Backseat Reviewers.

Haven’t you heard you let the viking win?”

That’s What I would Say If I had to sum up Mercenaries 2: world in flames (Ea’s latest addition to the story)  in one phrase. In Merc’s 2 you play as one of 3 Mercenaries..

Mattias Nilsson, hes Swedish, Funny and it just seems so right through out the story, oh and he can take alot of damage… and I mean alot..

Christopher Jacobs, hes a yank, hes the strong guy, carry’s a lot, and does the general American thing … and hes always got a cigar

And finally Jennifer Mui, shes from Hong Kong, and shes FAST.. she also has a bundle of one liners which are funny and its mainly to do with her gender as shes the only female

And you have a unplayable tech support who helps you through out the story line and she has a pink mustang its awesome..if you break it .. you need to buy a new one..

The story is pretty straight forward from the off, in 2010 you go to Venezuela for a job from a man that goes by the name of Ramon Solano and he didn’t pay you for it…well he tried to kill you..but you escape , you get pissed off and want revenge and the money (its mainly because you didn’t get paid.. hence why playing with the Swedish guy works better) you have to work for several factions to get info on hes men and locations excreta and in the end a nuclear bunker buster….(yes BIG BOOM…its fun) the factions include Universal Petroleum (basically BP but for everyone)  The People’s Liberation Army of Venezuela (Viva Le revolution) , The allied nations who are there to stop the Chinese..and they cant get fuel for there country (The USA *cough cough*) People’s Liberation Army (of China) (haha owned used real name of country) and The Jamaican pirate. you have to try and keep these guys happy so you can do jobs and bounties for them…so you go around blowing shit up and capturing people (if you kill them by accident take a photo, half the pay half the hassle) to further your progress through out the game through contracts with them….. you build your back up squad through put the story to give you greater expansion of what you can do… the 1st person you find is a Irish Helicopter pilot, this guy is awesome..he helps you by transporting you, dropping shit off and stealing fuel, money and weapons from the factions (fuel is needed for using air strikes and dropping stuff off and other shit) then there is the drunk french jet pilot who’s motto is you don’t need to be able to stand up to fly..and hes right… he has a pretty straight shot and hits what you want him to.. and finally  there’s the female Latino mechanic who the Irish guy keeps trying to hit on …she makes AWESOME vehicles with spare parts you find around the world… Ive unlocked one… but its a bike… with guns attached and tank treads in stead of wheels so its effective off road as well… I love it

with the addition of the 2 pilots to you squad you get to use air strikes, bombs, nukes the general KABOOM objects, you can hijack every Vehicles (except planes) with a special button hijack mini game where to takes patience in getting the buttons right and normally ends in a comical hijack…. oh and everything can be destroyed….I Mean everything.. sandbox is pretty much a under-statement, the graphics are sexual and there’s some glitches but they are nothing major..its so much fun, I pretty much wasted my free time (no assignments on it) and after completing it I want more.. so currently im thinking of going back through it all to get the alternate ending where you work for the AN instead of the Chinese.. oh and to capture everyone instead of killing some .. its 3rd person and they have decided to stay with the mercs 1 controller layout which i think was i wise move,

But theres as always bad bits about this game, its glitchy and buggy and then the main issue you have is the illness called stockpile syndrome where you save missiles and heavy weapons when ur up against a nazi robot zombie from mars just in case theres a bigger nazi zombie vampire from jupitur round the corner which leaves you at the end of the game with enough rockets to send a tank to the moon or to andomeder …. or youll just blow yourself up and thats not good for anyone

So, If you want a game were you can go into a shanty town and blow it the fuck up with a tank..this is for you … but if you want a realistic shooter wait for call of duty…. but this is well worth the look in… I love it, but due to the glitches its gonna have to be 4/5 for this game… now I have to wait another 3 -4 years for mercenaries 3 (please not that long… hurry up  which is hinted (in game) to be set in India. Pandemic Studios has created a Awesome game, but its going to be largely ignored this season because of the upcoming fall rush of Fable II, GoWII, CoD “5″ and its a shame.. this will be a hidden gem