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 destroy 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: B00020BV0Q
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches ; 4 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: June 15, 2006
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,209 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

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 environment 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

Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction is a revolutionary third person action-shooter game, set in the near future and inspired by real world events. A military leader stages a coup just as North and South Korea are preparing to unify, turning that region's political situation into violent chaos. As diplomacy fails, this new dictator threatens the world with nuclear war. The world's nations put an unprecedented $100,000,000 reward on him and his advisors. You've decided to claim that bounty.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

72 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars should not compare with GTA, January 21, 2005

By 

C. Lee (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Mercenaries (Video Game)

A lot of people who are unhappy with the game seems to be hung up on a simple issue: "Why isn't this game like Grand Theft Auto and more?" Although players who've spent any time with GTA will feel immediately familiar with the game's draw, a few hours in, you know that it's a very different experience. GTA is more about DRIVING; Mercenaries is about BLOWING STUFF UP! Where as GTA has better vehicle physics, the third-person-shooter aspect of Mercenaries is much more deep. Where as GTA has a generally upbeat tone (with the incessant radio music, bustling city landscape and often humorous/cartoon-like urban dwellers), the mood in Mercenaries is a lot more sober (music right out of a war movie, dark war-torn landscape and hostile soldiers).

If you enjoy GTA for the sheer freedom of actions you can take, whether it is to mow down pedestrians with a sedan, do impossible arial flips and in general, cause havoc just for the fun of it, you'll really enjoy Mercenaries; in the sheer carnage factor, Mercenaries top GTA. In terms of character development (of both your character and various ones you encounter along the game), Mercenaries is rather flat and uninteresting, compared to GTA. Take your pick.

There are two annoying things about the game for me. For one, the fact that you can routinely run through an enemy stronghold with a SMG and mow down dozens of soldiers while on foot without a hitch makes you feel uber-invincible. Whether it's a good thing (more opportunity to kick butt!) or a bad thing (makes missions too easy and unchallenging) is up to you. Another is the faltering AI of the enemies. Sometimes, they swarm all over you at the slightest trigger of danger with no regard for their own safety other than the most simple reactions (duck out of the way of speeding cars or raining bullets); other times, you can brush past your enemies and they won't lift a finger just because that particular faction is not your worst enemy in that particular mission. Often times, this leads to the feeling of being a in a Twighlight Zone; that you're the only 'human' in the entire game while others are just pre-programmed to interact with you within the bounds of a rather limited script. Again, this really doesn't hinder your ability to blow stuff up; but the interactive aspect with other 'people' kinda fall short of GTA.

Overall, one thing's without a doubt: Mercenaries will hook you the very minute you start playing and won't let you go until you can no longer keep your eyes open (or die from dehydration and starvation).

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GTA and Ghost Recon had a baby!, January 12, 2005

By 

wakerider74 (Pleasant Hill, CA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Mercenaries (Video Game)

First off let me say that my review is based on the single player campaign only. I know it kinda sucks without multiplayer and the Xbox live people will bitch but single player games have been coming up way short lately selling the game on the live or multiplayer when these things should be added benefit!
Ok, so the game has all the concepts of GTA3: Map system is identical, one massive area (about the size of at least 2 or maybe all 3 GTA3 islands put together), and contracts can be taken from different groups for cash and new merchandise in your online black market store. The game play is like a combo of Ghost Recon 2 and GTA3. The graphics are exceptional and the music was surprisingly good too. Every structure, vehicle, prop, and aircraft is destructible! The more creative you are the more fun you can make the game... have a large group of enemies near by? Air Strike and blow em to bits! Road Block? Put a pack of C4 on the hood of your vehicle, drive towards and jump out then trigger the C4... Road block cleared! There is so much more you can do and so much I have yet to discover but this game defiantly came under the radar and is shaping up to be a very nice surprise.
My only negative is that it did seem to have about a 2 hour learning curve to get comfortable with the controls and general functions of the game.
In short this is a great game for a solo experience, huge replay value and from what I can tell the length is very refreshing.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent GTA style free-flowing 3rd person shooter, February 24, 2005

By 

Vynny "Vynrod" (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Mercenaries (Video Game)

I'd been looking for a decent GTA style game for a while now and since XBox owners won't see GTA:SA for some time I thought Mercenaries would fill the slot nicely. And boy it does!

Following on from the GTA's groundbreaking no-rules gameplay, Mercenaries allows for complete free-roaming non-linear action. The first time I exited the campground I wanted to see just how much freedom the game would offer - so rather than go an speak to whoever it was the game was directing me to, I decided to try to steal and enemy vehicle and go off on my own adventure. After finding a North Korean jeep and 'acquiring' it, my road journey began. Before I knew it, I was deep in a North Korean compound apparently having convinced the NK's that I'm one of them. The sensation of knowing I might be caught at anytime is just one of the thrills the game serves up. I took out bunkers, subdued guards, stole tanks destroyed entire buildings - all without being instructed to. Marvellous.

Sure, like with GTA, the game has certain plot points and story quests that will allow your character to progress and use bigger and better weapons. But you can do them in your own time when you choose - I love that. Even when you die all is not lost - unless you're on an ace contract all that happens is you resurrect in the ally campground and lose some money; just like a hospital visit in GTA!

The graphics perform well although there is a mist that's obviously covering up pop-up. Understandable though given that massive terrain you can traverse (with NO loading). And the game does have a certain dark brown feel - but again it's in keeping with the theme of the game. The physics of the game is incredible though, with almost everything destroyable, moveable or stealable. I was shooting some rockets at a guard tower and upon the third hit the whole thing fell. And it didn't just go 'pop'... it slowly FELL, with dust, bricks and debris flying off it all acompanied by appropriate bone crunching audio. It really took my by surprise at how it all went down, and since then I've been blowing up everything I can by using hand-planted C4 or even laser-targeted airstrikes for the big stuff.

Overall this game seems quite shallow initially, but after scores of hours playing I can say this is every bit as deep GTA3 et al, and worth every penny. Highly recommended.