Destruction is Our Function: We Review Mercenaries 2: World in Flames

Clearly the star of Mercenaries 2 is the explosions; which are calculated using the Havok 5.5 engine. Watching a stack of pipes or an intricate communication tower explode and crumple is worth the price of admission. The developers knew that making things blow up nicely was a requisite of the sequel. Mercenaries aims for hyperbole over reality in its demolitions, and is a better game for that decision. In working on these destructible environments, however, some areas were neglected.

While a certain amount of glitches can be overlooked due to the open-world nature of the game, Mercenaries 2 has some fundamental flaws as well. Using the left trigger to zoom while using a rifle causes the player to be less precise than the default view. For a game that centers on ballistic combat; this error is unacceptable. Occasionally, the game will not register a mission as complete until thirty seconds after all the objectives are met. This caused some needless head-scratching as we wondered if he had met all of the goals of the contract.

While deaths can occur unexpectedly, as when we were sandwiched between a tank and a wall, they are infrequent enough to not frustrate the player. Typically, the player’s demise is brought on by imprudently trying to overtake a heavily guarded area. Artificial intelligence has improved very little in the three years since the first game was released; friendly characters often have difficulty getting in the player’s vehicle when asked. Once the player jumps out of a vehicle and into combat; allies do little more than stand around and shoot toward enemies.

Graphically, the game is varied, from metropolitan cities filled with high-rises, to lush jungles, and smoky warzones.  While the game’s framerate is normally fluid; pop-in will pull the gamer out of the immersive environments. Rocks, grass, and occasionally cars will suddenly appear on the player’s screen, in the immediate distance. Although the game’s title might indicate an inferno of combustion; World of Flames offers little in the way of fire- when artillery strikes tress, they burn, crumble, and disappear in a few seconds. Music ranges from subtle guitar ballads reminiscent of the Desperado score, to up-tempo rock numbers when the action heats up. Players will soon tire of A.I. sound bites; little effort was made to try vary the number of phrases used by allied and enemy characters. The highlight of the first game was Peter Stormare’s restrained voice-over for the Swedish killing machine Mattias Nilsson. Here Stormare shows more range, but loses the subtleties that made his first delivery so iconic.

During production of the title, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s supporters claimed the game was propaganda by the U.S. Government to legitimate the overthrow of his country. If Mercenaries 2 is any measure of that revolution, expect both shock and awe, and a comedy of errors.