I gave Pandemic Studios latest game Mercenaries 2 all I could, and I can give no more.
Stepping into the shoes of a Merc who has free roam of Venezuela to do what they like to get their revenge sounds like the premise and promise of a damn good game. Unfortunately, the game falls flat in almost every way. I was thrown into the game and after the few brief intro missions and after having to sit through some terrible FMVs that looked as though they were ripped from the PS2 version I finally was free to start plotting my revenge. I took some contracts right away, and here's my first quibble, the mission structure consists of blow this up, kill this, steal this, rinse and repeat. I realize open-world games are often criticized most for having missions that have all been done to death, but GTA IV did a hell of a better job at giving me convincing characters that I felt like I grew to know and even became attached to, and in turn the missions had more heft and impact. In Mercenaries 2, it's more like "Good job mercenary, have some cash, we like you enough that you should come to our depot and spend some of it, oh and do more contracts and maybe I'll tell you where Solano is". Riveting. I would've preferred a plot in which you're accruing money in the hopes of completely nuking Venezuela altogether, because in the game world the cities are barren and it doesn't even feel as if real citizens live there anyway, just the factions that give out contracts and those you're after.
So I thought I'd spice up the mission structure by doing what the game is to be known for, lots and lots of explosions. Well, first I had to save Ewan otherwise how would I ever airlift fuel and money that's just laying about Venezuela. Then I had to rescue Eva if I wanted some new vehicles for which to cruise around on because most of the vehicles out in Venezuela are boring. Then I had to save Misha if I wanted some bombing runs and anything that requires a jet. Whoo. Okay got that all done. Now the fun begins? Oh, hold on I have to tackle capturing some high value targets and destroying some objects for the factions so they love me enough that I can buy fuel capacity upgrades as well as new Shop Items. Okay, now I need to go to the various shops around Venezuela and purchase things, alright now I'm ready to drop some bombs on these suckers. Why couldn't they have streamlined the shop from the D-Pad menu? I should be able to be out and about on a mission, draw up the menu and order whatever I wish from it as long as I have the funds. Even if I could do that however, mindlessly dropping explosions and vehicles from the sky would be mostly worthless as the A.I. is garbage. The controls and physics are also very loose, I understand they want the objects to be somewhat floaty for when major explosions go off but my vehicle shouldn't be taking damage from just driving along the roads of Venezuela because they get a little airborne from said floaty physics. Whichever mercenary you choose is also very weary of heights, if you sprint down a hill and because you're sprinting you vault off the hill and get some air, be prepared to lose about 10-15 health or more. On the other hand if something important is up a hill or mountainous region, your mercenary has no problem sprinting up it like it ain't no big deal.
I'm having a difficult time reviewing this because I can't think of much to say, the visuals with the exception of the explosions are disappointing. The sound effects are good but the VO is annoying and Fiona constantly pesters the player. The story is bare bones as are the cutscenes revolving around it. The gameplay feels outdated and is plagued with bugs, glitches, loose controls, floaty physics, and when those aren't intervening the A.I. doesn't put up much of a fight so it's at best a mindless run-n-gun game. Co-Op is there, but it just made me feel like I was suffering only with someone else also slogging and suffering through it.
If you love open-world games keep playing GTA IV or pick that up if you're shopping around for one. Maybe hold out for Saints Row 2 but if you feel that you must absolutely play this game please heed my advice and rent it and nothing more. I've got to hand it to the Pandemic guys who would show off builds of this game during gaming conferences and conventions, they really made it seem like it was a great product. Turns out it's just average at best.
Final Verdict: Thumbs Down
Mediocrity, son. Nothing in the world smells like that.
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