Do not let the generic name fool you – Mercenaries is shaping up to be one hell of a game. It is also coming from Activision and LucasArts, so I wouldn’t necessarily hold your breath for this game to actually see the light of day. Whenever a decent game seems to be in development at the House of Activision and LucasArts, it usually gets quashed for something with a Hoth level. I think the best thing we can do is pretend that Mercenaries sounds boring as its name, thus giving George and Co. no chance to kill it before we can play it.
All Lucas bashing out-of-the-way, this Grand Theft Auto clone is definitely one of the most under covered games this year. You can forgive the major publications for not caring, after all, it does sound a bit derivative at first. Once you look a bit deeper into the formula of Mercenaries you can start to see a faint glimmer of genius buried underneath the piles of “borrowed” gameplay elements.
Set in the familiar “day after tomorrow” type world that the Tom Clancy games thrive on, this action game is going for a more realistic approach in its execution. North Korea, as of this writing, remains nuclear free. In the game world, however, it is only a matter of time before the madman who runs the country decides to buy a couple of remaindered missiles from some disillusioned Soviet ex-patriot. When rumours abound that the N. Korean government has found such a source, the UN rushes in to find a diplomatic resolution. Much similar to the real UN, these talks carry no weight behind them and soon all ties with the outside world are cut off. Nervous, the world governments convene and come to only one conclusion: N. Korea must be stopped at any cost.
This is where the story takes a turn for the hokey. Instead of sending in troops or special military forces, the UN takes out a bounty on the N. Korean general and his troops. Soon the area is flooded with soldiers of fortune and other unsavoury types. You, of course, play as a group of these hired guns with only one mission: collect on the million dollar bounty set upon the general’s head. Apparently, your mercenary task force is really, really bad with faces, so they are given a deck of cards with each of the general’s commanders on them. This was the most ridiculous method for finding soldiers in the recent Iraq War, and you know what? It doesn’t sound any better in a video game. Activision seems mighty proud of this feature, so I’m guessing we’re stuck with it.
Though the story seems a bit melodramatic and clichéd, expect some excellent things from the gameplay itself. Players are given free reign over a completely destructible world, with more weapons and vehicles then you will probably find time to use. At the start of the game, players must select from three separate mercenaries, each with their own personality and strengths. Frankly, whoever is in charge of naming things in this game, needs to be given a thesaurus, and maybe a book or two. The characters you choose all have a great look about them, full of personality, but the names couldn’t be more generic if they tried. There is the “The American,” “The Swede,” and “The Brit.” The American is an African-American, which marks the first time where a black lead character isn’t committing some heinous crime, or talking in rhyme in a video game. He is also the strongest of the three, and is capable of greater feats of endurance. The Swede is a discotheque reject with a rifle, and serves as the speedy character in the group. The Brit is a female stealth expert, who shockingly enough, looks to have a somewhat realistic female form. They all have listings for the separate languages they speak too, though if this has any bearing in the game it hasn’t been shown yet.
Once you select your character, you are dropped into the world with a few supplies and a huge list of people to apprehend. How you decide to go about this is up to you. At the beginning, capturing these criminals might be a little hard, but as you accomplish missions you gain more money, which grants you better weapons and so forth. Of course you could just find the weapons, as this is a living world you’re fighting in. If you can see it, you can steal it, use it, or destroy it. The game touts one of the best looking destructible environments in a game to date.
These destructible environs are more than a nifty feature though. They play a large role in the way you complete missions, and can be used to your advantage. For instance, if a nearby building has a sniper on the roof, keeping you from reaching a target there are several things you can do. You can destroy the water tank on top of the building to distract the sniper, or you might just circle around him and do some sharp shooting of your own. Then again, if you are short on patience, you might just fire a few rockets into the building and laugh as the whole thing collapse. The choice is up to you, and you are only limited by your imagination.
Be careful how you retrieve your targets though, killing them only bring in half the money that capturing them would. You also have a reputation to uphold to the rest of the world, which is tracked in game by a reporter who follows you through all the action. Again, how this affects the game itself is largely unknown, though I’m sure it has much to do with the way you receive money. I’m guessing that destruction of orphanages and hospitals won’t endear you to the agency sponsoring your fighting.
Vehicles play a large role in this game as well, with everything from Jeeps to helicopters available for use. This being the high minded GTA clone that it is, you can steal any of the vehicles for your own personal use. I can only imagine the fun that can be had with a fully armed Huey and a huge destructible world to fly around in.
The graphics in most open world games such as this tend to be a little rough around the edges. Mercenaries are going to break that rule, and do so in spectacular fashion. This has some very nice explosion effects, along with a frame rate that hopefully won’t fall below 60fps. The world is also just filled with so much character; it reminds me of the artistic direction taken with Freedom Fighters.
Though this is a departure from what Pandemic Studios usually creates, I’m excited about Mercenaries. The story could use a bit of work, and some of the plot points could use some fixing, but the gameplay looks solid as a rock. It’s also one of the few quality action titles that has been announced for this next year, so this just might end up being a nice little sleeper hit for Activision. MD
