Mercenaries (Sony PlayStation 2, 2005)

A first shooter game with the ability to work with different factions for different abilities, such as calling in strikes or artillery back-up. With the use of a 52 card deck to identify targets, you will find yourself thinking of creative new ways to capture targets as there is no structured storyline. A good game with a revamped physics engine, bodies fly realistically and so do helicopters, as you are able to hijack anything in sight. If you can see it, you can steal it, definitely a plus. This game is definitely worth checking out, if not buying.

Such a classic game... it's a shame they didn't continue the series past Mercenaries 2 for PS3. This title is one of the best shooters for the PS2, and although its framerates will occasionally stutter, its massive open world environment and highly detailed environments make up for it.

There really aren't many games from this era that feature an almost completely destructible environment. There is so much fun to be had in demolishing an entire city with packs of C4, or detonating a giant bridge right out from under your enemy.

The only negative thing I can say about this game is that it is not 100% stable. I have had the game crash on me at very pivotal points in the story, and thus I have gotten into the habit of saving my progress every 15 minutes or so. It's not a deal-breaker, but it is irritating.

Overall, this game is a fantastic buy for anyone who loves to play older games, especially shooters. Don't knock it just because it is a 3rd person shooter, give it a try- you won't be disappointed!

Mercenaries has always been my most treasured games, and it hurt when I had to sell it years ago. The idea of "If you can see it, you can take it, drive it, shoot it, destroy it or blow it up" is 100% true. It's a massive game of thousands of destroyable buildings, a huge arsenal to play around with and a great feel to the game. The learning curve is minor, and they introduce you to a very good tutorial string of missions that teach you how to move, drive and take down targets.

One of the most unique characteristics of this game is the air strike and faction system. The story is very engrossing and the environment you are in is great. You start out on the 48th parallel, also known as the demilitarized zone on the border of North and South Korea. You complete several missions there and you are moved up in to North Korea.

On a final note, their "Boss" system is also very well thought out. Set up like a deck of cards, you start off with the bottom cards and work your way up till you finally take down the Ace of each suite. Your main target is Song, the Ace of Spades. The Ace maps are also amazing, each one being very unique and expansive.

Mercenaries is a great game, and I've recomended it before and I will continue to recommend it to all of my friends and any gamer that I meet.

I bid on this game, cause I had a version of it for Xbox, and I wanted to see if there were any major diffrences between the two systems. For the most part, they are the same, though on the Xbox the loading is so much faster. This game is great, because there is not set plot per say. It just you in an open go anywhere enviorment and you can basicly do whatever it is you want. You can do the missions, to get info on where the cards are, but if you want the challenge, you can just go "hunting" for them without any clue of where they could be. After playing it once all the way thru, the second time around that is how I did it. Its actually kinda funner like that. All in all, the graphics on the PS2 are good. Not great but good. I have also noticed that when you go into the PDA and exit out, there is atleast a five second delay before the game resumes. That can get kinda annoying. All in all, its one of those games, that you will just not get bored of playing in an hour or so. It keeps you on edge, and when the bullets start flying, you best be ready to roll. Worth a shot if you like RPG's, without the normal confined areas.

I have mixed feelings on this game as it allures to non-stop carnage and destruction. In reality this is more of a military "Grand Theft Auto" than say "Call of Duty" shooter. As one of three possible mercenaries you have to perform missions with the various North Korean factions to earn money to buy more weaponary and advance to capture/kill the bad guys. Did I mention you have to pay for your own air-support?? So while all the structures can be demolished, you have to pay for the stuff out of your back pocket.
There are "mini game" missions as well to earn money like racing a jeep through checkpoint in a certain amount of time.
So overall it's not a bad game, just not what I was expecting. It's a slightly older game so the graphics are not to today's standards. Nevertheless, if you could find a budget version of this ($10-15.00) it's probably worth a peek.