User Reviews (1 - 11 of 93)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

The BEST of its type so far!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 12
Date: June 19, 2006
Author: Amazon User

If you get frustrated with action games like this not challeneging you and being too easy, I have great news for you. They've finally done it! This game is not perfect, but it is difficult and long enough to challenege even the most avid gamer!

When you begin a game, you can choose from one of three different characters. You can read a little about each one, and your choice will affect your game play. Each character has something special about them that will affect their abilities during combat.

This game has been compared to GTA or even advertised as GTA in a war zone. There are a few similarities, but this is really as original as it gets. The only similarites I can think of are the ability to hijack and drive anything in the game and some of the side missions. Aside from that, they are completely different.

This game starts you in the middle of the war-torn Korea area with many countries fighting to acquire new land. You will receive contacts that represent their country, and you can receive contracts from them. The main part of the game, however, is capturing the Deck of 52. These are high-value targets who are categorized on playing cards. (Similar to the Iraqi 52 Most Wanted back in 2002.)

Some of your missions (contracts) for your contacts will lead you to the capture of one of these HVT's, but you will also receive intel via your PDA about other cards in the area. This game is totally open, so you can roam about the map searching for these HVT's in between contracts. You will begin with the suit of Clubs and work your way through the Diamonds, Hearts, and finally Spades.

The number cards will be much easier to capture than the face cards, and the Ace of each suit is extremely difficult.

Okay, I suppose I should highlight some of the major good and bad points of the game to help your decision to buy, so here it is...

Good:
-Freedom to roam: You can roam about and explore any parts of the map while on a contract or not. You are not restricted except in areas that will be opened later in the game.

-Vehicles: If you can see it being driven or flown, you can drive it and fly it! This makes the game very fun and realistic since you can drive and be disquised in many ground vehicles including scout jeeps, hummers, and tanks from each country, and also many helicopters from each country.

-Support: A mercenary may be courageous, but they're not too proud to get support. You can get deliveries of ammo, different guns, med kits, and vehicles by dropping smoke beacons for a helicopter to see. You can also order airstrikes or bombings with laser or satellite designation. Also, after you capture a HVT, you must call for an extraction if you take him alive. All this adds to the realism!

-Degree of challenge: This game is truly challenging if played without cheat codes, even some with them! There are 52 HVT's to capture, and that doesn't include all the contracts and side missions available. You may think you'll be able to fly right through the HVT's since you've played games like this before, but you're wrong. I decided to rent this before I bought it, and I got through the first suit (Clubs). That's it. The Diamonds and the contracts there are much more difficult. This is not a game that will be beaten quickly if played without cheat codes.

-Realism: This game takes place in real geographic locations with every detail included.

-Cool weapons: This game has a wide variety of great weapons to choose from. Your character can carry two guns which can be swapped for others when needed. There are several types of rifles (including sniper and armor-piercing sniper) to assault rifles, machine guns, RPG, anti tank and air rockets, and other cool toys. Also, the weapons from the support option (airstrikes) are very cool. It's great to be able to unleash a satellite designated Cruise Missile on an unsuspecting enemy compound! The Bunker Buster offers 4,000 pounds of absolute destruction to take care of those pesky hardened structures.

Okay, enough about the good. Let me list the bad.

-Kills: Although much better than some games (like Black) the enemies in Mercenaries tend to take a few shots before they die. I suppose this adds to the realism, because different guns affect how quickly they die.

-AI Spawning: Enemy areas sometimes include fortified bunkers. HVT's are often found around these bunkers. Somehow, the enemy AI spawns out of these bunkers. I expected a certain ammount of this, but I didn't expect a tank that I blew up to respawn three seconds later only to shoot down my extraction helicopter. Oh well, it makes it more challening. (You CAN destroy the bunkers)

That's it for the bad. I've played this game for over 100 hours so far, and that's all I can list for negatives. All in all, this is an excellent game and a must have for any action gamer!

Mercenaries --- Just one word "AWSOME"

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 12
Date: January 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Go anywhere and blow up anything!! This one will be hours and hours of fun. The explosions are fantastic. You get to choose from one of the three characters but it does not mater too much since all three are the same. They do not have any thing special. The game has a GTA feel in the roam around enviroment.No multi-player action but maybe in the next one.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 11
Date: January 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I played the demo for this game and I have never seen more freedom in a game before. If you like to "blow stuff up", this is the game for you. It is simply perfection!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What do you get when you take GTA to North Korea? This...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: February 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Many gamers (and reviewers on this site) have said that the GTA series couldn't be matched for its innovative style and free-roaming play. So what happens when you take a GTA-style scenario and virtually cross it with the real-world situation of Operation Enduring Freedom? You get the new game Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction.

In this game, you play as one of 3 mercenaries who have been chosen for a special mission: A United Nations-like group has to stop a madman in North Korea named Song who has control of a very powerful nuclear arsenal targeting the world. An unprecedented $100 million dollar bounty has been placed on Song's head and the heads of 51 other compatriots known as the "Deck of 52" (see how this relates to real world situations?) You are dropped into the country and your search for Song begins.

