Mercenaries 2

Review by Slater45

Pandemic returns with it popular Mercenaries series boasting a fully destructible world, but does this game have what it takes to blow the gaming business by storm?

Gamplay

Gone are the North Korean days in the previous title, this time you venture into the guerrilla invested jungles of Venezuela. After being turned on, by who you thought were allies it then becomes your duty to track them down and eradicate them. The plot is linear with the main storyline line only being about 4-6 hours long. As you move throughout the story you get to meet with different factions. These provide you with missions and information on what to do next. However the main storyline might be short but there are also an abundance of side missions to crawl through. These side missions are mostly blue target on the map that are either building that you have to destroy or HVT ( Highly valued target) that you have to verify. There are also outpost missions that you can complete for the main factions, which in doing so earns you helicopter landing zones. At these outposts there are also little side missions that you have, but this missions are straight forward. Finally at the PMC there are Challenges, these help you improve and teach how to use the weapons. There are three levels to each challenge and you can place wagers with your counterpart, so if you complete it you get a little extra cash.

The game is all about destruction and it gives you all the tools you need to do just that. Weapons from pistols to snipers are available; also you have Grenades and C4 in your side inventory that can be used to full effect. You can get numerous air strikes that you can use to blow up building, however this air strikes cost fuel and money. While searching around you will see green icons dotted on the map, these are pick up points that you can call helicopter to gather. These pick ups are money, weapon supplies or fuel.

Doing missions for each faction unlocks shop items that you can purchase from there outposts. In the shop you can choose from an array of weapons, vehicles or upgrade which are useful when it comes to the later missions.

Just like all other games lately Quick time events have been implemented. Whenever you want to hijack an enemy vehicle you will go through these cut scenes, which are great for the first ten times, but after that they become a chore and just annoying.

The biggest problem with the game that it still seems unfinished; there are various bugs and glitches that can ruin the gameplay. While playing I had a glitch where I couldn't fire my gun and another where I couldn't aim. The vehicles damage is very harsh; just scraping a wall will cause a significant amount of damage on some vehicles and you will usually have to find numerous vehicles when completing a mission. Another problem is the AI, they're just too dumb. When you are shooting they won't retreat, instead will just stand there waiting to get slaughtered and you will find yourself just running around meleeing everyone.

Graphics and Sound

Mercs 2 is not by far the best looking game and the market but when you drop your first air strike it become passable. The environmental physics are brilliant with the explosion looking glorious and colourful. Everything falls the way it is meant to showing a lot of realism. The character models are weak and the rag doll physics are that bad there funny, you will often see you have died with your legs behind you head. The frame rate is solid and I didn't experience any screen tearing or slow down.

Main characters have limited dialogue and throughout the game you will hear the same one liner over and over again. The cut scenes seem good enough with some witty moments and intense ones but still don't leave you asking for more once it is done. The in game music sets the mood for what type of situation you are in but is never brilliant.

Multiplayer

Multiplayer is only co-op based this time around, but even though it is only two players it can be a blast. The problem with the online is that you are not free to go everywhere. A red circular barrier will appear and both players must stay within the circle otherwise the screen with turn clouded and you start to lose life resulting in death. This is fine when you are on foot, but when you are in vehicles it can be annoying especially in races. I was surprise that there was no versus online mode and also that it wasn't three player co-op because there are 3 character you can chose from which would of added more to the experience. Also playing Co-op makes the game a lot easier; they don't seem to add any extra enemies or extra objectives, so you can get through the storyline quickly. The Ea server's seems to hold up good, I didn't experience any lag and the frame rate was smooth throughout play.

Conclusion

Mercs 2 is a barrel of fun but it does have its problems. Co-op with friends is fantastic and just blowing the city to rumble can give you hours of pleasure, but the glitches and bugs brings down, what could have been a great game. The quick time events and dialogue can start to become annoying after a while and the AI makes for no strategy. If you are looking for a co-op game I would give this game a go, but for people who are unsure I would rent it first and decide from there.