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Mercenaries 2: World in Flames Review |
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 Ah, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. Blow it all up. Do it your own way. I have never had so much fun simply just blowing everything up in a video game before. Sandbox games usually offer a ton to do, and a whole world to discover. However, what makes Mercenaries 2 different from other famous titles is the sheer destruction you can create. I am a guy who always has dreamed to play a game that has no limits - though that goal seems impossible in terms of technology and development, Mercenaries 2 comes that much closer to my fantasy. While the distributable environment is tons of fun, it seems that Pandemic didn't address some core game play issues before releasing this title on the PC.
I'm starting to get tired of big game company's like EA and Ubisoft releasing PC games that seem as if they were just “copy and pasted” from console versions to PC. Having only played the glitchy, laggy, and crashing prone PC version of Mercenaries 2, I feel that this review will not give readers an accurate picture of the potential Mercenaries 2 has to offer. Looking past all the ugliness, Mercenaries 2 would probably be one of the funnest 3rd person sandbox shooters I've played. It definitely delivers all the fun game play promised by Pandemic, and the endless possibilities keep me playing for hours on end. Mercenaries 2's graphics are pretty standard for current-gen consoles. The animation quality seems fair, and lighting seems fine and goes well with the environment. However the game developers seemed to focus more on making everything destructible rather than super realistic. Physics are what separates Mercenaries 2 from other games; call in a Fuel Air Bomb over a small army of enemies and watch it rip apart tanks, buildings, ignite trees, send soldiers rag-dolling, flatten walls, and scatter tons of small objects... the list goes on. While the graphics themselves are okay the average PC gamer will be utterly disappointed in Mercenaries 2's graphic options, performance, and flexibility. Lets just say, I can get higher frames per second with Crysis in 1680x1050, than I can with this game “maxed out” in... 1280x720. Yup that's right, Mercenaries 2 does not even support 16:10 and some 4:3 ratio resolutions. Mercenaries 2 has an option for Anti Analyzing, which doesn't work. On my test computer*, with the graphic detail maxed out and playing on a nasty 16:9 console resolution, I could barely pull off with a average of 30 FPS. This is an outrage, considering that one of the reasons I bought the PC version, was that I “knew” that my computer should easily pull of better frame rate and resolution than consoles. Visually the graphics are nothing compared to Crysis, and yet it lags like I'm playing a game of equal caliber. The “minimum” system requirements are down right ridiculous. You need a least a 8600 GT with 512mb, dual core processor, and 2 gigs of ram, just to play the game at its lowest settings? Obviously, Pandemic didn't take any time to calibrate Mercenaries 2 to new and “old” PC hardware. Even if you have a PC “powerful enough” to play the game smoothly, you will STILL have to deal with the endless game play bugs and graphical glitches that this crappy export throws at you. I have crashed endless times, and have been hammered by countless nasty graphical bugs. This really makes it hard to give this game a fair review. I don't see how EA can release something this messy, and expect a full $50 from PC gamers. Not being able to even play the game at one's native resolution is enough for some PC gamers to simply pass up this game. Considering Mercenaries 2's development time, it's surprising that the PC version seems so primitive. Even through this epic list of graphical cons, this game is still downright FUN. If you like to just have the freedom to blow the living crap out of anything and everything, there are no strings attached. You have a world to explore, a fun variety of vehicles to drive, tons of weapons to use, and an arsenal of devastating air strikes at your disposal. Mix all of that together with online (sadly, no LAN support) CO-OP, and you have an extremely fun game. Mercenaries 2 has a story that doesn't take itself too seriously, which is good, considering Mercenaries 2's slogan “Do it your own way.” This really takes an affect on how you want the game to progress. Its nice to have the freedom to do the campaign missions whenever you want. Doing these missions will typically unlock more of the world and new factions for you to take contracts from. Doing contracts usually results in unlocking new support items for you to buy. Though this feature sounds basic and boring, the “do it your own way” type of game play makes up for lack of variety. There are three mercenaries that you can choose to play as, and they all have clothing you can unlock later on. Each mercenary has a different ability; faster health regeneration, faster running speed, or extra ammo. The story is not affected by which mercenary you choose, and the dialog is usually identical. Still I enjoy some of the funny lines individual mercenaries say, even if they are repetitive. However, NPC's are the most annoying thing. They seem to “think their thoughts” out loud. While fighting, you will hear NPC's blabbing on about your position, and were you are located. This wouldn't be that bad if they didn't spam the same five lines- sometimes all at once. I wish I could say the shooting mechanics were solid for the PC version. Of course, they just had to leave in auto-aim help from the console versions. You have absolutely NO control over it, and there is no way to turn it off. This is extremely annoying, especially when sitting on a turret or, just trying to simply aim at a target you want. Driving vehicles is not that bad, and the turrets on vehicles work, but have a weird sensitivity that may have been implemented to make it harder. The vehicle damage system is also screwed up. Sometimes you hit a car dead on, it explodes, and your vehicle takes absolutely no damage. Sometimes, you barely bump into another car and take a huge amount of damage. It is the same way with hitting other objects In the world. Also, while driving, your car randomly just blows up. This is extremely annoying when your doing good in a race, and your car just decides to have a spontaneous combustion. Playing co-op with a friend is probably the funnest way to experience Mercenaries 2. Your friend can join and drop out of the game at any time, without affecting your current progress. Both players share the same money rewards from completing missions. co-op mode also makes the game easier, since you can revive fallen teammates. There are plenty of fun co-op moves you can do, like picking up your friend that's in a tank with a helicopter winch and going around wrecking havoc. However, if you want to play with a friend, expect to buy two copies of the game, since there is no LAN support, and the only way to make or join a game is to register your product key. Of course, co-op has a mountain of bugs and glitches, the most annoying being random disconnects from the server. The only way to communicate is by talking into a Mic. There is no push-to-talk key option, this results in having to click the mute button on your Mic if you don't want to be heard. The game can hardly pick up your incoming voice anyways, so its best to just talk to your friend on xfire or in a Vent server. My final verdict would be that Mercenaries 2 is a fun and well rounded game, that seems to be missing the polish you would expect from a game that's been in the making for such a long time. Mercenaries 2 would best be played on a preferred console of your choice, unless a “miracle patch” came out for the PC version. There are plenty of details and additions to this game that make it unique from other sandboxes. I feels like the time spent in development in lesser areas should have been spent in more important areas. Mercenaries 2 best makes a good rental or a fun relaxed game to play with a friend. *Test computer specs: GPU: XFX 8800GT 512mb DDR3 CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 overclocked to 3.6ghz MOBO: Asus P5K\EPU RAM: OCZ DDR2 800mhz PSU: 600watt OS: Vista Ultimate x64 bit Mercenaries 2 graphic detail settings: All settings on HIGH view distance 100% Resolution: 1280x720, No AA (option does nothing) or AP. Lowest FPS: 5-15 Average FPS: 25-30 Highest FPS: 30-40 |
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| Written by Josh Mossman | Posted on Sep 24, 2008 7:17am |
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