Your job is to make contact with the factions in the area and try to gather the intelligence information needed to take down the Deck. The first 12 "cards" in each suit are pretty much open season, meaning as you travel around the map to complete your missions if you see anyone of them in the area, you can take them down to collect their bounties and use the money for supplies, but keeping in mind that killing them gives you only half the bounty.
But for the 4 "Aces" you need to collect enough intel to gain special clearance to go after them, and trust me it won't be as easy as you would think.

Graphics are not really all that bad for this game but be honest, would you really care about the graphics when this game gives you virtually free reign to shoot any weapon, take any vehicle that is near you and destroy anything and EVERYTHING that is in your path? COME ON!

All in all, this is one Playground that you definitely will want to play in...

THIS GAME IS GREAT!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: January 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is not as violent as i thought it would be. I think James Bond is more violent. But that didnt put me off this game. It is a amazing game with fully accesible enviroments, and a whole lot of vehicles that you can ride around in. I recommend this game for everyone.

best game EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: January 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

this game kicks @$$.you get to blow up stuff.my fav is the carpet bomb. story line is great guns ar the best.the anti tank rocket luncher is the best. this game takes plase in north korea. you get to shoot north korens joy. you throw bad guys in jall.the bad guys are idenefied as card numbers.like the iraqi card dack.great game.get this game now NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5 stars

Capturing!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: March 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

ilove this game cause i can capture they deck of 52.this game is like GTA almost except you can use your powers for good.(i.e. stopping The North Koreans) the variety is awaome like you can allied with South Koreans and become enemies against say... Russian Muffia. You can also buy stuff and its delivered right to you.Plus the price $45 and the Teen rating with the price still going down this is a fun game. It has a replay value too because you can ride around and accept or not accept contracts thus making your experience last longer. I highly recomend this game.(srry about writting and grammar mistakes.)

AWESOME

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 25
Date: January 16, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Mercenaries is a REALLY TOTAL AWESOME game to play

This game got really awesome reviews for it

I give it 5 Stars "Highly Recommended" REALLY TOTAL WORTH to buy & play this game on the Sony Playstation 2 game system

THIS IS A MUST HAVE GAME TO BUY & play it on the Sony Playstation 2

A GAME LIKE THIS DOESN'T COME ALONG EVERY DAY!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: February 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Congratulations Lucas Arts and Pandemic on an outstanding game that outguns and outshines nearly all games of its type. Mercenaries is a 3rd person shooter thats packing more than just a cool subtitle, "playground of destruction", it literally is. Players will assume the roles of three different Mercenaries dropped into North Korea to take out "the deck of 52". This will be no easy task, yet a very rewarding one. Through accomplishing missions, whether by capturing your enemies or killing them, you'll earn points to buy new weapons, unlock secret players (Han Solo, Indiana Jones), and gain new abilities such as calling airstrikes. Mercenaries is a very lengthy game and will provide hours of entertainment, most of the time as you just blow the living crap out of everthing around you. But the game is deeper than that however, but you can take it as you please. For example, you can take on missions and earn money using helicopters, tanks, sports cars (every mission can be different every time) or you have the freedom to go on a rampage and make not only the citizens, but the factions, violently mad. The graphics in Mercenaries are awesome and seem a bit like Freedom Fighters mixed Star Wars Battlefront, as others have mentioned. They are awesome especially the explosions, particle effects, and ragdoll deaths. The sound is great and really gives off the feeling of a combat zone. This game is THE action title to own right now and unless you absolutley hate this type of game, you need to buy. Now, this game got a 9.1/10 from IGN and a 9/10 from PSM so its almost perfect and i give it a 10/10. People have compared Mercenaries to GTA but what game produced after GTA that involves cars, guns, and killing hasn't been compared to GTA, thats bound to happen. Its been compared to Socom...nah! Doesn't seem that way to me. It does seem alot like Freedom Fighters but on a way bigger scale. Just about the only thing that is lacking in this game is multiplayer. But that doesn't matter that much when you've got one of the greatest single player games on the PS2, but at least I've still got TimeSplitters 2 and Freedom Fighters for when I've got my friends over. So all in all, Mercenaries is one awesome game that will rock your PS2. Buy it if you are even the slightest bit entertained by action games. This is the ultimate action game. Thanks for reading...hope this review was helpful.

SIMPLY Awesome

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: March 04, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Plain and simple, a phenomenal title. The graphics may not be as phenomenal as other titles but they are still quite good and the atmosphere of the game is nailed perfectly. To paraphrase the great Sid Meier: "It's the gameplay, not the graphics, that make great games". That's an apt description of Mercenaries. This is a game that has the gameplay aspect nailed perfectly. It is simply the best game of current "new" titles that are out, and (to use the tired old cliche) one of the best ever for the PS2. Earns a spot of honor on my shelf, right up there with Kingdom Hearts, the Ratchet & Clank series, Need for Speed Underground 2, Spiderman 2, Burnout 3, and the Lord of the Rings series(Both The Two Towers and The Return of the King).

And unlike other "free-roaming environment" games that are out there, I can play this when my kid is awake and not have to cover her ears or eyes.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next 

Actions