Mercenaries Review

By Kristan Reed Published 24 February, 2005

It may be top of the charts, but is it really the GTA-killer it's billed as?

Version tested: Xbox

Order yours now from Simply Games.

Let's face it, who needs a convincing plot, character development and an interesting environment when you can "blow stuff up", "blow the living hell out of it" and "blow the living hell out of it some more"? LucasArts is quite happy to try and appeal to our basest destructive instincts and hope that amongst the rubble we don't mind or don't care that there's very little of substance holding Mercenaries together. And, given that it has just hit the Number One spot in the UK charts, we're guessing you're all quite happy to be manipulated.

Pandemic's Grand Theft Also is undoubtedly of exceptionally high quality in almost every technical respect you could imagine. The most worrying aspect, though, is how hard it is to get into it in the first place and how little you'll care for any of it even when the missions do become more enjoyable. Presented with a (basically finished) preview build a couple of months back we messed around with it for an hour or so doing the first handful of jobs and just exploring the map. But although we could instantly see why it had generated plenty of attention, we had a strange lack of compulsion to return. When it came to review stage there was an air of obligation, and that's never a good sign. Normally we'd be fighting for the decent games in the early barren months of the year but Mercenaries initially left us colder than the pedestrians shivering their way to work through the snow outside as this was scribed.

Sing us a Song

'Mercenaries' Screenshot 1

Dodgy political machinations aside, the setting is held together by the premise that the peaceful reunification of North and South Korea has been scuppered by the warmongering General Song and has escalated to a full blown conflict which is threatening to snowball into a full-blown global crisis. But keen to keep the situation out of the press you're employed as an ExOps Mercenary to systematically dismantle Song's evil war machine piece by piece. Dirty money for dirty deeds.

After choosing one of three fairly faceless ExOps grunts you're thrust into the war-torn rural environment to take jobs initially with the upstanding Allies, but then find yourself having to do some dirty work for the Chinese, South Koreans or Russians in order to gather the necessary intel on Song's Deck of 52. Split into four suits, this neat and innovative structure essentially places the number cards as the easy pickings, the picture cards as the real meat while the Ace effectively acts as each 'level's' boss.

Sometimes intel on the Deck of 52 crops up as a direct result of completing one of the missions, and it's left up to study the emails you get and follow the trail of clues as to their whereabouts. But, in true sandbox style, it's very much left up to the player as to when you decide to nail them dead or alive. You can keep taking the jobs and building up the cash if you so choose, but eventually to progress you're going to need roughly half of the total intel/personnel before you're whisked off to a separate location to finally take down the Ace.

Guns and Poses

'Mercenaries' Screenshot 2

The core of the game's appeal remains in its relentless appetite for destruction. Almost every mission adheres to the same basic principle of 'go in, kill everything that moves, blow everything up that's standing, and if it's not, blow it up anyway'. Blessed with probably the best in-game physics ever seen in a console game, Pandemic has effectively built a world, asked you to systematically destroy it brick by brick, and then handed you a Rocket Propelled Grenade. And a Stealth Bomber. And Gunship Support. And a Cruise Missile. And practically every destructive piece of weaponry you could dare to imagine. And then it smiles with you as the fireworks go off.

As a spectacle it really is something else. As you steady your aim with an anti aircraft rocket in hand to try and take down that pesky chopper that's been circling you and raking you with fire for the past minute or so, you're initially surprised to see how skilfully they avoid your rockets of death. But when they don't take the hint and come back for more, the determination to get rid of them once and for all keeps growing until... finally! You make full, satisfying contact with its underside and send it spinning through the air in a beautiful arc of flaming, twisted, smoking death. But to then see the pilot of the bloody thing propelled towards you in the explosion and land with a 'thunk' nearby probably lets us know what we're dealing with. It's war.

You could follow up that observation with any number of individual moments of recollection about the individual missions, and we're sure the forums will be alive with blow by blow accounts of individual journeys, of the equipment you're best to tool yourself up with beforehand, the vehicles to use and the paths to take. Mercenaries, at its visceral best, is alive with possibilities, with a vast number of ways of achieving success in individual missions. One brutal mission which held us up for ages in the second suit had us struggling away manfully on foot before it suddenly occurred to us we could just as easily ponce an SK chopper en-route and bypass much of the hassle; only to inevitably get blasted from the sky by anti aircraft defences. It's that sort of game; Pandemic is always thinking one step ahead of you, and you can't help but start to really love the game for that once the challenge really kicks in.

