Mercenaries 2 demos this week

By Robert Purchese Published 15 September, 2008

PS3 on Thurs, 360 any day now.

EA has said there will Xbox 360 and PS3 demos for Mercenaries 2 arriving any day now.

The sampler was due to appear on Live Marketplace last Friday, but, for one reason or another, still hasn't made its way onto the service. We suppose that means the demo could go live at any moment, which is quite exciting. Sort of. But not really.

The rather more predictable PS3 version, on the other hand, is expected in the weekly PlayStation Store update this Thursday.

Mercenaries 2 is already out on both formats, of course, but had a rather rocky time in Kristan's critical hands. He thought the openworld action game was dated and unremarkable, and stamped it with an off-putting 5/10 - certainly one to try before you buy.

Head over to our Mercenaries 2 review to find out more.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (26) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • monkeywithnoeyes #1 3 years ago

    got this for £25 from the Morrisons sale...even at £25 its a ripp off. Not liking the game at all... reminds me of just cause..but without the freedom, as so far you're restricted in where you can go. Its also a fairly ugly game.. full of jaggies and pop up..especially when in the choppers

  • agparrot #2 3 years ago

    5/10lol.

    I agree there hasn't been much of an evolution over the first Mercs, but if 'dated' means going back to a time when Mercs 1 was great fun, then I'll take that.

    Have no idea of its longevity, but it is wicked fun, and double-wicked fun in co-op.

  • Schiraman #3 3 years ago

    Had a chance to see this game in action round a mate's house the other day and my overwhelming impression was that 1) it hasn't improved over the previous game in any noticeable way and 2) it's fucking ugly (in fact it looks like an upscaled PS2 game).

    If you really loved the first game and you're not too bothered about graphics, then I guess it might be worth getting. OTOH if you thought the first game was quite fun, but you got kinda bored of it after a while (which is how I feel), then the appeal of Mercs 2 seems minimal.

  • coomber #4 3 years ago

    I decided to wait until a demo was made available. The annoying thing is, I *want* to like this game so much (I loved the first one), but I have got a feeling that, come Thursday, I am going to be massively disappointed. Maybe if they release a patch it will be worth buying.

    (I remember when I used to laugh at PC owners for having to download patches to get their games to work...)

  • asphaltcowboy #5 3 years ago

    I'm loving it. It simply is not an 5/10. Yes, it's broken and everyone involved should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. But it is fun. Boy, is it fun.

  • DFawkes #6 3 years ago

    Mention of the lowest reviews on the web (on Metacritic anyhow) is unfair, let people find out themselves. Indeed, if you scored this like an Olympic event and dismissed the lowest and highest scores, you'd throw that right in the bin :p

    Fantastic game, I hope it didn't put anyone off buying it. If you play the demo and dislike it, at least you've tried it. Though I hated the demo of Mercs 1, until I played it a few times and ended up loving it.

  • ChthonicEcho #7 3 years ago

    How lovely; PC is rarely mentioned in any game article nowadays, unless the article is about a PC-exclusive. Writers don't even bother writing 'No demo/DLC is scheduled for PC owners' any more.

  • SEVQA #8 3 years ago

    I finished the game last night! But only because this bug kicked in where no one was shooting me, so I finished the game like a walk in the park! EA you owe me bitch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • SEVQA #9 3 years ago

    Oh no you didn't
    EA tried to play me and steal my money, never
    Oh no you didn't
    Payback is a comin, EA will keep runnin, forever
    Oh no you didn't
    Till I get my vengeance, I will never end this, post spam
    Oh no I didn't
    I'm a loyal player, you ain't got a prayer, you owe meeeeee!

  • aldo_14 #10 3 years ago

    No PC demo? I enjoyed the original game on PS2, but very cautious on this one after the dodgy review....

  • Darren #11 3 years ago

    I'm looking forward to trying the demo for this reputedly mediocre game, mainly because I have absolutely no intention of buying it but would still like to try it to see why it's supposedly so average! LOL

  • jonsaan #12 3 years ago

    I have had loads of fun with this game. It's fun. Simple. There is so much to do aside from the single player story. GTA4 should take note.

  • BillyBrush #13 3 years ago

    meh, it's a load of guff, buggy, dull, cars made of paper, crap audio, crap characters, i bet the demo's carefully picked...but it'll still come across pants

    if the demo is the parrot delivery mission that'll be great, then everyone can experience landing from a jump and seeing your truck take 30% damage..

  • BillyBrush #14 3 years ago

    and don't get me started on the GPS...every time you go over a bridge it switches backwards...changes route a lot, picks awful routes...often you have to open the map so the thing updates and works out where it needs to go....garmin it is not

  • BillyBrush #15 3 years ago

    *bets they give you a bunker buster in the demo*

    i would if i wanted to sell it

  • shotgun44 #16 3 years ago

    this game is AWESOME...

  • Darren #17 3 years ago

    Dead Space looks terrific in the gameplay videos I've seen. There's a danger that it's a one-gimmick game though that doesn't carry through the full release but I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt based purely on what I've viewed of the game in action.

  • agparrot #18 3 years ago

    Heh, got to agree with Billybrush about the GPS, and the severe vehicle damage in some landings.

    I can't help myself from loving it despite all its clear flaws, like jonsaan said there is so much to do out in the world (compared to GTA4) to make your own fun.

    I hope they have made enough cashmoney to make Mercs 3, but I will be compiling a list of salient points before that - things that could have put this game in a class of its' own. I mean in a good way.

  • rodge020679 #19 3 years ago

    5/10 is way too harsh. its got an average of 77% at metacritic which i think is much nearer the mark.

  • mkreku #20 3 years ago

    It's not selling well at all in Sweden (PC version) so I'm hoping it drops in price fairly quick. Then me and my cousin will be getting it for some co-op fun! I hope. I still haven't read a review of the PC version.. I wonder if it's a good port and how many bugs there are in it? A PC demo would have helped, EA!

  • SEVQA #21 3 years ago

    Yes the game is fun, but as I mentioned above a bug occurred where the AI would not shoot me! Essentially wrecking the game and wasting my money! As far as I’m concerned I should take EA to court! Apparently that’s a load of fun and that what counts, is it not!!!!

  • dloob #22 3 years ago

    Lets hope if they make another one they finish it before releasing it.
    Watch out for the bug were your character loses the ability to use any form of grenades or C4, you'll have to go back to an earlier save.

    5/10 at best until it's actually finished.
    Edited by 1 at 15/09/08 @ 17:01

  • OmagnusPrime #23 3 years ago

    A demo of this mediocre, bug-ridden crap-fest is a terrible idea. I'm surprised EA have let that plan slip through the net. Unless, of course, all the development time that should have gone on the game has actually gone on making a demo that comes across as impressive.

  • Anthony_UK #24 3 years ago

    Very odd this, my initial impression after 20 minutes was that of horror, after paying £40 for an upscaled PS2 game, which looked like some kinda of cheap rush job military themed GTA......

    Then I got the hang of the game mechanics, and got hold of a few airstikes and a few cool supply drops

    And you know what this is 100 times more fun than GTA4!

    This is the first time ive strongly disagreed with a eurogamer review 5/10 is just way of the mark on this, especially marking it down for issues on the first training mission and issues with AI which as far as I can see is equal to the likes of GTA and any other games of this type...



  • BobsUncle #25 3 years ago

    Anyone who does/doesn't buy a game based purely on a Eurogamer review score is an idiot.

  • David_Snakes #26 3 years ago

    Awful game. GTA4, best open world game in my opinion, absolutely demolishes Mercs.