Mercenaries 2 Xbox 360, PS3

August/September release ... i feel i might be into saints row at that time too much to give this my full attention - and when i don't dive into games head first i end up losing attention with them.

The first was decent - but i felt like the mechanism they used to let you work for and against the 3 factions was too simplified and all you had to do was shoot a few people you were friends with to make the Chinese love you... then when you were bored of those missions you'd kill the japan guys and the Russians would forget everything you did to them and how you nearly crippled their army and love you again.

I liked the pack of cards boss style guys to find when the game ended - that kept me coming back for a few missions - but i dont know... this game kinda reminds me of 'Just Cause' now and i really dont want to touch another game like that for a while.
 
Looks good. I enjoyed the first game. Hopefully there will be more multiplayer modes revealed and a more depth than in the first game. It felt a bit repetitive and the world itself was a little boring.
 
The graphics are a bit disappointing but the game play looks just like Mercs 1 and that's fine with me.

Mercenaries 2 Co-Op Hands-on

That's right, Mercs 2 allows you to hop online and turn your friend into an accomplice as you lay waste to Venezuela. Co-op is easy as can be. As soon as you launch your game, it connects to EA's servers. Your settings allow anyone, friends, or invitees only to join your game. There's no waiting on the host's part. You play and when someone comes in, they pop in. When they leave, they're gone. Simple as that.
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Jamezinho said:
I suppose with it being an 'open world' game you are never going to get the same level of detail as in a game like COD4.
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And rightly so, give me a rough edged game like Mercenaries 2 (or dare I say it Boiling Point), any day over an overly shiny, overly spit polished, linear, narrow corridor shooter like COD4 :)
 
Placebo said:
And rightly so, give me a rough edged game like Mercenaries 2 (or dare I say it Boiling Point), any day over an overly shiny, overly spit polished, linear, narrow corridor shooter like COD4 :)
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Too right. Although the Burnout Paradise comment kind of shot my argument down in flames, although comparing a racing game to a shooter may not be a fair comparison.

I was just thinking of other open world games like GTA4, Just Cause and Crackdown which didn't exactly showcase razor sharp graphics.
 
I was wondering why this game had stayed under the radar despite being released next week... usually games do that if they're crap or full of bugs and don't want them shown off. Well some people on Gamefaqs have the game now and here's their thoughts...


These problems/thoughts are probably the same on both versions but just incase ill put where i found them.

From the 360 board
I have the game, and I was doing the second mission, in which you are trying to steal back some weapons and have to drive a truck with guns in the back, and not crash into anything or you lose weapons and money.

So I was driving along, and bam, out of NOWHERE, a barricade spawns in front of me and I crash head on into it and lose everything.

There is also pretty heavy pop in for other cars and such on the road while driving.
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Found on the 360 board but will be the same for PS3

I've been playing Mercs 2 and i loved the first mercs game. .
In my opinion mercs 2 is a huge let down.
The physics for characters and or vehicle interactions are mostly none existant. You cannot kill people driving vehicles(as in you CANT no matter how many bullets you shoot at them) Especially awkard since you shoot people on motorcycles and they're all like 'whateves.' The textures on everything are. .

incredibly low res, seems like they just used the PS2 textures. Some enemies in camps just keep respawning none stop, and there are these 'bunker buildings' which have enemies infinitely pop their heads out and shoot rockets or bullets at you, until you destroy the building. So you could literally be there forever shooting the guys popping their heads out. .

Also the game penalizes you for EVERYTHING taking away your cash haha.Its like, "oh what you want to have fun?? well prepare to be broke by the time you're done, so turn auto save off."

Its funny you know, i've actually been having a lot of fun with Too Human compared to Mercs 2. So if you're a RPG loot lover, just get Too Human and skip this game, seriously while i was playing i was just wishing GTA4 had destructable buildings, so i wouldnt have to play Mercs 2, don't know how much that says about the game. . Also Crackdown plays a lot better. You think they'd evolve the controls a little. .Arrghh /endrant.
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Found on 360 board but will be the same as PS3

Things I dont like about the game so far

The bleeping of cursing

The countless wave after wave of enemies if you just stand still, they never stop coming

The loss of the feeling that you got when playing Mercs 1 and finding random people to kill

Shooting accuracy is rediculously crap, at 20 feet me having targets directly on someone should not hit only 1 out of every 5-6 shots.

Graphics are not that good... they dont really surprise me thought i suppose.

Dialogue = corny as well, i guess taking out cursing was a hint to me that this game was pushed toward a lower age bracket.

Lack of customization, not much to say on it except it doesnt exist. Shoulda put that leveling/skill system in that most games are going by now a days... increased accuracy, driving etc.

Penalized for blowing up stuff? I dont work for the government, so why am I getting -5,000$ for blowing up a building? Your a merc, should be able to do what you want.
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From the PS3 board

Before I get flagged for "trolling", I do have the game, and I'm a Mercenaries 1 fan. If I say "negative things" it's called "criticism".

