Mercenaries 2: World in Flames

"Better then people say... that's not saying much, though"

Introduction -

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames gets a lot of heat for being a bad game on the Playstation 2. People compare it to the Next-Gen versions, and make the game look bad. People compare it to the original title, Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, and make the game look bad. Fairly so, this iteration doesn't stack up well against its sister titles.

That's not to say it's a bad game. I've heard this game called, "incomplete," I've heard this game called, "unplayable," I've heard it called, "disappointing," when in reality it's none of those things.

If you start playing with low expectations, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Story - 3/10

The story is weak. You choose which of the three Mercs you want to play as, but the story is the same for all three (it's also the same as the Next-Gen versions of the game, albeit shorter).

Basically, your character gets shot in the ass, and for that, he or she decides to overthrow the government of Venezuela. The story never advances to something more than that, no matter how much you want it to. Nevermind that there's times in the game where people do WORSE things to you, and you later go on to work for them.

The script is well written though and the dialogue is okay. There's some humor but nothing memorable. Some of the funnier lines are said during gameplay by NPCs, which then get annoying the 50th time you hear them.

Audio - 8/10

Nothing stands out much, but one could argue that a game's audio isn't supposed to stand out. The musical score is... solid. That's actually a pun, because the background music during gameplay reminds me of a scene in MGS3, where an acoustic version of the original theme is playing on the radio. But, I digress.

Explosions sound like explosions, car engines sound like car engines, gunfire sounds like gunfire. It sounds exactly like the original Mercenaries, which is all you could ask for.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that in the original game, each Merc spoke a different language. The Chinese Merc understood characters speaking in Chinese, so you had a nice feature that added a little something to the game. That is absent from this game, so there's a slight downgrade there.

Graphics - 5/10

This is the worst part of the game, the thing people complain most about. The draw distance is HORRIBLE. While it doesn't make the game unplayable, as I alluded to earlier, it becomes frustrating and makes some missions difficult. When you get to the point in the game when you're using helicopters a lot, it's very noticeable.

As for the rest of the game, I don't have any complaints. The game doesn't look as good as the Next-Gen. It doesn't even look as good as Mercs 1, which I'll admit is ridiculous (but remember Mercs 1 was broken up into two separate regions). But it doesn't look bad by any stretch of the imagination. Partially because I personally have never cared about graphics when judging a game, but I think it looks fine.

Venezuela looks like Venezuela. The overall setting is actually impressive, in that most areas have the same style and use the same elements, but at the same time it's varied enough that you're never confused as to where you are. It's like seeing two hotel rooms with the exact same furniture, but the tables and chairs and beds are arranged differently so you know which room you're in. The elements are artistically arranged, making each spot unique.

NPCs aren't very detailed, but I've seen much worse before. The weapons, cars, trucks, tanks, jeeps, and most helicopters all come directly from Mercs 1, they're exactly the same.

The main problem is that it's hard to distinguish different factions from each other, especially when they're in their vehicles (or worse, they're in a different faction's vehicle). Pressing Left on the D-Pad toggles NPC icons, which you're forced to rely on, but it doesn't appear until you're really close.

Gameplay and Missions - 7/10

This game plays exactly like the original. THIS GAME PLAYS EXACTLY LIKE THE ORIGINAL. People forget that, and most of what makes a game good is the gameplay. The worst thing you can say about it is that nothing was added or improved.

If you played the original, there's nothing spectacular here. There's no advanced tactics, no revolutionary mechanics, no ground-breaking concepts. Run, shoot, blow stuff up. The enemy AI isn't dumb, but you're most often defeated by sheer numbers, not military tactics (being flanked, ambushed, attacked from a higher ground, etc.). They do basic things, like strafing , avoiding grenades, and defending themselves with turrets. Sometimes the NPCs on your side do frustrating things (not going where you want them to go, getting in the way of crossfire, things like that). Nothing beats the idiot pedestrians though. They walk in front of your car, costing you money but more importantly your standing with the other factions.