The hills are alive with celibate cries

'Mercenaries' Screenshot 3

But to get to that stage takes a lot longer than it should. The first two to three hours are full of ho-hum missions that provide little challenge and don't show off the game in its best light at all. It's really at this point you wonder if you'll really care about what's going on. There doesn't seem to be anything especially interesting going on in terms of the plot, the briefings are consistently pedestrian, you won't care two hoots about the characters and in truth the actual environment is largely bereft of anything interesting in it. If the GTA games were alive with possibility and secrets, Mercenaries is alive with hills, but, sigh, those hills are not alive with the sound of gunfire. As much as the game works by placing the gamer in a sandbox environment in theory, it lets itself down time and again by making the journeys across the map as dull as hell. Several times we really had to fight to continue, having to constantly tell ourselves that the journey would be worth it once we got another mission on the go. It usually was, thankfully, but often the sheer tedium of driving around looking for a mystery member of the Deck of 52 was something we would have happily removed from the game.

And what's with the Deck of 52 members anyway? We've mentioned the complete lack of story intrigue elsewhere, but these guys are little more than cardboard cut outs designed to hold up your progress. Sure, the fight to get to them is often fantastic, but then to be able to wander up to them, stun them and cuff them without any semblance of a fight is hugely anticlimactic. Instead of being a series of colourful boss encounters, it's no more than a mini-battle followed by a swift and effortless takedown. So much more could have been made of these encounters and frankly it's symptomatic of the game's hollow feel; as if it's all about the action and nothing more.

We should take time to applaud several elements of the game, though. After the often harrowing experience that was 103 missions of San Andreas, it's a joy to find that Pandemic has recognised that allowing you to restart a contract/mission in progress is far preferable than continually being booted back to the hospital, or forced to reload a saved game that may actually be ages away from the start of a mission. In Mercenaries, if you fail, that's fine, just restart fully equipped with no hassle at all. They know full well the real hassle will be in the mission itself, so we should be thankful for Mercenaries' small mercies.

Joy unto all men

'Mercenaries' Screenshot 4

Another area that Pandemic has nailed far better than any GTA-style game we've come across is actual proper two-stick third-person controls. Glory be! A third-person action game that allows you to control it like a third-person action game, meaning left stick for movement, right for camera control. Glory hallelujah! And as a result you spend much less of your time cursing the stupid controls that are busy trying to wrestle the camera angle off you, and more time nailing endless amounts of cannon fodder, which is a comparative breeze. Thank you Pandemic.

A special mention, too, of how Mercenaries seamlessly deals with delivering the player supplies, vehicles, and special weapons. Instead of forcing you to go through hoops visiting ammo shops and picking up vehicles hidden in obscure places, the player can look up the currently unlocked items in the shop menu and - so long as there are sufficient funds in the kitty - have them delivered anywhere at any time, saving one hell of a lot of frustration if you're stuck in the middle of nowhere and your ride's just exploded and your gun's out of ammo. On the flip side, though, having to wait for a chopper to deliver a crate when you're down to 1 health and dodging enemy fire can be a little taxing to say the least. Mysteriously your Merc can recover up to 20 points of his health by simply staying out of harm's way, but some of the splash damage from rockets and so on makes that a distant prospect when things start getting crazy later in the game. It's hard to think of a more graceful health-related solution under the circumstances, but it's tough to make progress when you're being shelled to pieces by enemies as deadly as these.

But that's another story. We've procrastinated about addressing how it looks and sounds. That's probably because we have mixed feelings and don't quite even know if we really like it or not. On the one hand it's a game that oozes with technical polish, with a level of destructibility that's so awesomely well implemented you've probably be seeing new things throughout the entire 60 hours of gameplay, but on the other its overall art style just doesn't instil the wow factor it probably should. In physics terms it's unequalled and finally gives buildings and vehicles a real physical property that no other game we can think of has ever even come close to matching. And even better, buildings that get destroyed stay destroyed - unless we're very much mistaken - forever. This level of persistence is truly impressive, and deserves full marks for pulling off, even if ultimately it doesn't necessarily change how you approach missions.

