Mercenaries 2: World in Flames

 PC
User Score
6.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 83 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 34 out of 83
  2. Mixed: 28 out of 83
  3. Negative: 21 out of 83
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  1. XsanderCage
    Jul 18, 2015
    10
    One of the best sandbox TPS I've ever played! Yes, it's not perfect, it has stupid AI, and graphics doesn't shining like a diamond. But! But those portions of fun that this game bring to me absolutley nihilates all her cons. Oh, and all those destructions! I extremely love this game, but I hate Electronic Arts for abandoning it almost after release date. It has outstanding co-op, butOne of the best sandbox TPS I've ever played! Yes, it's not perfect, it has stupid AI, and graphics doesn't shining like a diamond. But! But those portions of fun that this game bring to me absolutley nihilates all her cons. Oh, and all those destructions! I extremely love this game, but I hate Electronic Arts for abandoning it almost after release date. It has outstanding co-op, but Electronic Arts closed the servers after a year (sic!) of game release.… Expand
  2. StevenM
    Sep 17, 2008
    7
    Its really fun in the beginning but it gets boring fast. I hate the guns because they feel so weak and unpredictable. One time I may empty a clip and kill 3 guys while another time I will exhaust 3 clips to kill 1 guy. The unlockable cars really add some more gameplay time to this game. A really big plus was that EVERYTHING is destructable. Don't like that bridge? Does your car not Its really fun in the beginning but it gets boring fast. I hate the guns because they feel so weak and unpredictable. One time I may empty a clip and kill 3 guys while another time I will exhaust 3 clips to kill 1 guy. The unlockable cars really add some more gameplay time to this game. A really big plus was that EVERYTHING is destructable. Don't like that bridge? Does your car not fitting through those two houses make you angry? Those problems can be easily fixed with c4 or an rpg. One thing i really disliked was that you needed fuel and money to bring in air supplies and stuff unlike the first game where you only needed money. To sum it up this game is pretty much grand theft auto except based on factions and money and is a little disappointing compared to the original mercenaries.… Expand
  3. AGamer
    Sep 27, 2008
    7
    This game does not do everything right, but what it does right it does extremely well. If you want to blow things up in a nearly limitless amount of ways... get this game. You can blow up buildings with air strikes, c4, rockets, tanks, helicopters, and the explosions are by far the best I have ever seen. To stand at the foot of a skyscraper and blow it up, while looking upwards, and have This game does not do everything right, but what it does right it does extremely well. If you want to blow things up in a nearly limitless amount of ways... get this game. You can blow up buildings with air strikes, c4, rockets, tanks, helicopters, and the explosions are by far the best I have ever seen. To stand at the foot of a skyscraper and blow it up, while looking upwards, and have it all happen as it would real life, is an amazing thing. If you want to drive an amazing variety of vehicles each very well done, get this game. There are tons of vehicles ranging from tanks to apcs to boats to jeeps to motorcycles to vans to helicopters to even a bus. And its not simply vehicles fit into a mold. An example is boats. You can get anything from a 2 person inflatable boat or shoddy short cheap civilian boat or a simple wave runner, to a huge 2 floor boat that would take several people to control properly and has mounted machine guns and a rocket launcher. And everything inbetween of course. Now if you are wanting a game that has an excellent deeply moving story, and that's what you have to have in a game... steer away from this one. The story is just enough to explain the game. That's all that's really needed though so long as its what you go in expecting. If you want a game with well done 3rd person shooter weapon mechanics you might wanna stay away from this game. This game uses a very slight auto-aiming feature that you cannot turn off, that can be annoying. The bullets from guns also move slowly compared to r/l, and a gun will not perform comparatively to what its r/l counterpart would do. That being said it works out alright. The guns just could have been a lot better. There are other quirks with this game as well. For one the npcs repeat chat lines in high rapidity and can be quite stupid at times... but again these are things are can be overlooked and do not overly detract from the games strengths. Also the game is quite buggy. However, it has 2 things going in its favor in that. 1.) The bugs are not game-breaking. 2.) 2 weeks after releasing the game they had already released a patch for pc users. They are planning on fixing up their mistakes. Really, with this game it comes down to one thing. Do you want to blow stuff up? If you said yes and you can overlook some things that aren't quite perfect, then you will enjoy this game. I think it did an amazing job myself. Though as stated it could have done some things better.… Expand
  4. Sablcious
    Feb 1, 2014
    8
    A decent open-world romp WITH A FRIEND. The game nedds to be played in co-op, otherwise it's just another open-world clone. The game has a good level of destructible environments, but this doesn't save it from repetition when play alone. (NB: The servers for the PC version of the game have been shut down by EA and the game is only playable in online mode. However, there is a severA decent open-world romp WITH A FRIEND. The game nedds to be played in co-op, otherwise it's just another open-world clone. The game has a good level of destructible environments, but this doesn't save it from repetition when play alone. (NB: The servers for the PC version of the game have been shut down by EA and the game is only playable in online mode. However, there is a sever emulator for Mercs2 available online for free that does work (tested). So, the co-op functionality is still applicable for the PC version of the game.) *Rating based on co-op play.… Expand
  5. PedroBatista91
    Apr 21, 2018
    8
    A game that sinned on quality and its optimization, had everything to succeed, but failed much in the final quality in general appearance, visual, gameplay and history.

