Mercenaries 2: World in Flames Comments by Kristan Reed

"This will top the 360 sales charts then..Looks a definate chav-instabuy with a TV campaign that makes it look cool."

Buying rubbish because of hype alone, without finding out it's much worse than the competition's considerably cheaper option? That would be the PS3 owners domain.

But hey, at least games sell on the 360 and we don't just get a stream of shite ports and constantly delayed 'lifestyle applications'...

Spot the Xbot on this page!

Razz: I was going to buy it anyway until I read the very end of the review where it's said that this, in ways, is worse than the original. I loved Mercs 1 to bits, and if this was a still-flawed progression of the series I'd snap it up. If it's actually a step backwards, though, then I'll have to pass on it.

Looking at mingster's profile, he doesn't appear to have a PS3, and your post comes across a bit Xbox Attack Force, must crush the PS3 rah rah rah rah

Hey, I'm just bored and wanna wind up some zealots.

Hedbog, come out and play you retard.

Hazlol

shit! thats £40 saved then

Its not Friday!
Wind up day is FRIDAY!
Or head to head comparison day...

I'm rather quite sad after reading this.

As I'm probably not going to be able to play it for much longer than an hour at a time I'm hoping the bugs won't spoil the enjoyment too much. The fact you're almost invincible does sound rather a poor design choice though.

How come no mention at all of the co-op? A fairly big selling point of the game and the one that made me pre-order it.

good, it's about time to start setting correct score for underdeveloped games

EG reviews have no correlation to the general publics percerption of a game.
The great unwashed masses base their buying choice not on a review but on a good TV ad campaign or a brand name or film tie-in.

It reads a bit like that Boiling Point game...

Perhaps if the AI were better it might have made a big difference. Oh well.

I loved Boiling Point, so if this is anywhere near that good, I'll buy it.

ah, good. I'm glad its shit. The games looked quite interesting, but I've been boycotting them as I found the political overtones questionable.

I caught an interview with the producer on the XBL coverage of GDC last week, and he described it as 'you're a merc that's been double crossed, and you're out to get revenge by leveling all of Venezuela."

Ok..you do know Venezuela is a real place right? full of real, largely quite poor people? The fact that it's got enough oil to register as a problem on the CIA's shit list still means these people need somewhere to live, right? what the fuck was wrong with setting it in a fictional country? or perhaps, god forbid, another corrupt and oil rich state, like Texas?

Yeah, yeah...i knows its just a game. but look at your target audience. fucktard jingoistic US teenagers who actually believe this shit you feed them, and will laugh as Venezualan villages burn...

what's that? you were looking at your target audience when picking the setting...ah right, I see.....

oh, and the aforementioned producer.... he then went on to demo gameplay that involved calling a tactical nuclear weapon strike.

yeah. classy.

set in a post apocalyptic future, or in some completely fictionalized theatre, then that'd be fun. but setting it in a present day country that Bush has fingered as part of the 'Axis of Evil' because it's got oil and a (gasp!) left wing government.....then no, just bad taste.

I only really know about Boiling Point 2nd hand from a mate, he'd tell stories of leaving a car, coming back after walking away to find that just its wheels remain. Missions which present 5 branches of availability to getting through it, 4 of which were broken, leaving you with just the one choice. Good stuff!

hmmm, personally i loved the first one, quite happy and willing to ignore the score and pick this up and make my own mind up, if its not amazing i'm sure i will get addicted to new Viva Pinata to an unhealthy level.

Apaprt from the QTEs it sounds great!

I was definently going to buy the game but now i dont know. Damn. The achievements look fun though.

"First?"

You sad muppet.

@ muscleblade: get Too Human instead. OMG! Played at lunch... so cool! Maybe we could do that coop we talked about.

Crikey, who pissed in the Krudster's tea. That review was negative pretty much all the way through. If playing it through to completion makes you feel like that then the balancing, level design and AI must have made it a real chore.

