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Preview:

18th January 2005:
Mercenaries
Live out your action movie fantasies with explosive combat and non-linear gameplay set in massive war-torn interactive environments.
Posted by John Grothier - Xbox,PlayStation 2 - UK and Europe

Mercenaries is an open-ended third person combat-action title set in North Korea where a coup has plunged the troubled nation into chaos. So an elite private military company has dispatched a lone mercenary to track down 52 fugitive members of the old hardliner regime - before they can launch a nuclear attack.

In Mercenaries, gamers will have the opportunity to live out all their action move fantasies, (we're thinking of the opening of Die Another Day), with this title's explosive combat and non-linear gameplay - all set in huge detailed interactive environments, that mirror the conflict and change accordingly. If you can see it - you can steal it, use it or blow it up. Players can demonstrate their creativity in the hunt for enemy combatants using more than 30 real-world military weapons as they assume the role of one of three different Mercenaries. Each Mercenary has their own distinct style, from going in all guns blazing, to plotting the enemy's position and calling in air strikes.

Players will have the opportunity to drive and pilot more than 20 authentic ground and air vehicles including helicopters, trucks and tanks - each feels and handles differently, and gamers can hi-jack any civilian vehicle they see fit to use for their mission. As you progress through the story, players can attract attention from embedded journalists in the game as they work with, and also against, sparring international factions to secure all 52 targets - all represented by a deck of playing cards. (Sound familiar?). As Mercenaries gamers will be able to purchase additional weapons and vehicles with the money earned from each capture, which makes hundreds of possible strategies to each mission.

Choose your alliances between numerous feuding factions and pick your Mercenary as gamers can play as one of three, including an American, Swedish male or a British female - each character comes with at least one unique advantage. The game features fifty-two action-packed missions, one for each card in the deck. This 'deck of 52' represents a target for each of these modern-day combat inspired missions. Players must secure the face card for each suit, with the ultimate being the capture of the Ace of Spades.

Mercenaries features some explosive weapons to help you reach your goal including rocket launchers, grenades and shotguns. The Havoc physics engine will allow players to literally demolish anything - buildings collapse and gamers can watch the world around them react as it would in real life. All of the non-stop action within Mercenaries will be highlighted with authentic sound effects recorded and mastered at Academy Award-winning Skywalker Sound. The game is being developed by Pandemic, who brought us Full Spectrum Warrior and Star Wars: Battlefront, so we have very high expectations with this one.

Much more on Mercenaries before its European release next month.

John Grothier

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