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Mercenaries Playground of Destruction (PS2) | 
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| From: Activision
Category: Video Games
List Price: £19.99
Buy Used: £7.95
You Save: £12.04 (60%)
New (2) Used (13) from £7.95
Rating:  34 reviews
Platform: Playstation2
Genre: military-strategy-games
Media: Video Game
Number Of Items: 1
Age: 15 - 18 years
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.2
UPC: 023272663254
EAN: 0023272663254
Release Date: February 18, 2005
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Usually NEXT DAY DELIVERY if ordered before 3PM Mon-Fri ( uk-mainland )
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| Customer Reviews: Read 29 more reviews...
 Explosive fun ! July 6, 2008
G. Stranex (Bangor, Northern Ireland)
An excellent game for the Playstation 2 - hours of fun completing missions, collecting important nuclear secrets, destroying listening posts and capturing or killing the elusive 'deck of 52' ! Steal or 'borrow' cars, tanks or helicopters GTA style as you explore the North Korean countryside to earn as much cash as you can. Thoroughly recommended - can't wait for the sequel !
 Explosive and fun, but shallow May 13, 2008
Triggerhappytel (Kent, England)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The sub-heading for Mercenaries is 'Playground of Destruction'. It sums up the game nicely; if you crave wanton destruction then you will probably be in your element playing Mercenaries. On the other hand, those of you hoping for a good war-based alternative to Grand Theft Auto (like much of the gaming press lead us to believe) will likely feel a twinge of disappointment.
In Mercenaries you play (surprisingly) a mercenary in North Korea, who is trying to make a cool $100 million by bringing down an evil Saddam-alike dictator named General Song. That's about all the plot you get, other than occasional news updates on the goings-on in the nation. You're then free to explore the country as you please, and accept a contract with one of four factions. Your standing with each faction affects how they treat you (i.e., whether they welcome you or use you for target practice). Often doing tasks for one faction will irritate another, so it is a good idea to try and keep everyone happy - although, if you are in one faction's bad books you can always go to their HQ and bribe the guard, which usually makes them happy with you again.
The contracts range from escorting a reporter through hostile territory, unmasking traitors, stealing vehicles through to attacking heavily defended enemy compounds. Herein though lies the main problem, as far as I was concerned - the missions are all too similar. I'd say about 80% of the missions concern destroying or capturing a particular vehicle, person or building; within just a few hours I began to lose interest because there is a chronic lack of variety. There are also a number of challenges dotted around (represented on the map by a '$' sign), and these are along the lines of a point-to-point time trial, or knocking a barrel as far as possible in a time limit, to destroying a set number of enemy vehicles in a time limit. Although these do bring in a little variety and choice, they are not really that involving and I found myself passing most by. There are also a huge number of items to find, such as hoarded treasure and North Korean listening posts, which when captured/destroyed will please the faction leaders.
The main course of the game is the 'Deck of 52', which are the country's 52 most dangerous people (culminating with that aforementioned dictator, General Song). You gradually gain Intel on each target by completing contracts for the factions, and capturing or killing these people moves the game along. Half way through the game you move on to a new map area. Together, they both represent a huge area to explore (especially if you want to find all the treasures), but at the same time they suffer from not offering much variety in the landscape. You can steal or pilot almost any vehicle in the game (with the exception of boats or planes), and this adds a lot of fun. There is a lot of variety, from sports cars, to huge missile trucks, to large & heavily armed helicopters. Almost all are very well implemented and fun to drive (although the jeeps feel a little floaty), and it provides some unmatched thrills when you drive into an enemy compound in a tank and proceed to destroy every person, vehicle and building, and drive away from a smouldering wreck.
Mercenaries is a fun, very accomplished game. It could have been great, but a few minor faults (mainly the overall lack of variety) mean it's just good. If you want a fairly shallow game that provides a lot of explosions and thrills then this is a safe bet, but if you're after something a little more diverse and involving for your PS2 perhaps you should stick with your copy of San Andreas or Bully.
This is one very long reveiw May 1, 2008
Frederick Graham (Whitley bay, Tyne and Wear, The UK)
I'm reviewing all my favourite games and couldn't possibly miss this one out. I've owned this game for four years and have played it through dozens of times, in my opinion this is one of the best platform releases in the sixth era.
