Towards the end of the Xbox’s lifespan, I had about 75 games for the console that I traded in before GameStop realized they had created a major loophole that made each game worth $15 more than it should have been. If you could buy hookers with GameStop credit, me and my entire family would have every STD known to man, and probably would have helped find some new ones.
One of the games I absolutely could not part with was Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction. The other one was Dead or Alive Beach Volleyball. Don’t judge me. Anyway, the original Mercenaries was pretty much the most fun I’ve had since that time Chad and I stayed up all night eating triple-chocolate-fudge Haagen-Daaz and watching a Freddie Prinze Jr. marathon.
That being said, there was plenty of room for improvement, and the inevitable sequel was about as exciting a prospect as a Krista Allen-athon (yes Chad, I get to pick the movies next time!), and Pandemic certainly seems to be embracing everything Mercenaries is and could be. Hit the jump for the E3 video walkthrough and impressions. I can do a duck and Arnold Schwarzenegger…
Although what was on-hand at E3 was a pre-alpha build of Mercenaries 2, it looked and played extremely sharp. Everything blows up or burns down just like you’d expect it to, and the entire game world streams continuously, meaning no more loading times between zones. The map is approximately the size of all of Mercenaries 1, but with the ability to swim and water-based vehicles and locations, this will be a much more robust environment.
Unfortunately, due to the massive scale and the nature of data streaming, some graphics (particularly trees and hills) load the high-res textures in extremely late. Oblivion and Just Cause players will be all too familiar with this bothersome anomaly, but Pandemic assured me that it is something that is still being worked on heavily and that they would not let something so obviously flawed ship in the end product.
As for co-op, something the Mercenaries franchise was just begging for, I have extremely good news — the developers made it very clear to me that a second player would be able to join a game-in-progress on the fly, much like Gears of War and NOT like Crackdown. This means fluid game-hopping without going back to the menus … ever. As Anal Herp Hilton would say, “That’s hot.”
For those of you who like to play dress-up with your mercs, there will be more than just two outfits per playable character, but Pandemic said that it wasn’t something they were especially focused on, so don’t expect a massive wardrobe to choose from. Honestly, that’s really the only thing I could find wrong with the game, but chances are most people will be too busy blowing s**t up to really care.
With that in mind, there’s so much to do and see in this game it is without a doubt a MUST-HAVE game for anyone with a controller in their hand. If you don’t have a next-gen console or appropriate television by now, this is as good a reason as any to take the plunge.
Mercs 2 is on schedule for a release at the end of this year, and although Pandemic wasn’t able to give me a rock solid “HELLS YES!” on a 2007 release, they seemed more confident than not that they would make it on to shelves by this holiday season. If this is any indication of what the next-gen Battlefront series is going to look like, then Pandemic is definitely going to give the other guys a run for their money this generation.