    To play in a decent way is only on the PC, I recommend ReShade to increase the visual quality of the game and give a new experience.
  6. JMJM
    Jan 14, 2009
    8
    Lack of visual polish, and over poor artistic quality hold back what is an extremely fun game. The controls are a bit off, but it does not kill what fun there is to have with this game. Could it be better yes, but I have no problems recommending this game based on fun factor alone.
  7. PeterW.
    Sep 5, 2008
    4
    A game with truly great potential, I fully expected this to well in the high 8s and low 9s. Most critics will have knocked a few points off for lack of polish, but in my experience of the game its lacking more than just the polish, the game simply isn't finished. On the PC the game is bugged to the point of being unplayable. If this game had been in production for perhaps just A game with truly great potential, I fully expected this to well in the high 8s and low 9s. Most critics will have knocked a few points off for lack of polish, but in my experience of the game its lacking more than just the polish, the game simply isn't finished. On the PC the game is bugged to the point of being unplayable. If this game had been in production for perhaps just another month, with an emphasis on tweaking the AI and converting the game to PC properly (Higher resolution support etc) I would still be playing this game, singing its praises and not taking it back to the store. Save your money folks, its not worth buying now, although perhaps it will be if they get round to some aggressive patching. Go play Spore.… Expand
  8. AurelianoF
    Sep 11, 2008
    1
    Horrible looking game. I just wasted 80 bucks for this and i'm really dissapointed. I've been waiting for 3 years for the sequel.. Do not waste money on this The game is totally unfinished. Online has region lock Anti-Aliasing and wide-screen doesn't work either. Don't waste your time. I learned my lesson.
  9. NealK
    Sep 10, 2008
    5
    Here is what I like: 1.) Huge open world that you can explore and gather resources from and do missions at your own pace and liking. Total map is huge and I mean really big. 2.) You can hijack any vehicle in the game and use it however you wish. The motorcycles are my favorite for transportation. 3.) Explosions. The game has the most massive and pretty explosions I've ever seen in a Here is what I like: 1.) Huge open world that you can explore and gather resources from and do missions at your own pace and liking. Total map is huge and I mean really big. 2.) You can hijack any vehicle in the game and use it however you wish. The motorcycles are my favorite for transportation. 3.) Explosions. The game has the most massive and pretty explosions I've ever seen in a game. Period. Here is what I dislike: 1.) The game only supports 1280 X 720 maximum resolution for widescreen support. It is unthinkable in the era of next gen PC games that there currently isn't any way to run the game at 1680 X 1050. The result is an extremely jagged resolution even if you have AA turned all the way up. AA doesn't even seem to work. 2.) On the graphics side of things textures look washed out and faded on the PC version at least on the vegetation which is everywhere. 3.) Calling in air support is done via smoke grenades, which means you have to get withing 20 or so feet of your target. Why would to need air support if you can get withing 20 feet of your target? 4.) Numerous bugs. Some people are reporting many bugs from PC and console versions others are reporting they haven't experienced any bugs. It's sort of a mystery. The PC users seem to be reporting more bugs though. Everything from massive texture pop in, to icons not showing up on screen, to green skinned red eyed players, to missions not working properly and achievements not unlocking. Its all over the board and someone clearly dropped the ball on quality assurance for the PC version. The porting of this game is simply horrible and clearly shows that Pandemic feels that the PC market is only an after thought for a little extra sales. Final thoughts: The game game screams rushed out the door (in spite of its delays) and an almost total lack of concern for quality. It is at best an unfinished game (beta perhaps) that could be totally awesome if Pandemic took another six months to a year to polish. Look for a massive patch then get the game. In the meantime don't waste you money on the PC version at least.… Expand
  10. CPCP
    Aug 31, 2008
    1
    Lets see this game got a good flagshipping. Remember folks this is a sand box game. Civilians are immortal. No vehicle or character customization. If you count two pairs of outfits your an idiot. Removal of local co-op play. Removal of fire mechanics. Cutscenes are from 1995. Lack of polish and complete features that should be standard in sand box games these days. (EX Civilians Immortal, Lets see this game got a good flagshipping. Remember folks this is a sand box game. Civilians are immortal. No vehicle or character customization. If you count two pairs of outfits your an idiot. Removal of local co-op play. Removal of fire mechanics. Cutscenes are from 1995. Lack of polish and complete features that should be standard in sand box games these days. (EX Civilians Immortal, Can't duck or cover) Sound quality is poor, what the hell is up wth guns sounding like toothpicks cracking? I remember a developer a long ass time ago on the CoD forums telling people that when you want to give firearms that "Ooomp" sound get a more powerful weapon, even if it doesn't fit the firearm in the game. Buidlings still crumple. Repetitive as fuck button mashing game every time you want to steal a vehicle. And my worst gripe is that this shit was released on LAbor day weekend so that people wouldn't be able to read reviews for it until after Monday. Clever marketing there from EA, making sure that no one knew how bad this game was going to be until they could make a profit.… Expand
  11. walters
    Sep 5, 2008
    1
    Super buggy. There's no satisfaction in shooting in this game because the weapon sound effects are so poor. Awful menu systems. Terrible AI. I can't believe how much went wrong with this game.
  12. BoltzmannBaby
    Mar 10, 2012
    5
    After deciding to never buy another EA title again, i still got this on a bergain at about 5$. Then i couldn't finish it because of the bugs. I just abandoned it. Now it sits useless among the other, all better games i have. The story and game-play seem good and all, but the frame-rate goes below the bottom of the sea too often, and that while keeping it on minimum settings.
  13. Blue22111
    Aug 4, 2015
    0
    I bought this game today and promptly returned it because of the horrid bugs on display here, falling through the floor, model glitches, saved games not loading properly, and other major bugs.