@ Tiger_Walts - to be fair, completing the first game was a real chore though, because it was so horrendously repetitive. If this is much the same I can see that being a perfectly legitimate negative.

If Pandemic put a bit more effort into the mission variety and, seemingly, the AI, this could have been superb. They need to coax a few people from Rockstar's employment.

5/10?

That's not too bad.

Well if you have health pick ups side by side with recharging health, isn't this a massive indication of pisspoor and/or rushed gameplay and mission design? Shame, as the idea behind it was always quite cool.

I'm absolutely gutted. I loved the original, totally loved it. I was expecting a step up from the original at least, at absolute minimum something on par with the fun, the weapons, the immersive nature of Mercs1. This just looks like a PS2 game with minimal effort made to make it next-gen. So many aspects of what I've read here and on other sites just make this look really amateur. Pandemic have a good/great record at churning out quality titles, yet this just seems half-arsed and un-polished. Just looks bugged to fury.

So disappointed, I've been wanting this for ages - it's the only game I really wanted this year. Just what will I spend my birthday vouchers on now?!

Miffed,

AB, aged 38.

Can I also just say that I have a suspicious feeling EA wanted Pandemic to get this out the door ASAP so they could concentrate on the pre-Christmas release of LotR: Conquest, which was always going to be a much bigger seller. Perhaps this could account for some of the unfinished feel here.

I haven't even played this but I've seen enough footage to say WTFF!!!?!?!

Not convinced by the score.

The original scored poorly, and that was some hot shit.

I just got the game last night and played coop with a friend for a couple of hours. To be honest, I think the reviewer is being unusually harsh on Mercs 2. I'm not going to say it's perfect or the GOTY, but I had LOTS of fun playing both coop and SP. Sure it's not a graphical powerhouse like GTA IV, or offers a completely new dynamic to the open world game, but harping on it's "poor enemy AI" is kind of silly when a game like GTA IV offers basically only one type of mission (Drive here, kill everyone, bring something back) and has enemy AI that's just as simplistic. Seriously, did anyone get flanked at any time in GTA IV? You'd attack a warehouse and basically move from cover spot to cover spot picking off enemies that just stayed in teh same place and popped their heads out for a few seconds. Crackdown's enemy AI wasn't any better and was basically enhanced by the fact that some of them carried heat seeking missiles to shoot you down.

Also, I jumped out of a car moving 90mph in GTA IV and lived. I also ate hamburgers to revive myself. My regenerating shield in Crackdown wasn't unrealistic either. Neither was jumping from a 50 story building.

5/10 isn't accurate, especially if the beautiful but mundane GTA IV got a 10. At least rent it to see for yourself.

@ Vin - the original scored 8/10!

I got the idea that it would be not quite up to standard for a while now, but didn't think it would be this bad. A real shame as I really enjoyed Mercs 1, but so many of the "new" ideas seemed stupid for this game. Almost invincible health, annoying QTE's for hijacking, constant repetitive help messages, invincible civilians and AI even worse that the first game. Add numerous reports of bugs and glitches and all you've got is one terribly shoddy product. What a waste of good potential.

shame was gonna get this just for the co op
cant see any mates willing to buy this shit tho!

I loved the original as well and if this is at least as good as the original (that one had bad AI etc as well) but with better graphics (the view depth/fog was my biggest gripe) then I'm ordering this anyway. Totally disagree with people who say Mercs 1 was a bore. I loved being able to freely approach the missions and having so many tools to do them with, unlike games like GTA which usually only have a set path to finish the job per mission.

I loved the original as well and if this is at least as good as the original (that one had bad AI etc as well) but with better graphics (the view depth/fog was my biggest gripe) then I'm ordering this anyway. Totally disagree with people who say Mercs 1 was a bore. I loved being able to freely approach the missions and having so many tools to do them with, unlike games like GTA which usually only have a set path to finish the job per mission.

@miiiguel

Thanks for the invite - appreciate it. I kind of had a feeling you would like Too Human. The problem is i hated the demo. And what i read about the not getting a feeling of accomlishment when leveling up scares me. Coop could be fun, but that goes for this game too. When a game we both like gets released im in for it. Gears 2 or Left4dead maybe.

