Hired Guns: The Jagged Edge.
Matrix Games / GFI. PC game. $39.99 (physical) $29.99 (download)

Passed Inspection: Hollywood-style gun battles for the turn-based fan.

Failed Inspection: Strange line-of-sight issues. Out-of-shape mercenaries.

When the sun finally sets on a free Diamond Coast, the player is left with the warm glow that comes from playing a good game.

Long ago, in the golden past of computer gaming, Sir Tech Software published a phenomenal game called Jagged Alliance. In the game, the player hired a colorful band of mercenaries to take back a Caribbean island from an evil dictator. That was 1994. Fifteen years later, the game is back … well, sort of.

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Hired Guns: The Jagged Edge, published by Matrix Games, is not only a spiritual successor to Jagged Alliance, it borrows directly from it. The result is a game that imitates rather than innovates, but it is still a great deal of fun. For gamers who want all the action of a good gunfight, without the need for lightning reflexes, this turn-based game is well worth a look.

The venue for Hired Guns is the imaginary country of Diamond Coast in Africa. The player is hired by a banished opposition leader to topple the evil dictator who rules the country. The player, that proverbial mercenary with a heart of gold, takes up this mission by hiring and equipping mercenaries from the IMA, or International Mercenary Association.

Using a faux internet terminal, the player connects to the IMA to hire a small band of mercenaries from a selection of 30 colorful characters. All of them have distinct personalities and usually throw a characteristic quip the player’s way now and then. Eventually these characters do grow on the player, but hammy voice acting and ungainly grammar tend to keep the happy band of mercs at arms length from the player’s heart.

Like any good RPG, all of the characters have a set of key statistics that govern how well they fight and interact with non-player characters. Ratings for agility, accuracy, dexterity, strength, leadership, medical and explosives skill make up the characters’ persona. The player can also create a personal character using a series of questions to determine his characteristics.

Once the player has an initial team, he has to equip them, a mini-game in itself. There is a huge variety of weapons and ammunition, all lovingly detailed. The weapons are rated for characteristics like range, firepower, rate of fire, ammunition capacity, and even recoil. Attachments such as silencers and laser sights are also available.

Matching a merc with a weapon requires thought; the game is realistic in portraying what characters can carry. One or two rifles, a hundred rounds of ammo, a pistol and some grenades will be enough for all except the strongest characters. So, players should spend some time deciding the merits of giving a favorite merc a combat shotgun with buckshot or an AK-47 with armor-piercing rounds. Give a merc with high accuracy a sniper rifle, but for those with good strength, a grenade launcher might be the best fit. Body armor, a good knife and few first aid kits will round out a well-prepared merc’s kit.

The best weapons only become available as the game progresses. Frequent trips to the on-line arms store, and sweeps of bodies after a battle, keep your troops equipped with the best hardware. Some of the more exotic weapons, like the SVD sniper rifle, have hard-to-find ammo, and often the player finds himself choosing a mediocre weapon with plentiful ammo just to appease the logistics gods.

The game is played at two levels, strategic and tactical. The strategic map plays real-time but pauses during key events. On this map, the player groups his mercenaries into one or more squads, distributes arms and ammo, and dispatches the squads to the various regions of the country. If enemy troops are present, the player can go into tactical mode to fight for control of the region.

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