Conclusion:

Those dedicated fans that grew up loving and playing these old-school games were probably thrilled to discover that despite all the legal problems, someone was willing to continue the story that made "Jagged Alliance" famous. Hired Guns: The Jagged Edge brings the amazing gameplay up to date with new visuals and a better engine, but numerous bugs cripple an otherwise exciting concept, and cause this title to look like nothing more than a lone survivor of a dying breed.

Gameplay: 67

Transition from real-time to turn-based mode is challenging by its very nature and requires the gamer to be on constant alert to detect enemy troops before they are within striking distance and capable of taking the initiative. Unfortunately the tactical mode is much more difficult than it should be, due to severe aiming issues, lack of precision and unrealistically resilient opponents which makes the entire gaming experience a bit frustrating.

Graphics: 73

The visual effects are nothing to shout for but there is little room for complaints either, because overall the graphics deliver a decent environment, and fairly good animations, but the cinematics are way below what you'd expect from a 21^st century computer game. Too bad there are no weather effects and the missions won't take place during the night, so there is very little variation regarding meteorological conditions.

Sounds: 64

There are just a couple of themes playing in the background, neither of them being impressive so the fact that it repeats itself over and over again is not helpful, while voice acting are simply atrocious. During the actual combat the game sounds just fine, guns being fired create the appropriate noise as well as the enemy and friendly troops sneaking behind a tree or swarming through the lush jungle.

Multiplayer: N/A

Hardware: 72