Mercenaries 2 Review

After many years and many delays, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is finally available. Initially promising a world that could be set on fire in a number of exciting ways, the full game has been scaled down a little bit, but remains a fun and thrilling action game that’s heavy on physics and explosions. Although the missions and content feel a little empty once you’ve finished the game, the fun of being able to blow up every object in the world outweighs almost every problem here, including some technical ones. It’s a game that tries to outdo the original in every way, and in so doing makes a few little missteps, but is still a great game for action fans.

Mercenaries 2 is a third-person shooter which marks the return of the three characters from the previous game, Mattias, Jen, and Chris, this time fighting their way through fictional Venezuela instead of fictional North Korea. The plot is threadbare, and can be summed up in one sentence: your mercenary of choice is double-crossed by a man who takes over Venezuela , and sets out to win revenge against him. That’s about as deep as the story gets, and although there are a number of cutscenes here, story is not the focus of the game. The story plays out essentially identical regardless of which mercenary you choose, right down to the dialogue. Each character has a few unique lines, but the bigger difference between them are abilities. Jen runs the fastest, Mattias can take the most damage, and Chris can carry the most ammo. Even with these different abilities, the game is relatively easy no matter which character you pick, as it features a very forgiving recharging health system. The basic thrust of the gameplay is to acquire a mission, go blow up some stuff, get paid, and repeat. None of the missions do anything groundbreaking for the genre, and they’re all just an excuse to watch buildings crumble. Every now and then a button-pressing Dragon’s Lair-style mini game is sprinkled in, and I found them to be fun and painless.

The best feature of the game is that absolutely every single object in the game world can be destroyed. Each object has a health bar, and once you deplete that health bar with your weapons, the object falls apart in physics-enhanced glory. This works for every tree, building, and vehicle in the game, and is the best feature of Mercenaries 2. If you like to blow things up, this is your game, end of story. Aside from a large collection of hand-held weapons, you’ll eventually gain access to more and more powerful airstrikes, the most powerful of which use nuclear ordinance. These airstrikes are awe-inspiring, and the lighting effects make them among the most impressive explosions seen in a video game. Unfortunately, the new menu for using airstrikes is not as good as the menu in the old game. In the first game, you could equip an airstrike, and then go and use it. Here, the whole thing is done in one button press. So, you’ve got to be in place before you open the menu, and it feels a little awkward, since the menu does not pause the game. Also, the handy Russian black market store from the first game is gone; to buy equipment, you’ve now got to hoof it to stores all over the map.

Graphically, the game is really inconsistent. One minute it looks great, and the next it looks a little sparse. The game runs at a smooth framerate on all platforms, with a slight edge on the 360. It’ll look best on the PC if you have a powerful rig, but be warned that it’s not very well optimized. Also, on the PC the buttons you need to press during the mini games are represented by vague icons instead of the actual buttons, which makes things a little more difficult. Load times are frequent, which is a big drawback to the game, and are fastest on the PS3 version. Draw distance is average with plentiful pop-up, so the main strength of the graphics is the level of physics detail. Everything blows up really well, and the trees will sway from concussions. The relative lack of graphical detail compared to everything else out there is forgivable thanks to all the physics interactions going on. Audio is pretty decent, with standout voice performances from Peter Stormare, Phil La Maar, and Jennifer Hale as the three main characters.

There’s also an online co-op multiplayer component to the game, but sadly it’s not as fleshed out as it could be. It’s essentially just dropping a second player into the single-player game, and both players are stuck within a limited circle. You can’t be on opposite sides of the map from each other, which makes this seem inferior to the multiplayer in other open games like Crackdown or Grand Theft Auto IV. The multiplayer is fairly inconsequential, except for a couple of optional challenges at your home base which are so hard they almost demand two players.

I haven’t covered a great deal about the game here, whether that be how the factions play off of each other, or how you build your own PMC stockpile, or how the vehicles handle, but that’s because none of that really matters. This is a game about blowing everything up, and in that realm it succeeds like few games have. I love games with detailed physics interaction, so this was right up my alley. If you’re looking for a highly polished third-person shooter with a great story, run away now. If you just want to blow up some foliage, this is the best you can do right now outside of Crysis or Crysis Warhead. This game is rated T for Teen by the ESRB. For more information, check out www.mercs2.com.