    If you really do want this game buy the Xbox 360 version, there are issues there too but there are far fewer major bugs.
  14. JoshS
    Sep 6, 2008
    6
    I never played mercs1 but heard a lot of good things. So I was excited to try this one. What a let down. The graphics are not as good as Far Cry, a game that came out years ago. The feel of the whole game is very toy-like and unreal -- stand in the open and shoot at enemies who stand there and shoot at you. Do this for a minute then run over a health pack. You're effectively I never played mercs1 but heard a lot of good things. So I was excited to try this one. What a let down. The graphics are not as good as Far Cry, a game that came out years ago. The feel of the whole game is very toy-like and unreal -- stand in the open and shoot at enemies who stand there and shoot at you. Do this for a minute then run over a health pack. You're effectively immortal. Hell, I even got hit by rpg's and lived. The weapons don't feel right. The animation is clumsy, all the actors move like marionettes. The actors repeat the same lines over and over; you'll hear "Huh! Amateurs!" several times a minute from the main character. Call in an air strike and see the plane arrive within seconds - guess he can hover in the air above you like a helicopter. Everything conspires to make the game feel cheap and unreal. The bottom line is, it feels like crap - especially if you've played Far Cry or Crysis. There's no tension or strategy it's just button mashing. If mercs 2 is this bad, and yet mercs1 got such a good rep, all I can think is that console players don't know what a good FPS is like because they've never experienced one.… Expand
  15. MehmetT
    Mar 4, 2009
    6
    This game is does a lot of things right and wrong at the same time. The positive aspects that really stand out: a huge varied map made of both urban and rural landscapes, tons of tools to use (way more than the original game), the freedom to aproach most missions the way you want to, spectacular explosions, solid orcheastral score, no more water-of-death (you can finally swim and use This game is does a lot of things right and wrong at the same time. The positive aspects that really stand out: a huge varied map made of both urban and rural landscapes, tons of tools to use (way more than the original game), the freedom to aproach most missions the way you want to, spectacular explosions, solid orcheastral score, no more water-of-death (you can finally swim and use boats), numerous humorous instances throughout the game, and finally, it's just really fun to cause havoc with all the tools at your disposal (more fun than the original game). The negative aspect that made me stop playing at about 80% through the game; bugs, glitches, stuttering and frequent crashes. I simply got tired of this, no matter how fun the game was. This game was released 7 months ago, and yet Pandemic has still not released a patch that addresses these issues. Other issues with the game include: not so smart AI (though I am not sure if this is a bug/glitch itself, or the way the AI was actually intended to be), resources (like fuel tanks, money stashes, armaments) in the map can respawn in the same places even though you had collected them just a few minutes ago (which is silly in my opinion), everyone speaks English now (whereas in the first game each faction spoke in their native language), and also there are noticeably less unique missions in comparison to the first game. I am not sure what to make of the story. On the one hand it's kind of silly how your protagonist is willing to go to all lenghts just to get his/her revenge from a man who tried to have him/her killed (as if nobody had wanted to kill our protaganist before!). But on the other hand it's interesting how the protagonist's obsession to get revenge (and get paid for his/her services) at any cost is one of the reasons why a rather ordinary coup turns into an international conflict. A simple quest for revenge brings about many oppourtunities to make massive amounts of money, money paid by factions who all want the same things; geopolitical influence and control over a crucial resource that is oil. This game is sheer fun to play and does a lot of things right, but also does a lot of things wrong, and the buggy/glitched/stuttering/crash-prone nature of this game (7 months after release!) is simply unacceptable. So, I am sorry to do this but this game gets a 6 from me.… Expand
  16. TheKidWanted
    Jan 22, 2014
    5
    Mercenaries 2:
    -Moderate Storyline+
    +Great Gameplay+
    +Wonderful Graphics+
    -Moderate A.I+
    +Good Voice Acting+
    -Technical issues- (Glitches, and Bugs)
    -Frustrating Lack of Support-