The story the game is based around is very simple; you are a mercenary employed by a private military company called ExOps, in Korea a brutal dictator named Song has been smuggling nuclear war heads into Korea. A freighter carrying such warheads is boarded by UN forces (all of which seem to be American). Soon after the president orders troops into Korea to eliminate the threat and publishes the "deck of 52" - the 52 most wanted leaders behind Song's regime. Rewards are given for capturing each card as well as Intel which leads you to face cards (the more noted generals etc). Throughout the game you work for four factions;
* UN( AKA USA ) Forces
This faction was dropped in to remove the threat of songs nuclear regime, adding even more confusion to the already unstable area. They frown upon the fighting amongst local factions and have strict policies against killing civilians. Being friendly with them will grant you access to good vehicles and weapons.
* South Korean (SK)
Led, or "advised", by a former CIA operative the South Koreans want this chance to reunite their country. Other than that their morals and equipment is almost identical to the UN forces. Their ambitions in this theatre will clash harshly with the Chinese.
* Russian mafia
Though their troops are not well trained the Russian mafia is not to be underestimated. These are moral less, but well worth the money and Intel. Their liking you will also give you a discount in their store (the merchant of menace); from which you can purchase weapons, air strikes, supply drops and vehicles.
* Chinese
The Chinese are opposed to using mercenaries but hire you to move quickly as their army is "difficult to mobilise". Their ambitions in this theatre will lead them to hire you on missions against the SK, and vice versa. Though there are definite benefits in equipment, money and Intel, be careful - you don't want to get on the wrong side of either force.
The factions screen shows your current relationship with each faction, as you progress through the game each faction will make more items available to you through the merchant of menace website. If a faction becomes hostile towards you, you will have to pay the guard a hefty bribe before they let you continue working for them.
In the game you play one of three characters;
Christopher Jacobs
* 35 years old
* American
* Speaks English and Korean
* Ex-Delta Force operator
* Years with Exops: 5
* strength is his constitution- he has the most "health."
Jennifer Mui
* 33 years old
* Overseas Chinese/British (Born in Hong Kong)
* Speaks English and Chinese
* Ex-MI6 agent
* Years with Exops: 7
* strength is her sneakiness and her ability to through grenades the farthest.
Mattias Nilsson
* 31 years old
* Swedish
* Speaks English and Russian (also Swedish, but this does not apply in the game)
* Ex-Swedish Navy artillery officer, in Swedish Army with the Lappland Rangers
* Years with Exops: 1
* strength is his speed-he's the fastest of the three.
The languages help you listen in on some interesting conversation you would otherwise not understand, and the three characters generaly suit a different style of gameplay.
Throughout the game many weapons are used, though the variety of weapons in mercenaries is not huge, it is larger than most. Here is a list of some of the weapons you will come across in the game;
* Assault rifle
Used by the North Koreans , based on the soviet ak-47.
* Carbine
A reliable weapon with a high rate of fire. You start out with this weapon and it is the preference of both the VC and UN forces.
* Sub- machinegun
A high firing rate weapon with high damage, used heavily by the Russian mafia.
* 22g shotgun
Used by the Russian mafia.
* RPG
A cheap but effective method of taking out light vehcles and helicopters.
* Sniper Rifle
A reliable sniper rifle, good for avoiding close encounters.
* Anti-Armour Rifle
Will pierce any light armour, but very loud.
* Anti-Air Missiles
Will lock on to any helicopter.
* Light machine gun
An effective weapon based on the Tommy gun.
* Prototype rifle
The same as the Carbine, only with a scope and a larger magazine capacity.
* C4
Good against vehicles, tunnels, equipment, buildings, grounded aircraft, tents, tanks - come to think of it, everything.
* Fragmental Grenade
A reliable weapon with a beautifully pulled off explosion.
* Flashbang Grenade
Used to stun cards and enemy troops so you can capture them easily.
In the game you are constantly in contact with Fiona Taylor, employed by ExOps, who acts as your PA and tutors you throughout the early stages of the game. She talks to you through you Bluetooth headset (which only Jacobs seems to ever wear), forwards you e-mail, keeps you up to date with changes in faction's opinion towards you and acts as a moral guide.
