You may think you know the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, but you do not. In Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3's alternate history, the allies to launch a surprise attack on Hawaii, a long-time stronghold of the Empire of Rising Sun, and it is only the top of the famous iceberg. Red Alert 3, tongue firmly in cheek and dream up a bizarre world where armored bears parachute from the sky, transformable Japanese mecha wreak havoc, and Mount Rushmore is actually a secret military installation where honest Abe main shoot deadly laser beams out of his eyes .
Red Alert has always been more "colorful" of the Command & Conquer franchise. Its precondition of time travel Messing up space-time continuum allows it to come up with some silly scenarios that are transferred by natural-chewing performances of the actors in live-action video sequences. So with the Soviet Union are facing defeat at the hands of the Allies, a trio of Russia's finest (played by Peter Stormare, Andrew Divoff, and Tim Curry) travel back in time to whack Einstein. This is a tip of the hat to the original Red Alert, where Einstein traveled back in time to whack Hitler. Job done, the Soviet Union to return home only to discover that, like Eckel stomping on a butterfly in A Sound of Thunder, Messing with time have unforeseen consequences.
What are three campaigns, which lets you play from the perspective of the Allies, the Soviet Union, and the new empire in Rising Sun, basically a Japan that is led by Sulu from Star Trek and armed to the teeth with almost every notable Japanese Coming into a unit. There are above diverted mecha as well as non-diverted samurai robots, high-tech ninja, suit-clad engineers, and, yes, even a skirt-bearer school girl armed with Akira-like mental strength. Not to worry, because the Allies and the Soviet Union can play dumb, too, by helicopter to shrink opponents to pint size, smoking-dressed spies, armored Zeppelin, and leggy female command soldiers.
The big new addition in Red Alert 3 is that the entire single-player game has been designed with co-op in mind. You can either play with another human or computer, but basically you each control your own base and forces. If you're playing with a man who has built-in voice chat and an ability to drop markers on the map to get their attention. If playing with a computer, you can issue orders to them to seize a place or find a specific target. It is a good dynamic, because it can make what is traditionally the shorter length, you actually have double the forces, as you normally would in a traditional RTS. Quite often, I leave my computer partner tackle half of the map while I tackled the other.
There is also a naval base element in Red Alert 3, as many cards incorporate bodies of water. You can build submarines, dolphins, carriers and warships, although the line between the naval and land warfare is not exactly cut and dry due to the amphibious nature of many units. Vessels can sprout legs or wear runways and scroll up to dry land and some land units can flow. It adds an extra dimension that was missing in previous C & C game, and it also makes it possible for developers to show the cool water tech.
Despite not being a huge trivia nut, I can recognize the potential for trivia / quiz game, and why they would be so addictive that info junkies. Unfortunately, you're smarter than a 5th Class? Making the Grade is not only a bad trivia games, but it's just not well put together in any way. There is really nothing to say when I was reviewing my notes before writing this article and found that all my comments were included in the "negative" section and "positive" section was empty.
If you are unfamiliar with Are you smarter than a 5th Class? TV shows, Jeff Foxworthy hosts and guides the participant through a series of grade school about money. A "class" of school children is on standby and get one at a time to help the participant answer questions, which are categorized by topic. During the game, the participant can fall back on a couple of "cheating" options, including peeking at his or her 5th Class answer, copy it directly (which automatically locks him or her in that match) or participant can only be saved once by the fifth grade, if the participant answers wrong, but his temporary partner is entitled.
This is essentially the structure Make the Grade, but there are a couple of extra multiplayer elements thrown into the mix as well. For the most part, this is a very boring and poorly done stake. First and foremost is the only reward you get to play, do it much thought to earn money. Besides hoping for inclusion in the Honor Roll, I see no incentive to play this game beyond the satisfaction you would receive for answering questions correctly. Each main Home Room game plays out as a condensed version of the TV shows and in the end you either walk away with nothing or a fistful of imaginary cash.
