@@dbat978 i will forever be angry about raven software, they didnt make a single bad game until they worked on cod, their worst game was their last game and its mediocre at worst
@@Sad_Elf how we never got anymore Jedi Knight games :( now we have fallen order. That is like going from staying in a 5 star hotel to a motel that escaped convicts hide in
When you’re a kid and this was rated T and the closest thing to gta, it was incredible. I absolutely loved this game just because of the driving and destruction it was peak childhood for many I assume
i played gta vice city at my cousins thought it was the perfect game just needed destruction of buildings, then found this game and it was awesome blowing buildings up with helicopters.
My mom wouldn’t let me get m rated games so this was the best one. This guy complaining about the game should’ve brown up more buildings and had the factions fight eachother
I'm from Venezuela and remember how wacky it was back in the day to have my city represented in a videogame, downscaled to oblivion. Still feels funny being able to drive from one end of the country to the other in 5 minutes lol
I played the Mercenaries 2 on PS2 and was so confused as to why pistols and motorcycles were in the cutscenes but not the actual game. That was how I learned demakes were really a thing.
PS2 version had vehicles you couldn't find in the main version. They had a twin barrel ZSU-57 that could only be found on PS2 but could be found in the pictures on the back side of all game cases.
I loved everything Pandemic made, Mercernaries 1 & 2, Star Wars Battlefront 1 & 2, Lord of the Ring Conquest, Destroy All Humans, hell I even enjoyed The Saboteur. I still hold a grudge for EA and wonder what could've been if EA hadn't closed them down, what with Battlefront 3 and Mercenaries 3 in development at the time. And yeah that song commercial is still stuck in my head too "OH NO YOU DIDN'T"
I had actually forgot the damn song even when he referenced it I couldn't bring it up in my mind but now you made me actually remember and I hate/love you for it
I remember being so bummed out that the Deck of 52 was removed in the sequel. I've always had this hope that some day the Deck of 52 would marry the nemesis system in a modern game. Great video! Love this series
I loved Mercs 2, but even at the time I could tell that the game was unfinished. It needed another 6 months to a year in development. Which is what The Saboteur fees like: a more polished (though less fun) experience.
@UnjustifiedRecs The Saboteur was amazing what are you even talking about? Everything this game tried to do, The Saboteur actually did and did it well. The only huge difference I can see someone making between this game and The Saboteur that could technically be a negative is the building destruction, but even then, The Saboteur never marketed itself as some grand "nuke the world and watch it burn" sandbox game.
I remember as a kid my dad surprised me with this game after school when I became obsessed with the "OH NO YOU DIDN'T" ad and since my dad never really gave super personal gifts it sticks out as a really sweet memory. Another banger video man keep it up
I remember hearing "Oh No You Didn't" as a kid and thinking it was the funniest shit ever. I never really engaged with the game beyond that tho so it's cool to finally see what it's all about.
Yea wen I played games back then I didn’t even care about a story unless it was cod or gta anything else I just wanted to shoot drive and fly around 😂😂😂
As a kid, Mercenaries 2 on ps2 was my favorite game. When I enjoyed games like Metal gear solid V and Ghost recon wildlands, I realized i enjoyed them so much because they reminded me of Mercs 2. I didn't enjoy the gunplay necessarily, but rather what it allowed you to do made it stand out from any other sandbox game I played. It was the first time I really felt like I was in charge of something. It wasn't just like GTA where you get in gunfights in an open world, it was a game where you were constantly collecting assets and building a reputation, and it felt rewarding to actually go through with it unprompted. I made it a mission to collect 1 of every vehicle in the game and store it in my stockpile. I had connections with basically all the factions and would pit battles against each other just for the sake of it. I would put NPC's in the gunners seat of my vehicle to try to help them get the greatest killstreak possible. Exploring the map actually felt like being a pioneer because there were so many cool locations that don't even appear in the main story. For example, I was doing a class project about Angel falls in Venezuela for a school project, and I knew about VZ from playing this game, but I didn't know about the waterfall, so I booted up the game to see if it was included and sure enough, The game features the famous waterfall as an Easter egg, which was crazy to me that they would include it in the game but not turn it into a setpiece for the story, it was just something for a curious player to find. I guess as a kid it just checked all the boxes for me, and pretty much every time I play a game that invokes that kind of exploration and faction conflict, to me it always harkens back to this. Although looking at this footage I can't ignore how unbelievably ugly it is lol
I was 16 when Mercs 2 came out on the PS2 and I could never get past the halfway point. Tried it again as an adult with a wife and kids and I STILL couldn't beat it lol! Fun game but pretty brutal honestly.
It's one of those games that is pretty fun to play as long as you don't try to compare it too much to other things. Even though other games might be a9/10 game, a 6/10 isn't objectively bad, and I've played tons and tons of games that, while didn't have lasting impact, were just a good ride while playing, amd that's all games need to be.
I love all videos you put out, but I do just want to thank you extra for always having good subtitles! The accessibility makes the already amazing videos 10x better!
Definitely a wonky sequel. (Even if I still prefer it to alot of modern open world games.) I do at least like the greater amount of weapons and the additions of pistols, even if they're kinda pointless. (What's weird is that with a controller, you have two different "Switch gun" buttons so why not make it so Pistols have their own dedicated slot and use the D-Pad weapon switch for that?) I also enjoyed how there were giant ships and oil rigs you could raid and blow up in the world map.
For me the tonal change from the first game was really what soured me. I still enjoyed Mercs 2, I was wickedly hyped for it to release and I remember staying up late playing it on weekends. Just a shame what happened to Pandemic.
