First of all, I'd like to note that I have played the next-gen version of Mercs 2 and it is widely different that the ps2 version. The Ps2 version is, however, the same game storywise.
The game features three playable characters, all from the original game: Jennifer Mui, Mattias Nilsson and Chris Jacobs. In various teasers for the game, it is shown that Jacobs is a tactical Merc, Mui is a covert Merc, and Nilsson is an overkill Merc. However, the characters show no visible difference in fighting styles when playing. The experience is completely up to you.
The Ps2 version of this game is using the same graphical engine, H.U.D. , weapons, physics, and most of the vehicles from Mercenaries 1. The only differences are the ability to drive boats, some Venezuelan flags painted over the old North Korean ones on the vehicles, some new factions(Minor Spoiler:and some old ones), and of course the not so sunny Venezuelan countryside due to the Ps2's graphical limitations and possibly the laziness of the developers themselves.
Like the next-gen version, Mercenaries 2 features some touchy vehicle controls which can take a while to get used to. For Mercs, vehicles have always been a huge part of the gameplay. In this game, we see various recolors of old Mercenaries vehicles, not including the occasional new vehicle like the guerrilla dune buggy or the civilian fire truck. On these vehicles,there is a variety of weapons to help you wreck havoc on the faction of your choice. These weapons are basic modern weapons such as T.O.W. missiles, heat seaking missiles, miniguns, LMGs, .50cals, and more.
Like I said earlier, the hand held weapons themselves are exactly the same as in the original game. Unfortunately, like the original, weapons in this game feel extremely weak as it will take 15 SMG shots to down a regular non-elite soldier. You'll find yourself trying to get the enemies to set off alarms so that various new vehicles will come out for you to gleefully hijack. An also interesting point to notice is that whenever you hijack another factions vehicles when no one is looking, they will treat you the same as the faction that you are disguised.
Now onto the graphics. I would kindly say that these graphics are just the not-so-perfect child of the Playstation 2's outdated hardware. However I am not a very kind person, so I will quickly point the finger at the developers for making, in my opinion, the most ugly brownish-haze of a game I have seen. I mean, Jesus, at least the Atari 2600 was colorful, this game is just a bunch of soup that was poured over your screen at your last birthday party. The draw distance is so bad, I find myself running ashore into islands when driving a boat because the thick-brownish haze was disguising them. You are also equipped with some useless binoculars that whenever you look through them, you appear to be staring at a big pile of crap and shadows.
Okay now for the good parts, as limited as they may be. Shooting things and blowing them up in Mercenaries games is fun. We don't know why but it is. Unfortunately, there is bad in this too because whenever you blow something up, a big gray smoke cloud appears and the building sinks beneath the smoke and when the smoke goes away all that is left is a blanket of gray, black, and white stuff the game designers had the stupidity to call rubble. Aside from that, the story, as cheesy as it may be, is witty and funny. Also the cutscenes look brilliant for a PS2 game. No pop in what-so-ever. Also, the Swedish character, Nilsson sound suspiciously like Crypto from Pandemic's Destroy All Humans! So, whenever you hear him talk you can't help but giggle a little.
Okay, this game is is less than perfect but I think it deserves kudos for just sticking to the normal mercenaries gameplay. I give this game a 6/10.
The game features three playable characters, all from the original game: Jennifer Mui, Mattias Nilsson and Chris Jacobs. In various teasers for the game, it is shown that Jacobs is a tactical Merc, Mui is a covert Merc, and Nilsson is an overkill Merc. However, the characters show no visible difference in fighting styles when playing. The experience is completely up to you.
The Ps2 version of this game is using the same graphical engine, H.U.D. , weapons, physics, and most of the vehicles from Mercenaries 1. The only differences are the ability to drive boats, some Venezuelan flags painted over the old North Korean ones on the vehicles, some new factions(Minor Spoiler:and some old ones), and of course the not so sunny Venezuelan countryside due to the Ps2's graphical limitations and possibly the laziness of the developers themselves.
Like the next-gen version, Mercenaries 2 features some touchy vehicle controls which can take a while to get used to. For Mercs, vehicles have always been a huge part of the gameplay. In this game, we see various recolors of old Mercenaries vehicles, not including the occasional new vehicle like the guerrilla dune buggy or the civilian fire truck. On these vehicles,there is a variety of weapons to help you wreck havoc on the faction of your choice. These weapons are basic modern weapons such as T.O.W. missiles, heat seaking missiles, miniguns, LMGs, .50cals, and more.
Like I said earlier, the hand held weapons themselves are exactly the same as in the original game. Unfortunately, like the original, weapons in this game feel extremely weak as it will take 15 SMG shots to down a regular non-elite soldier. You'll find yourself trying to get the enemies to set off alarms so that various new vehicles will come out for you to gleefully hijack. An also interesting point to notice is that whenever you hijack another factions vehicles when no one is looking, they will treat you the same as the faction that you are disguised.
Now onto the graphics. I would kindly say that these graphics are just the not-so-perfect child of the Playstation 2's outdated hardware. However I am not a very kind person, so I will quickly point the finger at the developers for making, in my opinion, the most ugly brownish-haze of a game I have seen. I mean, Jesus, at least the Atari 2600 was colorful, this game is just a bunch of soup that was poured over your screen at your last birthday party. The draw distance is so bad, I find myself running ashore into islands when driving a boat because the thick-brownish haze was disguising them. You are also equipped with some useless binoculars that whenever you look through them, you appear to be staring at a big pile of crap and shadows.
Okay now for the good parts, as limited as they may be. Shooting things and blowing them up in Mercenaries games is fun. We don't know why but it is. Unfortunately, there is bad in this too because whenever you blow something up, a big gray smoke cloud appears and the building sinks beneath the smoke and when the smoke goes away all that is left is a blanket of gray, black, and white stuff the game designers had the stupidity to call rubble. Aside from that, the story, as cheesy as it may be, is witty and funny. Also the cutscenes look brilliant for a PS2 game. No pop in what-so-ever. Also, the Swedish character, Nilsson sound suspiciously like Crypto from Pandemic's Destroy All Humans! So, whenever you hear him talk you can't help but giggle a little.
Okay, this game is is less than perfect but I think it deserves kudos for just sticking to the normal mercenaries gameplay. I give this game a 6/10.
