Mercenaries

by LucasArts

Product Features

• Flexible, action-packed missions as you go after everyone on the Most Wanted list
• Explosive combat as you draw from a huge arsenal - you have the firepower to bring down almost anything you face
• Highly detailed and massive open environments that are completely interactive - If you can see it, you can use it, steal it, drive it, fly it or blow it up
• Choose which missions you'll accept - You can work for the UN, South Koreans, the Chinese government or the Russian Mafia. Make sure you pick clients carefully - they can go from friend to foe in an instant
• Use the cash you earn from different contracts to buy more advanced weapons, vehicles, even air strikes -- or sell your vehicles and weapons on the black market

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00020BV2E
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches ; 5.4 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: June 15, 2006
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (108 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,645 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #78 in Video Games > PlayStation 2 > Adventure
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Game Informer Review

Maybe you've heard this one before: as a battle-hardened badass, it is your job to explore an expansive free roaming Menvironment by stealing vehicles and using overpowered assault weapons to clear your path. Of course, the landscape is also peppered with various characters eager to assign you missions and reward your efforts. Sound like a tune you've been dancing to for a while? Though you may not find Mercenaries incredibly original or compelling, it gets a ton of mileage out of the fact that it is always fun to watch things explode. Always.

Set in a politically unstable North Korea (with several foreign powers vying for supremacy), Mercenaries puts you in the shoes of one of three elite soldiers-for-hire. Though each character technically has particular strengths, the effect they have on actual gameplay is negligible – any character can use any weapon and drive any vehicle. Fortunately, there is a ton of each to experiment with, leading to some truly hilarious carnage. I especially loved flying around in a helicopter, lowering a winch to grab a passing civilian car, and then slinging it into enemy fortifications. Then again, it's hard to beat that warm feeling you get after brutalizing an international criminal and leaving him lying handcuffed and prone next to some C4.

Though I certainly enjoyed dinking around like this for a while, Mercenaries banks on the appeal of wholesale destruction rather than genuinely engaging gameplay. Though it is to be commended for trying to expand the standard "cruise around doing missions" experience, the things it adds don't really contribute much. For instance, though the concept of warring factions and fluctuating loyalties is cool, it is painfully weak in execution. If you work with the Chinese, you cheese off the Russian Mafia. However, if you bribe them, then everything is fine again. In other words, who you work for and who you blow up doesn't have any real repercussions; if you've got cash, you've got friends.

Much like the impressive and abundant explosions the game contains, whatever spark of interest Mercenaries may ignite quickly fizzles out due to lackluster mission objectives, flat story and characters (though Matthias, the Swedish merc, has some funny moments), and a generally derivative feel. Like the boring guy the girl always dumps in romantic comedies for the dynamic and spontaneous "Mr. Right," Mercenaries can temporarily fill a void in your life, but you won't want to hang on to it forever.

Concept:
Run and gun while pledging your allegiance to whoever has the deepest pockets

Graphics:
Apart from some really pretty particle effects, nothing stands out visually

Sound:
The game's high point. The mayhem is accompanied by a rousing and majestic score

Playability:
Great job giving each vehicle a unique feel, but none of them are particularly fast or fun to drive

Entertainment:
Your enjoyment directly depends on how long you can stand the "go here and kill these people" formula

Replay:
Moderate

Rated: 7.5 out of 10
Editor: Joe Juba
Issue: February 2005

2nd Opinion:
If developer Pandemic's Full Spectrum Warrior restricted players to the confining box of military tactics, then Mercenaries takes the blinders off and lets gamers step out into a wider world. Full Spectrum Warrior was a game of robotic toy soldiers, and Mercenaries also lacks a soul as it plays the part of rebel without a cause. I had fun running and gunning with each double and triple cross, but at the end of the day, the title remained a flittering butterfly (albeit one packed with anti-tank missiles), with no one aspect really grabbing my imagination or lifting Mercenaries above being a collection of generic action missions. I will say this: Kudos to Pandemic for allowing enough wiggle room in the title's design to give you the freedom to complete jobs for all the competing sides without breaking the game. After all, you are a professional with a job to do, and Mercenaries makes it a fun day at the office.

Rated: 7.75 out of 10
Editor: Matthew Kato


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Product Description

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Blast!!!, February 3, 2005

By 

Robb Boutros (Northford, CT United States) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Mercenaries (Video Game)

Every so often a game will come along that will take you completely by surprise. Last year it was Freedom Fighters. This year the honor goes to the game Mercenaries. It may only be January but this is probably going to be one of the top games of 2005.

