Mercenaries

"Soldier For Hire"

This game received quite a bit of hype and to me, it more than lived up to it. It wouldn't make me put down GTA SA if I owned both, but it's a decent game in its self.

Gameplay 10/10

Following the "free lancing" type of gameplay that seems to be more popular every day, Mercenaries lets you play as 1 of 3 mercs. Chris Jacobs is the American agent, and can take the most punishment.Jennifer is the British merc and she is an expert at sneaking and seeing without being seen. The 3rd Merc is Mattias Nelson, a Swedish merc, he's the fastest merc. Each has their own pros and cons and it depends on what style of gameplay you like.

After you chose your merc, your thrown into the hostile Korean island. Korea is in the midst of a war between north and South. General Song, the main villian, killed his father and began the war against the South Koreans. Also involved are the Chinese who are seeking to expand their borders, the AN or Allied Nations(Basically a UN task force) and the Russian Mafia, who are like the residential black market. You can buy Air Strikes, Vehicle deliveries and supply drops from the Mafia's shop. That is, if your in their good graces ;).

The object of the game is to capture or eliminate the Deck of 52. There are 52 members of Song's crew that you go after for their bounties. Each suit is a different type of Lt to Song, like the Clubs are business men, the diamonds are soldiers, the hearts are involved in Song's nuclear program and the Spades are Song's top guys. You can capture or kill your targets any way possible. Snipe em from a safe distance, call in an air strike, carpet bomb the area, call in an artillery barrage, or just do the honorable thing and rush in on foot.

When you start to do some contracts for the different factions you'll notice that depending on who you kill and what you do, the factions will change their moods towards you. If you decide to tick off one of the factions, don't get spotted in their neighborhood because they won't hesitate to shoot at you. It really becomes a tough task trying to please all the factions so you don't have to pay them to get in their good graces. You can however blow up Sadaam like statues of General Song to please the south koreans, blow up listening posts to please the chinese and bring vehicles to the mafia chop shop(for a nice sum of cash too).

Graphics 8/10
Not the best in the world but like GTA, it's gamplay makes up for the lack of graphics. The vehicles look very nice and the buildings are realistic. The only fault is the nature. The trees are nothing more foilage, that is until you hit one. The explosions are nice too, and the vehicle wreckage are realistic looking.

Sound 8/10
The engine sounds are alright and the weapons sound real. The only issue I have is that after the initial engine revving, you can barely hear anything. Those long drives through the countryside can be a little boring some of the times.

Side Note AI 5/10
The AI is where this game needs improvement. Civilians will just walk right out infront of your vehicle and not give you enough time to stop(Which, if you kill a civilian takes a chunk out of your wallet). And some of the civilian cars will just weave back in forth in the road for no reason.

Rent or Buy?

I'd go with buy on this one. The opportunity to play as 3 different people helps out the replay value, and the seemingly endless ways of accomplishing missions could make this game fun for quite some time.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/20/05