Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (PC, Xbox 360, PS3) Review
by Eddie Turner on September 9, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Contractual Obligations
As you progress through the game, your mercenary will encounter several rival factions, all with jobs for the taking. Mercenaries 2 is all about the cash you'll get for completing your objectives and the factions have a lot of it. Much like in GTA4, keeping these factions in your good graces will prove to be extremely lucrative. With each new mission you complete, additional supplies become available to you. However, since many of these missions involve damage to the other factions, maintaining a balance can be quite difficult. Even so, making amends with those who turn against you is as easy as completing another mission for them.
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Mission styles in the game are surprisingly limited. The bulk of them consist of capturing enemy outposts in order to gain territory for the factions who employ your merc. However, the game does make an attempt to break up the monotony by offering a few alternatives, such as escort missions, racing challenges, and other outlying side quests. Capturing outposts is a fairly simple task early on. Players simply arrive at the targeted destination and take on enemy stronghold that occupies it, then call in a strike team to enter and capture the main structure within. While this can be done by running and gunning alone, additional supplies that can be purchased at captured outposts will prove to be worthy assets.
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Spacecomber - Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - link
Sounds like Pandemic would have been better off porting this console game to the PC. Not being a console gamer, I've never played this title, but it looked wacky enough that I might have picked up a version for the PC, if it was available.Pandemic was formed in order to develop Battlezone II, when they were spun off by Activision. They managed to alienate most of the original Battlezone fan base with that effort (at least the multiplayer fan base), and it seems like they've continued to turn out games that are near misses since then.
I appreciate the risks they took and their efforts to do things differently with a game like Battlezone II; so, I've always hoped that they would get something right. However, I can't say that any of the PC games that they have produced since then have been compelling enough for me to purchase.
Full Spectrum Warrior lacked a true first person perspective, for example, and Starwars Battlefront didn't really offer more than its competition (the Battlefield games) already provided (or so it seemed to me).
Anyway, once again, when it comes to Pandemic and their PC games, the conclusion seems to be to "move along, nothing to see here".
samduhman - Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - link
You read my mind. Their games have always been just shy of being something great. Is this due to their games being crossplatformed and they not putting extra effor in for the pc?EddieTurner - Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - link
Agreed. Destroy All Humans! was a lot of fun and would have made for a worthy PC port. There's actually a new game in the series on the way. "Path of the Furon," I believe it's called. But, as I stated in the review, Pandemic won't be developing it. Sandblast has taken the reins. Still no PC version planned.fendell - Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - link
Such a shame they didn't include a LAN coop mode with easy hassle-free joining..HOOfan 1 - Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - link
While progressing through this article I experience several bugs and glitches with anandtech.JarredWalton - Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - link
Unfortunately, our doc engine sometimes decides to set an article status to "live" during the posting process. Apologies for any inconvenience; the article is now fully posted.HOOfan 1 - Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - link
No inconvenience, I just thought it was amusing.