Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Crossfire starts with the satisfying promise of putting together a crew and taking control of a hostile country one hard-fought encounter at a time. You direct multiple mercenaries in real time, and the diagonal-down camera lets you survey the field and move around it freely. The immediate pull comes from making quick tactical calls with a full squad instead of babysitting one hero.

It is a continuation built for people who already found something to like in Jagged Alliance: Back in Action. New maps, weapons, ten additional AIM mercenaries, and new enemies give the campaign a fresh set of tools and problems. Optional line of sight is especially welcome for anyone who wants battlefield information to feel less automatic and positioning to carry more weight.

The downside is that this remains a real-time tactical game in a series many gamers associate with more deliberate decision-making. When several units need orders at once, the pressure can turn a smart plan into a scramble. Enhanced enemy AI makes that pressure more meaningful, but it can also make mistakes sting. If you enjoy adapting on the fly, the friction is part of the challenge. If you want to ponder every move at leisure, it may wear you down.

Graphics

The gameplay uses a diagonal-down battlefield view with a free camera, so you can pull your attention across the map rather than fight a locked viewpoint. That angle suits squad tactics well: mercenaries and enemies occupy clear positions on the ground, and shifting the camera helps you assess the space around a fight.

Story

With Deidranna dead and Arulco liberated, Crossfire wisely moves on instead of pretending the old war is still unfinished. Khanpaa is under attack by the religious sect known as the Jenites, and ambassador Behnam Atiqullah calls for outside help. It is a clean setup that gets you into the campaign without requiring the previous conflict to repeat itself beat for beat.

Jurjen Bolazwen gives the operation a clear target, while the country and its people give the fighting a purpose beyond simply collecting contracts. The stakes are broad and direct: free Khanpaa from the sect controlling it. That straightforwardness fits a tactics game where the squad’s actions are meant to stay front and center.

Do not come in expecting the new setting to radically reinvent the series’ mercenary-war framework. Khanpaa’s value is that it supplies a different conflict for the same kind of campaign, with a new enemy force and a new leader to oppose. For returning fans, that is enough to make the mission feel like a sequel chapter rather than a leftover scenario.

Overall Experience

Jagged Alliance: Crossfire knows exactly who it is for. It is not a broad reset or a dramatic overhaul of Back in Action; it is a standalone follow-up that adds more tactical ground to cover and asks you to handle a sharper opposition. That focus makes it easy to recommend to someone who finished the earlier game wanting another campaign.

The best moments come when your squad, your chosen equipment, and the terrain force you to make a call under stress. The worst come when real-time control makes that same stress feel untidy rather than thrilling. Your tolerance for that tradeoff will decide whether the campaign feels demanding or merely exhausting.

Give it a chance if you want more squad-based real-time tactics in a new country, especially if optional line of sight and a larger mercenary pool sound like meaningful additions. Skip it if the base game’s pacing never clicked for you, because Crossfire builds on that foundation rather than correcting course. For its intended audience, it is a solid extra deployment, not an essential reinvention.

Retro Replay Score

6.6/10