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NOT like GTA...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 5
Date: April 06, 2005
Author: Amazon User

It's probably not fair to compare this game to GTA: San Andreas since it can't compete with it. For me that's the point. Mercenaries is a big let-down after playing San Andreas. Mercs is more focused on blowing things up, sure, to the detriment of vehicle selection, map size, stimulating and variegated environments, and diversity of missions. The vehicles get boring and they feel much less real than GTA vehicles, including the weird fact that the engine always sounds the same and doesn't change with how you control it. The map size is small... I can't believe a war with Korea takes place in about a 5-square mile area. The environment is the same everywhere: a dull and gloomy war-torn countryside (yeah, I know that's the point). You basically do the same thing over and over again. Shoot people, blow things up, arrest "terrorists." I find the controls awkward as well. Unlike GTA where the camera follows you around, you have to manually change the camera direction with the right analog stick which makes fighting very hard, and moving around a little tedious. If really the only thing you like doing is blowing things up, then this game IS good at that. Mercs has some of the nicest explosions of any game I've played. But be warned: if your brain requires more stimulation, this will get boring really fast. I gave a 3/2 rating because in all fairness I think it gets a 2.5. In any event, I would not pay $50 for it. Wait until it's marked down, and until then, get God of War.

Don't buy, RENT!!!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 6
Date: July 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I was looking for a fun new game because i am getting sick of playing Halo and i found Merceneries. It looked cool; tanks, helicopters, cars and a bunch of weopans so i decided to buy it. The game is set into 4 parts with each part consisting of bounties and missions. The first part was fun, slightly repetitive and i was under the impression that when it was over the not so big map that i was restricted to would grow, it didn't. The second stage was the same as the first only harder on the account of poorly designed parts that are full of follies. I stopped playing because it was a joke and turned on Halo.
Pro: Tanks, helicopters,like GTA but always fighting.
Cons: Other armies turn on you with stupid reasoning(accidently ran over 1 GI now they hate me), the guns are all horribly inaccurate, controls are goofy, map stays the same size as you progress, destroyed major vehicles (artillary) and bases just reappear over time, unbelievably repetitive, sometimes just plain tedious.

Don't buy this game, but rent it. It is fun for a few hours but after that is not worth the 50 bucks i paid for it.

"Mercenaries" delivers fun and ECON 101 lesson

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: November 11, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Great game, easy learning curve, and rather open game play that allows you to do what you want to achieve mission success. "Nerd-Core" for the arm chair warriors at a good price. This is a good stocking stuffer for your teenager (naturally I had to test it to ensure quality). Bonus! Introduces fundamentals of Economics 101. Hey - mercenaries have to balance the checkbook too!

should not compare with GTA

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 65 / 72
Date: January 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

A lot of people who are unhappy with the game seems to be hung up on a simple issue: "Why isn't this game like Grand Theft Auto and more?" Although players who've spent any time with GTA will feel immediately familiar with the game's draw, a few hours in, you know that it's a very different experience. GTA is more about DRIVING; Mercenaries is about BLOWING STUFF UP! Where as GTA has better vehicle physics, the third-person-shooter aspect of Mercenaries is much more deep. Where as GTA has a generally upbeat tone (with the incessant radio music, bustling city landscape and often humorous/cartoon-like urban dwellers), the mood in Mercenaries is a lot more sober (music right out of a war movie, dark war-torn landscape and hostile soldiers).

If you enjoy GTA for the sheer freedom of actions you can take, whether it is to mow down pedestrians with a sedan, do impossible arial flips and in general, cause havoc just for the fun of it, you'll really enjoy Mercenaries; in the sheer carnage factor, Mercenaries top GTA. In terms of character development (of both your character and various ones you encounter along the game), Mercenaries is rather flat and uninteresting, compared to GTA. Take your pick.

