Mercenaries 2: World in Flames

"Good but there are many better"

Introduction:

In 2005, Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction was released on Xbox and PS2. Mercenaries 2 is much like its predecessor but with improvements. Mercenaries sandbox gameplay and destructible environments make this game the best of its kind, other than the GTA series that isn't even fully destructible. While not as great as a hit as Mercenaries 1, the second installment still lives up to most's expectations. Here is why.

Gameplay: 6/10

This game's run and gun gameplay is almost like Mercenaries first installment. The only difference is that now you feel like the accuracy of most weapons is off way too much. Mercenaries: PoD felt like a good FPS in the third point of view. Now it feels like you are running up to enemies and directly hitting them more as well as unleashing a lead hell into their body. It is kind of tedious when you have to run this close for kills because it starts to take you away from your task. If you miss a person in the courtyard of some outpost mission and you are farther in, chances are they are still going to fire at you. Even with the inaccuracy of guns in this game, bullets still sometimes hit you. So then you need to run all the way back just to kill this guy. Gameplay is also much like this when factions are reporting your bad deeds towards them. What happens is that they take out a radio when you cause harm and talk to an official and report you. You have about 10 seconds to kill him before you get in real trouble, or even worse, backup comes. So you have to hall your ass all the way over to this guy, who is most likely taking cover, and kill him. Your probably going to use a melee attack because they will most likely be behind a car, building corner, or rocks. Everything feels the same supplies wise because you still can get your helicopter to deliver supply boxes and cars to you. Air strikes work the same also because of the ways to set off different types of air strikes. I do find it ridiculous that you have to throw a beacon or a smoke bomb and run away like that, because sure death will come if you don't get away. Most non-repetitive missions definitely lived up to the Mercs name. Some missions were exactly the same and were used over and over. It all works well enough to be playable.

The environment and map seemed mediocre. The map is really big so expect dragging your dick back and forth to do missions, HVTs, and targets. Everything is also really spread out. Imagine GTA SA's countryside but most of the map is country side loaded with people and civilians everywhere. Which, not to get off topic, many people jump in front of you speeding car and cost you a certain amount of money when you kill them. This happens often because the amount of civilians in most areas. When you zoom into the environments, you will usually get pissed off at the amount of stupid glitches and things that shouldn't be there. You can't take cover behind large bush like plants and most trees. Besides the fact enemy bullets shoot straight through them into your body, they will be destroyed eventually do to amount of tanks and cars in this game. When I say cars I mean there will probably be a car to come try and hit and take at the bush. Another issue with the bushes in this game is that you can't go through them. If you can't take true cover behind them, you should at least be able to walk straight through it. The worst part is if you fall on it, your stuck, end of story. Save the game and restart the main screen. Water works fine except that you can sometimes swim through a bit of land and you can lose your co-op buddies when they die in the bottom of the sea. You and your friend will have to get a medivac just because his dead body went to the ocean floor. You can't swim down and get him just because the game doesn't let you do that.

The controls work fine other than that crouch is LT when it should be a click of the LS and LT should really be throw grenade or c4 which is actually LB. LB should be the switch between grenades and c4 even though the switch button is the left on the d-pad. The LS button is occupied by the sprint option which is somewhat unnecessary. You should just be able to run as fast as the sprint in this game all the time. If the sprint option had to be put in it should have been RS click. Too bad that is zoom with your binoculars, which makes plenty of sense, thus showing only another reason sprint shouldn't be in this game. Then I also have to start to think crouch is unnecessary in this game because using it doesn't change the way people see you and you rarely need it for cover. It is all a confused mess and is hard to make sense of. Why was it so difficult? I don't know, they just screwed up.

You get to choose your character that each has a special ability. Most people just choose Mattias just because he is Mattias so really there is no point of these abilities if no one will use it. There are plenty of good side missions and things to do, although trying to collect all 100 spare parts is a pain in the butt. The achievements are enjoyably enough for being achievements. I have found that there are some glitches every now and them. I got the destroy 50 objects with a rpg award for my friend doing it. I also didn't get the millionaire award until I randomly got it in the online co-op play. I still don't have the highest faction mood achievements for both China and AN even though I know I have full trust in them. If you enjoy this game (and a lot of gamerscore), I'm sure you won't run out of things to do, especially if you don't want it to.

The difficulty curve works fine except it gets a lot harder almost randomly once you unlock the AN and China factions. All in all, don't expect the hardest game ever, or the easiest.

Story: 7/10

The story is quite funny and entertaining the more you think about it. I noticed no flaws or strange things that screwed with the storyline. Everything is clear and makes sense and works quite well. The game is about Venezuela's world war, mostly a war for oil. The guy running a campaign to become Venezuela's president/dictator plays you and never pays you when you do a special contract for him, so naturally you want revenge. You work for five warring factions and you will end up liking more factions than others. It is only natural that you are going to end up hurting some factions that really shouldn't be hurt, which actually makes sense. For instance, the AN hates China and most of your HVTs missions and destroy targets will be aimed towards them. You should know this if you have played Mercs 1. Everything makes sense. For an action game, the story is quite good besides the generic revenge plot.

Graphics/Sounds: 8/10

The graphics look beautiful throughout the game. The explosions in the game are possibly some of the best you will see up to this date. The environment is colorful yet bland for some reason, although it looks fine when your not paying attention. Everywhere there will be reflections of this oil based area. You will see many oil pumping things sticking out of the ground and many gas tanks lying around. The shanty towns and homes of poor civilians can stereotypically fit a poverty like area. Since this is a video game, it truly doesn't matter. The bushes I mentioned before that you can't take cover behind look horrible. The graphics are crisp and finished except for the occasional glitch that happens where some details do not load until a second or two after you walk up the item, landscape, or car. Overall, everything actually works well and is worth a look at.

The sound of everything is good, and only good. All weapons seem to have different noises when you fire them which is really helpful when you identify enemies. This helps the game rise above its flaws. The poor racist Chinese voice acting sounds horrible but all other acting sounds fine. The only thing that needs to be worked on is fading noises. While getting reported, you can your the guy reporting you. Often you will hear the same line or notice that they are always at the same volume. It can feel awkward but everything else works so it is all good.

Replayability: 9/10

If you predicted the score was going to be high from before, you were right. The game length seem appropriate and can be played over due to more than one ending. The amount of side missions and other things to do also adds to the overall play time if you want a longer game. The achievement list can add extra fun although it seems like you get the gamerscore really fast. In the end, it's just the harder achievements that adds playability. If you enjoy this game, chances your disc is going to be in the Xbox for a while.

Rent or Buy:

Do either. I recommend giving this game a chance if your into action games. If it looks really fun buy it or if it looks just good or O.K. to you then rent it before buying it (if you do want to buy it.) A true hardcore Mercs fan should definitely buy this game. It being like the original Mercs makes it just as fun, if not more.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/06/08

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