Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (PC, Xbox 360, PS3) Review
by Eddie Turner on September 9, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Despite the game's many inconsistencies and lack of polish on behalf of the development team, Mercenaries 2 is still fun to play. Sadly, the amount of fun dwindles as missions become all too repetitive. As the game's entertainment value depletes, many will find it to be a chore just to continue beyond the first several hours. What's really the deal breaker here is that the few core elements, like shooting and driving, that make action titles great were simply not given the time and attention they deserve, and the rest of the game suffers as a result. We can't say for sure that Mercenaries 2 is another title rushed onto store shelves prematurely by Electronic Arts, but it certainly won't do anything to improve their reputation for doing so and the timing is certainly suspect. Releasing in late August keeps it from getting lost in the crush of the holiday rush, but the game mechanics could have used some additional tuning.
- Enjoyable co-op mode
- Blowing stuff up is always fun
- Beautiful environments
- Comfortable control scheme
- Poor aiming mechanic
- Flighty vehicle control
- Overly repetitive dialogue
- Clumsy AI
- Lack of varied mission types
- Frequent bugs and glitches
- Explosions degrade performance
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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.