There are two annoying things about the game for me. For one, the fact that you can routinely run through an enemy stronghold with a SMG and mow down dozens of soldiers while on foot without a hitch makes you feel uber-invincible. Whether it's a good thing (more opportunity to kick butt!) or a bad thing (makes missions too easy and unchallenging) is up to you. Another is the faltering AI of the enemies. Sometimes, they swarm all over you at the slightest trigger of danger with no regard for their own safety other than the most simple reactions (duck out of the way of speeding cars or raining bullets); other times, you can brush past your enemies and they won't lift a finger just because that particular faction is not your worst enemy in that particular mission. Often times, this leads to the feeling of being a in a Twighlight Zone; that you're the only 'human' in the entire game while others are just pre-programmed to interact with you within the bounds of a rather limited script. Again, this really doesn't hinder your ability to blow stuff up; but the interactive aspect with other 'people' kinda fall short of GTA.

Overall, one thing's without a doubt: Mercenaries will hook you the very minute you start playing and won't let you go until you can no longer keep your eyes open (or die from dehydration and starvation).

Excellent GTA style free-flowing 3rd person shooter

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 17 / 18
Date: February 24, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I'd been looking for a decent GTA style game for a while now and since XBox owners won't see GTA:SA for some time I thought Mercenaries would fill the slot nicely. And boy it does!

Following on from the GTA's groundbreaking no-rules gameplay, Mercenaries allows for complete free-roaming non-linear action. The first time I exited the campground I wanted to see just how much freedom the game would offer - so rather than go an speak to whoever it was the game was directing me to, I decided to try to steal and enemy vehicle and go off on my own adventure. After finding a North Korean jeep and 'acquiring' it, my road journey began. Before I knew it, I was deep in a North Korean compound apparently having convinced the NK's that I'm one of them. The sensation of knowing I might be caught at anytime is just one of the thrills the game serves up. I took out bunkers, subdued guards, stole tanks destroyed entire buildings - all without being instructed to. Marvellous.

Sure, like with GTA, the game has certain plot points and story quests that will allow your character to progress and use bigger and better weapons. But you can do them in your own time when you choose - I love that. Even when you die all is not lost - unless you're on an ace contract all that happens is you resurrect in the ally campground and lose some money; just like a hospital visit in GTA!

The graphics perform well although there is a mist that's obviously covering up pop-up. Understandable though given that massive terrain you can traverse (with NO loading). And the game does have a certain dark brown feel - but again it's in keeping with the theme of the game. The physics of the game is incredible though, with almost everything destroyable, moveable or stealable. I was shooting some rockets at a guard tower and upon the third hit the whole thing fell. And it didn't just go 'pop'... it slowly FELL, with dust, bricks and debris flying off it all acompanied by appropriate bone crunching audio. It really took my by surprise at how it all went down, and since then I've been blowing up everything I can by using hand-planted C4 or even laser-targeted airstrikes for the big stuff.

Overall this game seems quite shallow initially, but after scores of hours playing I can say this is every bit as deep GTA3 et al, and worth every penny. Highly recommended.

