Mercenaries 2: World in Flames Review

Published by: Electronic Arts

Developed by: Pandemic Studios

Released Date: August 31, 2008

Genre: Third-Person Shooter

Platform: XBOX 360

The Review

If you like blowing  shit up Mercenaries 2 is the game for you. Most of the game is just blowing crap up. The story is simple, we have herd it before, basically your pissed of because some guy shot u in the ass and you want to get revenge on him by killing him. So you must do jobs for people to earn money so u can buy new weapons and various items that will help u through the game. The game is funny and i found myself laughing at every cut scene. It has single player mode and also a fun two player mode only allowed over xbox live.

Graphics

Merc 2 graphics are pretty good. There are just a few things that bothered me. For one when you are in a vehicle you can pretty much drive through anything and destroy it. This is cool in some ways but come one you cant drive right through a full grown tree. Another thing is the vehicles dont leave tread marks on the ground. I think this is a nice touch and a pretty lazy decision for not doing it. Last thing is once things/items have been touched they disappear. This is ok in some cases but not with big items when its clearly noticeable. These are just some small minor things that i am picky about. The colors are nice and everything looks pretty realistic, but for the amount of time that it took to make this game i think that it could have looked better.

Sound

The sound of the explosions where nice and loud. If you have the surround sound hooked up you can here explosions all around you which make for a nice intense experience. The sound or the AI is the worst of this game. You will here the same five lines thought the whole game.

Gameplay/Performance

Almost everthing in the game is destructible, and when blowing theses things up the game keeps a nice steady frame rate witch is surprising for how big the world is. The camera angles are not bad. The only place it can get kind of confusing is when operating any vehicle.

Control

The controls are fine. They are like pretty much like any other FPS. Its easy to learn. Teh only time when it gets hard to control is when in a vehicle. You have to use both joysticks at once which can get confusing for some people.

Compare/Contrast with other games

I have never played Mercenaries 1 so i cannot compare to that. The games world reminds me of GTA but not as big and not as polished. Nothing special with the layout its just like any other 3PS. Its not anything that we have not seen before.

Conclusion

Overall i like Merc2. It has a lot to it. Of coarse there is just the main story  but there are also side challenges, a ton of unlock able items, and bonus missions with each real mission. Its one of those games that you dont even have to play the main mission to have fun. You can drive around town, hit pedestrians, and blow shit up. You do the main story at your own pace which is nice. Its not on any level with GTA but its worth a try. There are just a few things wrong with the graphics that i thought they could have done a better job on but other then that its a pretty solid game. Witch is why i give it a pretty solid 7.5 out of 10. I would not buy this game but for you crazy people out there who cant get enough of blowing shit up it might be the game for you. When it comes down to it Merc2 is a fun game  and thats what its all about.

-Matt Burns