By Gary Kearney
It has been a little while since I have written a review. Don't get me wrong,
I have still been playing games, but with a more relaxed point-of-view instead
of the critical eye needed for a review. But now the time is right to, well, get
back in the game. Luckily the first game I get to review is a game that I was
looking forward to playing and had some high hopes for: Mercenaries 2: World in
Flames for the Xbox 360. What better way to jump back into the review pool than
a good out-of-control action game. Does Mercs 2 welcome me back into the
reviewing world with open arms or, much like my beloved Miami Dolphins, does it
just disappoint and make me sad. Read on to find out...
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, developed by Pandemic Studios and published
by EA Games, is the sequel to 2005's Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction
which was a pretty fun game. That was three years ago and I expect a sequel to
improve the original in lots of different ways. Mercs 2 is basically a rehash of
the original, just in a new location, and while it does not make as much of an
improvement to the original as one would hope for that doesn't mean it is a bad
game...especially if, like me, you like to blow up a lot of stuff in your games.
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You are given the choice of three different characters when starting Mercs 2
and each has slightly different abilities but no matter who you pick the story
is roughly the same. Your choices are: Chris Jacobs who can carry an awful lot
of ammo, Jennifer Mui who has cat like speed, and the coverboy himself Matthias
Nilsson who can heal very quickly. One thing they all have in common is a
healthy desire to blow stuff up, and you will be able to certainly to feed that
wanting.
The story turns out to be one of revenge in a way. You are hired by a very
powerful dude going by the name of Ramon Solano in Venezuela to free one of his
buddies from a well fortified mansion. This is actually pretty easy to do
because this first journey is the games' tutorial mission. The bummer is after
you rescue the guy, Solano decides that he is not going to fork over any payment
and tries to kill you instead. Soon after this Solano goes and declares himself
dictator. One thing I have learned in life, besides that you should never
challenge a badger to a fight, is to always pay your mercenaries, because one
just might get rather ticked off and take out their revenge on an entire
country. Once the tutorial is over you lose all the cool weapons and support you
had and you will need to rebuild your arsenal.
So off you go to teach Mr. Solano a lesson. This will take you all across
Venezuela and you will run into several factions throughout. These factions (The
People's Liberation Army of Venezuela and Universal Petroleum, the Jamaican
Pirates, the Chinese Army, and the Allied Nations) all will offer you different
missions that will not only pay you but also make them like you a bit more. The
missions the various factions want you to carry out are usually of the blow
something up or bring someone back variety. Each has their own agenda going on,
for example The People's Liberation Army of Venezuela is a band of rebels trying
to take their country back. Sometimes you have to do something bad to another
faction so it's interesting to see how you can play them against each other
without getting yourself in too much trouble. You can use your contacts within
the factions to buy things like fuel, air strikes, and ammo. But it is annoying
that you do not know in advance who has a specific item you need until you have
trekked across the country to find out.
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