A Very Explosive Game!With Cheats!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: February 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Mercenaries is an excellent game.Its a Third person shooting/flying/driving game with many weapons,including calling in air strikes with laser targeting and by sattelite also the ability to drive and fly just about anything incuding helicopters,tanks,military jeeps,civilian cars,etc.etc.The missions are open ended ,with the ability to hijack cars and military vehicles.You can also blow up just about anything you see ,including large buildings.The explosive effects are very nicely done and richly detalied,put C4 on a hood of a car then drive,ditch,detonate ,the car will sometimes explode into the air about 100 feet ,also when you blow up a building it implodes much like a real building does ,very realistic looking.The soundtrack is orchestra/operatic style kinda like The Godfather. The plot is not very deep,dont expect (rpg) role playing game style game at all. But this game is very fun right out of the box. There's lots to explore and see.This game is like a summer action movie ,lite on the plot,heavy on the blow stuff up shoot the bad guys.Youre up against the North Koreans and your basicaly a bounty hunter/ mercenary ,and your hired to take out enemy leaders who are represented by a deck of cards,but you dont know where they are located so you have to work for any faction of your choosing including "South Koreans,Russian Mob,CHINA,and Allied Nations or A.N.".You can work for all four Factions to do there dirty work.You'll be hired for specific contracts by each faction and they will pay you money and then usually give you a location of (CARD) enemy after you complete there contract for them.Also based on which faction you work for you might either gain or lose status with a faction depending on whether you can do your contract in stealth or finish the task by not getting the opposing faction killed or civilians killed.You can work all sides except for the "North Koreans" which of course are always your enemy in this game.The map areas are huge with open-ended playability and each (ACE) card or (boss) has there own seperate map usually an island to visit after getting all other enemies represented by the suited deck.After getting all the diamonds and clubs enemies a whole new map opens up and you then have the ability to travel between both north and south provinces. There's lots of bonus missions also.This game is simular to GTA series,but not very much dont expect the same game as GTA.Only the open map is simular and the hijacking of cars.All in all a solid entertaining game.Here's some CHEAT CODES: **INF HEALTH:At the PDA "factions" screen press:UP-DOWN-UP-DOWN-L-R-L-R**INF AMMO:At PDA Factions screen Press R-L-R-R-L-R-L-L**ALL SHOP ITEMS:At PDA Factions screen Press downx4-UP-L-R-R**EXTRA CASH$:At PDA Factions screen press R-DOWN-L-UP-UP-L-DOWN-R**NOTE: All codes entered on D-PAD.Also after entering each code correctly you will hear a click sound.Also codes can be disabled by entering them again or turning of xbox,with the exception of the ALLSHOPITEMS cheat which remains in effect.

Feed your need to blow stuff up!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: February 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Mercenaries builds on what GTA has and takes it one step further. Buy it, steal it, hijack it, or blow it up! As a Mercenary you are hired by several countries combating the North Korean military, but each country has their own intentions. Using the support by those countries, and the Russian Mafia you complete the missions given to you. Unlike GTA where you only have guns, and other objects to use, in Mercenaries you can call for an air strike, artillery bombardment, or supply drops to resupply you. While conducting these missions, you are also contracted to capture, or kill (you decide) 52 North Korean personnel (Deck of 52 cards). Plus, you have a whole bunch of side missions like seeing how far can you displace a barrel with explosives, how fast can you drive from one point to another, etc. If you get bored (which I don't think you will) you can just go anywhere and blow anything up! I love this game!

Doesn't have everything. But still fun.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 10
Date: January 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is an awsome game. It has great graphics, huge playing areas, and many different weapons and vehicles to play around with. But it lacks the things that make a game GREAT. It lacks a tutorial level. They expect you to learn the game as you go. And who dares make a game today without a multiplayer mode?! The only reason why I rated this 4 stars and not 5, was because of the lack of multiplayer mode. But if I was faced with the decision to buy this game or not, I would definatly purchase this great game.

You blow things up.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: January 27, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Honestly, I've been sitting here for about ten minutes, fingers lingering idly over the keyboard, and have typed half-a-dozen sentences, and deleted every one.

You blow things up.

This is the part where you stare at your computer screen in horror, where you travel quickly down to the "no" button, but hear me out.

You blow things up.

Honestly, this is the main selling point of the game. When a friend asks me "Hey, Mercenaries, what's that all about?" I tell them that "you blow stuff up". And they look at me funny, but then they play it, and next time someone asks, they're ready to back up my answer. Explosions. Guns. Helicopters. C4, Airstrikes, Massive semi-nuclear bombs. Those are the bread and butter of this game.

If you like huge explosions - some of the best ever. Ever - then you will like this game. Some parts of it are a bit faulty, mainly getting from one place to another (the time it takes), the vehicle control (sloppy and unresponsive) but honestly, when you're tossing down carpet bombs and nukes onto a squad of enemy tanks, or landing a helicopter and taking out a heavily gaurded enemy base with your bare hands and a semi-auto rocket launcher, you don't think "If only the vehicle control was better".

No, it's something more like "Wow. That was cool. I wonder if I can launch a guy thirty feet in the air with a - oh, oh, yeah, I guess I can."

great game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 13
Date: January 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I am beginning to like this game the controls are kind of weird and the environments aren't nearly as big as i hoped it would be like gtaSA. O well i just have to wait and find out!

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