I picked up the game early afternoon at VGNY (obviously, in New York). Normally I play multiplats on my 360, but since it's at the shop at the moment, the Ps3 had to do. Not down playing the Ps3, I just much prefer my 360 controller and most of my friends are on XBL.

Anyway.

As the game starts, it really only took 5 minutes before I noticed some stuff were just wrong. The controls are fine, the driving is fine, the shooting is fine, the grenade system is still pretty worthless, the rocket system is fine. It's all "fine". They didn't improve on the first game, which is a shame, but it still works so it's not such a big deal.

The problem really lies in the presentation. It's a mess. There's glitches everywhere. Now I understand this is sandbox, and so you have to cut them some slack. But still. Just to list what I've witnessed and hoped I didn't:

- Sound: No matter how good your surround is or if you use headphones (I tried both), enemy voices come from anywhere, and not where they "are". After playing Gears/Call of Duty/Resident Evil, it's kind of a let down. I use sound to figure out my environment a lot, and not having it being top notch definitely takes me a bit by surprise. GTA does it right, and I've never really liked GTA so much.

- Graphics: It's "fine", again. For some reason Mattias has this strange GLOW around him, which looks very silly in cutscenes. The textures are ok, nothing mind numbing, but again, this is a sandbox game.

- Glitches:

- I blew a pier, and died. Then, returning to the same spot, the pier was gone, but everything that was on top of it was just floating there.

- Stuff tends to float in the air a bit too much.

- Cars, trucks, you name it, sometimes fly up just bit hitting the tiniest rocks. It looks silly.

- Enemies will not hesitate to grenade, rocket launch, or shoot right at their buddies if it means having a chance to get to you. That's just weak AI, not really excusable at this point in time.

- The highjacking button press is just... weird. I have nothing against QTE, but they just feel... weird for some reason.

- I get the helicopter pilot to pick up fuel and ammo, and everything's fine, and suddenly he'll say "Taking fire, abort!" and leave. When there's NOTHING in the area. Sometimes he says that, the message "No Pick up equipment in the area" shows up, AS WELL AS the message telling you what you just picked up.

- The AI repeats the SAME LINES AGAIN AND AGAIN. I always liked the dialogue in the first one, and I still like it in this one, but damn the girl must have told me not to take her car already 15 times. Out of 15. I WILL take your car, get over it, stop bashing my skull with it.

- The save system is broken. It will save automatically, but if you want to manually save, well, you can't, you have to create a NEW save.

- How the hell do I bring down the hate from a faction? That's the only thing that didn't get explained.

- Dropping some C4 is a pain. You can't just use it, you have to be at the degree perfect angle to activate it, and THEN you throw it. WTF was that?


I really, REALLY want to love this game. It's just kind of difficult to call it a master piece.
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I'm still going to pick this up next Friday because I have an £80 credit note so it's not a stinger if the game is as bad as these say. Seems a strange one that initially they were hyping this game and then it's as if they just gave up on it.
 
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I've got it pre ordered and I also want to love it but what have they been doing all this time if everything is just fine? The game has been in development for a while and got delayed at one point.
 
Hmmm

Definitely a strange one this.... another 'thoughts on the game' post.


This is very early. Only had a chance to play a few minutes of it. Will add more video and info at my website, www.ogmaster.com. Here's to start off with:

This week it's the sequel to the GTA-like Shoot 'Em Up, Mercenaries. You have three characters to choose from, only tried one so I'm not sure if there's an actual difference between teh three. The game starts off very restrictive without any openness at all. It ends up that this is just a training level to get you used to the controls and setup the storyline. Once you complete this training level, then you're introduced to the bigger world. Lots of places to go, vehicle to hijack, and people to kill. Graphics are good, nothing mindblowing, but the sound is excellent. Really makes use of the surround sound. More feedback coming but here's an intro video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOHEYVffYPE

gameplay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt2VkFTyJyw
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I failed to see the bad pop in, the shooting seemed fine - they killed guys with a few shots who were far away... graphics looked ok despite being on someone elses tv at an angle and filmed and uploaded to youtube.
 
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The game is out in the US on Sunday, not long till reviews.
 
well our very own (PSN Name) Devid Beckham has the game now as it says hes playing it noe,so maybe hecan give us his thoughts
 
these guys start out by lying anyway they all downloaded it illegally like my friend and he has played the game for 16 hours already and loves it
 
Some positive thoughts...

Has problems, but is simply AWESOME

You may have read the other topic, about the concerns I had/have with the game. My points still stand, but having put a good... omygawd... 26 hours into it... Wait... 26 hours in 3 days? The clock HAS to be wrong. Impossible. Anyway, after putting in a lot more time, and finishing the main story, here's an updated impression on it.


From the very beginning, Mercs 2 feels terribly unpolished. Glitches will jump at your face from all sides, and just about everything you've come to expect a game NOT to do still occurs in this game. Just to list a few other glitches I've witnessed:

- Fiona keeps giving me the tutorial speeches EVERYTIME I enter a new city/area, it seems to reboot every time I load up the game for some reason. It's so very annoying.

