|
|
 |
|
|
|
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames Review
User Submitted Mercenaries 2: World in Flames Reviews
Date: 2008-12-31
It does what it does BEST
Admittedly, I was a big Mercs 1 fan. I spent a lot of time on the PS2 playing it, and I liked the open world, drive it, fly it, blow it up style of game play. Mercs 2 takes this up several notches: in 1, not everything was truly available to use/destroy, but in Mercs 2, there is very little in the world that isnt usable/combustible.
This encourages wanton destruction and chaos, which is why we play a game like this, right? Back is the tongue-in-cheek global commentary (and the characters to go with it) and the interesting balance between friend and foe. I will probably go back and play it again, siding with the United Nations instead of China just to see the different outcomes and missions.
Mercs 2 doesnt encourage, as strongly as say Grand Theft Auto, driving around arbitrarily blowing stuff up, due to the high expense of realigning yourself with whoever's building you just leveled, but you find yourself doing it anyway, and for the several days of escapist fun that this game was for me, it was a rare game that I think fully worth the price paid.
Date: 2008-12-29
WAY TOO MANY GLITCHES - GAME PLAY & GRAPHICS
Glitches, Glitches and more Glitches throughout the game!?!?!?! Totally Disappointing on all levels.
This game was out for sale way before the game was even ready or debugged properly and/or efficiently. Some of the game play bugs actually cause you not to be awarded certain achievements (which really sucks!). The game patch that developer prepared to address these issues, in my opinion, did not! I had already played the game through 84% when the patch was sent and I decided to restart and play the game over again. Guess what, I had the same issues, but this time, I had more graphics issues than before. Not really sure what the patch actually fixed.
It is truly shameful for EA and Pandemic to put out a game that is so glitched that it makes me feel that both companies are impersonating video game makers. Game developers should focus on the final polished product first rather than their projected profits. Good quality polished games will always yield maximum profits, but crappy and bug riddled games like Mercenaries 2 should be shelved and never made. SHAMEFUL!
I really loved the original Mercenaries game for the xbox, but the Mercenaries 2 World in Flames for xbox 360 REALLY SUCKS 100%. It is a piece of sh....!
I, as a true gamer, would absolutely NEVER RECOMMEND this game to anyone.
Date: 2008-12-16
Better than the first-
It's GTA style for the inner pyromaniac in all of us. If you liked the first installment, this one is even better.
Date: 2008-11-16
Lots of fun, if not completely polished
This game is a lot of fun. If you liked the first mercenaries, this one continues the party with lots more vehicles, weapons, and airstikes. The vehicle hi-jacking minigame is kinda silly, as none of them are so hard that you simply won't be able to do them, even for the best vehicles (most require mid-tempo button-mashing), and if you fail, you can easily try again with little to prevent it. Money is rather silly in this game, as you can earn 5 million in a very easy task in your HQ that takes about 2 minutes, and the best faction units and airstrikes in the game only cost like $250k-400k. The only time you really need cash is to bribe factions (upwards of $10million). Another odd point is the relative invincibility of your merc. You can fall from hundreds of feet or stand in the middle of an airstrike and survive (though my experience is with Nielsen, who is the "tough" one).
Pros:
-Lots of vehicles (170+)
-Game world is very large
-It is easier to control faction opinion than the first game. You can kill whomever you want, as long as you don't get reported (the games gives you 10 seconds to take out reporting units)
-Physics engine is very realistic
-Everything actually CAN be destroyed (though most respawn at some point)
-You can afford all the vehicles and airstikes you could ever want without having to "work" for money
Cons:
-BUGS. This game literally locks up my Xbox 75% of the time when I try to load a save. However, it appears this has been fixed through Xbox live.
-Missions are too redudant. Most missions actually have you repeat the exact same task 3 times, though increasing difficulty and increasing reward.
-Voice acting is annoying. Everyone says the same things over and over again. A pirate unit sharing your tank will continually say something like "hey mon" every 5 seconds. I'm not kidding.
-There are not enough core missions. I would estimate there are 12-15 between the 5 factions. The other "missions" are more like errons (drive from A to B)
The only real deal breaker for me in this game was the locking up while loading. As I said, an Xbox live update will fix this, but if you don't have live, make sure you are a patient person.
Date: 2008-11-03
Flawed but fun!
Mercenaries 2 is a great, fun game. However, there are elements that simultaneously improve and reduce the experience.
M2 is usual on-foot/vehicle sandbox fare - main missions can be completed at your leisure and completing side quests offer you bonus artillery/info/ammo that can aid with the main missions.
Graphically, well it's sub-par. It has moments of brilliance such as the sun glinting over the sea as you fly around in a chopper, but the graphic pop-up and sparse, bitmap-tiling of the greenery is very evident. Whilst it does the job it sometimes borders on very gamelike Mario-esque looking effects, so there's no real immersion, no sense of you 'in the game'. Does it matter? Not really; it's a 3D platformer/driving game, not Far Cry 2.
Sound has problems too. Your main character has the weirdest accent I've heard and this 'Nordic Viking' also tends to say the same thing over and over again. Jump out of a helicopter two feet from the ground and he shouts "Who neeeeeds a 'chuuuute!" whilst he's standing next to a landed chopper. Would it have been so hard to code in a test to see how far he's about to fall? Your cohorts also repeat the same dialog far too often. Call in chopper support and you get the same line delivered chosen from maybe three available. The barks your enemies issue are equally inappropriate and repetitive and become tiresome fairly quickly.
Gameplay - well this is where M2 shines. It's simply a fun game with lots to do and many ways to do it. You're free to experiment with your current arsenal and free to tackle the task at hand anyway you choose and I love that. My only gripe is the QTE (Quick Time Events) - these are situations where you must complete a series of set button pushes in a small amount of time. For example to hijack a tank, you might have to press B then mash X then hit LT then A. It's all very antiquated and tedious. A next gen game with Dragon's Lair controls? Awful... buuuut - it's also awesome in Co-op.
Co-op, is, as I opened with the element that sends M2 into the stratosphere in terms of fun. Your friends can jump in at any time and help out, then leave without impacting your mission. At one point my colleague was attempting to delivery some packages in a truck and was repeatedly being killed so I jumped in, summoned a powerful chopper and destroyed all bad guys in his wake. He completed the mission successfully and I logged off. Marvelous. The QTE events are funny as heck too, especially if your partner simply can't do them. My friend tried to hijack several helicopters only to fail and be thrown two hundred feet over and over again and it was hilarious and never got old (fortunately in M2 you can fall from any height and not die, you just have one bar of health).
Of course, co-op comes with a price and that's the sour with the sweet. That price is bugs. The game is already fairly buggy in single player, with you getting stuck under objects, or not getting into vehicles properly etc. When in co-op though things fair much worse, with buggy debris from a recent co-op game being carried back over to my single-player save and other such unforgivable bugs. Save first to a new slot before joining a friend's game!
So all in all, nothing ground-breaking, no amazing graphics, and some sometimes amusing bugs. But bloody hell it's a lot of fun, and double so in co-op. M2 is very recommended especially if you know someone who also has it. Go git 'em killer.
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames Reviews Page: 1 of 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next>>
|
|
|
|
