Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction

[img2 left]Mercenaries are the bad boys of the military world. They
don’t belong to any one particular side, but instead act like
specialized hit men, delivery boys and saboteurs working for the
highest bid, balancing their bank accounts with their personal morals
and allegiances. Mercs tend to be free agents and lone warriors and
there aren’t a whole lotta gamers who can say they haven’t wanted to be
one. At least virtually.

LucasArts, in partnership with
Pandemic Studios, has stepped away from the lightsabres and the
stormtroopers to make way for sniper rifles and North Koreans. The
appropriately titled Mercenaries pits players as an army of one, more
or less, taking contracts and completing money making missions to gain
access to more weapons, badder vehicles and the funds to make the
occasional bribe. Explosions are monstrous and easily the most
satisfying of other games of this type.[img18 right] Mercenaries is a
Grand Theft Auto of sorts, with a new environment, new weapons and a
more focused storyline. GTA: Vice City and the more recent San Andreas
are easily larger games, sporting more map to cover, but lacks a sense
of consequence for your actions. Mercenaries does this by immediately
hitting your cash for collateral damage, such as taking out a civilian.
In addition, each of the 5 factions have an approval rating of your
work and killing too many of their soldiers will result in turning them
wholly against you, making it difficult to take contracts or even
driving through their territory.

[img1 left]You begin by
choosing one of three special operatives, part of a larger merc
organization called ExOps. Each of the three have a slightly different
skillset which helps to tweak the difficulty. For example, Jennifer Mui
has stealth skills, making her less likely to be detected by enemy
soldiers. Play commences as you take contracts to earn money and
information leading to members of the Deck of 52, a selection of war
criminals loyal to North Korea and the deadly General Song. Taking down
each of the deck will be rewarded with respect, cash, and information
vital to stepping up the ladder to the next in the deck.[img20 right]

You’ll
be working with Allied Forces, the Chinese government, South Korean
forces and the Russian Mafia on a regular basis, accepting contracts
and “borrowing” weapons and vehicles in order to complete their tasks.
Be warned though, some contracts will take you into another factions
territory and require hostilities that will lower your favoring with
them. North Korean forces will always be hostile, so feel free to take
them out whenever you like. Utilizing air strikes, heavy artillery, C-4
and a myriad of weapons, you’ll be charged with eliminating everything
from conspirators to entire buildings in a fiery blast of rubble and
bodies. Sound like fun? It is.

[img4 left]Graphically, the game
serves up a war torn jungle, with scattered cities and military
outposts. Textures are a little too often reused though, especially
noticeable after you’ve hijacked a helicopter and are flying well above
the cities. One of the more impressive nuances visually is the use of
smoke and fire, generously provided in every mission. Firefights break
out between the factions as they encounter each other and vehicles tend
to explode in bright fireballs. Sparks fly, as does debris from each
new wreckage and fire spews from it’s remains. Calling in for a supply
drop requires tossing a smoke grenade that spray red plumes to attract
the attention of the chopper pilots doing the drop off. As the
helicopters get closer the smoke blows away from where the bird is
coming in and swirls around the ground as he lands, creating a real
world feel.

Sound is just as impressive, immersing you in a
world of 5.1 surround. Enemy alarms and soldiers battle cries envelope
the player with a decent home theatre setup. Got Bass? Mercenaries
does, effectively reproducing the subtle lows of a gunshot hitting
flesh to the intimidating blasts of Bunker Buster Bombs that distort
the picture as they rattle the windows. There is some minor voice
acting from faction leaders, including Carl Weathers (Apollo Creed from
Rocky) and Bruce McGill (Animal House, MacGyver), but nothing
specifically award winning. Besides, this game is about the explosions.
An orchestral soundtrack provides background, sounding oddly similar to
what normally accompanies Lucas’ titles, but this time void of John
Williams’ actual hand.

[img3 right]A few minor blemishes dot
the otherwise porcelain face of the game though. The commercials
promise that anything and everything can be destroyed. It was a might
disappointing to find that although my RPG can reduce an enemy supply
truck to smoldering parts, that wooden crate on the ground only gets
relocated a bit. That tank that I just jacked can flatten fences and
anything on four wheels, but that sapling on the side of the road just
won’t budge. I was also promised the freedom to hijack any vehicle,
which is mostly true, but the big Allied Forces helicopters cant be
jacked, even if they’ve come down to ground level to provide support
fire. Additionally, expect a lot of driving. Many of your contracts
will have you driving or worse, walking, for several minutes before
reaching your target. We’d also like to have seen a co-op mode, even in
split screen play, to pair up and take on the North Koreans while
dodging each other’s rockets.

Despite a few picky bits, the
game is greatly satisfying and should quench any thirst for warfare,
from ordering a stealth strike on a hidden bunker to using a
helicopter’s winch to grab a car, flail it around for momentum and
letting it fly into a stockpile of enemy soldiers and trucks.[img7
left] Plenty of exploring options are here too, searching hill and dale
to find stolen blueprints and national treaures to unlock new player
skins such as Han Solo and Indiana Jones, or cheats for unlimited
health and extra cash when you need it. There is a lot of game here,
and though not particularly story driven or otherwise new to gamers,
Mercenaries gets back to a primal fun that a lot of games lack.