    Mercenaries 2 is not bad, it's horrible to shake the feelings between a friend and an enemy. But, Mercenaries 2 is disappointing.
  17. ForceoLight
    Jul 26, 2016
    10
    This game is a open world gamers DREAM, You wanna blow up buildings and have lots of money? PLAY THIS GAME, don't listen to those stupid people saying this game is disappointing, I mean yeah the A.I is stupid but there are more pros than cons on this game.
    I play this game and I find it funner than Just Cause just because there are more interesting things in the game, I'm not saying it's    This game is a open world gamers DREAM, You wanna blow up buildings and have lots of money? PLAY THIS GAME, don't listen to those stupid people saying this game is disappointing, I mean yeah the A.I is stupid but there are more pros than cons on this game.
    I play this game and I find it funner than Just Cause just because there are more interesting things in the game, I'm not saying it's better than Just Cause, I'm saying it's funner than Just Cause.

    Oh yeah and stop arguing there's no blood    … Expand
  18. HammerofDusk1
    May 21, 2018
    1
    Bought this game not too long ago to reminisce, because I had this game on the XBox 360 years ago. I had the time of my life for the first four hours, the game was exactly as I remembered it. After four hours, however, the crashes began. Now this game, in my experience on PC, isn't very buggy, maybe some graphical hiccups here and there but nothing horrible. The crashes would start andBought this game not too long ago to reminisce, because I had this game on the XBox 360 years ago. I had the time of my life for the first four hours, the game was exactly as I remembered it. After four hours, however, the crashes began. Now this game, in my experience on PC, isn't very buggy, maybe some graphical hiccups here and there but nothing horrible. The crashes would start and consistently happen, over and over again. This has made the game effectively unplayable, and with there being no known fixes, this game is now utterly worthless on PC. Stay away from it.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

87
#87 Best PC Game of 2008
59
#59 Most Discussed PC Game of 2008
37
#37 Most Shared PC Game of 2008

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
70

Mixed or average reviews - based on 20 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 20
  3. Negative: 0 out of 20
  1. IGN
    79
    Mercenaries 2 is like a newsstand; it has a lot of issues. Still, I can't deny that there were some hootin’ and hollerin’ moments. For every time I cursed the stupid AI, I cheered at the demolition of another building.
    Read full review
  2. NZGamer
    80
    Mercenaries 2 has lived up to its expectations to be a fun and crazy game about having a hell of a time in a war zone.
    Read full review
  3. PC Format
    76
    Great in small, explosive doses, particularly with a friend, but longevity is unlikely to be one of its strong points. [Nov 2008, p.106]
See all critic reviews »