Mercenaries 2 Xbox 360, PS3

embraceuk1

embraceuk1

Original Member Since 2001
30 December 2001
Indiana USA (Scottish)
Nottingham Forest
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Pandemic describes Mercenaries 2 as "Bruckheimer meets Tarantino," drawing a distinction between its sequel and the narratively drab original. Mercs 2 is "sexy" and campy, and wildly destructive. "I'm just hooked on the destruction!" shouted a developer into a Canadian cameraman's lens. Bridges and building burst into flames and debris (and then respawn later), only to be demolished again.

Much like Burnout Paradise, Mercs 2 is played in a virtual sandbox that feels lonesome, even boring without the company of a human co-player. Luckily, Pandemic will include full co-op support (though unlike the E3 Burnout preview, this feature was not on display). Without the promised structure of a hearty narrative and "three-dimensional" characters, our demo felt like long stretches of the first Mercenaries game, as we leveled structures and mowed down unsophisticated AI combatants with little purpose.

The danger of many open-world titles is the possibility of wondering off onto redundant tangents that don't offer much to discover, just more to destroy. Ironically, as much ballooned, generic action as Mercs 2 provides, it feels like a niche game. A fun buddy romp for sure, but Mercs has now slid out to the peripheral of our radar, no longer a must-look-for during this year's rich holiday season.

Note: Xbox 360 box art is used above to reflect that Pandemic and EA are currently previewing Mercenaries 2 on Xbox 360 only.
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Mercenaries 2: 99 Ways to Die - Explosions
Prepare yourself for the big boom.

Explosive Video:
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/806/806333p1.html

This October, many people will die. Some from an indiscriminant spray of bullets. Others by fire. Or tank. Or rocket-propelled grenade. There are many ways to die in Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. Over the next few months, IGN will bring you a detailed look at the methods of murder in Mercs 2. IGN is proud to present Mercenaries 2: 99 Ways to Die. Check back with IGN every Wednesday for a brand new trailer showing new ways to bring an end to your enemies.

We kick things off with a bang. Explosions are a big part of Mercs 2. Whether by rocket launcher, grenade, C4 charge of air strike, big booms will rattle Venezuela this fall. Of the major explosions, our personal favorite is the C4 charge. Stick a charge on a vehicle, hop in, and then drive it towards an enemy blockage. Leap out of the car once you've got it going full speed and you have yourself a moving bomb.
 
First game was possibly one of my favourites from that generation. The freedom was genius, from turning a car into a car bomb to calling in carpet bombs!

Some of the strangest and funniest things have happened to me whilst playing this game, the physics are over the top and excellent.

Expecting this game to be a lot better.
 
1st game was awesome and i look forward to this one and that box art is awesome.
 
Mercenaries 2 slips to '08

We should really start marking every delay with a "happy delay" or "sad delay". Mercenaries 2: World in Flames being pushed to 2008 is a happy delay. We've already discovered that this holiday season is already so disgustingly jam-packed with games that we'll take any delays we can get -- unless it's something major we can no longer wait for. Merc 2, not so major, gives them time to polish -- happy delay.

EA hasn't given an official reason for the delay, that's fine. Add some more explosions, get the AI working properly -- whatever, take your time Pandemic, no rush. The game is expected for PC, Xbox 360, PS3 and PS2. As long as Mercenaries 2 brings the destruction of the first one back with more polish, it'll be a nice mindless title of joy in the vein of Crackdown to get us through early '08.
 
Why am I not surprised, good move delaying it.
 
Yeah I'm ok with that, I still see a list of half a dozen quality games before the end of the year, and if Fifa08 is as good as I'm hoping that will see me through to December at least before I come up for air ;)
 
Gamespot praised it during their E3 coverage.
 
I thought it looked decent, when we say "didn't look that great" are we talking graphically or as a whole? A game so open and of the nature of Mercenaries is never going to have the graphical cumfest of something like Assassins Creed or the like.
 
I think it looks good but the type of game that it is the gameplay is most important.
 
Mercenaries 2 designer explains delay

Pandemic Studios is ready to explain why Mercenaries 2: World in Flames was delayed until 2008. In an IGN interview, Pandemic pres. Josh Resnick says they delayed the game so that "every corner of our vast, open-world, highly explosive gameplay is completely polished." He says they are not adding anything else to the game but are merely fixing bugs "to make gamers proud that they own a copy of Mercenaries 2 by making the highest quality next-gen open-world experience the world has ever seen." Well, hopefully Pandemic can own that title for a while before GTA IV comes out around the same time.

Did the multi-platform development cause the delay? Resnick says , "Not at all." He says that all the different version are "shaping up nicely." He also says that the delay has not affected the development of Saboteur and it's still planned for 2008. There's a lot of fluff in the interview, but at least the developers have spoken on the issue instead of just letting the fanboys blame the PS3 for every game with multi-platform development.
 
Mercenaries 2 blowing up August 31

We already knew that Mercenaries 2: World in Flames was headed for a delay, but now we know exactly how long we're going to have to wait. IGN is reporting today that the new date is August 31. We know! That seems like forever! They might as well make the date Nevervember the 37th.

The waiting isn't made any easier by this new trailer, which caters to that facet of our personalties games so often ignore: The part of us that likes to blow stuff up. ... Listen, we're sorry we got so upset earlier, we don't know what came over us. Just, please, for our sake, no more delays, OK? Please
 
I hope they give us more to do after the game is complete - I hated ending up with buckets of money and nothing to spend it on other than the random useless cars and weapons - and are they keeping that fight for one side and you piss off another thing?

I wasn't keen on how simple it was on the first game - shoot up a few tanks of the Chinese and the Russians love you... destroy the Chinese army some more and the Russians love you loads.... destroy a few tanks of the Russians and suddenly china has forgiven everything and love you long time.

Still - the first was a great game for a good while so I'm going to be looking forward to this - August is a while off but GTA online should keep me entertained enough until then
 
Yep, regarding online the game has got co-op, nothing else has been announced yet.
 
Agreed, feels like "been there done it". Saying that, once I've finished GTA IV and got maximum ranking in Battlefield I'm sure it will appeal.
 
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