Eye test

'Mercenaries' Screenshot 5

The thing that didn't quite sit with us, though, is the game's tendency to mist everything out to the extent that as soon as you get in the air, you can barely see a damned thing. And even when you're on the ground, this sort of soft focus effect made us want to take our eyeballs out and give them a little buff up to make sure. Stupid exaggerations aside, the extent to which the game world consists of rolling hills and little else makes for a bland sandbox, and no matter how much Pandemic tries to create this sense of battles constantly being fought wherever you go, it doesn't change the fact that probably 90 per cent of the map is redundant to the player. Add to that some fairly anonymous-looking character models and it's a game that you feel could be improved a lot in future incarnations.

On the audio front it's a largely unexciting affair, with a blank wafting soundtrack that does little to stir emotion, and while the voiceovers and one-liners are delivered with assured professionalism from named actors [one of whom Tom took great pride in being able to identify as the guy who played Sig in Jak II and III -Ed], it's a game crying out for a decent script writer and personalities to bring the whole thing to life. Probably the most accurate summation of Mercenaries is that when you're in the thick of a mission it's like you're playing the best action movie, but when you're not it's a boring videogame. This continual glorious suspension of disbelief followed by crushing tedium doesn't sit well with us. In many respects we wish we had less freedom, if only to take advantage of Pandemic's evidently supreme talents for creating great set piece missions. We want to retain the freedom within the missions, just not necessarily the freedom outside of them.

There's too much fat that needs trimming out of Mercenaries for it to warrant the top marks it nearly deserves, but enough good stuff in there for it to be one of those games you assure your mates "honestly, it gets good, just stick with it". For a first stab at this tricky genre Pandemic can feel satisfied that it got the core of the game right, even if it took its eye off the ball elsewhere. Maybe it gets a little too tricky for its own good sometimes, maybe it's just plain dull between missions, but when it gets things right it's a brilliantly enjoyable all-action extravaganza of blockbuster proportions.

Order yours now from Simply Games.

8 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (58) Latest comment 5 years ago

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

  • phAge #1 7 years ago

    Told ya!

    ...

  • Blerk #2 7 years ago

    Heh... don't tell peej! :-)

  • DUFFMAN5 #3 7 years ago

    Fair review, I got hold of this on Tuesday ( xbox ) I think it is very,very good, although as you state the map could have held a few more goodies. I have just finished the 1st deck,playing as Chris. I agree that if they were to do Mercs 2, it has room for improvement, but I'm enjoying it more than GTA SA, can't believe I'm saying this but I'm fed up with GTA in any form.Not that any of you give a toss (HE'HE) but Bloodrayne 2 is at long last getting a release over here!!.OH YEAH!

  • ozgamer #4 7 years ago

    This is a gr8 game in it's own right so what kind of person would even dream of suggesting that it's a GTA-killer. One day a new-concept game will be out and then we'll forget all about this obsession with killing GTA.

  • MikeD #5 7 years ago

    This sounds rather boring.

  • countlippe #6 7 years ago

    Great game with some annoying glitches.

    I WANT TO KILL THE TREES, WHY WON'T THEY DIE!!

  • jonnyreb #7 7 years ago

    Picked this up for the XBOX a few days ago.....it's a really well 'presented and produced' game that appeals to the side of me that enjoyed Freedom Fighters 18 months ago...

    However, I can't see myself taking KOTOR2 out of the Box for this just yet......perhaps when a few mates are round to show off the super cool visuals.

    And I think that's the basic problem alot of people are having with the game.....looks sooo good your brain is telling you how much you must like it, all the right game elements are there, but your heart is yearning for something with a little more depth :/

    Still - for what it is - a good shooter with vehicles and a plot, it does what it says on the box.
    Edited by 1 at 24/02/05 @ 10:19

  • dr_zoidthrob #8 7 years ago

    One major oversight - you can 'medivac' yourself out of trouble, get back to 100% health...