	Mercenaries 2 Xbox 360, PS3, PC Review…4 out of 5 By Alex Rowe After many years and many delays, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is finally available. Initially promising a world that could be set on fire in a number of exciting ways, the full game has been scaled down a little bit, but remains a fun and thrilling action game that’s heavy on physics and explosions. Although the missions and content feel a little empty once you’ve finished the game, the fun of being able to blow up every object in the world outweighs almost every problem here, including some technical ones. It’s a game that tries to outdo the original in every way, and in so doing makes a few little missteps, but is still a great game for action fans. Mercenaries 2 is a third-person shooter which marks the return of the three characters from the previous game, Mattias, Jen, and Chris, this time fighting their way through fictional Venezuela instead of fictional North Korea. The plot is threadbare, and can be summed up in one sentence: your mercenary of choice is double-crossed by a man who takes over Venezuela , and sets out to win revenge against him. That’s about as deep as the story gets, and although there are a number of cutscenes here, story is not the focus of the game. The story plays out essentially identical regardless of which mercenary you choose, right down to the dialogue. Each character has a few unique lines, but the bigger difference between them are abilities. Jen runs the fastest, Mattias can take the most damage, and Chris can carry the most ammo. Even with these different abilities, the game is relatively easy no matter which character you pick, as it features a very forgiving recharging health system. The basic thrust of the gameplay is to acquire a mission, go blow up some stuff, get paid, and repeat. None of the missions do anything groundbreaking for the genre, and they’re all just an excuse to watch buildings crumble. Every now and then a button-pressing Dragon’s Lair-style mini game is sprinkled in, and I found them to be fun and painless. The best feature of the game is that absolutely every single object in the game world can be destroyed. Each object has a health bar, and once you deplete that health bar with your weapons, the object falls apart in physics-enhanced glory. This works for every tree, building, and vehicle in the game, and is the best feature of Mercenaries 2. If you like to blow things up, this is your game, end of story. Aside from a large collection of hand-held weapons, you’ll eventually gain access to more and more powerful airstrikes, the most powerful of which use nuclear ordinance. These airstrikes are awe-inspiring, and the lighting effects make them among the most impressive explosions seen in a video game. Unfortunately, the new menu for using airstrikes is not as good as the menu in the old game. In the first game, you could equip an airstrike, and then go and use it. Here, the whole thing is done in one button press. So, you’ve got to be in place before you open the menu, and it feels a little awkward, since the menu does not pause the game. Also, the handy Russian black market store from the first game is gone; to buy equipment, you’ve now got to hoof it to stores all over the map. Graphically, the game is really inconsistent. One minute it looks great, and the next it looks a little sparse. The game runs at a smooth framerate on all platforms, with a slight edge on the 360. It’ll look best on the PC if you have a powerful rig, but be warned that it’s not very well optimized. Also, on the PC the buttons you need to press during the mini games are represented by vague icons instead of the actual buttons, which makes things a little more difficult. Load times are frequent, which is a big drawback to the game, and are fastest on the PS3 version. Draw distance is average with plentiful pop-up, so the main strength of the graphics is the level of physics detail. Everything blows up really well, and the trees will sway from concussions. The relative lack of graphical detail compared to everything else out there is forgivable thanks to all the physics interactions going on. Audio is pretty decent, with standout voice performances from Peter Stormare, Phil La Maar, and Jennifer Hale as the three main characters. There’s also an online co-op multiplayer component to the game, but sadly it’s not as fleshed out as it could be. It’s essentially just dropping a second player into the single-player game, and both players are stuck within a limited circle. You can’t be on opposite sides of the map from each other, which makes this seem inferior to the multiplayer in other open games like Crackdown or Grand Theft Auto IV. The multiplayer is fairly inconsequential, except for a couple of optional challenges at your home base which are so hard they almost demand two players. I haven’t covered a great deal about the game here, whether that be how the factions play off of each other, or how you build your own PMC stockpile, or how the vehicles handle, but that’s because none of that really matters. This is a game about blowing everything up, and in that realm it succeeds like few games have. I love games with detailed physics interaction, so this was right up my alley. If you’re looking for a highly polished third-person shooter with a great story, run away now. If you just want to blow up some foliage, this is the best you can do right now outside of Crysis or Crysis Warhead. This game is rated T for Teen by the ESRB. For more information, check out www.mercs2.com.