The most obvious problem with Make the Grade is the gruesome pictures that are terrible Buggy, at best. Character animation and facial expressions are ridiculous and when schoolchildren run out at the time, I could not help but imagine them as zombies - the sprinting variety of Snyder's Dawn of the Dead remake. Other cases include a hysterical 5th Class is not correct to go up to the podium and teleporting in place at the last minute as the camera initially showed an empty spot. Or when one of the kids ran up to my taking part to give him a high five, and he just stood there, ignoring her. I laughed, even though I cried a little inside of the girl.
More problematic is the extremely repetitive gameplay. Last trivia games like Buzz! and Scene It? not only offer a smooth presentation, but also spice up the types and keep things exciting throughout. It is not the case with Make the Grade. And in the course of an hour or two with the game, I already started to see some questions repetitions, which is embarrassing.
And while I am well aware that the game is to ask grade school problems, some of the questions are stupid and have really no need to be kept in the game, including the classic true or false pearls from the PS2 version: an adult is bigger than a newborn baby. Yikes.
If all this were not enough to dissuade you from playing, do so, the clips are identical in almost every game, which means you'll hear Foxworthy and participant spout the same three or four lines constantly. It is really an exercise in annoyance.
Multiplayer does little to brighten the experience. You can play a normal Bout of Home Room game and play hotseat style, or you can go into a game Flash Cards or Spelling Bee, which started two players against each other in timed matches. It is a little more exciting than the single-player option, because a competitive element has been introduced into the equation, but I would never have wanted to play it again. And it is in the multiplayer department, the PC version suffers most, given the lack of online games. As I have said countless times before, no one has a multiplayer PC games on the same PC, so it is unlikely that you ever go up against a comrade here.
Closing remarks The only redeeming quality I could point out the Make the Grade is that it at least, works properly, and do not seem to go down. That is about it. I'm not even sure I could recommend this game for hardcore fans of the television show, but I will admit to get a bunch of people together to laugh at the game is fun enough. Watching the fifth grade girl is denied a high-five was definitely the highlight of my time with Make the Grade. Hopefully that tells you everything you need to know.
Drawing heavily on a wide range of science fiction and horror themes, Dead Space may first seem a bit formulaic, but rest assured that by the end of this roughly 15-hour saga of terror, you will be left a blubbering mess huddling with your Controller slack in your shaking hands. But surely, there must be exaggeration ...
It is no exaggeration.
Dead Space is a performance that rivals great like Half-Life 2 and BioShock. His nuanced and labyrinthine plot, fully realized characters and destructive attention to the minute graphical detail is irreproachable. There are a few small quibbles you could dig up (and will), but these are not in March, what is one of the better-realized gaming experiences to date.
Call Me Isaac
Chief among Dead Space's success is the quiet and humble heroes that you control. Isaac similar to Half-Life's Gordon Freeman in his curious ability to elicit empathic responses despite the fact that he never uttering a word (The Legend of Zelda's Link is another with so calm cool). Isaac is not totally without means to express themselves, and his screams of pain and sorrow, when attacked by a twist of alien necromorphs or wheezing Gaspe after running out of oxygen serve to emphasize the terror and despair you share with him about his damned travel.
There are hundreds of tiny examples like these that make you aware of Isaac's character during the game, and what is amazing about Dead Space is how remarkably relatable Isaac is. This relatability pulls you to worry about him, worry about him, necessitating what it takes to keep him safe and see him through his goals and objectives. And it is only a character in the game, albeit the most important.
There are a handful of other major players in Dead Space, and each adeptly plays his or her role as sci-fi/horror archetypes. Hammond's fierce military persona puts his mission at the highest priority, while maintaining the welfare of those serving under him in a close second. Isaac's love interest Nicole practical haunts the poor guy throughout his trials and misadventures. Daniels plays the essential support geek, chasing Isaac through the ship's digital systems and free up the doors to open roads ahead. These characters may begin as typical troops to be used as a sci-fi sidekick, but Dead Space takes them in directions that you probably will not expect, and the richness they add to the plot makes this one of the best-scripted game in recent times.