    However, if you steal a vehicle and drive back to the MASH unit - nothing. You have to medivac yourself out of the MASH unit, back into the same MASH unit to sort any health problems out.

  • Royal Fool #9 7 years ago

    However, if you steal a vehicle and drive back to the MASH unit - nothing. You have to medivac yourself out of the MASH unit, back into the same MASH unit to sort any health problems out.

    That's true, but you'd be crazy to use the MASH as a means to heal yourself - usually you can find a supply crate with a medical kit somewhere in the enemy bases or outposts, or just order a supply crate (Allied or Korean should have them included). Later on you also get a medical supply drop that has a bundle of those things for a cheap price.

  • freedumb #10 7 years ago

    'I can accept that there is no need to clog up a review with IGN-style superlatives'

    What is up with IGN these days? They seem to orgasmically erupt over the big games, like GTA SA, Halo2, Mercenaries and more with gushing over-hype. I'll be picking this up later, there are more games coming out that I rank higher in the pecking order, next month, Conker remake and Brothers In Arms.
    Edited by 3 at 24/02/05 @ 13:46

  • Genji #11 7 years ago

    Wow, and here I was thinking that 8/10 was actually a pretty good score.

  • Madder-Max #12 7 years ago

    The lack of substance was painfully obvious in the demo and its how I felt about it. I only played it for a couple of minutes, when it dawned on me that there was relatively little going on, and that there would be many hours lost on just trudging around. Also the graphics and overall feel was very 2-dimensional IMO.

  • Blerk #13 7 years ago

    Hope you haven't seen gamesTM's 6/10 score, mate.

  • Tyronne #14 7 years ago

    Well for all the pros and cons about it, I do have to say that its a game I am glad I bought which at the end of the day is not such a bad thing as I have spent a lot more than thirty notes on something a lot worse than this.

  • krudster #15 7 years ago

    Bleh, the manipulated comment was edited in by Tom. If you take umbrage to that, fine.

    As for "not really caring about any of it" that was more of a dig at the storyline and the game world as a whole, rather than the actual missions which - if you bother to read the review - I was more than happy with once the game started presenting any semblance of a challenge.

    Ultimately it's a great game, but there's a huge room for improvement in many areas in my *opinion*.

  • Stickman #16 7 years ago

    "watch your lip" Oooooh! That's fighting talk! KICK HIM INNA NUTS!!

    Thing is Upsetter, you just have a different opinion to Kristian. This doesn't make his review drivel! Have to admit, I was surprised to find an 8 at the end of a review that felt like it was heading for a 6 all the way through, and now I STILL can't decide whether to get this game!

    The whole 'I'/'we' thing is stupid, pick a better thing to argue with Blah about!

  • Roamer #17 7 years ago

    An 8/10 is an excellent score. My favourite game of 2004, Vampire - Bloodlines, got an 8 and I'm not complaining. Although you may have been completely mezmerised by a certain aspect of this game, there are clearly faults or design deficencies that warrant the score.

  • krudster #18 7 years ago

    And it's beyond me how any serious gamer could be so blind to its obvious flaws, but hey, you're not paid to have an opinion.

  • pjmaybe #19 7 years ago

    Good to see that a lot of the points that were picked up as "me moaning on and on" were picked up in this review also. The fogging, the annoyingly redunant scenery, the appallingly empty "sandbox" and just the downright sameyness of it all. I just got SO sick of seeing the same bloody monolithic rock placed EVERYWHERE on the scenery...not to mention the guard towers and bunkers (OK so the north koreans have no architectural flair, fair enough!)

    Still reckon that GamesTM were right with their 6 out of 10. I initially also thought it was worth an 8 but in little under a week's gameplay it got very tired very quickly.

    Peej

  • krudster #20 7 years ago

    Sanity returns. I knew I could rely on Peej.

  • Blerk #21 7 years ago

    Y'know, I don't know why you bother doing reviews, Kristan.

    "You're wrong!"
    "You're biased!"
    "It's too late!"

    Whinging bloody lot. Don't bloody read it, then!

  • phAge #22 7 years ago

    Havenīt read the review, but 8 seems about right.

