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MERCENARIES 2: WORLD IN FLAMES (X360)
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Publisher: EA.
Developer: Pandemic Studios. Released: September 2008 (Europe). Genre: Sandbox. Other versions: PS3; PS2; PC. Posted 5th May 2025. By Tom Clare © 2025 |
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Before open-world tropes began bleeding into nearly every other genre, we knew a simpler distinction in the form of the sandbox. Brought to prominence by the original Grand Theft Auto and alive in various forms as far back as the 1980s, there’s an argument to say the golden age of sandbox gaming drew to a close as it naturally phased into the modern open world genre, with the likes of Mercenaries 2 and the Crackdown trilogy among the last of a lineage that created explorable cityscapes with a predominant focus on the destructive play element, rather than world-building or immersive scale.
The plot, such as it is, sees the player’s chosen mercenary occupying and setting up a base of operations in Venezuela. They must establish a small team and then complete missions and bounties for various vested interests to earn cash and eventually topple despot Solano. World in Flames’ hackneyed stereotypes of oil-hungry Americans, devious Chinese communists, easy-going Jamaican pirates and shadily run, resource-rich South American dictatorships will no doubt come across as rather on the nose. However, you didn’t buy a game whose cover sports a Mohican-adorned merc pulling a grenade pin with his teeth, for the nuance of its storytelling. What gamers wanted was tonnes of over-the-top action and a military playground awash with destructive possibilities. Yielding more explosions in its first half hour than most action games manage in their entirety, it’s fair to say Mercenaries 2 achieved just that.
Mercenaries 2 packs a ludicrous amount of action into its Venezuela setting
World in Flames’ constituent parts impress. The third-person shooting feels snappier and more accurate than the majority of its sandbox contemporaries, helping make for some satisfying battles with only the occasional shot failing to register a hit on your target. Driving is pleasant thanks to smooth, responsive handling and decent physics, whilst weighty flying vehicles ensure there are numerous ways to wreak havoc upon your enemies. Whilst mission design offers little we haven’t seen before, there are plenty of challenging conceits for trying out the various cars, tanks, helicopters, ski-dos and speedboats. Mercenaries 2’s standout feature lies in the ability to call in help via helicopter. This encompasses supply drops, armoured vehicle deliveries and fast travel to a base you’ve secured. Better still, you can even the odds in battle by calling in tank-targeted bombing runs, laser-guided missile strikes and bunker busters. Just be sure not to stick around for the fireworks display!
A few bugs threaten to dampen the enjoyment. Explosions sometimes result in your merc getting trapped in the scenery, helicopters occasionally vanish upon delivery and the thankfully-infrequent escort missions prove a hassle because of dozy AI. A few irritations aside though, there’s nothing serious. Indeed, Mercenaries 2 is among the most technically accomplished early open-worlds of its time. Whilst Venezuela’s colour palette appears a touch drab at times, the levels of destruction are wondrous and the presentation fares well, animating vast expanses of land, even as the player ascends to great heights. Loading times are typically limited to the beginnings of missions, so the flow of the gameplay is rarely affected. There’s tonnes of activity, with traffic, civilians, patrolling choppers, security checkpoints and faction battles playing out around you, with the only instances of slow down tending to appear as a consequence of chained explosions.
A few bugs threaten to dampen the enjoyment. Explosions sometimes result in your merc getting trapped in the scenery, helicopters occasionally vanish upon delivery and the thankfully-infrequent escort missions prove a hassle because of dozy AI. A few irritations aside though, there’s nothing serious. Indeed, Mercenaries 2 is among the most technically accomplished early open-worlds of its time. Whilst Venezuela’s colour palette appears a touch drab at times, the levels of destruction are wondrous and the presentation fares well, animating vast expanses of land, even as the player ascends to great heights. Loading times are typically limited to the beginnings of missions, so the flow of the gameplay is rarely affected. There’s tonnes of activity, with traffic, civilians, patrolling choppers, security checkpoints and faction battles playing out around you, with the only instances of slow down tending to appear as a consequence of chained explosions.