No U-turn
Video games are not just about big stories (although it has a good plot certainly helps). Fortunately, Dead Space shines sweetly in both control and user interface. Isaac May lumber clumsily together on the game's outset, belabored by cumbersome technology gear, but it underlines his character as a non-action hero. Of course, acquiring new equipment upgrades also increase the mobility, so you end up with serious responsiveness. You just have to work for it.
Isaac's hosting the cobbled-together weapons and abilities provides more than enough ways to handle his highly varying circumstances. What is surprising is that Dead Space does not insist that you kill everything, if you prefer to simply strike out for your goals ... Of course, you would be to deprive you of the fun of eviscerating some really horrible monstrosities, but it is nice to know that you can skate past enemies when you really want.
Increase Isaac's treasure trove of energy-projecting blasts, most of which focus on the delivery of le Sizzling plasma, is his ancillary talents: his stasis / sludge field and his telekinetic kinesis module. The stasis / sludge module temporarily freezes objects and enemies, slowing them down briefly, so you can sneak by or taken seriously injuring them. Stasis / sludge is mandatory for violence against some enemies, and focusing on design philosophy rooted in variation.
Meanwhile, the kinesis module can be used in a surprising variety of ways, and although they may not all be visible from the start, you will come to rely on it heavily at the end. Or maybe you will not, because Dead Space gives you the freedom to decide on how to approach each meeting. If you run out of ammunition, but the kinesis module is a life Saver, thanks to its ability to hurl objects (especially claws removed to murder foreigners) at lethal speed.
Although Dead Space's core fighting mechanic trumpets "strategic split" as its primary method, you do not necessarily have to be a precise surgeon. While blowing off strangers limbs definitely pay big dividends in the form of ammunition conservation (enemies go faster when you take them off piece by piece), simply blasting away at the middle mass get the job done so well. Still, if you really want to see what Dead Space does best, will you take the time to line up your images correctly and vivisect your enemies. The Gore factor is incredibly cruel and entertaining.
If you really love to see things splashes, Isaac's melee attacks are satisfyingly brutal. In no way is the fastest method for dispatching aliens Stomp melee and give the reader a sense of real mass Isaac grunts and swings his arms in an exaggerated arch, which detects a small additional follow-up, because he simply is not strong enough to stop his swing when he gets going. One of our favorite ways to preserve valuable ammunition is to take the legs of a bipedal alien, and then run up and STOMP it ... fewer wasted rounds with a little extra Gore? Great.
User-friendly lasers
We were a little frustrated that the console versions of Dead Space does not offer a 180-degree Insta-round (as in Resident Evil 4). On the PC, there is less of a problem when you can zip around rather quickly with the mouse, assuming you are not already zoomed to an end. And of course you can always use the handy sprint button to put some distance between you and your enemies.
It may seem like a small thing, but Dead Space menu system and user interface is fantastic. Using a simulated holographic display, emanating from Isaac's breastplate, book, video logs and a readable 3D cards all seem to hover just in front of Isaac, luminescent hanging in the air. It is oddly satisfying to pan the camera around and look at the inverted images of Hammond or Daniels, as they chatter on about where you have to go and what to do when you get there. When you do it (and you almost certainly will at some point), be sure to notice how the images are placed beside the text box in the text logs floating just above the frame, sticking a little from the rest of the message .. . It is that kind of attention to detail, drawing you deeper into the drama, because the science behind it seems to be working overtime.
Locator is especially useful, and for those of us who can not be bothered to keep a laundry list of tasks in our brains for more than half a second, it is essential. A laser-guided breadcrumb trail of forms, the locator will plot the quickest route to your next objective with the push of a button, tracing a beam of coherent light and refocusing the camera to follow where it goes. It is very precise and never fail to point you in the right direction (even when your goal is not entirely clear). It makes us wonder how we ever got along without this kind of mechanic before.