    Oh - hi Peej... ;)

  • urban #23 7 years ago

    glad i bought it yesterday then huh :)

  • krudster #24 7 years ago

    All I can say, Upsetter, is reiterate that you should re-read the review. Note how much of both sides of the coin I go over, and realise that as much as I'm down on certain elements of the game (story, sandbox, bland maps) some of the individual missions are absolutely superb. It's by no means a 6/10; to score a game as obviously high quality as this as being merely above average is patently bollocks. But on the other hand it's not the best game EVAH either, being one of those difficult to classify flawed gems.

    You see, if you had the maturity to deal with a difference of opinion without resorting to being insulting you might find people would be more willing to engage with you in conversation. And what's all this nonense about "playing games since you were in nappies". I hate to burst your bubble here, but I'm 32, having played games virtually non stop for about 26 years.

  • ctrl-k #25 7 years ago

    I can't believe no-one's mentioned the fact that Peter Stormare does the voice of the swedish merc... I don't know about you lot, but just hearing him take the piss out of the storyline in the very game he stars in *while you're playing* it does it for me.

    As for the Korean suburban architecture, it looks just like East London, and noone ever complained about that. wait a minute...

  • RiverMan #26 7 years ago

    "The hills are alive with celibate cries"

    Do I detect a Smiths fan at EG-towers?! Nice.

  • krudster #27 7 years ago

    Why did the unengaging storyline and less than interesting characters bother me? Because without them the game feels less interesting if you don't really care for what it is you're doing or why you're doing it; and these days games have got very good at delivering good ones. Here it often feels like action for the sake of it.

    Therefore when a game makes little effort in this regard I tend to point this out and try and establish whether it matters. Sometimes it doesn't matter a hoot, but here, in a game like this it very much does.

    Why did a bland hilly often featureless terrain bother me? Well, that's kind of self explanatory; any attempt at a sandbox game ought to make pretty damned sure that the general play area has tons to see and do and find. There are simply vast areas of Mercenaries with literally nothing but hills, and flying around them is useless because of the huge fogging issues.

    You're right, Manic, there is a strategy to each mission, but I gave a clear example of that in the review when I mentioned choosing to use a chopper instead of trying to wade through on foot. I applauded it clearly for that.

    In fact, people, I applauded it for all sorts of things. This backlash seems to fixate on any criticism levelled as if they don't exist. They do. This game is not perfect. It's a great game at times, but not always. It's my job to point this shit out, and I have no problem justifying myself in comments. I do, however, also reserve the right to not answer people if they're just going to get abusive. It's all healthy debate at the end of it. It's why we're here!

  • krudster #28 7 years ago

    Wogan; how can a manual camera be "wank"? It's entirely under your own control.

  • Blerk #29 7 years ago

    Hmm... a quick glance down the list of reviews at MetaCritic shows that opinion is most definitely divided on this one!

  • Stickman #30 7 years ago

    Kris...ever feel like you should have just stayed in bed this week?!

  • Roamer #31 7 years ago

    Mr Upsetter, I believe that the point Krudster is making is that a game can have flaws and still be enjoyable, and as a reviewer, his job is to point out those flaws to unwary punters. I'm sure you agree that if reviews simply hyped the good features of a game, and scores thusly, it would be kind of pointless, eh? After all, that's why you get your reviews at Eurogamer instead of at the corrupt American gaming site, right?

  • Roamer #32 7 years ago

    Furthermore, as I have pointed out earlier, I understand the Eurogamer ranking system to put a score of eight as a good one. It's not the internet standard, as it were, where games that get a seven are considered mediocre.

  • GTBurns #33 7 years ago

    I think we should all welcome yet another fanboi to our forum:

    Step forward (the oh so aptly named) 'Upsetter' ...

    Yes, congratulations on being old enough to hurl obscure insults (nappies indeed!?!) but you obviously haven't grown up enough to realise that we all have our own opinions.

    The fact that you love this game does not automatically oblige the rest of the f***in' planet to begin worshipping it in the same way!