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Enemy AI lacks consistency, as whilst some soldiers wait gormlessly to be shot, on other occasions, the player gets blanketed with fire, which can escalate very quickly. As is often the case with scenarios that juggle numerous factions with changeable levels of support or hostility towards the player, troops can feel like they’re on a hair-trigger, with the constant paranoid battle cries, even amongst allies in safe zones, becoming quickly irritating. The difficulty spikes now and again, with some missions meting out harsh punishment for failure, as checkpointing is very hit-and-miss. Your mercenary can withstand precious little damage, and having a newly transported helicopter or tank destroyed in just a couple of shots quickly grows tiresome.
Still, a good sandbox uses its environment as a theatre for off-the-cuff fun, and World in Flames delivers plenty. There are ample side missions to guide you in this direction. The targetted destruction of buildings, for example, where a helicopter with a decent supply of rockets will help showcase the game’s brilliantly extensive destructible scenery. A few missions see the player dodging fire as you aim to travel point to point in a vehicle, with the best being the speedboat sections, which balance nimbly dodging enemy ships, machine-gunning mines and beating a time limit. There’s plenty of incentive to tackle the side challenges, as the rewards is a steady stream of vehicles and supply drops, which can then purchased from the various faction stores.
Still, a good sandbox uses its environment as a theatre for off-the-cuff fun, and World in Flames delivers plenty. There are ample side missions to guide you in this direction. The targetted destruction of buildings, for example, where a helicopter with a decent supply of rockets will help showcase the game’s brilliantly extensive destructible scenery. A few missions see the player dodging fire as you aim to travel point to point in a vehicle, with the best being the speedboat sections, which balance nimbly dodging enemy ships, machine-gunning mines and beating a time limit. There’s plenty of incentive to tackle the side challenges, as the rewards is a steady stream of vehicles and supply drops, which can then purchased from the various faction stores.
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Whilst its greyish-brown veneer is derivative of other action games of the time, Mercenaries 2 sports impressive visuals. Characters look good and the game excels in its destructible minutiae, encouraging the player to take down billboards and buildings. Some of the game’s most memorable missions involve engineering large-scale destruction, with the best including taking down a bridge and levelling an oil rig. Cities interlink with suburbs, favelas, rural hideouts, oil rigs, waterfalls and rivers. There isn’t quite the level of rewards for exploring that you’d find in a GTA, but the locations combine for an impressive arena.
Perhaps the coolest facet of the game is its online co-op. Playing with a friend predictably results in a good time, and the design accommodates drop-in/drop-out sessions extremely well. Helicopters allow additional players to man the machine guns, whilst many armoured vehicles come with a mounted turret. If you want a quicker, more familiar experience, you can even ride shotgun in the various sports cars. With a beep of the horn, you can even attract AI faction allies to join you.
Perhaps the coolest facet of the game is its online co-op. Playing with a friend predictably results in a good time, and the design accommodates drop-in/drop-out sessions extremely well. Helicopters allow additional players to man the machine guns, whilst many armoured vehicles come with a mounted turret. If you want a quicker, more familiar experience, you can even ride shotgun in the various sports cars. With a beep of the horn, you can even attract AI faction allies to join you.
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The sheer carnage alone should be enough to delight brain-on-hold action fans, but Pandemic deserves recognition for what is a technically adventurous attempt to ratchet up the excitement. Ignore the plot and go with the flow, because both primary and secondary missions deliver silly, unadulterated blasting action. Mercenaries 2 doesn’t take itself too seriously, and neither should you: you’ll be too busy running from buildings, detonator in hand, ready to make more rubble.
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VERDICT"You won't learn much from Mercenaries 2, except how to have a lot of fun with explosions. An impressive game engine takes full advantage of a vast array of destructive vehicles and weapons. Giddy brain-on-hold fun." OVERALL: 8/10 |
OTHER GAMES LIKE THIS REVIEWED
Grand Theft Auto (1997, PlayStation)
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Saints Row IV (2013, PlayStation 3)
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