Inventory Management
You can cruise through the Dead Space without ever upgrading a single weapon, but the rich equipment advancement system is really a pleasure to use, so you really only be cheating yourself. While you start slowly, take only a few of the Power Nodes that serve as currency upgrade, add more damage and more ammunition capacity to Isaac's arsenal can be addictive. If you want to splurge, you can even purchase additional music from vendors scattered around the Ishimura. For those of us that like a little RPG in our action games, it is a dangerously attractive feature, which enables Dead Space apart from your average run-n-Gunner.
Even if you do not have to increase weapons performance, auto sales make it easy to increase Isaac's space suit. Simply fork over some credits and the seller will slap additional reinforcement of your arms, raise Isaac appearance and provide more inventory slots and greater toughness. Dead Space manages to smoothly integrate these largely optional features without taking the focus off of its oppressive atmosphere of terror.
Integrating some nice variety in a game while preserving its decidedly action-oriented dynamics, dead space is appealing across a wide range of gameplay styles. Wrap an exciting plot, which is a veritable Warren for spinning together themes about this and you've got a game that is basically a guaranteed experience. Dead Space is a solid achievement of several of our favorite gameplay mechanics in a way that we have only seen in the blockbuster like BioShock, Half-Life and Resident Evil 4th Its quality is undeniable, and we have no reservations about recommending its potent mix of panic-inducing plot line, furious action and profound adaptation.
Put a nice guy in a hot sports car, throw in a fantastic tax for him to boink and then keep a flock of would-be henchman to stand in between our whole and his goals, and you have the recipe for nearly every Bond film in history. With many of the newer films have made a game of the same name and Quantum of Solace is no different. It takes Call of Duty 4 engine and hidden it around the James Bond universe with a few new trimmings to try to keep the action feeling as fresh as possible.
It's just a bummer that virtually everything that was added in an attempt to keep the game feeling fresh is not done all that well. They are not bad additions, they just do not sign or work especially well with the rest of the game, and therefore comes out feeling very forced and artificial.
As you'd expect, Quantum of Solace is played almost exclusively from a first-person perspective. The major deviation from the COD4 gameplay formula is actually one of the few moments when you will be removed from Daniel Craig's point of view. Treyarch, reckon that they had a star that most want to look at, decided to implement a cover system in standard first-person shooter gameplay of QoS. It works similarly to what we've seen from the likes of Gears of War and others.
Basically, any surface can be by pressing E and you can even strike out in a piece of cover by holding the key. The cover system is better than some (Kane & Lynch), but not as functional as others. There were times when I felt I should be able to cower behind something in front of me and I could not. Only to find out that I was perfectly adapted, and it was the cover system screwing me up. It was not a huge nuisance, but the few deaths that I was able to chalk up to the defective cover was a nuisance.
Another problem with the cover system is that the levels are built around the mechanic. This means that the free-flowing way of dispatching enemies from different angles, as was available in COD4 is no longer available. Instead, there are too many situations referred to the standard stop and pop gameplay. It's fine when things are bright and flashy with lots of blood and guts, but when you are fighting a bunch of henchmen things can feel a bit tired.
Fortunately, there are moments when things are not so simple. When the game trying it does do a good job of delivering intensity and flare but these moments are spaced too far apart. Also try to keep the action fresh is the levels of stay varied throughout. They are all a bit predictable - there is the necessary faster trains and museum levels - but at least you are not running down the hallway again and again.
You can tell that the developers really wanted to make this game different from COD4, but it does not stop the roots of Infinity Ward's blockbuster from the blue sky in the package. Each second mechanic just falls a bit short. There is a balancing act, where players have to keep a wavering dot in the middle of the screen, a hacking mini-game where you must match the directional keystrokes in a kind of Simon Says variant, and then there are the QuickTime melee events, which actually fare a little better on the PC. Instead of a simple press the button you must adjust your mouse reticule with a spot on the screen. None of them are bad, but the mechanics just not convincing.