Mercenaries takes place in North Korea. War has broken out and the Allied Command has enlisted the help of a freelance military contractor named ExOps. As one of three operatives, you are enlisted to help out the different factions in the combat zone. All for, of course, a price.

Mercenarie's standout features is it's gameplay. It combines shooting, driving and lots of what you'd call "free roaming". Players choose one of three characters, each with a speciality ranging from stealth to heavy weapons. In the game there is a "Deck of 52".Each card is a target with a bounty. When a bounty is collected it unlocks different features, such as air strikes and support options. You can also take contracts from different factions (Allies, South Koreans, Chinese, and the Russian Mafia) and time attack challenges. Each contract will affect your standing with a different faction. Anger a faction by killing it's troops and your standing will fall from "friendly" to "hostile". Even though this may seem very complicated, Mercenaries is a VERY easy game to pick up and play. There is little fumbling for the right controls for different actions. Hijacking vehicles is extremely simple. There is quite literally no learning curve.

The graphics on this game are very good. Using what looks like the Star Wars: Battlefront engine, the game does a great job at depicting a war zone. As you drive down the roads you will come across different factions duking it out. One of the great features in the game is that just about EVERYTHING in the game environment is destructable. Every target of opprotunity yields a cash bonus. The sound on this game is also exceptional. This is a very well put together game visually and sound wise as well.

Usually this is the part where I tell you that I do not own the Network Adaptor and haven't played this game online. However, this game has no online mode. Perhaps the sequel will have one, but right now the single player game is well worth the price of admission.

Alot of people are comparing this game to SOCOM. Well there really is no comparison (if anything it more resembles Star Wars: Battlefront with some shades of Freedom Fighters). This game is very unique in design and in concept. Don't let the lack of online play disuade you either from trying this game. This game is well worth the price even with no online modes or multiplayer modes. If you're looking for a great change of pace then this game is for you. I HIGHLY recomend this game.

79 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun and addictive, but incredibly frustrating., February 24, 2005

By 

D. Mok (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Mercenaries (Video Game)

I'll be the first to admit, modern games tend to be far too frustrating for me. My reflexes probably aren't up to younger players of today, and I have far less patience for replaying a mission 20 times -- I tend to drop the ball.

To be perfectly fair to Mercenaries, I haven't been as glued to a single game since Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain, and Syphon Filter had a natural edge anyway because I'm a veteran of the first games in the series for the PlayStation. Mercenaries was impressive to me because it seduced me enough to make me learn a whole new control scheme, get acquainted with the background and routines, and get past that initial awkward stage when you're just feeling things out. This one definitely did the trick. There are times, though, when I still feel like the game is unnecessarily hard. Again, how many times are we supposed to play one mission until we get it? I always feel like designers create these enormously difficult missions just to make us into game zombies, and Mercenaries definitely gives me that feeling.

Good points:

- Great comedic detail. The sense of humour in this game, as well as the one-man-army setup, reminds me of the first Medal of Honor game (the orchestral score by Michael Giacchino, Medal of Honor's resident composer, doesn't hurt), which was a favourite of mine.
- Very smooth driving engine. I hate driving games, but this one was instantly accessible.
- The game's background immerses you. Driving through cities, with civilians and fighting personnel around you, it's a great simulation of what this kind of guerilla warfare is like. Almost makes me feel like I'm living the John Woo film Bullet in the Head.
- This game has the single most responsive camera control of any I've ever played. This is how you do it -- give the player complete control, and don't blast the angles around in response to onscreen action, because that simply disorients us. Somebody at Pandemic knows his game controls.
- By and large good voice work. Amy Lee (*not* Evanescence's singer, I presume) as your main communications person Fiona Taylor is the only dud, far too cutesy to be running a merc operation, but the underrated Bruce McGill (a regular of Michael Mann's) as CIA agent Buford is great, and the character Jennifer Mui is voiced by -- who else? -- Jennifer Hale, who has one of the sexiest English female voices in the biz and seems to have appeared in every single video game ever made. And who plays Allied Colonel Garrett but Apollo Creed himself, Carl Weathers?
- I'm very impressed by the diversity of the missions. There's the usual number of blow-'em-up missions, but some of them are not only creative, but true to the background. My favourite is the one where you have to deliver a journalist to certain key fighting areas just so he can get media footage of the war.
- Fighting mechanics are good. I had a hugely difficult time aiming with the right analog stick and moving with the left in Medal of Honor: Frontline, but Mercenaries felt instantly comfortable.
- For once, you have a game where your allies aren't complete idiots. I was pleased with the amount of control you have -- board a vehicle with a top-mounted weapon, and you can honk your horn and make an ally mount the gun to give you covering fire. You can also choose when an ally leaves your vehicle. Ahhh, control.
- Innovative system for shopping. You call in a chopper to do a supply drop for you, and you can order different packages (for example, the Chinese supply drop gives you a rocket launcher and an AK-model assault rifle, but the Russians give you an SMG and a shotgun). Feels very realistic and accessible.

