E3 2008: Mercenaries 2:World in Flames Hands on
posted:
7/16/2008 3:15:00 AM
More On:
E3 2008
I only played a little bit of the first Mercenaries game, it wasn't that it was a bad game but it came at a busy point in my gaming life. It wasn't for a lack of interest as the game's over the top violence was very appealing. The sequel is shaping up well as Pandemic has taken the core concepts of the original (mission based open world gameplay, lots of stuff blowing up) and updated the graphics, added online co-op , and destructible environments.
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames the open world nature of the first and you still play a gun for hire. The two sides who are bidding for your services are the Venezuelan government and the guerrilla fighters who want to do a little regime change. In the demo level I was shown we were hired by the rebels to take out some Venezuelan forces. Our first attempt into the village ended poorly when we managed to catch a tank shell with our heads. The next time into the village we "borrowed" a tank which required completing a small quicktime event before we were able to use the tank to destroy our objectives (and a good chunk of the village). The game's camoflauge system is interesting in that you can blend in with the enemy troops as long as you don't get too close to them and don't shoot them. This allows you to quickly infiltrate some areas and take out objectives without having to fight your way in (if you're into that kind of thing).
The game plays well and you have a wide variety of ways to solve the problems in the game and the game oozes personality. The co-op mode will add a lot to it as well as I imagine you'll be able to mix some of the gameplay types together. Here's my interview with Scott Warner, the lead designer on the game if you want more details on the game
What works
- Blowing stuff up, always fun
- Blow stuff up, even more fun with co-op
- Lots of options, ways to play the game
What doesn't
- Graphics could use a little polish
- Bit of a crowded field
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames the open world nature of the first and you still play a gun for hire. The two sides who are bidding for your services are the Venezuelan government and the guerrilla fighters who want to do a little regime change. In the demo level I was shown we were hired by the rebels to take out some Venezuelan forces. Our first attempt into the village ended poorly when we managed to catch a tank shell with our heads. The next time into the village we "borrowed" a tank which required completing a small quicktime event before we were able to use the tank to destroy our objectives (and a good chunk of the village). The game's camoflauge system is interesting in that you can blend in with the enemy troops as long as you don't get too close to them and don't shoot them. This allows you to quickly infiltrate some areas and take out objectives without having to fight your way in (if you're into that kind of thing).
The game plays well and you have a wide variety of ways to solve the problems in the game and the game oozes personality. The co-op mode will add a lot to it as well as I imagine you'll be able to mix some of the gameplay types together. Here's my interview with Scott Warner, the lead designer on the game if you want more details on the game
What works
- Blowing stuff up, always fun
- Blow stuff up, even more fun with co-op
- Lots of options, ways to play the game
What doesn't
- Graphics could use a little polish
- Bit of a crowded field