Aesthetic game is pleasant to the eye, but can also see a plain bad at times. General appearance of the game, from Daniel Craig's Bond character that the environments are well detailed and fits perfectly with Bond descent. When QoS stumbles is in the enemy designs and a few of the frills that COD4 delivered so well. Each enemy that you see in the game are the same. Not only do they look the same, but they act the same. They pull off the same death animation, the same towels and slide to come in and cover the same intelligence (as lacking at times) throughout the game. At first it is exciting to see guys jumping over desks and sliding behind a box, but when they do it for 213 time, and it looks identical to the rest of the game, it becomes a little grating.
Explosions do not look good on the PC, but at least they are better than what's available on consoles. Yes, there are explosive canisters everywhere, but this time they did not look quite so cruel to burst. Even when they do not make sense, as on the inside of a museum or on a construction site, there will be a bevy of explosive possibilities. They have a nice, unrealistic Sheen so it's very obvious what can be destroyed, and what can not. Not just the most organic of playing experience, when you have a hydrogen can gleaming at you.
The most disappointing thing was not enemies, it did not cover the system, and it was not the incredible amount of explosive articles about the environment instead it was the sheer length of the game. I enjoyed most of my time with missions - stumbling out of the car to electrify your heart back to life is cool and gun play is funny enough - but it's all just too damn short. You can turn Quantum of Solace in about five hours, maybe four. And it is structured in a way that takes you through most of the events in Casino Royale, and then only affects the plot of Quantum of Solace. It feels like they intended to make this a Casino Royale game, but do not make the first movie so decided to tack on a couple of QoS places and battles a new name on the box.
The multiplayer offering is standard with plenty of Bond-theme modes. There is one in which everyone plays by its members with a Bond on the map, there is one, where two teams each have a VIP Bond, who must stay alive and there is the Golden Gun mode. There are other, perhaps more standard multiplayer varieties, but they are the ones who put you into the Bond universe, there are stars in the show. Multiplayer performed well and was fun enough during my time with it. There was some noticeable lag at times, and the fact that there is no perks or reward system beyond the standard cash-based equipment and weapon unlocks are disappointing. It was good to see the PC version perform as well as it did through Games for Windows Live.
Closing remarks Quantum of Solace is not the game that it should have been. It is not bad in any way, but what brings them out of the pits of despair is the foundation for a much better game, as we all know and love. The action is less convincing and the world, which is built around Bond does not do much to improve the fun factor. All the additions do little to push the game in front of other first-person shooter and instead take you out of the world to be Bond.
At the beginning of last year, I said that Spider-Man 2 was one of my favorite PlayStation 2 game all the time. Think about that for another - all the time. Now I can not tell you that it is a better game than God of War, the shadow of the Colossus, or others of the hundreds of great games Sony's console brought us what I am saying is that Spider-Man 2 was one of my favorite games to play. Even after I had besteden Doc Ock, I could swing around New York and stop the crimes, collecting collectables, and take in the city that never sleeps. At the time, I thought the game had the perfect plan for what a superhero game should be, and I thought that Activision got it and would expand the idea when the next generation of systems came about.
As Spider-Man 3 and Spider-Man: Friend or foe shown that not happened. Rather than tweak and extend a formula that was fun, but flawed, Activision let webhead slipping into worse and worse titles. Now, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is upon us and while it is not where near slap in the face, that Spider-Man: Friend or foe was, it has nothing on Spider-Man 2, either.
Excelsior! Check out the video review in stunning HD.
Web of Shadows is a smart idea on paper. Rather than being based on a specific movie or comic arc, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows creates a unique story set in the comic world. During a fairly routine fight with Venom, the symbiote we all know and love fractures and a part of the jump to Spider-Man, once again providing him with the black suits, and all the forces and evilness that comes with it. The main part of goo sticks with Eddie Brock and Venom alliance, but it appears that the suit creates symbiote-spitting pods, which infects the civilians in New York. Quickly, the city is filled with people who are scaling buildings, kicking ass, and trying to eat Spidey's brain. S.H.I.E.L.D. shows up, quarantine the town, and basically freaks as all hell breaks loose.
