Review: Mercenaries 2

Posted Sep 12th 2008 2:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Features, Hands-on

Action games shouldn't be hard to figure out. Unlike more complex titles like real time strategy titles or role playing games, action titles should really be simple and neat; just point and shoot and you see stuff happen. That's what Mercenaries 2 brings to the party. It's an open world action game that doesn't have the complexities of a Grand Theft Auto game; you just go in, blow a lot of stuff up, and finish it.

Mercenaries 2 brings back the trio of mercs in developer Pandemic's first entry in the series; that game was published by LucasArts and never made it to the PC. Mercenaries 2 is handled by Pandemic's new owners Electronic Arts. You choose to play one of three available mercs in the game's single player storyline and while each has some minor gameplay differences (one runs faster, one regenerates health faster, and one holds more ammo), the truth is that it really doesn't matter which character you pick. They all know how to bring the hurt. Indeed, they almost seem super human at times. They can kill an enemy with just one melee attack and survive long falls with only a small dip in health.

Anyway, your first mission is actually the only linear one in the entire game. Your character (whomever you pick; there is no real difference in story lines) is tricked into putting a Venezuelan multi-millionaire into power as the president of the country. And to make matters worse you didn't even get paid for doing so. The rest of the game takes place in the massive open world where your main goal is to go after the new president and get revenge and some cash. You receive some help from your friendly female assistant who stays in one place and during the game's length you acquire other characters to form your own mini-merc unit; a mechanic for getting new vehicles, a helicopter pilot for fast transport around the land and a jet pilot who can assist with massive air strikes.

Mercenaries 2's storyline is all about getting to the final goal by making deals and accomplishing missions with a number of the game world's various factions (including the Chinese which seems a little odd since China seems far removed from the game's setting). Ultimately, they mostly involve shooting people and blowing stuff up with few variations. You can get more money outside of completing tasks to fund your cause by picking up small amounts yourself that you find in the game world or, if you have your helicopter pilot in place, have him transport large sums of money and gas to your base (which ironically enough is located in the former villa of the game's main villain).

The game's PC port was clearly meant to be a console game first; the PC version doesn't really have any graphical improvements from the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. Indeed while the game can go up to 1920X1200 resolutions, the textures and effects don't scale well at all; they look muddy and dull. Also, certain things that are easy to do in the console game, such as hijacking a vehicle from an enemy, seem to be unnecessarily tougher in the PC version. They have substituted icons for button symbols for this particular feature and sometimes it's hard to tell which button on the keyboard you are supposed to push to match the icon it's supposed to represent.

Mercenaries 2 does indeed feature a lot of destructible environments and that can be fun to play with for a while. If you happen to want to play online via EA's account, you can even experience it in co-op mode with a buddy (although the host game player is the only one who actually advances in the storyline). However enemy AI in the game is a joke. One-on-one they are dumb as a stump and are easy to bring down. They can be tough to beat if there are a lot of them around but a well placed RPG will usually take care of them

There is a lot to do and explore in Mercenaries 2; from urban locations to waterfront and island settings to offshore oil rigs there is some variety for the player to experience. And there is an abundance of vehicles to jack; from motorcycles and jet skis to jeeps, tanks and helicopters. There's also no denying that air strikes are fun to set up and finally witness.

Ultimately, the PC port of Mercenaries 2 is exactly that; a port with little to no real improvements from the console versions of the game. The visuals are not improved and the user interface is at time harder to figure out. Yet the whole idea of blowing up nearly everything you see in the game world is enticing and may make some players enjoy the game for a few hours, especially in co-op play. If you like mindless fun in an open sandbox world, Mercenaries 2 may be what you want. If you want something more, like a complex storyline or tough AI opponents or playable characters that have real gameplay differences, it's likely to disappoint you.

But stuff does blows up real good...

Gallery: Mercenaries 2