ic-games Review - Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction - Reviews, Previews and Interviews for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii

ic-games Review - Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction - Reviews, Previews and Interviews for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii ic-games Review - Home - Review, Preview and Interview for PC, Xbox,Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii

Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction

Information
Reviewer: Casey
Developer: Pandemic Studios
Publisher: Activision
Reviewed: Xbox
Genre: Action
UK Release: 18th Feb 2005
Article Date: 15th Mar 2005
Difficulty: Medium
Retail Price: £39.99
Price Comparison:
0

Score Breakdown

Experience:
Game Play:
Graphics:
Sound:
Overall Score: 90%

Discuss this review in the Forums

Pros

Tons of vehicles/weapons

You can call in an air strike

Cons

No story to speak of

Still no multiplayer

Screenshots

4 of 12

Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction is Grand Theft Auto, except in the middle of war-torn North Korea, so you feel slightly less creepy about killing hundreds of people. Could you ask for anything more? Mercenaries is Pandemic’s latest military offering, this time a third person shooter. And the game, if anything, lives up to its subtitle.

You choose a mercenary and are dropped right into the action – North Korea has become increasingly unstable, and the 52 most dangerous North Koreans must be captured or killed at all costs. Rival factions – the Allied Nations, the Chinese, South Koreans, and the Russian Mafia – have all set up strongholds in the war-torn country in hopes of somehow stopping the eminent world war. Each of the factions are apparently not very effective, as the game begins not one of the 52 men has been taken. Luckily you show up. You take missions from each of the factions (mostly against each other), earning money and along the way gaining valuable information about the location of members of the deck of 52. When you find one of them, you go take him down.

So that’s the story of the game. That’s pretty much the whole story. Those of you who like GTA’s wit and humor will be put off by this game’s lack of it. However, what Mercenaries lacks in a good solid storyline, it makes up for in the “playground” aspect. Remember how great a thrill it is in GTA to finally steal one of those damn tanks and then just go on a city-wide rampage? Well, here that’s pretty much the point. Did you ever want to call in an air strike against one of the rival gangs? Mercenaries has got that. What about blowing up a whole building? Yeah, it’s got that, too. While the reason for any certain mission in Mercenaries is never as compelling as the epic crime syndicate struggles of GTA, the execution of said mission allows you a lot more options. Depending on how much cash you have, you could just call in air strike after air strike until everyone in the area is dead. It’s pretty neat.

Your mercenary can steal any vehicle in the game – some all but useless, some extremely valuable, and some just a blast to run around in. They all feel right – the tiny little jeep will speed through the ruined cities, while the tanks lumber around and run into stuff. The tanks have a different control scheme than the other vehicles, since you have control of the gun as well, and the scheme makes them particularly difficult to control. It’s a bit frustrating at times, but luckily the payoff is you’re driving around in a tank. There are helicopters, too, and lots of them. Also, being in a war zone allows you certain freedoms. If you find an open patch of field or road, you can call in a supply drop – guns, explosives, med kits, even vehicles – all dropped from a helicopter right at your feet. It all costs money, of course, but you’ve got to spend it to make it. This again adds to the playground feel of the game. You see the 10 of hearts off in the distance but it looks like he’s guarded by a soldier behind a turret? Have a sniper rifle air dropped. Fun.

The bad guys aren’t particularly smart or strong, but there are tons of them. Most of them have the standard machine gun, but you often find one with a rocket launcher who has very few qualms about taking himself out along with you. And when your just one man and a couple of tanks roll up, you’re in trouble. It never really gets annoying, however, as you can always just run behind the nearest building and have a cluster bomb dropped on them. Each action you do for a faction makes them like you a little more, and each action against a faction makes them like you less. When you have, say, the Russian Mafia angry enough at you, they’ll shoot you on sight. And you can’t use their air drop catalogue. But, of course, you can easily bribe a faction back into liking you. The members of the deck of 52 are obviously set up so they are harder to kill, and you’ll often have to come up with a reasonable strategy to take these guys out. You are encouraged (monetarily) to capture these men rather than kill them, so you’ll have to get close, and you also have to clear the area long enough for the helicopter to come take the captive away. The more men you capture of a certain suit, the more intel you have on the Ace. The Ace battles are big and difficult, and you have little support from other factions. They’re also fun. But the lack of saving in a 30 minute battle, though almost necessary, can at times be frustrating.

The game controls pretty well, except for the aforementioned tanks. The button layout may be a bit confusing for those of you used to similar games, but you’ll grow accustomed fairly quickly. The graphics are overall good. Pandemic definitely got the tone down correctly – everything is done in the browns and grays that set the mood. The destruction looks pretty great, building in rubble, explosions, etc. The graphics definitely get the job done and won’t disappoint anyone. The sound is pretty good, too. All the sound effects sound pretty right. The voice acting is all good, though the dialogue is never quite entertaining enough to sit and listen to (like the GTA series is). The music is often sparse but sometimes enchanting. That choir song is pretty awesome while you’re sneaking a tank into enemy territory. The load times are impressively minimal. There’s no multiplayer…something you’ll probably really wish it had…but I guess that’s to be understood. Someday soon we’ll have a multiplayer GTA style game and my bet is on it selling quite a few copies. All in all, the production values to this game are very high.

Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction is a good game. The story is non-existent, true. There’s no huge sense of reward for completing your objectives. The game doesn’t really offer any grand new ideas. But on the other hand, you can choose whatever weapon you want and whatever vehicle you want to go do whatever you want in war-torn North Korea. Let’s be honest – that’s pretty cool. Mercenaries is, most importantly, fun to play. No matter how many vehicles and guns you may have to separate yourself from the Grand Theft Auto behemoth, the comparison is still going to surface. So Xbox fans: you finally have something to hold you over until San Andreas is released on the Box. It’s worth it. PS2 fans: I imagine you’re just about done with San Andreas these days. If there’s not already enough blood on your hands, it’s time to head to North Korea. They have air strikes there.

Discuss the Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction review in the Forums

IC-Games RSS Feed

IC-Games Reviews and Previews (c) 2002-2007

Designed by James Collins

To have your product featured contact The Editor
Found some news? contact The News Desk
PR Dept - Andrew St.Denis
Additional Coding by James Collins and Phil Douglas
Get credited, submit breaking news at The News Desk
Want to hire one of our journalists? Enquire here
Want to see your advert on site? Enquire here

Ic-games.co.uk banner Ciao.co.uk

Find the best console offers for the video game lover like Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii and all types of PC games.

Xbox 360 Games

Internet bingo is played by large and a vast amount of gamers, so you’re sure to make a network and friends. Whatever age or gender.