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Review:

3rd March 2005:
Mercenaries
If it drives or flies you can hijack it, if it shoots or explodes you can use it as a weapon. Welcome to your personal playground of destruction.
Posted by John Grothier - Xbox,PlayStation 2 - UK and Europe

Once in a while a game pops through the Silicon Fusion letterbox that totally takes over our lives. Mercenaries is such a title. Best described as open-ended third person combat-action title, this game is 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.

First off you must pick a mercenary, and there are three very different agents to pick from. Jennifer Mui is a British ex-member of MI6, whose talents include stealth to sneak into places unseen. Chris Jacobs is an American whose' father was a U.S. Army colonel. No one can withstand as much punishment as him. Mattias Nilsson is a Swedish agent who has only been in the field for a year, but he is faster than anyone else on the battlefield, and for our money - the pick of the bunch. Whoever you choose, believe me when I tell you that you're in for a real treat. The three mercenaries look and behave very differently in combat, and the voice acting for all three characters is superb, with the Swedish Nilsson stealing all the great lines.

The game takes place in North Korea, firstly in the South Province. Here you will meet four warring factions, all with some difficult jobs and in need of a mercenary. The Allied Nations Task Force has a main purpose, to rid the world of General Song and his army. Just like in recent conflicts, they have a deck of 52 cards, each card representing one of General Song's people. Think of this deck as a 'most wanted' list in the form of playing cards, with Song as the Ace of Spades. Firstly you must start with the Clubs, know as Division 39 who, among other things are know to sponsor organised crime. The Diamonds are high-ranking officers in the North Korean military, who are well guarded. The Hearts are weapon scientists from Song's weapons of mass destruction program, while the Spades are the North Korean Special Forces - Song's personal bodyguards. The bounties for the low cards are small in comparison to the face and Ace cards, the latter offering a real challenge. After you have killed or captured your cards in a particular suite, you will get Intel on where the Ace is located. The Allies will fly you into this special mission, which are much more demanding than the rest of the cards, and require both brain and brawn to get your man.

Not only are you out for the cards and the rewards they reap, but also aside from the Allies and the evil North Koreans - who are always hostile towards you, there are the Chinese, Russian Mafia and South Koreans. Each of these factions has a base on the map, and also a leader who you can visit and will put some interesting work your way. By completing these missions you will unlock equipment, supplies and vehicles to use as you wish. This is where the open-ended gameplay really comes into its own, as there are many, many ways to complete your missions. For instance, you can take the stealthy approach or go in all-guns blazing. It's up to you. You can even call in powerful air strikes to obliterate targets, but remember, when you go after a card you get a much bigger bounty of you bring them in alive. This is achieved by knocking them out and cuffing them, and then - by using a beacon, calling in an Allied helicopter to extract them out of the area.

The Southern Province of North Korea is huge, and features war-torn environments that have many different terrains and weather patterns. Where the game feels totally alive, are the skirmishes between the warring factions - which happen all the time, all over the map. Indeed, it's possible to be returning back from a mission only to fried by a stray rocket propelled grenade. The enemy A.I. is however, quite frustrating at times. After you kill or capture the Ace of Diamonds, and the second suit is complete, the North Province opens up, giving you a completely new area to explore.

People, both on foot and driving around in vehicles, populate the North and South province. You can hijack any vehicle in the game, even the civilian ones. This leads to some useful strategy on missions, for instance if you are driving around in a Chinese means of transport you can get into Chinese territory with ease. You just have to be careful a beady-eyed officer does not see you, otherwise your disguise slips. The animated sequence when hijacking enemy tanks is straight out a blockbuster movie, and is absolutely stunning. Helicopters too can be hijacked, if you can get them to come in close enough to your position.

As you progress through the game more and more vehicles become unlocked and you can order them using your handy PDA from the Merchant of Menace - the Russian Mafia's black market. Make sure you are on good terms with them otherwise they will not deliver. Everything ordered is delivered in a matter of seconds by helicopter - just be careful to drop the beacon in a space suitable for your delivery. Not only can you get cars, trucks, tanks, and helicopters delivered, you can also get weapons and much needed supplies anytime in the game. Just make sure that the enemy is not close enough to blow up the helicopter delivering them. Also in some missions jammers will block all your support, so you will have to move away from its range or blow it up. And in this game you can blow just about anything you want up, even huge buildings and structures with some well-placed C4 or by calling in one of many devastating air strikes.

Littered around the North and South Province are some collectables, and monuments to Song. Blueprints for weapons of mass destruction are just what the South Koreans are looking for, and they will reward you handsomely when you find them. National treasure too can be found all over the maps, and the Chinese are very keen to add these valuable treasures the glory of the Peoples Republic. The South Koreans, in places where they think they might pick up some interesting conversations, have placed listening posts. Level these and the Chinese will thank you for it. Destroying listening posts and monuments - and also finding blueprints and national treasures - will not only recompense you with money and please the factions, the developers themselves will reward you with extra supplies, vehicles, cash and cheats, when you find the relevant amount needed to unlock them. So by exploring the provinces and pleasing the factions, you could make some future missions a little easier thanks to the supplies, cash and vehicles rewarded.

The graphics in Mercenaries are absolutely stunning, with the North Korean countryside and cities all beautifully created. Weather effects and explosions have never looked better, and the Havok physics engine allows just about everything in the game can be blown up and destroyed. The sound in the game is outstanding with a score worthy of any recent movie blockbuster, ranging from classical to choral. Factions have their own theme, and the music steps up a gear in the heat of battle. Voice acting is also superb, with each character oozing personality, but it's the Swedish mercenary Nilsson who steals the show with some great witty dialogue.

Overall Mercenaries is a fantastic game that will keep you playing for months to come. You really do have access to a playground of destruction, and the feeling of being slap-bang in the middle of a war has never felt so alive in a console title before. We really hope that this is the first in a long successful franchise for the developers Pandemic, and perhaps, who knows? - we might see Mercenaries 2 on the next generation of consoles.

John Grothier

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Review Summary:

You are a lethal mercenary, and your mission is to topple a sinister military regime - by any means necessary. If it drives or flies, you can hijack it. If it shoots or explodes you can use it as a weapon. You are free to go anywhere, destroy anything and blow the crap out of everything. In this playground of destruction, there are no limits, no barriers and no mercy.

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Mercenaries
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