Bad points:

- Limited number of weapons, only two or three of which are genuinely useful. Enemy infantry take about 10 hits from a light machine gun before they die, and even more if you're using an M4 carbine. What are they, Terminators?
- The Russian "faction" controls the store, the only reliable source of weapons and health, which means you're practically stuck with being unable to take jobs that can offend the Russians. The shop shouldn't be affected by what mission you take if you're really interested in giving players freedom to choose their allegiance.
- Exaggerated collision. Cars sometimes feel like tumbling dice. Hit a tiny little rock at the wrong angle and the whole vehicle rolls over. A mutha of a drag in what is otherwise a great driving engine.
- I have nothing but contempt for games that obsessively track how many times you've saved your game and retried missions, as if to penalize you. Game saves are an essential feature of any video game, and if you're going to punish the player for saving, you're just insulting the player populace. Ever heard of power outages? Game freezes? Glitches? And I can understand why you can't save your game during a major contract, but why is "Load Game" disabled as well? Why give the player so much crap about saving and loading data?
- There's a major imbalance in the game when it comes to explosive weapons. RPG-wielding enemies can score a direct hit on you -- not just catch you in the rocket's explosion, but hit your body -- from 200 feet away, while you're running at full speed! Each direct hit takes 80 per cent of your health, and if you're fighting multiple rocket-launching infantry, you can lose your entire health bar in a matter of three seconds. Whereas if you use the exact same weapon, get a lock on a static target like an artillery battery, your rocket could go flying off into space rather than hit your intended target. Not only is this unrealistic, it makes certain missions maddeningly infuriating. These are the only points where I throw down the controller and give up. I'm not about to jump through just any hoop the designers throw at me, if it's not reasonable. Nearly every mission beyond the first five or six can include up to a dozen RPG troops you have to fight, and at a certain point, it's just unfair.
- This game is extremely stingy with ammo. A helicopter you pay $100,000 for comes only with two missiles, and many vehicles and enemy artillery take two shots before they die. Same for an RPG if you find one -- you can only hold four shots, and tanks take at least two shots from you before dying. This essentially leaves you defenseless while the enemies pump you full of lead and rockets without ever having to replenish.
- The AI is sometimes so cheap that it messes up your mission through no fault of your own. In certain locations with heavily concentrated enemies, they will try to run you over with their cars. If you're caught by enough cars, you won't even get a chance to recover your control of your character before your health runs out. You're supposed to capture these enemy officers -- "Deck of 52" -- alive, but the enemy vehicles, tanks and RPG soldiers will gleefully kill these officers themselves when you try to approach, often forcing you to replay the mission, through no fault of your own. And one time, I called in a support chopper which then crashed itself -- costing me $25,000. The worst kinds of game features are the ones that force the player to replay a mission because of computer mistakes; at a certain point, I just spat at the game screen and used cheat codes to make up for whenever the computer costs me money for things I can't control.
- The game makes the whole screen red and puts you in slow-motion when you're near death, making aiming your weapon and dodging even more difficult. That's just moronic. So you're in trouble, and the game makes it even harder for you to survive? Who cares if it "looks cool"?

I'm frustrated by this game, but I also can't say I don't enjoy it. Too bad they had to make it so freakin' hard.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Most Addicting Game Ever, January 15, 2005

By 

Brian Hakala (Woodinville, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Mercenaries (Video Game)

From the moment i started this game, i've had trouble putting it down. This is as close to a perfect third person shooter as you're going to get. Of course the biggest plus in the game is the freedom, you choose what contracts (missions) you go on, who you ally yourself with, and so on. The more contracts you complete, the more money you have, and you'll want to spend it on anything from supply drops to vehicle shipments to awsome air strikes and artillary attacks. The only thing missing from the game is the ability to command your freindy troops like in Freedom Fighters, because there is a lot of running around by yourself, but that's the biggest down part, and that's not too bad. I'd recommend this game to anyone who enjoyed GTA, Hitman, or even games like shellshock nam because the game has a strong war feeling to it as well.