Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction - PlayStation 2

Rest in peace Pandemic, they made a lot of good games before they were gutted by EA. Mercenaries Playground of Destruction was one of them and is one of the most satisfying open-world sandbox games ever made. For me it falls under the same category that Saint's Row and Prototype fall under. Lack of story is no biggie because its packed to the brim with content and wanton destruction. The title "Playground of Destruction" really fits the game well since it seems just about every building can be leveled with enough explosives. So the underlying synopsis is as, General Song the military dictator of the un-Democratic People's Republic of Korea is exposed for selling nuclear weapons illegally. As the UN and South Korea move into oust him from power he goes underground with his cabinet and precious nukes. The North Korean military is waging a tenacious guerrilla war against the Allies and time is running out. So bounties are placed on General Song and his men to hasten their capture. Now ExOps, a private military contractor sends in one of their agents to cash in on the war.So at the start you are given a choice of several agents to play as. You have Chris Jacobs the American, Jennifer Mui the Brit, and Mattias Nilsson a Swedish-BA. The game says that they all have different strengths and weaknesses but in reality they don't make much of a difference. So what you really end up choosing is skin and dialogue. After you got your agent your dropped off in war torn North Korea and now begins the hunt for the "Deck of 52". The bounties are split up by card numbers and suits and you capture them (dead or alive) till you eventually get up to the man himself. To do this you can track down the smaller bounties on your own or gain intelligence from the various factions in Korea. Aside from the Allies; there are the South Koreans, the Chinese, and the Russian Mafia. You can work with these factions who in turn toss a fat bounty at you and information on others in hiding so as long as you do their bidding. Supporting them also opens up their resources to you, support the South Koreans you get their air support, support the Chinese you get artillery support and armor, the Russians Mob gives you small arms and contraband vehicles etc etc. However at times they can work against each other and you may end up making enemies of one faction in the process.The missions they toss at you are pretty typical in regards to sandbox games. Go there blow that building up, go here and take that guy out and so on. Though its not really the missions that you should come for but the destruction. Virtually every vehicle can be hijacked and it helps give you an edge. If a North Korean tank is rushing to you why not just hijack it and use it against them? Thats possible and more. You can slap C4 on a car and drive it into the checkpoint and detonate it in the process. If you are stuck in the middle of nowhere call in your Mafia comrades to pick you up with a captured Blackhawk helicopter. Thats another thing that makes this game really enjoyable is the "Merchants of Menace" site attached to your character's PDA. With it you can call in air strikes, supplies, or vehicles which are promptly delivered. Since the site is ran by the Russian Mafia its best to stay on their good side for discounts if you plan to use it frequently. Be careful with the M&M app though because you may end up burning through all your money fast.This game is over 8 years old but still looks good. Dust rises up from explosions, missiles leave behind lines of exhaust, sunlight glistens off surfaces, and destroyed vehicles shower fiery debris. Battles are large scale and you'll often find two factions fighting hashing it out complete with tanks, helicopters and infantry charging at each other. If you use heavy types of air strikes like carpet bombing or fuel air bombs what was once a vibrant armor base is leveled flat into charred ruins. Looking back its quite amazing what they were able to pull of visually despite having dated hardware. So in the end the game was fun, and it's still fun. The game-play itself if very satisfying and rewards adventuring. Difficulty can definitely spike in certain missions but with some imagination most missions in this game are doable. Overall, great game and worth getting a used copy of.

This game is a semi-linear action/adventure game set in North Korea after one of President Kim's sons overthrows and kills him. You are a "private contractor" (a mercenary) working for a company called ExOps. You're sent in to try and bag 52 DPRK officials that have a price on their heads; ranging from $25,000, to General Song himself who has a $100,000,000 price on his head. As you try to gather intel on the "Deck of 52" you have to deal with four factions that each have their own agenda: the "Allied Nations" (blue-beret knockoffs of the UN, but they are mostly American), the South Koreans, the Chinese and a Russian Mafia group. Your interactions will determine how well they will receive you and how easily they will help you with the info you seek.The game is divided into four chapters, based on the order in which you encounter the suits in the Deck: Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts and Spades; and two regions: Southern (Clubs and Diamonds) and Northern (Hearts and Spades).As you progress you gain access to a variety of weapons and vehicles. Some are given to you, others you just take. When you accept contracts from the various factions, you are often given vehicles, weapons and even combat support.Combat support can take the form of artillery strikes (Chinese) to all sorts of air strikes, including bunker buster and even B-52 carpet bombing. Of course, the free attacks are of limited quantity, but, if you have good relations with the Russian mafia, they run a shop that you can buy air strikes, vehicles and supply drops of weapons, ammo and medical packs. Of course, the price you pay is determined by how good your standing with the Mafia is; the more favorable, the less it costs you.All vehicles have unlimited range, but limited ammo supplies. The range of vehicles is rather substantial, ranging from cheap North Korean street cars to tanks and helicopter gunships. You can even hijack vehicles under certain conditions. This is important when dealing with tanks and some high-end helicopters.You play as one of three people: Chris Jacobs (American, speaks Korean), Jennifer Mui (Anglo-Chinese, speaks Chinese) or Mattias Nilsson (Swedish, speaks Russian). That language info is important, because some of the faction leaders you'll deal with will often be speaking in their native language. If you have subtitles turned on, each character will display some of those conversations in English; Jacobs knows Korean, Mui knows Chinese, and Nilsson knows Russian. If you play as all three, you can learn what all of the other faction leaders are actually saying when they think you can't understand them....All in all, there is enough to keep you busy for days.

One of the best games I have ever played. A bit hard but all the missions are managable.Pros:-You can do anything. I like it when I can strap C4 on a truck and ram it to a bunch of enemies and blow them up...-You can care or not care how factions are toward you. I like to play just to earn money and not care about them liking me.... It's all about #1Cons: When sniping you dont get much cover... and it's hard to get on roofs and such... You have to have a copter to get on the roofs.AI is good. They tend to be bad shots (except for those darn RPGs) but they will use everything they have to kill you. They will try to run you over (if in a vehicle) and if that fails they will get out and try to shoot you with a pistol. also they are smart enough to use your own gun (if mounted on a vehicle) to kill you.

I gave it 5 stars as it works like it is supposed to. However, the game play is almost always in a dark setting, whereas WIF was more day light, and I just like that better. Also, it seems that if you fail a mission, then you fail entirely. Other than that, it's a'ight.

I've had this game on the original xbox and more than 1 copy. My copies had light scratches so I dealt with dead loads, freezing and skipping audibles ALL THE TIME. I bought this ps2 version used and it looks like a new one. Plus ps2 can take gameshark and action replay codes so I should be able to DEVASTATE the North Korean landscape where the game takes place. Earilly close to todays headlines. I played for about 3 hours yesterday and didn't want to stop but heavy eyelids made me. I'm feeling like a well rested Merc today though so I'm diving back in. Fun game when there are no freeze problems. I suggest ps2 version unless you get an unscratched xbox one.