If you want to come in guns blazing, there are airstrikes, tanks, artillery launches, gunboats, commando teams and guns a plenty to further your destructive tendencies. If you want to get in under the radar, you can steal a car from the faction you are infiltrating and they will not fire on you as long as you are subtle (why would you want to, though?). What helps make the game fun is the freedom you have in approaching every situation. Absolutely everything, and I mean everything, is destructible if you have the right tools and let me tell you, it is great fun to blow stuff up in this game. The sheer wanton destruction you can cause is truly, truly amazing. The controls are easy to master and intuitive enough to give you the fine control you need when in a hairy situation. How does the game play? Well, aside from some glitches and graphical oddities, this game is immensely fun to play. Okay, enough about the characters and ‘story’. The characters are all completely static once they join you sure, they have some short dialogue scenes and some custom missions for rewards, but there is no further development or true interaction. This makes for some humorous moments…once. Mischa, for example, is always drunk (‘you’re drunk’, my merc said. This is the second area I had issues with in Mercenaries 2 these characters are all outwardly VERY interesting if clichéd. Finally, the drunken Russian aircraft pilot Mischa joins your cause once you help him out. Following that, you are sent to entice a mechanic, Eva, to join your cause. Next, you hire away the hotshot helicopter pilot, Ewan, whom Universal Petroleum was using for missions. You start with your friend and tech head Fiona, who will generally help keep your operations running. Completing these missions inevitably gets you closer and closer to Solano and your end goal.Īs you start your mission to kill Solano (and make lots of money), you will compile a team to join your Private Military Corporation (PMC). Each faction has its own goals and missions to back those up. You have Universal Petroleum, the Chinese Army, the Allied Nations, the Rastafarian Pirates and the People's Liberation Army of Venezuela. You see, Venezuela is in the midst of a rebellion centered on oil rights the Venezuelan army is trying to hold things together, but many factions are in the mix trying to get a slice. It definitely ticked me off that there was no unique storyline for the three diverse personalities, but hey, this game is all about blowing things up and the scenario delivers that in spades. With this motivation, you start on a storm of destruction across Venezuela. This is ultimately your reasoning for taking him down, as not only did he not pay you (a big no-no for mercenaries), but he shot you in the ass. Once the job is complete, Solano and his sidekick try to eliminate you, but all they succeed in doing is shooting you in the rear end while you escape. Speaking of the story, or what little there is of it, the paper thin plot revolves around your Merc (whomever you choose) doing a job for a big baddie called Roman Solano.
Without three separate story arcs, there is no compelling reason to replay the campaign. While this is not a deal breaker, it certainly hurts the replay value of the game. No matter which you choose, the story remains exactly the same. While it is nice to have three choices, these characters are my first issue with the game. Chris can hold more ammo than the others and carries himself in a more mature manner then the other two. Last, but not least, is Chris Jacobs, the weapons guy. Jennifer Mui is the smoking hot female character she is the smart ass of the bunch and has a much faster land speed then the boys. Mattias Nilsson spits out horribly accented one-liners right out of a Schwarzenegger movie, but he also regenerates health faster than the others. In Mercenaries 2, you have the choice between three varied, yet identical characters (more on that later). The game does many things right and many things wrong, but does this add up to a great game? The answer is yes. The team has come back fighting and has given us a bigger, badder and flashier version of their original vision. Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is the sequel to the original Mercenaries game created by Pandemic for the last-gen consoles a few years ago.