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Mercanaries 2: World In Flames Impressions

Posted by: Sri on Sat, Aug 16th, 2008

Pandemic Studios have been working on this title for a long time now. I finally got some hands on time with the Xbox 360 version of the game and I am happy to say it left me very satisfied. Check out the full preview with screenshots after the jump.

Sequel to the 2005 title that also featured an open world setting, Mercenaries 2: World In Flames will feature some of the same mechanics of the first game and then some.

The first Mercenaries took place in Korea but the new title takes place in Venezuela. Taking it to Venezuela allowed the developers to diversify the environment by featuring jungles, oil rigs, buildings, lakes and even mountains.

In order to get around the world, the player will have access to over 130 vehicles, including a helicopter. Flying up in the air and seeing the scope of the land for the first time is unlike anything I have seen in an open world game. The sheer variety of the land makes it seem like a massive world left to be explored. What I found really cool was the helicopter featured a giant magnet to pick up vehicles and drop them anywhere you feel.

Although this version was running at a solid frame rate, it had some glitches that will hopefully be fixed before the release of the game. In addition to that, the game featured popping which was especially apparent when flying in the helicopter. Regardless, I believe most of this will be taken care of before release.

All that aside this game features some of the best explosions I have seen in a while. The first time I shot the nuke, I gasped at the size of the mushroom cloud that was left behind me. It was surreal seeing the building disappear in a cloud of smoke right in front of me and those are the moments that really excite me for this game. While this may seem like another open ended game, it is definitely one to keep an eye on. It will be released for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360 and PC . The game will be available August 31st, 2008 in the States, while Europe will get it September 5th, 2008. And with that ladies and gentlemen, I leave you with a trailer. Please enjoy.