Mercenaries 2: World In Flames

[Synthesis]

As I'm apt to say, frequently, I can't be the only one excited about this game, right?

The original Mercenaries was one of my favorite Xbox titles, and one I enjoyed well after the console's life-cycle had technically ended. And this one is coming out not only for the Xbox 360 and the PS3, but also for PC! The early previews were a little "meh", but pretty much every trailer I've seen recently has made me more and more excited. I'm looking forward to this game far more than I was towards GTA4, and I still hold that the first Mercenaries was a better game than GTA3 or it's subsequent games in that generation.

Now, the only decision is what platform to get it on--I don't see it as a game that's going to get a lot of modding done for it, though it'd be great if it would.

[coltraz]

I just got a copy of this game but have yet to install/play. Have you tried the PC version? I hear mixed things about it...

[ElPresidente]

Alas the sequel has been earning fairly middling reviews.

Avg Gamerankings scores -

PC = 79%
360 = 74%
PS3 = 75%
PS2 = 57%

[Synthesis]

I only own an Xbox 360 version.

I personally enjoy it a good deal (well worth my $60 US), but I would give it about a 8 out of 10. The online co-op is a lot of fun, but, like many aspects of the game, rather buggy. There's a lot more of a diversity of missions, and the game is at least as good looking as GTA4. Pandemic got one thing right: unlike the increasingly-moronic decision-makers at Rockstar, they got it in their head to include Checkpoints in all the missions.

The world's fully destructible (right down to those oil refineries and the Amazon Rain Forest), and the actual combat mechanic is good enough for its purposes (I hate to make the comparison again, but the shooting is leaps and bounds over GTA4, which is good because it's a crucial part of the game).

My biggest peeve is with the "reporting in" system, in which a faction member's soldiers will report in your misdeeds to their boss and thus ruin your reputation with them. There's no way around this, including disguises or jamming vehicles, besides killing everyone right off the bat. At the very least, Pandemic could have increased the reporting time from more than seven seconds so you might actually be able to do something about it.

In any case, I'm enjoying it a lot more than I enjoyed GTA4, and actually playing it a lot more than the other game I bought around the same time, Spore (the space stage is a terrific pain in the ass). If you liked the first game, I can confidently say you'll like the second one as much, if not more. The story is extremely tongue-in-cheek, the voice acting pretty atypical, but the action and carnage is top notch. There are quite a few bugs: ragdolls look weird (cosmetic), and beyond occasional flashes of brilliance, AI is really stupid (gameplay), but these are pretty much par for the course for this type of game.

To kick the dead horse, GTA4 had really stupid AI as well, which was just never brilliant. But it does have better ragdolls: I'll give it that.

[Royale]

I really like it. I was always a fan of Jen, because she got things done and didn't goof around like Chris or Mattias, but now she's just....mean. My dad, who NEVER plays video games, loved this game. He did the first tutorial mission and went wild with the tank. He blew up everything.

I don't personally see anything wrong with this game. I have to agree with Synth (a bit) on the reporting feature. At least it doesn't dock you automatically when you shoot somebody. I have taken the guys (occasionally girls if we're talking PLAV) out enough to where I can't get caught easily. Another thing I don't like some instances with fairness. On the mission "Paint the Town" (intitaated by PLAV) I was able to hijack a tank before entering Merida. I wasn't "disguized" as the VZ yet, and when approacging a road block, a recoiless rifle blew up my tank with one shot. Later, when I attempted to blow up a tank on the same mission, this time with a piece of artillery, it took 3 shots (all of them hitting the tank) to destroy it. It was probably a bug, but I got really po'd.

I don't like the new look. The first game was very dark. Smoky, not many bright colors, almost washed out and depressing. It felt like I was in a war zone. Now, the colors are bright and sunny, with bustling metropolitan areas with random Universal Petroleum trucks and men with guns driving past. It doesn't seem like a war zone to me. And for some reason the PMC bugs me. I have 5 million dollars! Why can't we fix the gigantic holes in the wall?

Other than those reasons, I relaly don't have a problem with Mercs 2. The gameplay is easy to pick up, it's 2 player, and I love it.

[Synthesis]

I'm mostly on the same wavelength as Royale, though I don't really mind the PMC's damage.

Really, my big complaint is about the reporting in--it effectively makes taking on the individual factions impossible (at least in the last game, you could be quick about it, and the damage to your rep would be minimal--here, once you're reported, you're pretty much screwed unless you run away immediately, pretty damn hard when you're lugging an AN Colonel over your shoulders).

It's actually pretty easy to solve:

- Double or triple the reporting time. Honestly, 7 seconds is ridiculous. More like 30.

- Only allow specific people to call (say, only a faction's officers, as oppose to everyone)

- Letting you actually JAM the damn transmissions (the same way you can stop people from bringing in reinforcements, why does it only work on that? Stupid....)

- Only allow guards right next to you to report you--there's nothing worse than when a guard on a building four floors above you reports you in, or someone on the OTHER SIDE OF INDESTRUCTIBLE ROCKS reports you in.

Any one of these would pretty much solve the issue. Honestly, it's so simple. The reporting system basically sucks out a lot of the fun of the game, while adding very little meaningful challenge.

In the mean time, I have no real complaints beyond that. Apparently, a patch IS in the works, but I'm not terribly optimistic about it addressing this factor. The answer may simply be: kill everyone, and forget getting more money for HVTs.

As for money, I'm hoping to get the billion dollar achievement, but it looks like I still have a lot of work--I'm between 50 and 60 million, and have gotten to the point where the AN want me to knock out Chinese Artillery positions. Gotta be more frugal with buying vehicles, as cool as they are.

[ElPresidente]

Definitely appears to be a game for fans of the original and few others.

I didn't mind Mercenaries but I was not hooked on it... as a result I'll be skipping this and just waiting for the sweet sweet arrival of Saint's Row 2. Man I can't wait!

[Synthesis]

I didn't mind Mercenaries but I was not hooked on it... as a result I'll be skipping this and just waiting for the sweet sweet arrival of Saint's Row 2. Man I can't wait!

Well put, ElPresidente.

Me, I really didn't care for Saint's Row (though the promised character customization is very much a change I approve of), so SR2 doesn't really interest me otherwise--another GTA-style game where the environment is indestructible.

I hope, at least, that they avoid Rockstar's mistake and implement a better saving system.

[phatman58]

I feel that Mercs2 is just so much more fun, and to my amazement, it was most fun at the endgame, as with everything available, you can do anything you want... in a chicken suit... which just makes the game amazing.
I personally was hooked to the Mercs franchise since Playground of Destruction, it was the ad of "blow up stuff, blow it up some more, blow the loving crap outta it!" for mercs1 was what got my attention, the mass destructability of everything... needless to say, i decided to go for the overkill tactic as "If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing"