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Mercenaries

Blackace

if you see me in a fight with a bear, don't help me fool, help the bear!
Ok I finally have gotten my hands on a copy of this game here in Japan and let me tell you that this is one game that is overlooked by most...and should not be! While the storyline is a little campy at times this game is the dope poop! as they say on the streets. I am playing for my first time as the brother from the states of course, but I have to ask for people that have played it, is there any difference in the characters or the story? Just wondering.. other than that if you need a game to play from the last game and if you like 3rd person action adventure games this game is for you.. It has a better engine than any GTA game to date and the controls are all tighter, all but the lack of an auto-targeting system... but that does not make the game any less than stellar!
 
Mattias is more agile and able to target enemies while moving
Christopher can take and deal more damage
Jennifer can perform stealth kills and hijack vehicles easier

Oh and I agree that it is certainly one of the best games of its generation, and if the sequel adds co-op it will probably be my GOTY.
 
Jerkface said:
Mattias is more agile and able to target enemies while moving
Christopher can take and deal more damage
Jennifer can perform stealth kills and hijack vehicles easier

Oh and I agree that it is certainly one of the best games of its generation, and if the sequel adds co-op it will probably be my GOTY.

Oh snap! maybe reading the manual would have solved that problem.. hahah I never read them anymore since most games make you go through a few "get to know the game while we hold your hand" levels

Are their stories the same in gameplay?
 
The reason this game is so overlooked is mostly because it was released right after holiday 04 and went up aganst RE4 in January. A true underated gem.
 
Mercs was my best surprise last year. I never expected near as much fun from it.

Some complaints.

-"GTA-Like" open world often consists of narrow roads going through canyons.
-Surprisingly low replay value. Completing side quests got you nothing.
-Boss missions that that are 30min long with no checkpoints. This type of game is too riddled with cheap death for that to work.
 
I have actually been wanting to get my hands on this game too. I missed out when I was back in America and now it is impossible to find here in Japan.

Where exactly did you pick tit up from Blackace?
 
Xbox, that is the only one they had.. is there a difference?
 
Blackace said:
Oh snap! maybe reading the manual would have solved that problem.. hahah I never read them anymore since most games make you go through a few "get to know the game while we hold your hand" levels

Are their stories the same in gameplay?

They understand different languages, so you get a little bit of background chatter depending on who you choose, but I believe the basic story is always the same.
 
Blackace said:
Xbox, that is the only one they had.. is there a difference?

It's generally acknowledged that while both versions are good, the Xbox game is the one to get. Greater view distance, less fog and slowdown, and perhaps slightly crisper graphics.

You done good. :)
 
ArcadeStickMonk said:
Mercs was my best surprise last year. I never expected near as much fun from it.

Some complaints.

-"GTA-Like" open world often consists of narrow roads going through canyons.
-Surprisingly low replay value. Completing side quests got you nothing.
-Boss missions that that are 30min long with no checkpoints. This type of game is too riddled with cheap death for that to work.

Yeah...the final mission is just a piece of shit. I refuse to even attempt to finish this game again.
 
Can't say I agree that it has a better engine than GTA. It definitely does a lot of things better than GTA (shooting mechanic, destrucitible building, etc) but GTA does a lot of things better than Mercs (draw distance, load times). It is a great game but I hated the followings things:

load times -- for accepting missions and retrying missions

handling of the vehicles -- they all felt too damn stiff and slow. I can't wait for the military games this generation. The consoles will have enough physics processing power to make vehicles feel like the warthog and scorpion -- you know, like they actually have a suspension.

The autoaim. You can't turn this shit off and it fucks you up all the time. The enemies strafe a lot and you have to lead the reticle a bit in this game to hit them. That's hard to do when autoaim slows your aim.

The bug that allows you to shoot through thin walls.
 
Mercenaries was a very good game, i can't wait for Mercenaries 2 on PS3 and Xbox360 due at the end of this year
 
Blackace said:
Ok I finally have gotten my hands on a copy of this game here in Japan and let me tell you that this is one game that is overlooked by most...and should not be!
you are in Japan... Mercenaries did very well in the states.
 
BLOW UP ANYTHING!
BLOW IT UP AGAIN!
KEEP BLOWING STUFF UP!
BLOW THE LIVING CRAP OUT OF IT!
BLOW THE LIVING CRAP OUT OF IT SOME MORE!
 
I think the game was incredible until the final mission, which was way too long with no save points to be any fun, i gave up after 15 trys and over 2 hours, just to frustrating.

Other than that I am looking forward to mercenaries 2.
My top 3 picks that ive played so far released in 2005 for xbox are half life 2, psychonauts and mercenaries
 
I don't understand how it's overlooked though. It sold great and had critical acclaim! It's an awesome game, I spent A LOT of time playing it, and will in the future, becuase I never finished the last mission. :)
 
Awesome game. I recommend it to everyone. I loved the open style of play and the use of factions. Can't wait for Mercs 2 and there was even talk of a version for PSP at one point. I'd love to see that. :)
 
Flatbread said:
I think the game was incredible until the final mission, which was way too long with no save points to be any fun, i gave up after 15 trys and over 2 hours, just to frustrating.

Yeah, I get so angry at the developers of this. How could they ruin the game with such a stupid mission? Stupid stupid stupid. I'm currently playing through the game again, I hope I have more luck with that final mission this time.
 
"I will use a coin flip to decide which building to blow up, then i will blow them both up anyway. I am a mercenery"

The game was generic in many parts, but i couldn't get enough of having weapons and vehicles air-dropped to me. Bunker buster FTW!!!
 
I loved Mercenaries, and I think it beats the pants off the GTA series. Mercs, not GTA, is the template from which future sandbox games should be drawn. Actual gameplay, awesome control, and true open ended mission structure for the great win.
 
Pimpbaa said:
Yeah, I get so angry at the developers of this. How could they ruin the game with such a stupid mission? Stupid stupid stupid. I'm currently playing through the game again, I hope I have more luck with that final mission this time.
Easiest way (for me) to get the last mission:

- the Abrahms you start off with is kickass. Try to keep it to the prison at least, this means letting the other allied tanks go first and soak up some missiles.
- I had about 8 mill in the bank when I did this mission, be generous with the expensive airstrikes. As soon as you see the choppers jump out of the tank and call in air superiority.
- Once the allied tanks are dead (you should be a past the first big enemy concentration) call in vehicle support if you can. Then just blow past the checkpoints and roadblocks, one shot from the abrahms will kill the T34s but not instantly, so keep moving and ignore everything but enemy tanks. If you don't have your tank call in a NK jeep and just drive as fast as you can

- at the prison just drive through the barracks and ignore the tempting helicopters on the pads. Once past the buildings use the gun to kill the infanty in front of the prison and run in. when you leave the prison after the cutscene the allies have caught up to you and should be killing whoever you missed. If you have the tank great, if not pick whatever allied vehicle strikes your fancy
- again, take quick shots at tanks and ignore most enemies. once you get to the broken bridge you can rest a bit easier, you won't run into any enemy armour on the other side (just jump the bridge with a nearby jeep)

- now it's mainly just infantry, just run through them gunning them down. Keep moving to hopefully avoid direct RPG hits, pretty basic stuff here and there's supply crates around.
- at the fortress doors kill the infantry, destroy the anti-air and then call in the bunker buster on the front door.
- now the timer starts, don't freak out you have more time than you realize.
- there's not that much infantry, just gun them down near the gates and stick to the left side of the complex. rather than going too far out of your way just use C4 to blow gates/walls in your way. *one exception* is to make sure you destroy the jamming vehicles obviously, grenades work fine on that. While you're close to the main gates call carpet bomb runs and a FAB or two on the middle of the base, especally the right hand side with the barrack-type buildings - best 2 million dollars you'll spend in the game (so therapeutic after the pain of getting there)
- run to the hanger and shoot through the NK forces. best to kill them rather than just run past them, they'll get in the way later. Disarm the nukes and the hard part is over, I usually have about 2 minutes left when I disarm them.
- you don't have to rush back to get Song, he's not going anywhere. at this point I took my time and called surgical strikes on the 4 nearby NK tunnel entrances. then run and shoot Song's few measly guards (you damn near nuked the rest of the base already, resistance should be light) and take him down. If there are still a few guards in the rubble and you want to be sure move Song off to the side of the complex and call in a few cluster bombs
- now you can call for extraction at your leasure, secure in the knowledge there's probably not a living NK guard around to give you grief . Oh, surgical strike the AA battery on the hill to the west of the complex if you're near it when the chopper's coming in.
Yeah, I just played through the game again and finished it for the third time this weekend, so it's pretty fresh in my memory. ;)
 
I adore this game deeply and is definetly one of my favorites of all time

(Peter Stomare as Mattias FTW!)

One of the few games that after finishing, immediately started with another character and still play till this day (plent of replay value IMO)

So far I've only beaten it with Jennifer, doing Mattias next then Christopher

This game was more of a sleeper hit than anything else but yeah, it could have been recognized more

From what I know, it sold well though and was a success for Lucasarts/Pandemic
 
I yelled "WHY ARENT THERE ANY PARACHUTES IN THIS GAME!" many times

I think the 3 characters was a waste too, the game was too long to want to play through it with all of them, but that was the only way to get the whole story, because of the foreign language thing, they should have let you switch between the 3 so you could get all the story in one play through, if you wanted to/worked out whats going on (its not like the game wasnt long enough).



Those are just little things though it is a great title, still the only GTA clone where its actually fun & rewarding to race around the playfield doing whatever the hell you want.


Or as Lucasarts would say:

BLOW UP ANYTHING!
BLOW IT UP AGAIN!
KEEP BLOWING STUFF UP!
BLOW THE LIVING CRAP OUT OF IT!
BLOW THE LIVING CRAP OUT OF IT SOME MORE!
 
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