There are a number of characters not playable who are important to the story. Here is a list of some of the more important ones;
General Choi Song
A fictional North Korean general, and the Ace of Spades. It is said in the game that when his father, President Kim, agreed to disband his military in exchange for money from the South Koreans, he staged a violent coup and took over. According to the game, he is the most dangerous man in the world.
President Choi Kim
A fictional North Korean politician. He is the legitimate president of North Korea and the father of General Choi Song. Kim is a peace-loving man who wants to peacefully reunite the Korean peninsula and establish a Western ideology. He is reportedly assassinated by his son during a coup d'etat.
Adrianna Livingston
Head GSRN reporter of the North Korean conflict. She reports the news after every successful Ace mission.
Colonel Samuel Garrett
The colonel in charge of the AN forces in the country. He is a bit grumpy with the Mercenary at first, but after the Mercenary saves the AN HQ and captures or kills the Two of Clubs, he begins to show a grudging respect.
Agent Mitchell Buford
CIA agent covertly and unofficially in charge of the forces of South Korea. His enemies are the Russian Mafia, Chinese, and the North Koreans. His archenemy is Colonel Peng. He is very calm and cool-headed, and is glad to have the mercenaries work for him.
Colonel Zhou Peng
Head of the PLA (Chinese) forces and Buford's archrival. He opposes the North Koreans, South Koreans and Russian Mafia, and seems to have little interest in AN affairs. At first, he shows little interest in the skills of the mercenaries, but gradually begins to respect them.
Sergei Voronov
The head of the Russian Mafia. He opposes every other faction. As his right-hand man Josef says,"he may act like an idiot but he is a ruthless killer." His behavior is highly erratic and Fiona doesn't seem to trust him at all. He operates a black market website that the Mercenary can use to order supplies, vehicles, and air strikes.
Josef Yurinov
Rumored to be a cold-blooded Ex-KGB killer, Josef is Sergei's assistant in controlling the mafia organization. Much calmer than his paranoid boss, it is hinted that Josef is the key to maintaining order inside the Mafia. He briefs the Mercenary on every Mafia contract..
Truly a Playground of Destruction! November 19, 2006
GHV (Southampton, UK)
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
As the title suggests, in this game you play as a ruthless mercenary, deployed into gloomy war-torn North Korea which has been subject to a bloody coup at the hands of the President's son, General Song. At the start of the game, you can choose to play as either an American, a British or a Swedish mercenary- each with their own bonus on the battlefield. The American for example, can withstand more bullets, but is not as fast as the Swedish mercenary and not as stealthy as the ex-MI6 Brit.
Within the expansive, free-roaming setting, there are four main factions: the Allied Nations (AN), the Chinese, the South Koreans and the thuggish Russian Mafia, all enemies to the insurgent North Korean forces. Each of these factions asks you to carry out their dirty work, but with their interests overlapping in this unstable country, it is difficult to keep everyone happy. Missions vary from assassinating Mafia officers for the Chinese, to destroying North Korean artillery barraging the AN.
As if that's not enough for any mercenary, your main objective within the game is to bring in the infamous 'Deck of 52'- dead or alive. These are the 52 key North Korean leaders, with General Song himself as the Ace of Spades. The members of the 'Deck of 52' are located throughout the two provinces of the game. When you find them, you'll get paid considerably for subduing them, calling for a helicopter extraction and loading the unconscious bounty aboard. The deck is separated into the state-sponsored crime lords(the Clubs), high ranking officers in the NK military (the Diamonds), Song's weapon scientists (the Hearts), and lastly the lethal Spades, the North Korean Special Forces and General Song himself.
Concerning vehicles, there are many different types available in the game. From swift AN helicopter gunships to powerful Chinese tanks, Mafia armoured SUVs to even a fast sports car, there are enough vehicles for any tactic a mercenary wishes to employ.
