Mercenaries

"Mercenaries: A Great Game for PS/2"

Introduction

Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction is the best PS2 action game I have ever played. As the back of the box states, you can blow up or hijack anything..

Game play 10/10
The game play in this game is perfect. There is no other way to describe it. Whether you are collecting national treasures or blowing up buildings, this game will keep you hooked for weeks. You will be accepting contracts from four different factions: the Chinese, the Russian Mafia, the Allied Nations, and the South Korean Union. There are three different Mercenaries to choose from, Chris Jacobs, who can speak Korean; Mattias Nilson, who can speak Russian; and Jennifer Mui who speaks Chinese. Your main goal is to capture a group of terrorists known as the deck of fifty-two. As you complete contracts from the different factions, you will gain intelligence on the "cards" locations. After you catch enough of the cards you will be able to go after the ace of that suit. There is a web shop called the Merchant of Menace operated by the Russian Mob. From this website, you will be able to order vehicles, supplies, and air strikes. Some of the vehicles don't handle too well, especially the tank. That is the only complaint I have about the game play. Overall this game plays great.

Story 10/10
Not much to talk about here; basically, you are a mercenary who has been hired to catch a psychotic dictator of North Korea named General Song. General Song has possession of nuclear weapons. His men are known as the deck of fifty-two. The story is almost non-existent but it is there.

Graphics 8/10
Not the best graphics on the PS2, but certainly not the worst. The explosions look amazing, but sometimes a really huge explosion will freeze or slow the game down. The character models all look realistic.The vehicles all look true to form and are well modeled. Overall, this game has great graphics and amazing special effects, as evidenced by the explosions, which are loud and do a lot of damage.

Sound 7/10
The sound is the only thing that could've used improvement. On the positive side, the game has very good music, and the explosions sound great. On the negative side there are a lot of sound glitches with a few of the vehicles, and the shotgun doesn't make any sound at all!(which is okay because it stinks anyway) Half the time you can't understand what Mattias says. The sound isn't terrible but is very glitchy.

Replay Value 10/10
You can't get any better than this. There are tons of stuff to collect and destroy.
Once you beat the game and capture all of the deck of fifty-two you will get the cheat crate which has a few powerful weapons to blow stuff up with. There are blueprints and national treasures to collect, and monuments and listening posts to destroy. No matter what you do, this game will keep you interested and playing for weeks.

Rent or Buy
Definitely buy, this game is only $20.00 at EB games, go buy it now!
It will be the best twenty dollars you have ever spent. As I have said this game never gets old.

Overall 9/10
One of the most enjoyable games I have ever played. A few glitches here and there, and has physics problems, but you will quickly forget about that once the action begins.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/23/06