With Mercenaries 2, you'll blow up more stuff before noon than most people do all week
Mercenaries 2: World In Flames feels a lot like the original, but packs more explosions, missions and a new locale to destroy. It suffers from a few nagging issues, but if all you want to blow things up, this intense third person action game delivers.
First, you choose from three mercenary types and then jump into the game, forming a partnership with Venezuelan drug dealer Ramon Solano. After completing a crucial job for him, he double crosses you and you barely survive. Being a gruff mercenary, you swear revenge by taking back his empire, one little step at a time. This means working with such unlikely allies as Universal Petroleum and People's Liberation Army of Venezuela, gathering enough intel and tools to get the job done.
This is done through various missions like taking out high-profile targets, stealing necessities for your team (including fuel and cash) and making new allies, such as a helpful mechanic and a pilot. As you dig deeper, you'll find that your items become more elaborate, and you'll eventually exchange guns for nukes. Granted, this will cost you, but the heavy supply of work, along with side bets from members of your own team, keeps the cash flowing.
The key word here is "BOOM." Click to see more images from the game...
Driving around the open world of Venezuela offers a lot of terrain. Whether you're on foot or riding around in a vehicle (ranging from a mini-tank to a helicopter), the controls handle just like they should. You'll have no problem targeting bad guys and putting them in their place. In addition, hijacking these vehicles is part of the fun, as you engage in push-button minigames and then take control.
There are a couple of minor hitches, however. First off, most of the computer soldiers are dimwits. They'll spend a good deal of time shooting blindly, even when you're right next to them. The only soldiers that stand a chance of taking you down are the heavily armed ones, carrying RPGs and launching mortars at you in a tank.
Secondly, the push-button segments occur too often, especially with the concluding battle with Solano. What should be an epic showdown instead feels like a quick wrap-up.
Mercenaries' presentation gets the job done for the most part. Developer Pandemic did a great job with making everything destructible. Being able to bring down buildings with C4 and other explosives is surprisingly satisfying. There are occasional glitches that needed some clean up, however, especially on certain textures and soldier movements. Overall, it's a step up from the original.
On the audio side, the music is good, but the voice work gets out of hand. You'll constantly hear non-playable soldiers shouting out the same things repeatedly, such as "The enemy is here!", even though you've clearly indicated you're not the enemy.
Thanks to all the missions, you can complete the game and then head back through it again, going a different way and blowing stuff up. Best of all, you don't have to go it alone. It supports online play through Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network, letting you destroy things alongside a friend. There is no offline co-op, nor any competitive multiplayer. Furthermore, the co-op mode forces you to work closely together, so you can't explore two opposite ends of the city. Regardless, it still clicks.
In some respects, Mercenaries 2: World In Flames isn't perfect and it isn't entirely pretty, but when it comes to blowing up stuff alone or with a friend, it gets the job done. If you need to relieve stress, spend some time in this fictitious Venezuela.
