Mercenaries

"Run, Shoot, Destroy, Blow up, Drive, Blow Up Some More..."

Blow the snot of of stuff. Then blow the snot out of it even more!

That's right, you can do exactly that in Mercenaries! With features such as grenades, C4's, and air-strikes; Who wants to wander around aimlessly? Not me!

Gameplay - 9/10
This game seems to be pretty much Grand Theft Auto style, so if you liked that game, you will absolutely love this game! You start off by picking one of three characters to play as: Chris, Jennifer, or Mattias. Chris has incredible physical strength and can take pure bullet wounds, and even rocket shots to the stomach. Jennifer, although not up-to-date in the physical section, has wicked stealth and can sneak around practically anywhere without being seen. Mattias, with neither of these abilities up-to-date, is good in the endurance section. He can run faster than both of the other characters.

After selecting your character you are dropped into a North Korean invaded zone out to capture a card from the Deck of 52. The basis of this game is not only to blow the snot out of stuff, but to also capture or kill 52 cards (people). There are side missions you can take from the Chinese, South Korean, or even the Russian Mafia, but be careful as which missions you do,because you might lower one countries respect for you.

You can travel basically everywhere in this game, mostly without getting caught. If you fly into restricted area you will be either shot down or bombed and there is no escaping this. If you also happen to wander by another countries territory, no matter how much they like you, they will become hostile against you until you leave the area. Traveling in this game is probably one of the best features, I mean, driving vehicles has never seems so realistic to me, and flying in the choppers is pretty fun too although tanks are another story...

Graphics - 9/10
Up to date. The graphics in this game are pretty much top-notch, except for a few glitches here and there, but who cares? Glitches are funny. This brings to mind the "Solid Trees" and "Invisible Walls". You can take the biggest most fastest vehicle in the game, and drive straight into a tree, or "wall" and you will stop dead in your tracks usually with minor damage. That doesn't seem to make me dislike this game much. The buildings, people, and physics engine make up for that loss.

A.I. or Computer - 4/10
The AI in this game could be touched up a bit. I mean the little skirmishes that sometimes go along side the roads are so sweet, but you enter and accidentally drive over one of your allies, they will go nuts and destroy you. Also say you pick up a civilians car with the helicopter and drop it onto a tall buildings roof, the car will look confused and drive straight off the edge to it's death. The enemy could also work on their aim.

Sound - 5/10
The music in this game does not fit a war scene at all. It gets really repetitive after a while, but that was until I discovered the audio options and turned it off. This game is better without the music IMO. Sounds effects are alright. The "Same Sounding Footstep/Gunshot" could be worked on. I mean, you shoot your gun and its like "bang bang bang...", I want something like "bang blip boom bang boom bang bang".

Replay Value - 10/10
This game is 99% addictive. Yes there are the really frustrating parts, but this game has such randomness that you could spend 6 hours on one mission, and then accidently find the card take off in a jeep, and all you have to do is run after him and stop him instead of working your way through a huge base of North Korean. There are also National Treasures and Blueprints that you can find, which unlock different features; There are statues and monuments to blow up (anyway you like, might I add), which also unlock new features; You can blow up listening posts to also unlock new features. Also finding these little "bounties" as they are called, also raise the respect you get from various countries.

Rent or Buy - Buy
Definitely buy. This game was much worth my money. If you are just unsure, you should rent it and see if you like.

Overall Rating - 7.4/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/03/05