In addition, providing no-one sees you enter a vehicle, you can disguise yourself as any faction. For instance, if you get behind the wheel of a North Korean truck, you can drive straight past the enemy with them thinking you are on their side. This can be good or bad, as when disguised as the NK, the Chinese, Mafia, South Koreans and the AN all shoot at you thinking you are the enemy. If a faction's officer sees you or if you sound the vehicles horn, you lose your disguise. Sounding the horn can also be a signal to any allies around you to either mount the turret (which most military vehicles have) or jump in the back. With some means of transportation you can only get two or three allies aboard (like with the NK Sungri Scout). However, there are certain vehicles- particularly transports- that many troops can hop in. If you hijack a civilian metro bus, which can be seen driving around cities, you can honk the horn and get several Mafia thugs aboard, ready to storm an enemy encampment in the North Korean countryside.
As it's not such a good idea to roam a war zone empty handed, this game offers several types of weapon. There are the machine guns (some come silenced), the RPGs for taking out most vehicles effectively, shotguns- a favourite of the Russian Mafia- and sniper rifles for a kill at range. Of course there are grenades too, but much more of an effective explosive is by far a C4 charge- probably where the 'Playground of Destruction' really starts. Any building in the game can be reduced to rumble with one or two C4 charges placed and detonated at a safe distance. However this is just the straight forward way to use it. Noticed that an enemy vehicle often drives a certain route? Place a charge on the road, lay in wait and when it drives straight over it, you hit detonate to make any form of transportation a flaming wreckage of its former self.
But with all the cash you're making doing missions, collecting bounties and selling unwanted vehicles, how can you spend it? Well within the game there is an online shop found on your PDA called the 'Merchant of Menace'. This is run by the Russian Mafia and is like a black market for any weapons, vehicles or supplies you need delivered to you via helicopter- for a price of course. You can even purchase a variety of devastating air strikes of which some examples are bunker busters, artillery strikes and stealth bomber attacks. These are expensive but effective, taking out men, vehicles and even buildings in the impact area, depending of course on how devastating of an air strike you have purchased.
Overall, I bought this game with not too many expectations, but was pleasantly surprised. With the wide range of vehicles and weapons, all the varied missions and challenges for the clashing factions, and a believable storyline makes Mercenaries in my opinion a unique and entertaining game.
GTA gets a Military Application! September 23, 2006
Westley R. Nash (UK)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I bought Mercenaries a few years ago off of Amazon having no real idea as to what the game itself was like, however I was pleasently surprised. This game is one of the most rewarding and highly enjoyable games in my collection. You find yourself as a Merc thrust into a very high risk venture localised within North Korea. Some power hungry despot has overthrown the current president there and taken control of the countries military and nuclear bases with full intent on using them. Once in the warzone you can start to take individual missions from 4 different factions, The Allies, South Korean's, China and the Russian Mafia, all the while targetting rebel North Korean forces. You are paid handsomely for your services of course. All the money you collect can be used to buy vehicles, support and weapons off the black market to help you as you progress. The one bit that keeps it exciting is that sometimes one faction requires you to destroy something that belongs to another. The Chinese really hate the South Korean's in this game. This will cause the affected factions to lose favour with you forcing you to have to bribe your way back into their good graces if you need extra missions.
The environment is quite large, some say it's not big enough but if it were too much larger then it could take ages to get around. The main missions you will have to perform is to arrest or kill, arresting gets more money, specific North Korean personel, there is a wanted list written up by the Allies called the Deck of 52 that lists all of the most key personel within this rebel government. You start off by tracing the business personel, then the military, then the scientists and eventually the specialist command staff and the president. The game is quite lengthy and you really get a sense of accomplishment as you progress.
Much like the case tells you, nearly every vehicle in the game can be used, if you can reach it it's your for the taking and new specialist vehicles can be unlocked along the way. Weapons vary from the cheap and nasty to the new and expensive depending on your credit limit. it should be mentioned however that the Russian Mafia are responsible for the black market, if you hack them off too much you will lose access to the shop and all of it's supplies.
The only real down side of this game is that the environment feels very bland and lacks colour. Also when you try to arrest a card they can be inadvertantly killed by their own forces or even by themselves by mistake and when your trying for a complete suit it can get very frustrating as if you do not save after every arrest, you will have to start the game from scratch to try again. This said however, the game Mercenaries is one of my most favourite games on the PS2 and if you like GTA but with a little more bang in the guns department then this one is for you.
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