Im getting Viva Pinata 2 and Force Unleashed so not getting this doesnt hurt. I think i will borrow it from the store for 10 days for free. I know a guy in the store so i can do that.

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/39321...

Finally a game looks better on the PS3.. and it turns out to be shit anyhow! Bad luck :P

Razz: I was going to buy it anyway until I read the very end of the review where it's said that this, in ways, is worse than the original. I loved Mercs 1 to bits, and if this was a still-flawed progression of the series I'd snap it up. If it's actually a step backwards, though, then I'll have to pass on it.

Doesn't really sound like much of a step backwards to be honest, just not a big step forwards. There isn't a single fault that I can see in this review that wasn't in the first game, so if you enjoyed the first game as much as I did I wouldn't be too disheartened just yet. Sounds like it just wasn't Kristan's cup of tea. I mean - 'laughably patronising' targets over peoples' heads? I remember them in the first game, but I don't remember finding them particularly offensive. And if you find being able to hijack helicopters from the ground a negative point then this clearly isn't the game for you.

The original game had a couple of flaws that bugged me, neither of which were addressed in the review. Firstly my inability to swim, and secondly my vulnerability to traffic. Personally, it never bothered me that I could take a rocket propelled grenade to the chest without breaking stride, it was the fact that while RPGs posed no threat I was forced to run like a schoolgirl should an enemy soldier threaten to gently roll into me in a 1976 Lada Riva.

Is there any chance of an EG 2nd opinion from a Mercenaries fan for Mercenaries fans? Only I get the distinct feeling that if the reviewer is actually complaining that the best strategy is to run around like a deranged Rambo instead of taking a more considered approach, then they might well have missed what I found fun in the first place. This review has left me absolutely none the wiser as to whether this game is worse than the orginal, or more of the same game that I loved (and half the people I know thought was complete arse) but with slightly flashier graphics. And in that regard it's a bit bloody useless.

I'll never understand how a review can be published days before official launch without having tried the game online in its entirety. There's that score, yet the reviewer wasn't able to try one iota of the game it its real environment.

Used to be that mags ran EXCLUSIVE REVIEW! covers and did exactly this. Now, in the age of the almighty Internets, this shameful behaviour has become standard. And it is widely accepted as well...

lol@the guy defending the poor people in Venezuela

just lol:)

This is a pretty weird review. Maybe he just got up on the wrong side of bed. I actually am enjoying the game a lot.

The whole point of the game is to run around like a deranged Rambo! The spiritual inspiration for the series is obviously Rambo III, so if you're not into that then go play Ghost Recon or whatever. Complaining about dumb AI pretty much misses the whole point. The main job of the AI enemies is to die, preferably in an amusing fashion.

Its true that tech-wise its maybe not top notch, but neither was the first. Co-op is also sweet, and the review makes no mention of it.

Basically, this is the game mercs 1 should have been.

@Triggerhappytel - No, I meant from other publications.

Edge and Games TM scored it quite poorly, IIRC.

I don't think is fair to review this game without saying anything about coop or split screen playing (both supported btw)
I'm probably taking this, but not expecting a lot.
BTW, EG, about time to start making your own screenshots and not using the promotinal ones, is not that hard.

It might be worth reminding those who don't realise that I *was* a fan of the original, and scored that an 8.

PLAY IT AND MAKE UP YOUR OWN MIND, DONT ALWAYS LISTEN TO OTHER PEOPLE :) NO OFFENCE TO ANYONE

BUT"" what some dont like u might like and dont not play a game just cos of a review etc :)


Enjoy

Ima disappointed.

On GT on the graphics comparison it's better looking on the PS3.

However NOW its all about gameplay 8-)

@Sneti_Joker

Are you guys ever gonna start publishing up-to-date reviews on your website or wha'?;)

Anyone else going to be waiting until the £20 price tag just before xmas from Gamestation?