Their mission is to take Spider-Man from prior infection, through the dark times, and that one of several conclusions. At times, this trip can be a pleasant trip. First off, swinging through the city is as fun as ever. Holding Right Trigger / Button 1 will throw a web and attach a building in any direction you point out, while pressing the web swing command casts a web-zip, allowing Spidey to shoot through the air in a solitary direction. You can change your swing to go faster, double jump in the air, running along the building sides, and not just about anything a spider can. All these swing mechanics and wall-crawling capers register with Web of Shadows' new combat system.
By pressing the Left Trigger / tab, you must activate the Spider-Man's spider-sense, a device that highlights enemies and locks on them. Once locked in, you can - in theory - leap into the air, swing from your sites, and so forth without fear of losing your husband. I found that sometimes lock-on would get rid of my goals for seemingly no reason, but when it works, it is actually super helpful, because the Web of Shadows is great at linking the attack in a long combo chains. Top right-hand corner, the game is actually tracking the number of hits you've pulled off in a row (do not be surprised to see it pushing 100 more than a few times), and those ginormous combos is thanks to this lock - on the system. See if there is a group of bad guys, I lock on to one of them, take him out, and leap into the air, to lock-on system should jump to the next villain, but if not, I can choose my next opponent .
That may not sound much, but Spider-Man's attacks can be pretty cool and devastating in Web of Shadows. As you play the game and pull off mandatory story missions and optional side tasks, such as defeating a certain number of enemies, you will be awarded experience points. These points can then be exchanged for a number of specific actions for each spider suit - 65 of the red and blues and 56 for the black duds - that they are scattered among ground, air, wall, web and other various attacks, and you can collect Spider Tokens throughout the game to upgrade your health bar and swing speed. Now most of these combat upgrades are just building on steps already established as an addition to a final STOMP to a punching combo, but some are pretty frickin 'cool and brutal. One of the combos have symbiote Spider-Man wail about the evil of his extremities a few times before unleashing a flurry of renewed symbiote whisk to whip, and throw opponents into the air before the stone to know them down and crush their bodies.
Still, if it sounds like I'm lauding the struggle, I think it is a good enough place as any to tell you why I love this Spider-Man title. See, as cool as these attacks can see, they are just mashing. When I needed to steam roll the bad guys, I just tapped XYXYXY. Sometimes it was the tendril attacks I have just described, and sometimes it was just Spider-Man wigging out and cleaning clocks. It did nothing for me because it got the job done, and there are many jobs to get done.
See Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is redundant and monotonous. Infuriatingly redundant and monotonous. In the beginning, Luke Cage will teach you a move, you have to do it in a number of times for him, send you out to make it a series of villains, and then you have to do it all over again when you come back to learn a second motion. The same "go do this" stuff happens when you meet Wolverine, Black Cat, Moon Knight, and everyone else in the game. Apparently, all mandatory mission has you helping X number SHIELD EVAC, stop X number of symbiotes, or attacking X number regardless. It will be old. Fast. Only to make it worse, you must attack these enemies in the same way again and again. You want to jump in the air, throw a web server, drag yourself to the Bad Guy, and trigger an attack. Sometimes, the bad guy will block incoming attacks, you'll jump to escape, and then start the web-based attack again. Still, that rarely happens, because every boss, enemy, and the mission is a push into this game with a standard difficulties.
Hire Soldiers 2: World in Flames is about blowing s *** up. If you do not like blowing s *** up, here is a game Uno cards. Now, if you're like me, and you get a kick out of destroying tanks, demolition of buildings, and set the jungle ablaze, then Mercè 2 may deserve your attention. But be warned: there is a price to pay for the gift of tactical nuclear weapons and cruise missile strikes. For all the unadulterated joy of blowing s *** up, is there a mess of bugs and AI issues that can just beat you even more violent than usual.
