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Mercs 2 Review – WildeKat
What can I say about the game Mercenaries 2: World in Flames while sitting here thinking about how to blow that next target up? It’s a question which I am sure you will be asking, as well as why the hell you bought this game!
Well it is a very explosive open-world action game set in a massive, highly reactive, war-torn world. A power-hungry tyrant messes with Venezuela's oil supply, sparking an invasion that turns the country into a war zone. But for you, international crisis is all upside: You are a mercenary, and you profit from chaos. Mercenaries 2 feature a slew of potential clients, all willing to pay you to do their dirty work. Dirty deeds, done for exorbitant fees. These are world powers with deep pockets, deep grudges, and enough arms and ammo to start World War III.
Mercenaries 2 feature the latest and most dangerous in civilian and military tech, everything from shiny new sports cars, to the future-tech satellite-guided bunker-busting mini-nuke. Tanks, APCs, boats, luxury automobiles – you name it; you can have it delivered to you in real time. And if you run out of cash you can always 'acquire' the gear you need in the field. If you see it, you can buy it, steal it, or blow the living crap out of it. Play your own way, or play with the help of a friend in the new cooperative multiplayer mode. You are not a soldier. You don't have to play by anyone's rules. You have your own code: you must fulfil the terms of the contract, no matter what. Not everyone in the world of Mercenaries is as honourable. Everyone will try and screw you, given the chance. They think they can get away with it, because they don't know rule #1: EVERYBODY PAYS.
Graphically I would give it a 7, because the graphics are very good but could be a lot better I think personally.
I think it is very playable and it will keep you going for ages. When you are not in a mission you can just drive around the island which is quite big and there is always a new place to explore.
Personally I think it will keep people playing it for quite awhile, as I am always going back to it. I also would like to think it will last a long time to come; the only thing that lasts this game is there is no online gaming apart from the co op play which does not really count as online. I would have liked to see it have an online team mode as well, because I think it would have really made the game.
Right the total mark I give this game is 8, because I do like playing it.
As I sit here writing this marvellous review on the little quad bike stunt game called PURE, I quickly take a look at the back of the box with its saying
‘Land impossible, gravity – defying tricks as your soar over breathtaking landscapes and race your way to victory.’
Well apart from the fact they aren’t really gravity –defying tricks, and nor are the landscapes going to take your breath away unless you are up high, but the landing impossible tricks is by far the most truthful thing the box could have possibly said. It is impossible to land those tricks. That problem along with the fixed camera, boring environment, same tricks, no vehicle list and several other bad elements, when combined together don’t make the most happier of products.
It is one of those games in which you hate it so much that you have to keep going back and trying one last time. And that’s not good because the AI is an absolute pig in this game, and that’s not an exaggeration. After you complete the initial training level which is way too easy, you are chucked into an environment where Americans have played online for 2 weeks more than rest of the world and thrash you with their eyes closed, the worst AI in the racing game ever, and only 3 possible modes with 2 of them being race modes, and 1 of those modes being a smaller version of the other. It is just completely absurd that they could possibly screw up an off road game which was meant to knock out the awfully bland Untamed game from earlier this year.
You have really got to love pulling repetive stunts for little boost to really get kicks out of this game. In Race mode, you are expected to cross the line first to achieve maximum points, so you build a Race ATV from the Quick Build mode, with good speed but not good stunts, and you race. You lose because you realise you need to pull stunts. You get a stunt quad. You lose because you realise you need speed to pull off stunts. The whole concept of building your own karts just goes on its head, with the Quick Build options completely broken, and not giving the correct ratio for Speed to stunts, and when you build your own quad it never reaches its full potential. It’s a letdown which means that unless your quad has a random mutation, it won’t be winning any Races soon.
The next mode is basically a rip-off version of Races, called Sprints. Sprints are driving round in either a figure of 8 in a square-ish circle. There are two more laps than in Race mode, but the rules are still the same, you must cross the line first. At this point you realise you need a good handling car and one which has speed because there is usually only a couple of stunt jumps to boost your metre, so speed and control is everything in these miniature races. I must say the Sprint is a rip-off mode which is actually better than the thing it’s trying to rip-off!
The last and equally painful mode is Freestyle. Freestyle is where you have to get round the track, performing stunts, getting X2 multipliers, unlocking special tricks, and more to get your points really high, higher than your equally bad AI opponents. There are several downsides again to this mode. It has a fuel gauge which runs down very quickly per stunt you pull off. When your fuel runs out it is game over. The fuel and per lap refills are very unnoticeable as well. Also the AI does not score any points until you score yours. Once you have scored yours, they always rapidly increase their score. A bit of bad coding I think!
So what makes the AI so bad you may be wondering? Well the lines they take a fine in every way, and the actual skill of the driver AI is good, but the due to not having any difficulty levels in this game, the AI always have a knack for being remarkably close to over taking you even if you are meant to be 2 seconds ahead of them. And one crash and one bad turn, and the AI catch up remarkably quickly and most likely overtake you. It’s a common problem in off road quad games that the AI is just completely unbeatable but at points it just so annoying. You say to go online and be happy, but then you have some equally experienced real player who’s played it 24/7 thrash you on your first lap, leaving you to cover the dirt from last.
Talking about dirt, the only time when you visibly see the dirt on your quad and racer is at the end of race cut scene. I made sure I had time during the race before the line to see the mud on my bike and you could see it was just a bit browner along with the character but there wasn’t any realism in it until the cut scene occurred. This is one of the few times you appreciate cut scenes in racing games, when they present to you the glorious site of mud on your racer and quad.
