"A One Man Army"

Nearly every game you could play, it's a Grand Theft Auto clone. Rarely will you find an action game anymore that doesn't totally mimic Grand Theft Auto. Even though it's more entertaining then most of the clones, Mercenaries fails to be original enough.

You can free-roam in this game, which is something I'm glad is mimicked from Grand Theft Auto. However, the civilians are in little number and the non-army vehicles are hard to find. For being a violent videogame, there isn't much violence to please an action lover like me.

The missions are pretty easy at first, but then they just explode with difficulty. Serioulsy, the missions get so difficult that you'll have indentions in your wall shaped like your PS2 controller!

There are various extra missions you can partake in through the game. There are cars marked with a dollar sign above them that you can enter to do missions for some cash. For example one car will have you racing through checkpoints while the other one will have you trying to reach the highest speed you can without stopping.

Just like in Grand Theft Auto there are hidden items you can find to unlock stuff. In this game you find blue prints and stuff instead of hidden packages, but all-in-all it's relatively the same concept.

The area is seperated into the five factions. The Chinese, South Koreans, Allies, Russian Mafia, and the North Koreans. If you kill too much of their officers then they'll resent you and start attacking you. You can't do missions for the faction you have pissed off until you pay them off. Also, if you take a vehicle of a faction you will be disguised as the faction. Say, you steal a Russian Mafia vehicle and go into Russian Mafia turf and they hate you. They won't even fire at you, unless you start running people over and they realize who you really are.

This is where I'm very impressed, the controls. The vehicles handle very well, even better then they do in Grand Theft Auto! Aiming is simple even though you can't lock onto targets, shooting will still be a breeze.

This is where I'm very dissappointed, the story. There is somewhat of a story that goes with the game, but the game doesn't explore it enough. You get to choose from whatever mercenary and then they're sent off to Korea to aid in counter-terrorism. The mission is to take care of a terrorist group called "The Deck of 52." You have to do missions for the Chinese, South Koreans, the Allies, and the Russian Mafia in order to kill or capture the entire Deck of 52.

The map system is also very, very much like Grand Theft Auto. The graphics are very, very low rate for a PS2 game, except the explosions look awesome and the way the cars can just flip around and be tossed around like rag dolls is sheer enjoyment to watch. However, the characters look a little blocky and the enviroments don't seem very realistic to me. Plus, the cut-scenes before missions are interactive so the leader of the faction you're doing a mission for looks like he's talking to himself if you don't stand right in front of him. This also makes sitting through the mission briefing a boring and trivial thing.

The sound is another area where this game delivers and fails. The explosions sound magnificent and when there's a heavy battle going on you feel like you're actually there. However, there is little to no music to give the player. Most gamers are used to some kind of background music and when games don't have them, it's usually a bad thing. In this case, it is.

The game is about medium length. There is a ton of replayability, you can find all the hidden items and do all the extra car missions. Plus, you can find the other members of "Deck of 52" to capture to earn some extra cash. There is always free-roam, also to keep you entertained for a while. However, Grand Theft Auto suceeds better in all these categories.

If you're looking to play one of the better GTA clones, then this is for you. If you're looking for just straight free-roaming, then go with Grand Theft Auto. This game has a lot of potential and I'm looking forward for a sequel soon. All-in-all a GTA clone that deserves to be compared to GTA since it is another clone. If you're looking for something original, stay away!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/24/06