Mercenaries 2: World In Flames
Posted By: Kevin on Dec 21 2008

The true reason for developing sequels is not to fix broken gameplay mechanics or devise new ways to punish players who thought the same tricks would work the second time around. It is to improve the name of the previous game in those cases that a poor one was chosen.

Take Mercenaries 2: World in Flames for example. Developed by Pandemic Studios, the sequel to Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction has made the leap to next gen systems. A different publisher was used, as well. With Lucasarts passing on the title, this let newcomer EA broaden its small stable of titles.

Everyone knows EA isn’t a newcomer to game publishing. That’s just silly… Almost as silly as the title Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction. When reviewing a game, it is important to look at the aspects that sequels should strive for. Any game jumping from Xbox to Xbox 360 should display much improved graphics, more immersive sound, and all-around better presentation. The absolute slammer with this title is just HOW much they improved the bite of the actual name of the game. They passed on Mercenaries 2: Demolition Dollhouse. They could have settled with Mercenaries 2: Ruckusing Rampagin’. EA could have even taken the easy way out and publish it as Mercenaries 2: Playing in the Sandbox a Second Time.

World in Flames isn’t really an apt title. This title focuses the action towards Venezuela instead of North Korea as in Playground of Destruction. There is no lack of burning in the game, as the plot regularly features backstabbing and betrayal. All of it is delivered with, at the very best, average dialogue. But as far as the world being in flames… during my time with Mercs 2 the only burning was the one I was dishing out.

Heat effects at times are far too glaring; knocking out an ammo bunker would practically sear my plasma TV in an ocean of red. Spilling from the bright light would be volumes of frame-y smoke causing the game engine to chug and gripe. No, Mr. Mercenary! Don’t use your big boom weapons because it gives me a headache!

It is a good thing that Pandemic has allowed the player to overcome shaky smoke clouds and overly angelic fire halos by giving them the ability to damn near destroy everything. If it looks like it is made of polygons the player can most likely destroy those polygons. Sound effects are spot on and in larger urban areas there is almost a rhythm or dare I say symphony of destruction accompanying the gunfire from both you and opposing Venezuelan forces. Music is much better than the original and is probably the largest leap as far as development skills by Pandemic. It is much more epic and even touching when it needs to be.

Mercenaries 2 also slyly slips some ruffies to a few other action game legends and nabs away with a few of their ideas. God of War minigames pop up when hijacking tanks. Checkpoints are either non-existent or frustratingly far apart, ala Grand Theft Auto. A new developer to the sandbox arena would have an excuse for such blatant rip offs. Stealing the good is great; really it is. The God of War “minigame to accomplish actions that make little sense with buttons or motions” has been used successfully from Wii to PC. Relax the checkpoints though. Games can still be made difficult without the need for the player to hear their hot field op chick on the walkie tell you the 5th time: “Don’t let them shoot the car in front of you!” Civilians are great to kill in GTA. Except for the random mission that seems to deny you the fun taking out a line of pedestrians is a God-given right in such sandbox titles. Pandemic charges you 5000 dollars a POP.

A new focus on multiplayer was made with Mercenaries 2. I applaud Pandemic for focusing their vision with this game; co-op is the only multiplayer available. The silliness of 24 or more mercenaries all blowing themselves up is too much to bear. It is heart-warming to see that Pandemic poured most of its resources into making the gameplay and presentation up to par with other games on the console.

That being said… no local co-op?! Obviously a decision based more on game engine capabilities than a design choice, it is still sad to see such a great idea passed by. In what boils down to a game that is State of Emergency, but fun for more than 2 minutes, local co-op is a missed opportunity. Perhaps we will see more in Mercenaries 3?

Overall, Mercenaries 2 manages to hang out with big boys GTA IV, Saint Rows 2, GoW 2, etc… It is a fun game made by a developer that understands things going boom is a great way to spend a Saturday. Thankfully, Pandemic imbues the game with enough depth to keep it from falling into a State of Emergency.