So there is my little moan about what makes the game pretty bad, what makes the game actually bearable enough to buy? Well for a fact the graphics are delightful. They actually a very modern, very detailed and the draw distance are huge. Also the controls are extremely flexible and the stunt controls have never been easier. Add to this the fantastic soundtrack which is so hard to find in off road games, and you do have a brilliant game at heart. It’s a just a shame that the AI is hard, the camera is fixed, meaning when you go round a corner the camera stay looking forward meaning you can’t see where your quad goes, and the very small vehicle list. It’s a shame because the concept of this game was fantastic and it’s the little things which should be right, which end up being wrong, which just spoil the game.
6.9 - Overall - A good try, a failed game at parts. A pretty generous score for a game which isnt that good. In the competition with Baja, PURE just loses. Its always the games with little promotion which win!
As predicted by many members of the public, Xbx Live relaunch has been delayed a couple more hours. It was predictable that the service would not resume straight after 24hrs, and now its been delayed. We should it come up by at least 3pm today!
Im quite high on Hall of Mountain Dude on Easy. Around 300 i think, which is equally cool!
So what’s going on here then? Two off road racing games out the same day for the same price in the same shops! While we believe Baja has competition, PURE, its expected rival only focuses on off road quad bike racing and superb stunts, while Baja takes a Colin McRae angle by adding dune buggies, motorbikes and much more into the mix, while removing the jazzy, just for fun, stunts.So unlike PURE, this is off road racings at a more considerably safe level!
In the few moments glimpse of playing this game, I could see its perks. The menu was expansive. The career mode is way bigger than PURE is, the online options are equally as massive, despite only having 6 players, and the other options are equally accessible. In fact its boosts quick play modes over Career modes! But still, I jumped into career to try some fun off road, funny camera angle racing.
Yes you heard that right, the camera angle is actually correct for once. Rockstar promised us a camera tilted further to the left in GTA 4, but it was very much strafed left and didn’t feel massively different. The perk with Baja is it’s that its camera is, by default, from a more sensible angle, which, while very confusing to start off with, works well when you are trying find any nearby opponents and also for seeing corners over the next hill.
Adding to this fantastically well implanted feature, along with a massive list of options, here is the new control system which is so simple that even the control mechanics of your many 30 plus vehicles work well. The control like pressing the Right Trigger to accelerate and Left Trigger to brake with the left thumbstick to steer, and depending on the force you give the triggers depends on the speed of acceleration and deceleration. Apart from in menus, not of the other buttons, bar the back camera change button, are in use during the race. The only time you will be required to us more than those buttons are when you crash, when you pull the two shoulder buttons simultaneously to respawn the vehicle. Luckily, it respawns you in record time and also the moments before you crashed the car so your position will remain intact.
And you will get carried away with these new subtle features however the problem lies with the fact that the environments you race are still as brown and gray as ever. In fact, compared to Untamed earlier this year, they are probably even worse. The car physics are spot on and the environments look vaguely realistic but it just feels a little bland and too little activity. Also comes the problem with soundtracks. There is none! The only sound you here is the rather bad noise of your battered Beetle. The soundtrack only plays in the menus and loading screens, which there are lots of in excess of 20 seconds at least, and when it comes to the race, there just isn’t sound. Its very much like those games where you never realise there is anything on the radio until one song plays really loud for a second, except there isn’t any of that either. It’s a shame because it could have added more fun to the slightly dull racing experience.
Add to this is the normal repetive by nature racing environment. Like you’ll find with PURE, it gets boring, quick. Racing around different tracks is fine until you realise most of them look the same, and with essentially only an upgraded car and better AI, the game doesn’t offer much else. I know it’s a big ask, but maybe mixing in some fun modes would have made it great. Like before, not having a soundtrack during the races doesn’t help the situation anymore.
So who has won this competition? Well from the first sight Baja has it all. Unlimited modes, stable framerate, lots of vehicles, and a working camera angle, but look into the graphical and audible side of things and you start to see problems. Add to this the boredom you can experience just like other racers, it stops looking up and goes downhill. However PURE has a very hard control system, a very unforgiving AI and not many vehicles, in fact you have to make them yourself, but it has got good graphics and good soundtrack and 3 new modes to add to bag of boredom. So really it’s a draw. It may sound crazy but really both have brilliant and disappointing aspects from each. It just depends whether you want a stunt full off road quad bike racer or an off road buggy thriller!
Graphics – 4.0 – Not great
Soundtrack – 2.0 – Only in the menus and loading screens
Last ability – 8.9 – So much to do, and so much time taken up
Overall – 7.0 – While the PURE score may be a darn sight higher, Baja has aspects which PURE never had, and vice versa. Buy both and be happy!
We are currently not allowing reviews to be posted by members themselves however please submit a review to me (flippy1008) and i will get it posted and give you the credit for it. Later on, we will be offering reviewing positions to members so they do not have to submit the review to me first, but to keep things under control, i am asking for all members with a review to post it to me first
For GTA IV - Grid - Forza 2 and PGR 4
Just enter your gamertag and the game(s) you want to play in. Will add more spaces when neccessary. Also mention in your post a possible date we can work around
1. Wildekat - Forza2/Pgr4
2. Flips - Forza2/PGR4 HOST
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