Mercenaries 2 World in Flames
A Review - By Gaetano Prestia
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is the sequel to the 2005 cult classic, Mercenaries for XBOX. Just like the original title, Mercs 2 has an open-world with dozens of vehicles, weapons and environments to cause havoc in. This title has been held back for well over a year and now it finally makes its appearance on both the XBOX 360 and Playstation 3, but how does the series hold up in the era of Bad Company and GTA IV?
If you could call Mercs 2 anything, it would be “disappointing”. When you play a game like this, you look at certain aspects of it and ask yourself, “Gee, I wonder how this would have been if that wasn’t the way it is.” It’s able to do certain aspects really well, but then it falls short in other important aspects that ultimately stop it from being a memorable title. In fact, if Mercs 2 is memorable for anything, it’s its inability to provide a unique, innovative and enjoyable gaming experience.
In Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, you take control of one of three laughably stereotypical characters. Their personalities all differ from one another, but their past circumstances don’t. There’s no real originality when it comes to that and so therefore, it’s difficult to connect with the characters emotionally. Nowadays, if a game is unable to provide a solid enough narrative, particularly with the main characters, you may as well turn the volume down and play with your own music in the background. At least then you’ll be able to connect and/or appreciate what’s coming through your ears. But that isn’t the beginning. The story in Mercs 2 is bad. Clive Barker’s Jericho bad. The voice-acting is also so undeniably horrendous that you can’t help but wonder if the actors were actually paid for their lacklustre and laughable performances.
Thankfully, the first hour or so of the gameplay should (momentarily) make up for the poor excuse of a plot. You play through an area that introduces you to pretty much every aspect of the gameplay, from changing weapons, placing explosives, calling in for air-support and driving vehicles. It’s not an overly challenging area but it’s difficult enough to make it feel like more than just a tutorial, even though that’s pretty much all that it is. Once you finish that first tutorial-based mission, you’ll make your base in the large mansion that you’ve just taken over and from there you’ll be able to select your missions.
The first few missions are great fun to play through as they help to introduce you to accessible yet somewhat flawed gameplay. The gameplay has been almost completely overhauled from the original, and it’s far more enjoyable to blow-up buildings or drive through shanty towns with a tank. The controlling layout isn’t the most innovative and the aiming system leaves a lot to be desired, with inconsistent damage and weak shooting effects. The guns don’t feel quite as powerful as they should be, and you’ll only get pleasure out of blowing things up with the tank or rocket launchers. Furthermore, it’s almost impossible to hit a moving target, which is incredibly frustrating, especially when you’re stationary and the enemy is in close proximity. One thing that is rather puzzling is that a button has been assigned to pick up ammunition. It’s very annoying during an intense battle when you have to stop, prop and press a button just to pick up some ammo. Why not make it automatic?
The city of Venezuela is very large and vibrant, but it’s no Liberty City. There’s nothing to do and if you choose to go nuts and start blowing buildings and people up, don’t expect to finish the game anytime soon. If you hurt a civilian you lose funds and you can also get on the wrong side of factions that provide you with a significant portion of your money. So, basically, you should only follow the story of the game and complete missions, as causing a little havoc in the city is sort of frowned upon. Where’s the fun in that? It’s not all doom and gloom, however. You have the choice of joining a particular faction and the wars going on in the streets of the city occur throughout the game. This gives you some opportunity to blow-things up, but you’re still limited as to where, how and how hard you decide to go in.
Some of the missions earn you a hell of a lot of cash, which can in turn be used to upgrade and purchase new weapons, and the missions vary from picking up a VIP or blowing them up, stealing vehicles or taking out a whole hoard of enemy soldiers. Because of the wacky aiming system, it’s better to just blow things up in large quantities then to go in and shoot every enemy individually, and that’s where the real fun in this title shines through.
As you progress through the game you’ll acquire the assistance of a mechanic, a helicopter pilot, and a jet pilot. The mechanic does nothing unless you search for and find near-impossible-to-find mechanical equipment, the helicopter pilot is useful to bail you out of an intense battles and the jet pilot helps you out with air strikes from above, although it’s difficult to actually call them and aim at the area without being shot and killed while you’re doing so.
While you shouldn’t go into Mercs 2 expecting a strong narrative or a free-roaming experience, you can expect a relatively lengthy and accessible title. If you complete missions and choose a side to go with, they’ll be plenty of action to entertain you without having to go nuts on civilians and free-roam around the city. It does feel like the city is a bit of a waste as it doesn’t really encourage you to do whatever the hell you want, but the action in the missions should provide you with plenty of cannon-fodder.
Mercs 2 is a fairly glitchy title, with in-game pop-in, clipping issues and slow-down during intense battles. You’ve also got horrendous AI that doesn’t even chase you if you run away to regenerate health. They keep running at you if you’re pumping them with weapons and sometimes they remain stationary even if you run straight past them. The character design is a let down, but the city and environments look great. The draw-distance is reasonable but has been out-done on many occasions so far this generation.
Overall, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is a fun game for an hour or so, but after that it’s shortfalls begin to show through. It’s aiming system is highly flawed, the city isn’t alive and there isn’t that much to do. The missions are enjoyable if you can look beyond the aiming system and get your hands on some explosives, but even that doesn’t make this title all that worth it.
Gameplay
5.5/10
The aiming system is off, the enemy AI is horrific and the feel of the weapons is unsatisfying. The controls are accessible and fun for a bit, but it’s still are lacking gameplay experience.
Graphics
6.0/10
A nice city with a decent draw-distance is let down by clipping and slowdown issues as well as poor character design.
Sound
3.5/10
The voice-acting is absolutely horrendous. Some of the worst ever.
Value
6.0/10
The co-op multiplayer is fun but it doesn’t really add much to the experience. The single-player is fun for the first hour or so, but then after that it’s repetitive, boring and flawed. You’ll breeze through it.
Overall
5.5/10
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is a flawed action title that fails to live up to its name.