    You're right about one thing though, it is a harsh world out there. One in which you yourself obviously becomes very upset when people don't agree with your overbearing tenor and opinions that seem to lack any critical substance whatsoever? You sir, are a class A tard.
    Edited by 2 at 24/02/05 @ 16:43

  • Megapocalypse #34 7 years ago

    Dunno if i'll get the game or not, but that advert on the side was fun. :)

  • countlippe #35 7 years ago

    Please every one leave this thread to the tard Upsetter!! Its too far gone!! Run, save yourselfs!!

  • Bezzy #36 7 years ago

    "There's always something going on"

    There's always something going on, until you realize that it's a general "noise" which is always present. Its cause is unmanipulable. Pretty soon you exaust the potential of these adhoc battles.

    If you were able to manipulate when and where such battles occured, however, then you'd have my attention.

    "and if there isn't, you admire the graphics and vehicle physics, which are spot on. "

    I've played worse, but they're far from spot on. Mate, there's nothing wrong with having critisism levelled at a game that you like. When a game is good, the flaws become that much more pronounced. Take it as a compliment that Kristan cares enough to sort through this muddle.

    I'm surprised no-one mentioned the very conservative approach to music - it has a nice score, but really doesn't react in particularly novel ways with the game play.

    I've not been playing long, but I'm pleased by the various tools given to mix up combat, even if a lot of the "special" weapons are functionally almost identical. I like the immediacy of the card fights, but I'd enjoy it more if the cards were actually active participants in the world, rather than just waiting around to be captured.

    The faction system is nothing more than a 4 route mission factory. I'm getting frustrated at games throwing the "faction" idea around, but always delivering less than is expected - a fully responsive intellegent group, actually coming after you and what not... like an opponent in civ, rather than just a passive change in AI to attack rather than act indifferently.

    Although I appreciate being able to get back to the beginning of a mission from a game over quickly and easily, I don't like the idea of these missions that you have to "activate". I find it far nicer when you can just stumble into a conflict in a free form way - it's just a shame that the freeform missions are so throw-away, and unflavoured by an overarching story.

    Also, minor niggle: it takes 4, uninteractive seconds to pick a dude up. That's just wrong.
    Edited by 1 at 24/02/05 @ 16:56

  • Stickman #37 7 years ago

    GTBurns - "The fact that you love this game does not automatically oblige the rest of the f***in' planet to begin worshipping it in the same way!

    You're right about one thing though, it is a harsh world out there. One in which you yourself obviously becomes very upset when people don't agree with your overbearing tenor and opinions that seem to lack any critical substance whatsoever? You sir, are a class A tard. "

    Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!! Tard? Classic. (wipes away a tear...)

  • The-Bodybuilder #38 7 years ago

    I've been looking forward to this game, and after seeing the score before reading the view, I most definately wanted the game.

    However, after reading the review, I'm just confused. It sounds like the game is 70% utter tedious boredom and 30% all-out fun and action.

    It's like the halo 2 & headhunter: redemption review all over again. Instead of easing my mind, it's just left me confused.

  • morriss #39 7 years ago

    can you play co-op?

  • phAge #40 7 years ago

    No.

  • Lothar Hex #41 7 years ago

    I enjoyed it, but the missions get extremely repetative by the third house of cards.

  • William #42 7 years ago

    "A special mention, too, of how Mercenaries seamlessly deals with delivering the player supplies, vehicles, and special weapons."

    Indeed, the GTA style drive-to-shop-to-acquire-stuff is gone, but GTA did offer decent garages where you could store your armoured car, motor bike or police car.
    In Mercenaries, everytime I reload or start a mission, my chopper/tank/whatever that I used to get to a faction's head quarters is gone, and I've got to go through the same troubles every mission attempt to reacquire said chopper or tank....

  • Subquest #43 7 years ago

    Anybody else want to hate this game out of principle now?

  • inpHilltr8r #44 7 years ago

    krudster: how can a manual camera be "wank"? It's entirely under your own control.

    You might want to re-read that to yourself at a later date.

  • Genji #45 7 years ago

    Upsetter,

    Sure, man, you can disagree. But look back at your first couple of posts, where you basically accuse the author of writing a bad review, all because his comments on the game were "too negative". Saying stuff like "shame on you" implies that the reviewer is a complete moron for daring to criticise a game that you obviously like. That's not an attack on the review - that's an attack on the reviewer. If you like it so much, why do you even care what this guy thinks? You have your tastes, and he has his. End of argument.

