Mercenaries 2:World in Flames is an open world action game set in Venezuela which is ran by a powerful petroleum factory, Universal Petroleum. You work with different factions taking care of their "problems" while trying to get answers to a few questions you have and trying to get to the man who you are gunning for. You can drive around a huge map looking for supplies, cash or fuel to stock up on and there is not a shortage of side missions to keep yourself busy as well. Think of GTA but more masculine and more raw. The whole environment is yours to use or destroy, even pull people out of their cars to use it as a quick ride somewhere. But, even a fun game can have it's bugs and designing problems that take away from the experience.
My issues with Mercs 2 come from the co-op side of the game, like I said before, I only played very little of the single player mode, so I can not really tell you any issues I had with that. The co-op mode is missing a lot of simple fixes that could make it a more satisfying experience. You see so many other co-op games do it right, it makes you wonder why it was so hard to do it right as well.
My major issue with the co-op play is the fact that all of my stockpile (fuel, unlocked items and attacks, purchased items and attacks) do not carry over once I save. Meaning, everything I unlock and everything I buy in my co-op game does not save and is not available to me next time I load that game. The only thing that saves is my cash, which is better than nothing. But what is the purpose of unlocking special air attacks and vehicles if once I save and reload that game all of that work is gone and I have to re-do the gathering and buying of those items?! Pissed me off the first time I realized this. That is a deal breaker to me...that is poor planning and poor development.
There are also other issues with things not being distributed equally to both players in the co-op game, such as mini-games or training games. I complete a mini/training game with my co-op partner, yet he gets all the cash rewards for that game and I get nothing. He initiates the mini-game, I can not do this since I am not the host of the game, I can not talk to other characters and I can not trigger events...so starting the game is off limits to me. Yet I play the mini-game along side him and get no benefits for winning?! That's poor development at it's finest.
A few other problems I have with the game is just something that most action shooters have, the driving sucks yet they insist in mandatory races while people shoot at you with rocket launchers. Why force me to race a car that has limited life, with haggard racing controls AND get the enemies to shoot rockets at me all while on a time limit?! Any little thing in the road, even a pebble that you didn't see will cause your car to launch into the air and threaten to flip in an instant. It is very frustrating and a pain in the ass...but it's not just this game, it seems like all heavy action games love to set you up in bad controlling races. There are other annoying bugs and glitches that you will find that will drive you insane, but those are to be expected. Just make sure you do not run down a steep slope, or the ever so popular "stuck while falling" animation will get you every time.
All in all, I am having a moderately good time with the game, enough for me to so far stick it through and keep playing, even tho I am not reaping any benefits that I will have on my next round. I say it's a rental, by no means would I suggest buying this game with out renting it first. It is not worth the $60 price tag.