- When Ewan picks up some Oil/Ammunition/Money, it will VERY OFTEN, and I mean 7 out of 10 times, indicate that there was nothing to pick up, AND STILL give me the pick up. You can't even call up a pick up if there's nothing to pick up, so it makes no sense.

- The AI is rock hard DUMB. Pilots will keep trying to land on top of cars or half on a building, only to blow up. I've actually seen same faction choppers collide in the air and blow up.

- Saves don't work the way they're supposed to. At every reboot, I start without the weapons I had. Which is incredibly frustrating. Why do I say it's NOT a gameplay thing? Because the first couple of time I loaded up my game after turning off the system, I DID have all my weapons.

- Stuff disappears. It just disappears. There's an island FULL of things to blow up for the Allies, and I died. When I returned, the island was there, BUT NOT THE TARGETS. I died again, and there you go, it's back!



Anyway. Time to list the suspect gameplay decisions:

- The AI is just STUPID. I'll say it's both a glitch and a gameplay decision, because when you have AI that's THAT DUMB, it has to be accepted somewhere. My allies will jump in my way, all the time, and then attack me because the splash damage hurt them. Or they will drive in each other's way. Or they will try to jack my chopper when I land for a couple seconds, and then get pissed when I have to yank them out of the sky.

- Grenades are useless, because their trajectory is impossible to judge. These things bounce like basket balls, which makes them ridiculously hard to use.

- C4s are very useful, actually I prefer them to rockets, but same as grenade, their trajectory is a great tall arc, but no range. Either have me place them, or throw them far. But this in between thing is troubling me. Also, let me set more than one before having to blow them up. Please?

- The AI can see through walls, trees, they can see a couple of miles away, they can spot ANYTHING, ANYWHERE. It makes sneaking impossible, and renders flanking and such very frustrating to do.

- You can't buy weapons directly. I get it, you can just buy the different drops and them have them delivered, that's cool, but sometimes I'd like to save the time it takes for Ewan to get to me, go back, and come back. If I need to reload on C4, Rockets, and two guns (they're all in different drops)

- Air strikes that work with Smokes: WHY?! I understand if there was a light artillery strike, and a smoke would make sense. But seeing as how most strikes, starting with the weaker (BUT NOT LEAST AT ALL) Artillery strike, will essentially rip everything apart in a 3 blocks radius, and drop FAST (within 5 seconds)... Smokes have the same range of throw as grenades, read: short.





And now, what the game DOES WELL:

- Insanely addictive. I could not stop playing, even with the many, MANY problems it has.

- FREAKING FUN.

- Panzercycle. Period.

- Guns actually FEEL different. Great. That was missing in the first game, and I'm glad they worked on that.

- C4.

- Jacking vehicles. From the boat's auto swim when close, to the tanks entertaining QTE, jacking is very graphic, and very fun.

- Boats. I never thought I'd like boats in a sandbox game. In a game period. Well damn, those BIG AA boats are so much fun. And the useless ability to walk around just makes it even better. A small detail but it just makes all the difference.

- Choppers. They work, but the AI has so many AAs around that you don't feel invulnerable, and for some reason it makes it worth it.

- Air Strikes. Wow. Just wow. So many of them, and the destruction they unleash is absurd.

- Comedy. The script is great. Just great.

- Multiple stories. I'm assuming. I played as Mattias the first run through, and every "actual" cutscene had Mattias in it, and the character actually talked "to" him, and not just a different character skin. Which makes me believe that the game has different cutscenes for the other two. Makes me want to replay even more.

- Long story. If it's entertaining, I never complain.

- A TON of side missions. A ton. Like, a lot. Many.

- You get so much money, and the oil system is so simple, that you don't have to be as conservative as you were in the first game. Drop away, most of that stuff is free anyway!

- Huge. Just huge. And it doesn't feel empty. Even the jungle is fun to go through, because there's stuff everywhere.

- Shanty Town. You need to see this thing. I know it's a simple of poverty and everything that's wrong with the world, but damn, they made it look so good. Good as in, I believe it.




So yeah.

Overall, Mercenaries 2 has its share of problems. I'd say 20% of the game is problematic. It's glitchy as hell, and it definitely could have been polished a lot more. But you know what? I still played it 20+ hours apparently (I really doubt it though), and can not wait to get my 360 back tomorrow to go online and restart a game (was playing the Ps3 version).

The game is ridiculous FUN, even though it's flawed. I'm confident it's stuff they can fix with patches (probably "heavier" patches, as in several hundred Mbs), and hopeful they will. Even with these problems I think I'll be playing this game well into september, and it's bound to keep me busy, alongside Force Unleashed, until Fable 2 comes out to grace the world with its wonders (it BETTER this time).

Do I hate its bugs? Hell yeah. Do I regret getting the game? I did just buy a SECOND copy for the 360 this afternoon, didn't I?

PS: in New York City, the store that has it is called VGNY, or Video Games New York. Near Astor Place. 6th street and 3rd or something. You can't miss it, it's the ugliest game store in the city. Nice staff, just a very, very ugly front.
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