it would be unfair to Jagged Alliance, was named whose hard plastic holder does not exactly Alliance to force it into the strategy games mollycoddle the CD, which is clamped in so hard as pigeonhole. Even if you would like to think that in 1995 strategy game of to be bomb-proof. It is only on closer inspection the end all computer games come down either to the year. that you discover the second CD, which is necessary someone racing around somewhere and chasing for installation, in a paper cover hidden behind the something or some kind of resources being Figure 1: The comprehensive intro film describes the situation at the start of the game. 11 · 2001 LINUX MAGAZINE 63 063ja2sbd.qxd 29.06.2001 16:52 Uhr Seite 64 COVER FEATURE JAGGED ALLIANCE 2 Figure 2: The ”SirOS” Laptop: managed somewhere far above – Jagged Alliance action forward each time minor stages and game Whether email, Web or offers both and more, although with the emphasis objectives are achieved and thus support and finances - this helps. on strategy. In fact, this successful combination of steer the player in their task. large-scale strategy and direct contact with the Many additional elements enlarge the variation detailed handling of role-playing elements has options almost to infinity – so you can construct defined its own, new genre. your own implements from individual components The game primarily runs on four levels: and combine these in turn with up to four others. • The first of these is the laptop. This links the Ingredients such as chewing gum, steel piping, player with a virtual Internet, in which you can do super glue and the like are used here. So no such things as obtain information, buy arms, hire problem adorning your own favourite cannon with URLs mercenaries and send emails. For the medium a bit of DIY with laser pointers, tripod, aiming Sirtech term, an indispensable aid. telescope and range extenders – McGyver says hi. http://www.sirtech.com/ • Then there is a sort of complete overview, in which Of course, at the beginning, due to the low Tribsoft you can determine the composition of the groups amount of start-up capital, there is no change of http://www.tribsoft.com/store. of mercenaries, map out routes and switch to all hiring an army of top class fighters. What you have html other overviews. But the map in this overview has to do, given the resources, is to buy and to plan Titan http://www.titan- an over-ground and also three underground levels, tactics carefully and circumspectly. The first contacts computer.com all of which you have to keep an eye on. will occur shortly with the scattered rebels, • Thirdly, a sort of action mode, in which when supporting them in the first instance with advice ■ there is contact with the enemy you have to send and deeds, and soon with people, too. Later the your fighters one after the other to face the citizens of Arulco will also be joining up and training opponent in best role-playing tradition. Each as militiamen and allowing their mines to be mercenary also has, as in a role-playing game, exploited for the good cause, so that then at last quite specific characteristics and strengths, the the much-needed money comes into the treasury. type and quality of which jointly determine the Each individual mercenary and militiaman has Evaluation: outcome of each round of fighting. This is a an individual set of equipment, with which, Long-term playing fun: 90% mode where good tactics are especially necessary depending on his special abilities he can repair other Graphics: 35% otherwise you will soon lose a few valuable people’s armour, open locks, heal the casualties or Sound: 80% comrades. build things - and much more besides. This is Control: 85% •At the fourth level there are the steadily somewhere that the patient player can open up Multiplayer: 0% interspersed inter-sequences, which move the endless prospects for optimisation. Even the good Originality 90% Complexity: 95% Overall rating: 80% Figure 3: There’s a nice loading image for all key scenarios. 64 LINUX MAGAZINE 11 · 2001 063ja2sbd.qxd 29.06.2001 16:52 Uhr Seite 65 JAGGED ALLIANCE 2 COVER FEATURE Figure 4: Strategic and personal decisions take place in the global overview and on the virtual laptop. Figure 5: The action mode - right in the thick of it, whether a rebel pub or Deidranna’s human experimentation clinic. organisation of a simple contact with the enemy Lastly, the successful integration of the various with some well thought-out series of moves and game levels give Jagged Alliance 2 that certain well-distributed people can easily take half an hour. something. You can change completely naturally Thankfully the game has a function up its sleeve, for from the tactical overview to the action mode, impatient colleagues who prefer to concentrate on never getting the feeling of overlooking something global events, to dice automatically for entire or losing perspective. Whenever things get tight, enemy encounters. you can stop the game time and decide at leisure The sound is well done and finely adjusted to whatever needs deciding. And the fact that the the events – noises always come from where they fight actions are term-based also means that you are created, the background music is unobtrusive don’t have to worry that your opponent might drill but not boring, although now and then it does you a new hole in your hat while you’re pondering stutter a bit. But to compensate, JA2 also the next step. supports ESD of its own accord. This means that any system sounds or your own favourite music Conclusion can be listened to alongside the game on any old sound card. This game could keep you occupied for a month. In this game, we sorely missed the option of Although from a technical point of view the game multi-player scenarios. It is precisely in the domain sometimes seems outdated and the paltry resolution of strategy games with non–linear time sequences cannot be described as anything but anachronistic that others have shown that such a thing is easily Tribsoft, by converting it to Linux, – if you overlook possible and can also be highly entertaining. The the Spartan installation and a few memory leaks, the fact that this option is missing is something that correction of which is already in progress – has come must be chalked up as a big minus point. up with a solid and tidy product. No obvious bugs or A game of this kind of complexity does of crashes occurred during our test. course also require a high-class interface for From the point of view of game playing, this operation.

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