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Rating: 
Summary: It'll get you through the game
Review: As a long time JA and now JA2 fan I was only somewhat pleased with this lacluster effort by Mr. Farkas. There are several good strategies on how to apporach sectors, what items to combine, and what merc's make a good team. There is about 100 pages too many about the history of each character and the game.
Rating: 
Summary: Save your money and use it to search the net for guides...
Review: This title has very little going for it, and as a result isn't worth buying unless you are a complete newbie with no internet savvy to find better guides on the internet. Following is a list of pros and cons on the guide, broken up into two parts, 1: Strats and Stats and 2: Walkthrough:In part 1, the guide is far from comprehensive, and sometimes even goes to the extent of omitting critically important information. Also missing is a section detailing the inner workings of the game and its mechanics, which would go a long way toward helping gamers enjoy the game to its fullest. Chapter One (mercenary stats and profiles) is incomplete in that it does not distinguish between normal and expert proficiencies in skills; therefore Bull, a mercenary, who has hand-to-hand (expert) as his skill, is listed as having only hand-to-hand. The character descriptions are intended to be colourful rather than definitive, and more importantly, do not indicate "psycho" personalities, which can greatly affect one's opinion of that mercenary. Also missing is a "like" list in contrast to the "hate" list. Chapter Three and Four contradict each other with respect to the Crepitus enemies. Chapter Three states that more detailed information on the Crepitus, such as breakdowns on their type, stats and armament, is available in Chapter Four, but no such information is available, save a paragraph or two that really doesn't answer any questions. Other than that, there are no stats or at least stat ranges for the different types of enemy soldiers and bloodcats. Chapter Five is the one with the most glaring and unforgivable or errors. First off is the presentation of the equipment data: all weapons and armour are described as whole categories, not individually, and their data is confusingly presented in a table that raises questions more frequently than it answers them. For example, the AP cost to fire the weapon should be reflected in the table, and not the number of rounds that it can fire in four rounds. Secondly, there are serious errors in the text, though I am sure the author knows they are mistakes: the Automag III is mistaken for the Glock 18, the M870 for the M79 and the thrown grenades have some of their types mixed up. 40mm grenade rounds are not even given a passing mention, and the CAWS gives 50 points of damage on one page and 40 points on the next. Some of these errors are actually corrected in the second part of the guide, which goes to show that it was put together rather shoddily. Explosives like TNT, RDX and C1 and mines and detonators are skipped entirely and valuable information on gun attachments are given a passing mention. There is no information on how to combine items or an explanation on what each item does in the game (only the most important ones are mentioned). Ammunition is also very loosely dealt with; no lowdowns on AP, Ball and HP ammunition, and possible locations and availability of equipment is also given a miss. In part 2, the walkthrough is designed to get one to the endgame in a fast and direct manner. It does not deviate from this path to tell one about all the game has to offer, but instead tells you how to do most of the quests and then get straight to Meduna to defeat Deidranna. In short, the details follow:- -- there is no map/walkthrough for the Tixa basement and secret level -- Shank is not listed as an NPC and the fact that Estoni can be a refueling point is given only a passing mention -- the scientist Madlab and his robot have been completely omitted -- there is no walkthrough for the hillbillies farm sector -- three Meduna sectors are skipped in the walkthrough because you can skip them and still win the game -- special solutions to quests are not mentioned, like the mustard gas kill, Maria helicopter rescue and buying 2 hummers for the price of one, either because they are bugs or the author is unaware of them Generally speaking, the guide is lacking in the explanation of the game's mechanics like calculating accuracy, action, healing and repair points, and what triggers the availability of equipment through the various arms and equipment dealers. There are very little hard facts and figures available, and what little is available is sometimes even incorrect. The guide also doesn't list the changes in the game through the various patches and how they affect gameplay. Great secrets and tips like the the duplication of items and a random secret cache in M9 or an alternative POW sector in N7 are also not mentioned. What the guide does have going for it is this: it has an accurate Q&A section for the IMP quiz and explains the inner workings of the mercenary generation process correctly (but it doesn't mention the "90210" load function), and it tells one how to recruit Terry the terrorist, which is something even the internet hasn't mentioned. Overall, the disappointment that this guide is can be explained in one or more of three ways: (1) Bart Farkas is a poor choice of author for this game; maybe another person could have done better, (2) another publisher, possibly Prima, may have done a better job with this, since they usually pay much more attention to game mechanics and statistics, and/or (3) Sirtech/Talonsoft deliberately withheld useful data on the game (unlikely in my opinion).
Rating:
Summary: Conspicuous by its absence...
Review: While it is true that this book does leave a lot of the detail on the game out, it is useful for some things. It does give detailed information on the Mercs that you would otherwise have to look up in the game itself (a tedious and multi-click operation). The book is thick on statistics and maps. There's lot of 'background' information given for characters and quests. However, what is left out is glaringly conspicous by its absence... I disagree heartedly with many of the so-called 'walkthroughs'. You try some of these strategies and you'll be doing it the hard way and putting lots of soldiers in bodybags. Night ops are completely left out of discussions. And leaving out such things as the Hick quest is unforgiveable (get up on the roof of the storage building and picking off enemies is a good way to handle them, BTW). I'm still glad I bought this book as I like having printed out sources of information with pictures. But find good strat guides on the Internet such as Patusco's strategy guide for Jagged Alliance 2 as well. Jagged Alliance is an addictive and incredible game, but it can be as hard as heck, you'll need all the help you can get!
Rating:
Summary: Conspicuous by its absence...
Review: While it is true that this book does leave a lot of the detail on the game out, it is useful for some things. It does give detailed information on the Mercs that you would otherwise have to look up in the game itself (a tedious and multi-click operation). The book is thick on statistics and maps. There's lot of 'background' information given for characters and quests. However, what is left out is glaringly conspicous by its absence... I disagree heartedly with many of the so-called 'walkthroughs'. You try some of these strategies and you'll be doing it the hard way and putting lots of soldiers in bodybags. Night ops are completely left out of discussions. And leaving out such things as the Hick quest is unforgiveable (get up on the roof of the storage building and picking off enemies is a good way to handle them, BTW). I'm still glad I bought this book as I like having printed out sources of information with pictures. But find good strat guides on the Internet such as Patusco's strategy guide for Jagged Alliance 2 as well. Jagged Alliance is an addictive and incredible game, but it can be as hard as heck, you'll need all the help you can get!
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