At the beginning, you can choose to play as one of three characters - Mattias Nilsson, Jennifer MUI, or Chris Jacobs. Each has its own unique characteristics. Jen, for example, is slightly faster than the boys. These small differences from one to the next does not have a major impact on the game. Nor can they offer new gameplay options, although there are a few minor dialogue changes for each. Whomever you choose, the end result is a mercenary willing to kill anyone and destroy anything for the right amount of money.
The story is about as deep as a Schwarzenegger flick with Mattias offer hilarious one-liners dominated by his ridiculous accent. I can not wait until they threw him as the next Mr. Freeze. You agree to do a job for Ramon Tarm - an up-and-coming Scumbag - showing his gratitude to shoot you in your ass. What is a MERC to do? Get revenge, of course. And so you embark on a rather short adventure to bring down Intestine. The big surprise twist is that there is no surprise twist. The story, and there are few story-driven cutscenes between starts and ends. You need to lay waste to Venezuela, there is no time to plot.
Venezuela is in the midst of insurgency, with oil core of the conflict. The Venezuelan army is doing its best to maintain control of the country, but there are a number of factions seeking to take control. You will work with five different factions - Universal Petroleum, the People's Liberation Army in Venezuela, the Chinese army, the Allied Nations (aka USA), and Rastafarian Pirates. Each group has its own set of tasks, and each, in one way or another, will get you closer to Talisay. Of course none of these guys get along and often a mission in support of a group does do harm to another.
There is a very simplified dynamic between your MERC and factions. Kill a group of enemies and complete missions for them, and they start to like you. You will be allowed to land at their outposts and buy air-support. Kill members of a group or generally do them harm, and they will begin to dislike you very quickly. They will begin to shoot you on sight and will close their shop doors for you. These factors can influence very easily, so it is never far from a burden. But at the same time it never feels as if you really play one side against another. You are just completing missions, until one side is all dried up, so we proceed to the next.
All these different factions means that you'll run into a lot of different NPCs. Pandemic squanders a great opportunity to immerse players with unique and well conceived dialogue. The dialogue for NPCs is quite appalling and is handled just as bad as I've seen in a video game. "It is MERC!" PLAV a soldier crying out as you approach. He says this as either a cheer, because you're on his side, or because you are an enemy he wants to shoot. It is the same line, delivered again and again, often out of context. And there are many lines shouted wrong. And all of them are repeated ad nauseam.
Want to explore? Get ready for your home base to call in and remind you to come visit them if you are hanging - three or four times. I've heard the same line about 200 times. No exaggeration. The three merce deliver their repeated one-liners well, but it can not make up for sloppy implementation of the NPC dialogue.
The good news is that you always have recourse when an enemy voice starts to get on your nerves. Stroke him back to God. They will kill a hell of a lot of people and destroying a whole heck of a lot in Venezuela, before all is said and done. Combat is straightforward. You shoot and kill people. There are tons of vehicles, from civil hoopdies to motorcycles for several tanks of both the Sea-Doos to attack chopper. And all of them can be hijacked.
Some of the more potent vehicles such as tanks and CHOP, has hijacking mini-games. In these you must hit the right buttons as they appear on the screen to play a swank movie of your jack. And yes, you can steal helicopters. As long as you are relatively close, aim towards it and press the correct key to grapple. There is an impressive number of tanks and Chopper and each has its own hijack button sequence.
While rolling through the city and create new potholes are funny (especially since most damage is continuing, until you exit your play session), the best part by Mercer 2 is called in air support. You can call weapons and vehicle drops, as is practical, but the most effective tool is required in a climate chamber strike. Air strikes are either purchased from a group or is found around Venezuela. All air support costs of fuel, but do not worry, there is plenty of fuel to steal the whole country, and it seldom becomes a problem after the first two hours of gameplay.