Part of what made Mercs 1 unique was the Merchant Of Menace Shop. You could purchase armaments from the Russian Mafia, off of their website, using your PDA. Then, you could select those weapons, vehicles, or support items and have them brought to you by helicopter. It was a great concept, because it saved you the time of returning to a safehouse, or something similar, found in other sandbox games. And during missions it added to your strategy because you might have to clear the area of anti-aircraft defenses or radar jammers before getting any support.

The same basic mechanic exists, but there's a catch.

The new system is called, "Stockpile," and it is a pain in the rear. You have to unlock support items by doing side missions for your contacts. These side missions add to the game's replayability, but that's the only nice thing you can say about them. Only a small number of missions can be repeated if you fail, so you have to make sure to save every time, and then you have to load a new game and start all the way back at your home base (ironically, wasting your Stockpile vehicles in the process). The missions never get too tedious or repetitive, but that doesn't mean they don't become frustrating. Once you unlock an item, you have to return to the contact and purchase them in person, if you have the money for it. You have to complete all the missions for a contact before he'll send you to a new contact to get new work.

The Stockpile system isn't really that bad though, in some ways it's an improvement over the old system. Most noticeably, you can steal vehicles for yourself and add to your own stockpile without spending any money. This makes it possible to stockpile the many vehicles that can't be purchased (for example the Venezuelan vehicles) . Although collecting them one by one can be boring, it does add to the game. I always wanted a system like this in Grand Theft Auto (instead of the stupid garages) so it made me happy. Also, it does add to the strategy and realism of the game.

And since the story revolves around oil, they added fuel costs into the equation. So for example, having a crate of American weapons delivered costs 75 units of fuel, but dropping a carpet bomb costs 550 units. You get fuel for doing contact missions, also you can find some laying around in red canisters. It never hinders you from doing what you want to do, but it makes you think twice before calling in air support, instead of returning to the home base yourself.

The regular storyline missions are more fun than the contact missions, in that they're usually more challenging, longer, and involve killing more enemies. You get a score and a ranking, and if you care to improve it you can immediately replay the mission (you'll possibly get more money) but I never found the need to. You can pretty much run through the story missions without getting multiple factions angry at you. But halfway through the game, (without spoiling anything) the balance of power in Venezuela... shifts... and puts more of an emphasis on picking one side and sticking with them.

Speaking of which, the Factions feature returns from the original title. This time there are five factions in the game (an oil company, China, local Guerrillas, the oil- I mean peacekeeping - Allies, and the Pirates) that you want to keep happy. The Venezuelan government replaces the North Koreans from Mercs 1, they're always hostile towards you. Accepting missions for one faction will make them happy with you, but then you run the risk of making another faction very unhappy. Unhappy to the point where they'll open fire on you at will just like the Venezuelans, and you'll have to bribe a contact just to get work from them again.

The Factions system is very much improved from Mercs 1, something that is rare to say. In the original title, it was way too easy to do work for certain factions, and not try to balance yourself at all. You could, for example, play the entire game without doing a single mission for the Chinese. In this game, it is very easy to make enemies that you later will need to be friends. This also factors in to the Stockpile system, you have to keep everybody happy so you can acquire as much as possible. You can't buy a Chinese APC if the Chinese consider you an enemy. You can't buy a Pirate helicopter if you aren't able to make it to their island in one piece.

Finally, there are bounties on several Venezuelan officers you can collect. You'll find them hiding in secluded mountainsides and fortified valleys, protected by their own loyal troops. As in the original, when you're close to one he'll appear on your radar. If you're able to capture him alive, you'll be rewarded with twice the bounty than if he was dead. The ten officers are a downgrade from the 52 in Mercs 1, but you can still have some fun hunting for them if you don't use Gamefaqs to see their locations.

Overview -

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames for the PS2 isn't a great game. Nobody is going to tell you otherwise. I'm certainly not. But you can have a lot of fun with it because the gameplay is above-average. If you can find this used, I recommend picking it up.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 01/20/09

Game Release: Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (US, 08/31/08)