Plays like: Crackdown, GTA, Saint’s Row
Feels like: action-adventure, sandbox, blow-shit-up-game
Things need to get blown-up, period. In my world, I free-roam with a bazooka in my hand and destroy everything around me. And you know what? It’s damn fun. My world has been put into a disk by Pandemic Studios and packed as a game called Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. If you would like to walk in my shoes for a day, this game is for you. Set in Venezuela, you will play as Jennifer Mui, Mattias Nilsson, or Chris Jacobs and will be called into action for a job given by Ramon Solano. The story is about oil, power and corruption. This opens opportunities for more clientele looking for you to do their dirty work. So when you are done destroying Caracas, remember, there is still actual work to be done.
The game is free-roam, free-form. There are no limitations on how you interact with the game. You are told what to do, but the how is entirely up to you. When missions get tiring, you will be able to do side missions that, upon completion, unlock items in the shop. Shops will be available around the game which are ran by the Guerrilla. Shop relationships affect the price of the items: Good relationships mean cheap items, while bad ones prevent you from buying anything. Feel like just roaming and blowing stuff up? You can do that too. Once you have traveled to a part of a map, it will be unlocked and you will be able to call a helicopter to take to you to that location.
Visual wise, the graphics are not mind blowing, but vibrant palettes and change of scenery, keep me content. Zoom allows you to see as far as 400 meters, while keeping the renders looking sharp. Fire, explosions and building demolitions look very satisfactory. It almost makes up for the lack of blood or any other effect while killing your enemies. Sound quality was done with great care and detail. The SFX seem to consider details like water, the ‘thump’ sound of hitting a wall or tree, and even the rev of your car. Musical elements go very well with the games and at times, almost epic.
There is no difficulty in the game, so when starting out it will seem pretty easy — but that wont last. Reason for this is because they feel difficulty is added for re-playability and when you have full towns to destroy, you don’t need things like Godly AI. The game controls are intuitive and easy for pick up and play. Previous fans of the game will notice some significant improvements. Everything is the game is destructible — this can prove useful when going on rampages around town. Remember those acid pools? GONE! You now have the ability to swim. For a more engaged experience with action hijacks, there are now mini-games and all vehicles have different hijack actions. Feel like flying? Grapple a Helicopter and hijack that bitch!
The game will Offer co-op game-play, but I am not in the liberty to talk about this until the 14th. I’ve been told if I do, they would take my beet-babies and make them into weak sauce. Achievement hungry? There are 40 achievements which include things like starting a co-op game, killing X amount of people, destroying X amount of tanks, ect. PS3 Trophies will not be available. On August 31th, Mercenaries 2 is where you’ll find me. Yeah, I told Phoenix and Chief I needed a break — I’m going to Venezuela.
Random Facts
Although, asking developers questions about their games is informative, I also like to know about the developers themselves. You are what you make — right?
* Yes, lolcats and cuteoverload are a daily requirement for Story Editor, Matthew Colville.
* Sadly, the “are you on Twitter?” was not answered.
* Sound Director Dave Rovin, enjoyed going out to a military base to shoot guns, drive tanks and record them for the game. He is also a huge Elvis Costello fan.
* Rick Viscariello, Associate Producer, used to design Roller coasters and theme parks for a living. No, I did not ask him for help on my Theme Park game — that would be cheating!
* There is a vehicle in the name named ‘the Viscariello’ — wonder after who was this vehicle named after!
* Inspirations for the game came in many forms — mainly in the forms of action movies.
* It has been verified there is not many good tacos places around the studio, but fish tacos are Andrew approved. He is also anxciously waiting for Diablo III.
PS: Yes, I also posted this on my blog. ;]
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