This is pure carnage fun at its BEST!! Tim and Mike would love it! When I saw the advert for it on TV, my first thought was: “Holy shit, dude, that looks rather gnarly, might have to buy it”. Glad I did!!

Mercenaries sees you going into action in North Korea, which undergoes a military coup that brings the world to the brink of nuclear conflict. An Allied international force responds, invading on a $100million manhunt for the North Korean general in question, along with his underlings (conveniently tagged in the form of a most-wanted playing card deck).

Mercenaries is almost like a military Grand Theft Auto in that basically, you have to go around blowing shit up and getting paid for it. There’s a cubic assload of stuff that you can blow up en route – with nary a copper in sight! Believe me, when I say you blow shit up, you blow it up BIG STYLE!! I think just about everything can be reduced to a shadow of its former self with a well-aimed rocket or bombing raid! Sweeeet!

Taking on the role of one of three main characters, players alternately take assignments from one (and all) of the game’s various factions – South Korea, China, Allied Nations, and even the Russian Mafia. Each will provide money (upon completion of a mission) and vital intel on the various baddies of the game. The money can be used to buy weapons, vehicles, supplies, and different kinds of close support should you need it.

While this seems pretty straightforward, the rewards of bagging a few bad guys masks the fact that while you work for one faction, you’ll inevitably rub another up the wrong way, and while you’ll want to try and keep all sides fairly sweet (especially when they’re paying you to do their dirty work), you can be sure that one side’s forces are more than happy to trade gunfire with you. Having said that, if you really screw the political pooch you can bribe the faction you have annoyed – for a hefty fee!

The sprawling environs of North Korea are chock full of extras, secrets and sub-quests, which you can work on while not on assignments. Every once in a while, though, you’ll have one of the “cards” flash up on your radar, at which point you’ll have to seek them out and annihilate their forces in order to capture them… or you can just drop an air strike on their ass and go in to ID the remains! Either way gets results, but you’ll get more cash for bringing them back alive.

Mercenaries’ biggest plus point is the pure carnage than can be wrought out whilst on the hunt. See, this is exactly why some parents don’t like video games!! Dozens of military vehicles, winged, wheeled or otherwise, are at your disposal. If it falls into your sights, you can steal it, shoot it, commandeer it or just blow the utter crap out of it. If it still seems to be standing, the devastating strategic bombing option is always a breathtaking sight to behold (so long as you’re the minimum safe distance away, otherwise you won’t be beholding much of anything for long!). It’s also extremely playable and engaging, with excellent graphics and sound effects. Would love to try this puppy out on a big sound system!

Surely there must be a downside to this masterpiece? Well, unfortunately, there are a couple, BUT they are minor ones at that. The artificial intelligence of enemy troops is, sadly, not all that hot. It ultimately boils down to pure aggression rather than “smarts”, and once you’ve actively engaged in combat, they will make death their main priority (and they ain’t shy about mashing you beneath the wheels of a jeep, either!). Believe me, unless you’re quick, you’ll get RPGs being shot at you from mere feet away, which no sane human would really do – would they?? On the other hand, it is possible to sit right in their midst without, you know, actually committing carnage!

Also, the one thing that is sadly lacking from this monster is the multi-player option. Frankly, this game would kick the ass out of all comers if you could engage your mates in some healthy mortal combat, but for some reason this is not included in the game (Why, God, why?!).

I’m glad I listened to the adverts, because I think this is one game that I couldn’t possibly get tired of – it’s mindless destruction, and it’s bloody good fun, too!

Yea, mate..this game is killer. Picked it up myself today and it is exactly like you said. It is GTA with bombs. Too bad I am shite with the controls when it comes to shooting (I am a PC guy when it comes to FPS's). I see where you are coming from with the multi-player...this game would be the tits if it had that. Oh well, still a great game none the less, thanks for the suggestion...now my focus from real life will be positioned in front of the idiot box.

I had to stop - I got to the contract for the lead bad-guy mo-fo, and I've been blasted, bludgeoned, beaten and severely fucked every time!!

Still, it's now my 2nd favourite console game of all time!

I got this game a while ago on the box, man i loved it from the second i got it. Theres nothing better that blowing the hell out of everything. Alot better than Grand theft Auto. Made even better by unlocking the Indy and Han solo costumes.