- Title: Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
- Platform: Xbox 360
- Publisher: EA
- Developer: Pandemic
- ESRB Rating: “T” for Teen
- Genre: Third-Person-Shooter
- Pros: Blowing stuff up is always fun; simple design never gets in the way; co-op
- Cons: So-so graphics; we’ve seen and done this before; lots of glitches/bugs
In Mercenaries 2, you play as one of three mercenaries in Venezuela who are out for revenge on a contractor that didn’t pay up. Just like the first game, there are various factions around the country that can help, or hinder, your progress towards your ultimate goal of revenge depending on how you interact with them. Each faction has missions for you and there are hidden caches of money and fuel as well as spare parts you can use to build new vehicles spread throughout the game world. There is a lot to do here, and it takes a solid 30+ hours to do it all.
The best part of Mercenaries 2 is the online co-op. I know I have said this a thousand times, but playing with a friend always makes everything better, and Mercs 2 is no exception. You are free to do anything, go anywhere, blow up everything, and it is a blast to have a buddy by your side.
Gameplay
We have some specific complaints here as well, however. Cars blow up way too easily. Firing guns just isn’t all that satisfying because they are surprisingly imprecise and the enemies can absorb a lot of lead before they die. Buildings blow up way, way, way too easily and you can actually break missions by accidentally destroying a building you are supposed to meet a contact at. There are also tons of glitches and bugs where missions don’t function correctly, vehicles or weapons or characters disappear, and friendly factions will occasionally just start shooting at you or blow up your car for no reason.
Mercs 2 is very, very flawed. That doesn’t mean you can’t have a lot of fun in spite of the problems, but it doesn’t even come close to living up to its potential.
Graphics and Sound
Graphically, Mercenaries 2 is a bit of a mess. Explosions, smoke, and other special effects look really nice and the vehicles generally look good. Everything else, though, is kind of ugly. There is a definite lack of texture variety, which means most of the buildings look alike. The textures themselves are very simple and look like they’d be more at home on the OG Xbox. The ground textures are particularly ugly, and the plants are just hideous 2D messes up close. Enemies also lack detail.The sound is okay. Sound effects for gunfire and explosions are decent, but the voice acting leaves a lot to be desired as the same half-asleep sounding quips play over and over and over again.
Bottom Line