  • 3william56 #46 7 years ago

    Amen to that Genki.

    the game's tendency to mist everything out to the extent that as soon as you get in the air, you can barely see a damned thing. Yay! G Police for a new generation!

    At the risk of taking this thread away from 13 year olds calling each othr names, anyone know what the PS2 version is like in comparison? Is the XBox version dumbed down because of the port, or is the fogging and physics worse on my Darth's Toaster? And the buildings stay destroyed thing had got to be a hard drive feature - unless you have a memory card the size of the chip on The Upsetter's shoulder.

  • YoYo #47 7 years ago

    "unless you have a memory card the size of the chip on The Upsetter's shoulder. "

    :-)

  • YoYo #48 7 years ago

    I'm quite enjoying this but I must've been playing Ghost Recon and its ilk too much as the combat here seems to be quite basic , i.e.

    No 'peek' facility
    No change of stance, etc.
    No scope (at least on the weapons i've used so far)

    So basically you have to stand in full view of and in relatively close range to the person who is shotting at you in order to shoot back at them. Which does seem a bit naff.

    But as I say, I am enjoying it, I'm not sure how long its shelf life will be.

    BTW is there nay difference playing as different characters, or is it just visual?

  • tiddles #49 7 years ago

    In Mercenaries, everytime I reload or start a mission, my chopper/tank/whatever that I used to get to a faction's head quarters is gone, and I've got to go through the same troubles every mission attempt to reacquire said chopper or tank....

    Maybe it's inconsistent, but vehicles I used to travel to the HQs DID respawn when I restarted missions.

    I haven't got that far yet, but I am enjoying it... I can see how it may be get repetitive later on, and the environment is not as well as designed as the likes of San Andreas, but I've got my money's worth just with the fun I've had so far.

    It's certainly the most solid free-roaming style game I've played - MUCH less buggy (relatively speaking) and more polished that GTA and its other followers. Definitely a good start from which to build a potentially stunning sequel.

  • praetorian #50 7 years ago

    I haven't played the game (yet), so I can't comment on the accuracy of the final score.
    However, as someone who hasn't yet played it and is considering speding Ģ30 on it, I would much rather have ALL the negatives pointed out to me so I could decide whether to invest my money and put up with them.
    Kristan's review would be lacking and irresposible if he didn't point out all of the game's flaws, no matter how great the game itself may be. The final score of 8/10 ultimately reflects that these flaws, whilst perhaps numerous and frustrating, aren't enough to make this game mediocre, and that without them, this game would be... erm... for want of a better phrase... better than Halo 2.

  • Madder-Max #51 7 years ago

    Upsetter. Write your own review and submit it.

  • Googly-eyes #52 7 years ago

    It's like a boring mix of GTA and Body Harvest. Disappointing.

  • urban #53 7 years ago

    played the first couple missions...decent game but obviously nothing refined as gta... the next one will be amazing, i mean for their first sandbox gta style 3rd person shooter....its awesome, hats off to em

  • bluebird #54 7 years ago

    This game sounds a lot like a modern version of Hunter on the Atari ST. Loved that game, will have to give this a shot!

  • ABXY #55 7 years ago

    Quality game, blowing things up is great...... wheres my rocket launcher???

  • bleed_together #56 7 years ago

    amazon has a gamecube version listed for a release in july, Im geussing this is just a cockup but does anyone know anything about it?

  • dynarama #57 5 years ago

    Just started playing this again on 360. Sheer class and for me definitely stands the test of time. And the music just sticks in your head for days man.

    Not that anyone is going to read this but if you do, pick this up for a fiver and enjoy one of the best Xbox (1 or 360) games going.

    /turns out the light

  • krokomkiller #58 5 years ago

    Yeah I agree with you dynarama. As said in the review the game does not really take of until some hours in but itīs worth the wait. And I still havenīt found any airstrikes more powerful then found in this game.
    Edited by 1 at 25/07/07 @ 19:50