Mercenaries review

“Violence for profit: the two hallmarks of western civilization”, the Chinese general muses. His rhetoric serves to justify his cause, but we both know that he wants the same thing as even the most democratic forces occupying North Korea… he wants something blown up, and I’m just the man to do it. Geopolitical commentary aside, Mercenaries is one GTA-inspired fragfest that delivers in every area you’d expect.

The latest entry into this ever-growing genre is set not in an urban wasteland, but an honest to god, war-torn hellhole of a crumbling communist country. That’s right, folks: no need for a cheat code to acquire a tank, they’re all over the damned place. And cop cars? SWAT teams? Civilian grade choppers? Try the entire military of a nuclear-capable dictatorship.

Pyro-tech

The graphics engine that powers Mercenaries isn’t anything special, for the most part. The simple models and architecture are often blocky and awkward, reeking of obvious cross-platform design and adherence to the feeblest hardware of the current console generation. The most immediate visual let-down is a mellow light bloom effect and heavy fog that we’ve come to expect from the PS2, no match for the hardware rendered lighting and particle effects seen in Xbox exclusive titles.

Even though the geometric complexity of the playground of destruction isn’t up to the usual Xbox standard, and little or no use is made from the myriad of pretty hardware effects, the engine ultimately does its job and even shines in a few key areas. The most obvious advantage of reduced detail is a steady framerate, even with a large-scale battle going on.

There were times during this game where I was amazed by all the things going on at once. Imagine being above a battle in an attack chopper and watching a dozen vehicles (and twenty or so infantry) fight it out, your console crunching AI calculations and tracking damage to the surrounding world without missing a beat.

The best aspect of the visuals is easily the way it conveys the carnage. Explosions are grand orange and yellows balls of fire with flaming debris flying in every direction. The Havok-powered physics system ensures hilarious ragdoll animations, and watching a flaming jeep fly overhead after an RPG hit is a joy to behold. Any building will come crumbling to the ground if given enough punishment. These features make this game really come alive and ultimately make all other graphical shortcomings easily forgivable.

A rewarding job

The basis on which I judge a game like this one is how well it encourages me to go out on my own and explore the game world. True Crime: Streets of L.A. was a prime example of how a game should reward the player for going out of his way to interact with the playground provided, allowing your character to grow with extra time spent apart from the main story line.

In this respect Mercenaries does a decent job, as rough intel is provided for low-level targets that make up the meat of the game and the player will be responsible for trekking over the whole map to hunt them down. Finding skirmishes and destroying North Korean forces will yield extra money, so it is definitely beneficial to go out and rain down fiery destruction outside of your normal missions.

The balance of forces is superb. There isn’t any one weapon or vehicle that will yield a complete battlefield advantage, you’ll have to use them all if you want to get the job done. For example: the 5.56mm M4 carbine that the Allied forces carry is fairly accurate and has a high rate of fire, the 7.62mm RPK light machinegun does more damage (but good luck hitting anything with it), the AK47 falls somewhere in between.

I am become death

Armored vehicles will generally dominate the battlefield until an attack chopper or a soldier with an RPG launcher joins the fray. Choppers are a nice way to devastate armor, but a stinger missile will knock you right out of the sky.

Difficulty isn’t really an issue as dying while not on a mission costs a measly $1000 and the player simply re-spawns at the Allied MASH hospital with full health and ammo. This makes dying little more than a cheap way to re-supply, about a quarter of what it costs to call in a supply drop.

Dying during a mission causes the player to fail said mission, with the option of going back to the hospital or starting the mission over with no penalty. Dying during some of the longer missions or the lengthy boss sessions (which take place in special areas outside the normal game space) can be a pain, but frustrations are minimized to the point of non-issue.

The faction attraction

During the course of the game you will play missions given by four of the five factions, and this often involves directly attacking forces of other paying customers. When it comes time to work for a group that inevitably hates you, you simply offer up a hefty bribe and continue business as normal. The standard bribe is $100k, so it is best to complete all of the tasks a rival faction has for you before you go and drop a big chunk of change to switch sides.

The faction that is always hostile, you’ll never work for and is universally disliked are the North Koreans. These guys will shoot to kill on-site, and you’ll see them going at it with everyone else at random times during the game. Killing NK troops within sight of other forces will yield faction bonuses, destroying their equipment brings instant payment, but your primary goal is to capture the top NK officers for bounty rewards.

The Allied forces are a thinly veiled reference to the United Nations, right down the logo and blue helmets. The AF are the guys who pay the bounties on the captured high-officers of the NK government. Allied forces don’t have much in the way of armour and their UH-60 Blackhawk choppers are good for little more than transport, but their air support options are second to none.

Fire from heaven

If you want to call in a carpet-bombing run, cruise missile or bunker-buster attack, you can call on the AF to deliver – and laser designation or satellite GPS targeting means you can do so at a safe distance. The South Koreans have a slightly more well rounded force; with a bit more armour, highly effective attack choppers (especially early on in the game) and even an AC-130 gunship to deliver some decent airstrikes.

The Chinese strikes are tough to use, as they are artillery-based and require you to drop a smoke grenade right on target as opposed to using satellite images. What they lack in hardcore air power they make up for in armour, as Chinese tanks and APCs will provide vital firepower to help win those tough situations.

The Russian Mafia forces are effectively limited to technicals (pickup trucks with mounted machine guns), but when needed supplies are not officially allocated by others you can call on these ex-KGB gangsters to deliver it - for a price.

Final digs

The report of trademark weapons from the different factions comes through loud and clear, which really comes in handy when it’s time to decide which street to stroll down on the way to your objective.

Koreans speak what appears to be Korean and the English dialogue is generally well written and acted. Gamers with at least a Dolby ProLogicII setup will be able to hear where enemy shells are coming from long before they can see them.

This is the perfect game for deep-thinking military strategists and an awesome ride for those who just like to blow stuff up. Pandemic Studios has hit on an epic combination of gameplay elements and created a game that kept me riveted to my Xbox for days and days. The graphics could be enhanced somewhat and multiplayer would have been a blast, but these are minor flaws on an excellent game that is both cerebral and somehow still a pure adrenaline rush.

I have a feeling that this game is an experience that will stick with me for some time, a true after-season surprise that I would recommend to any fellow gamer.