Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction
Review by: Eric Mortensen

System: Playstation 2, Xbox
Genre: Third Person Shooter
Developer: Pandemic Studios
Publisher: LucasArts
ESRB Rating: Teen
Release Date: 01/11/05
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Curve: Less than a hour
 
 

Pros	Cons
Destructible environments, good controls, excellent graphics, great sound effects, varied missions, 20+ hours of very fun game play.	No Online Play; AI can be really easy and really hard at times; the story is lacking at times; the game ends.

Fun: 19.5 out of 20

Do think blowing things up is fun? Do you think the freeform play of Grand Theft Auto is the greatest? Do you think hunting down the 52 most wanted North Koreans would be exciting? If you answered yes to those three questions Mercenaries is the game for you. Mercenaries is a third person shooter that includes driving and hijacking elements. If this sounds a lot like GTA that is because Mercenaries has the same type of game moods that GTA shares. Many people will think no game can even come close to how fun GTA is but I believe this game gives GTA a run for their money. The shooting elements are a lot better in Mercenaries. The shooting elements are more satisfying and exciting then any in GTA. The driving in both games are comparable. Each game does a few things better but average out to be the same. Mercenaries doesn't have all the other game modes that GTA does. That does not matter though because it is so fun to blow things up. The game is not linear at all. Every mission has several ways to complete it. I think anyone who plays this game will enjoy it immensely.

Story: 8 out of 10

The story of Mercenaries is above average. The story takes place in the year 2006. North Korea is in turmoil. General Song has just killed his father and has taken control over North Korea. Everyone in the world seems to think that they need to help with the trouble in North Korea. The Allied Nations want to create peace in the area and stop a potential threat to the free world. The South Koreans want to make sure their land is safe. The Russian Mafia wants to earn money off the situation by selling weapons to other countries. Finally the Chinese have expansion ideas that include North Korea. You play the part of a mercenary. You help each side as you capture more of the 52 most wanted North Koreans. At times the story is very good. The premise of the game is very good but at times the story lacks.

Innovation: 9 out of 10

Mercenaries is a very innovative game. It borrows from GTA the concept of hijacking but everything else improves upon the genre. The shooting is improved a little. The driving is nothing new. The gameplay is very original though. In no other game do you play as a mercenary. Where you have no alliance to anyone and you can destroy anything you want. The amount of destruction you can create is like no other game like I have ever played. The physics are very well done and work very well with the many explosions in the game.

Control: 9.5 out of 10

The control in Mercenaries is almost perfect. The shooting works perfectly and I have not witnessed a single time the controls did not work well. The driving works well most of the time. The only time the driving doesn't work that well is when you run into things. At times you can get stuck and it can take a while to get back one your way. All the vehicles in the game handle differently. You can tell the difference between a big truck and a jeep. The jeep is a lot faster and controls better. The trucks drive slowly and do not turn well.

Graphics: 10 out of 10

The graphics in Mercenaries are outstanding. They are some of the best graphics I have seen on a console game. The locales are very well done. From the fog to the cracked roads it seems like you are there in North Korea along with your mercenary. The characters are very well done and are all unique. They all have good animation and move smoothly. There are plenty of well detailed buildings and people on the streets of the cities. The most impressive thing graphically is by far the explosions. They are the best explosions I have ever seen in a game. The fire is realistic and when buildings collapse, dirt and dust fly outward making it hard to see. Pieces of vehicles and buildings fly everywhere and the explosions are a sight to behold.

Sound: 9.5 out of 10

The sound in Mercenaries shines as well. The soundtrack is varied with several types of music. People talk to on the streets and you can overhear their conversations. On the radio you can hear an announcer talk about your most recently captured criminal. Again though the explosions take the spotlight. The explosions sound as realistic as you would ever want to hear. They sound like you are there. At times the songs and what people say are repetitive but I didn't mind much.

Replay Value: 10 out of 10

With three characters and plenty of missions this is a game you will want to play through several times. Each character handle differently so you probably will like to play through the game with each character. With the several factions you can change the faction you support the most each time you play. The biggest reason you would want to play again is that the missions are so fun and there is not one way to complete them. You will want to play every mission several times so you can try something new this time.

Challenge: 9 out of 10

For the most part Mercenaries puts up a good challenge. It is usually not to easy to beat but not to hard that it becomes frustrating. At times it can though. Early on during the game it becomes easy to capture the terrorists. You won't have too much of a challenge to capture any of them. Then after a hour or two the game turns to the right difficulty. Then for a couple missions scattered through the rest of the game things become very difficult. I had to play these missions several times before I could beat them.

Multiplayer: No Multiplayer Available

Tilt:: 10 out of 10

Mercenaries is a very good game. One thing people would not think is that this game is funny. From your characters personality to the very different personalities of the different legions in the game you will laugh a lot during this game. Mattias Nilsson is the funniest of any of the mercenaries. He is self centered and has many witty lines. He is always thinking of how he will spend is money and always thinks of something funny to say about the leader of the many legions in the game. Mercenaries does so well in some of the categories that it is definitely worthy of a 10 in tilt.

Overall: 94.5% Must Buy

An early candidate for the game of the year. A great mix of shooting and driving action. An alternative to GTA which I think is even better than GTA. You will find very few games that do this genre any better. The only problem with this game is that there is no online. If there was multiplayer this game would be almost perfect. I guess we will have to wait for Mercenaries 2 for online play. I would recommend this game for anyone. The only people who will not enjoy this game are those who do not think that destroying everything around them is fun.