Air strikes can be a pain at times to execute when you stop moving to open side menu choose the strike and then direct the call-in. All the while, you'll probably be getting shot up. It is a good thing that health auto-regenerate. You call in bombing runs, artillery strikes, and, yes, even nuclear bombs. There are many different strikes to play around with, but just about all of them to deliver a powerful (and some would say beautiful) explosion and impressive destruction. Anything except rock can be destroyed. Every building, vehicle and structure. And although there are some moments where the frame rate is suffering, these are not ordinary. Surprisingly, all the destruction is handled very well by the developer Pandemic's engine.
I can not emphasize enough how much fun it is to play in this destructive sandbox. And the fun is really mercenaries' saving grace, because there are so many other things that are handled poorly. If it were not for the great joy of blowing s *** up, Mercer 2 would sour quickly.
There are bugs aplenty in Mercè 2nd I myself was hit by a critical error in the last mission that crapped on the final showdown with Tarm. But more than bugs, there are some really questionable design choices. You can take a tank and run over 10 vehicles that have them explode every time and takes no damage. But running over a fire hydrant and your tank damage. Huh? Fall injury to your heroes is also out of whack. The Chinese HQ is set in a temple on top of a steep set of stairs. Run down the stairs, and you will actually fall a few feet and take nine points of damage. The same happens on the mountain slopes. If you are running, you actually lose your footing at times, drop a few feet and get hurt. And yes, this can kill if you are in the midst of a four fight.
The strangest choice of all was that your MERC in Superman. Single melee kill is an easy thing to abuse in a game like this. Indeed, I shoot enemies to be a bit pointless after a while because I could run straight at them and bash their face in. There are dozens of high-value targets, you have the opportunity to hunt down. The idea seems to be that you will bust in an enemy camp, comes in a four fight, make your way to HVT and try to defeat him. In truth, you can drive a car up to HVT, jump out, punch a few people to death and take aim. Many missions are just too easy if you use your Fists.
This is partly because of some generally poor AI. I found a fair share of soldiers standing in the corner straight at the wall as they were in Blair Witch Project. AI typical points and shot. And if you approach a vehicle, they often come out so you can take it. Uh, thanks? At its best, the enemy AI will try and hop into a car, you've given up, making it dangerous to land an attack helicopter and leave it unattended.
The enemy AI is bad, but your allies' AI is worse. It is often impossible to get allies to come into your vehicle, although it is obvious that they are expected to join, if you toot your horn. And when they try to get allies to enter an outpost to claim it, they will sometimes stand around doing nothing or will come in vehicles without reason.
Okay, so lots of questions and yet I still think this is a game worth playing. This is partly because of the addition of online two-player co-op. The game is set in the host player's world and all missions benefit him. The other player earns money, and beautiful prizes to bring back to his own game, but will not get to progress their game further. But they have to have a witness when they blow s *** up.
Merce 2 do not scale, making some of the harder missions much easier to deal with a friend. In fact, mercenaries 2 seems balanced for two players more than one. Especially since, in co-op, your team members can revive you if you die. They just have to come near you, hit the right button, and you are back on their feet. In single-player, death kills you, so to speak. It helps to communicate, as a man's explosion can often be his friend's untimely death. With two people calling in air strikes, they can get pretty crazy on the screen. There is no ghost-like poetic about whether a hail of bullets at an enemy as your face is awash in the glow of a nuclear detonation. Co-op is a powder keg of goodness. There is some occasional slowdown when there are big explosions and I hit a couple of moments of Lag in each of my sessions. Overall, it's a good, if not perfect, experience.
Closing remarks Hire Soldiers 2 is like a newsstand, it has a lot of questions. Still, I can not deny that there was some hootin 'and hollerin' moments. For every time I cursed the stupid AI, I Hurray by the demolition of another building. For every bug that caused me stuck in some bushes, there was an attack helicopter waiting to be jacked. If mercenaries had 2 more Polish, it would have been a great game. As it is, it's still worth playing - and fun - but far from his promise.
