It has now been a little bit over a day since I have bought Mercenaries 2 and played quite a bit out of it already. Now to let you all know, I am a huge Mercenaries fan from the previous 1 title they had of it. So I have been looking forward to this game for quite a while now.

It is a great game in my opinion. Now I won’t say it beats GTA: IV on everything GTA had but it does a pretty good job at it. I actually think Saints Row 2 actually will be the new “GTA” that we missed out on and probably will continue to miss.

If you have played Mercenaries before, you will love this one. The game is also very similar to Just Cause if you have played that.

Now this game in my opinion has many bugs many bugs that need to shorted out and fixed. You can even head over to the Pandemic Forums and see lots of bug discussions going on there. I highly doubt we will see most of them fixed though, a lot of the major ones though I am sure will be fixed. A lot of times these days developers don’t seem to go back and patch their game. Especially since most games are patched only once. Though I can see it being understandable as to why many developers don’t go back and patch their games, it is also not acceptable for the price we pay and especially if there is ever DLC for that game.

What bugs am I talking about? Well there are many to list, mostly small ones I have noticed over playing the game. To list a few, some are like driving your boat through objects that should not be able to driven, which is not necessary a big deal but things that should not happen. Another is just random enemies either being killed and floating or already floating and shooting at you. My brother and I have experienced some pretty hilarious stuff. When creating a route to a location, it tells you to drive on the incoming traffic side. This could be confusing to new comers when driving over a bridge lets say and then turning around thinking they are going the wrong way when they are not. Other times when creating routes it just does not do it or gives you a really long route instead of a short one.

More bugs are just stuff is just stuff like not getting into a boat vehicle when you press the (Y) button or it taking a while. Or when you get in some of the bigger boats that are docked, they can’t go in reverse because the water is to sallow? Seriously? I have not experienced any freeze issues though as some people have been reporting across system wide neither have the friends I have played with.

Though not a bug, the draw distance REALLY needs to be upped a little. I think it is absolutely terrible. A few times already I have found myself going at high speeds and then all of a sudden a damn road block appears and we or I crash into it. Also, I would love if they fix the moron drivers doing u-turns in the middle of the street for really no apparent reason? They would be cool too. By this I don’t mean the ones that are enemies, I am talking about those who are friendly and just do a u-turn as you are almost about to pass them and may or may not crash into them while they do so.

The load times need to be improved, if they can be. I am pretty sure they can be it has been done to other games such as GTA: IV if I remember correctly. The load times for single player seem to be okay, maybe I just have not played enough single player to see. I don’t think the problem is there. But when playing co-op you can really notice it, especially since sometimes you are constantly loading. It just seems load times are bad more so for your buddy playing co-op with you.

For example, you and your buddy arrive at your HQ, enter (loading), then either go do a challenge (more loading and waiting) then finish it (they are usually short) then once you’re done say you want to go out and do a mission/take over an outpost/whatever else. You then have to load to get to that point if you take a helicopter, so more loading there since you do not always feel like driving across the map. That was just a long, example of what seems like constant loading (which is fine) but when load times take forever, it’s not.

That being said, this game is still great. It is definitely worth buying in my opinion. The bugs are not that big a deal but are noticeable sometimes. Pandemic Studios is most likely already working on a patch for some of the issues. You are going to be able to play the game without any serious problems most likely. If you experience any co-op problems most the time a simple restart or reconnect can fix that problem. The co-op for it makes it even better.

I give the game an 8 out of 10. That is only because so far the story seems pretty short, kind of lame and not well done. Which is not the biggest deal but they could of done more of it and better I think. Also what the characters say is repetitive and always the same. They could of at least recorded a few different lines to say each time you meet up with your friends, contacts and whatever else and then randomized it when you meet with them. What I talked about earlier with load times factor in a little too with my score.