The first game hit the tone just right. The 'deck of 52' not only was 'of its time' in mirroring the supposed deck used during the war on terror in real life but the also created a lore to enemy forces. You felt each one had a job or role and their was a genuine hierarchy which elevated the badness of the main antagonist. The location felt possible, combined with the story that the war was essentially won by the A.N but the missing nukes were literally a ticking time bomb adding a preassure to the story as was the deployment of Chinese troops which could have escalated the conflict. It had the hall marks of a realistic conflict. You could feel tension in the factions and the multiple ways you could play meant there was some desire to replay. The second game seemed to miss the elements that made it great and confuse that with an inflated personality. A bit like someone telling one good joke then thinking their personality was what the group liked and not the quality material they produced. By making the tone jokey, the setting and story contrived and turning from a semi serious game with realistic setting and challenging missions into one with corny jokes, weak characters and a near consequence free environment, they made a fun but shallow playground. On the plus side, the tanks did feel chunky and there was a reward in achieving the annoying quick time events on a high end vehicle. The push at the end to either support the A.N or China was the only real drama and food for thought outside of the game. I wish they would have had the opportunity for a third game that got back to that darker, slightly more serious tone the first game had.
I still remember the amount of controversy this game just caused in my home country. It was such a masterpiece and the PC/360/PS3 was slightly accurate with the city distribution. They even got my home city kinda right.
I’d love to see a remake for both PoD and WiF. Shame we don’t really see games like mercenaries 2 anymore though with destructible environments and multiple factions to juggle for the best equipment.
Looking back on it now, it's funny how 2008 was chock full of games where you play as a merc. Mercenaries 2, Army of Two, Far Cry 2, STALKER Clear Sky could kinda count I imagine, likely a few others too. It's a very fitting setting for a video game, which makes me a little nostalgic for that period of time where every big game was about being a merc causing trouble lol.
I loved both of these games back in the day. I played the Mercs 2 demo on my PS3 sooooo many times before I finally bought it. Mercs 1 is a lot more grounded, but I still think I enjoyed Mercs 2 more overall. To me, there is much more to do outside of the main story, and I've spent a lot more hours in that game just messing around.
See that's actually one of my problems with Mercs 2, I found there wasn't as much to do outside of the main story. Like enemy bases felt a lot less deadly then the first game, with less enemies and they are more spread out. No bunkers that endlessly spawn infantry, jeeps, and tanks till destroyed either, just barracks that only spawn RPG guys in the windows.
The PS2 version was what I ended up playing as a kid. Never played the real version until somewhat recently. It really just made me miss Mercs 1, that deck of 52 system was just too good.
Deck of 52 is still one of the best collectable systems I've ever seen in a game. Was also really cool how completing story missions would give you intel on their approximate location, but you still had to scout around to find and capture/kill them from there. Having them all marked on the map from the start kinda ruined things, especially how it doesn't even say what faction they are!
I booted up the first game recently, and I had a mission where I had to extract someone from Pyongyang airport. I drove a Chinese car over (the airfield is owned by the Chinese), parked it in a secluded area, called over a civilian car to use later, and then drove the Chinese car in. I drove around the backs of hangars, quietly took out the guards therein, and got the guy out quietly. I drove him to the secluded area, still disguised as a Chinese vehicle, swapped to the civilian car, and drove him back to SK HQ without incident, because none of the factions will shoot at a civilian car. I tell this story because it felt so cool, it was like a tense spy movie where anything could topple at a moment's notice. I tried to pull a similar gambit in Mercenaries 2 back in the day, and it just didn't work the same. The first game was something special-- it still is. But the second is just... alright.
As a kid I managed to convince my mum to get me this on ps2, because it was the only GTA clone that wasn’t MA15. Even though looking back it’s genuinely one of the most depressingly scaled back ports of all time, and looks like crap, I absolutely loved it, especially the thick jungle atmosphere, which they managed to pull off better imo than the 360 version, and the destruction/helicopters/tanks all intact, at the time it felt like the first truly sandbox game to me, and wouldn’t be topped until just cause 2 came out
Hi! Actual Venezuelan here. Mercs 2 was indeed very controversial down here when it came out. There was a misinformation campaign going around here that was all about banning the game from being sold under the premise that the game puts you in the shoes of US army soldiers invading Venezuela to seize control of oil supplies, take down the government and mass murder the population. This campaign eventually led to the government trying to ban videogames as a whole, and we even lost stuff like gaming magazines and such for a while. One of my fondest memories as a teenager back in 2009 was to buy some games at a store, they weren't even on display, I had to directly ask for them and the clerk actually went to the back of the store, wrapped them up in black tape and put them in my backpack between my school notebooks. "Make sure the guards don't see you with them and if anything happens, you didn't get them here", he said. It was straight up just like purchasing drugs lmao. The ban on videogames didn't last long, of course. But I always thought it was kinda curious, and it made me wonder back in the day if all those war games that were set in countries like Russia and Germany got banned in their respective countries, even thought they were all telling fiction stories, and I feel that's where some people fails to draw the line. That being said, playing Mercs 2 back in the day and being able to blow up an aparment building that looks pretty much like the one where I live, located in a tiny fictional version of my own city, felt a bit shocking at the time, not gonna lie. P.S.: Great video and review!
God I'm so glad to see a video about Mercenaries 2. I had the PS2 copy and played the hell out of it on a broken controller through some pretty bad times IRL. It'll always hold a special place in my heart as a defining kusoge of my childhood. Awesome video!
3:30 "It just doesnt feel the same dude! Like, it just doesnt feel the same! Like, it just... doesnt F E E L the same, dude!" might be my favorite kind of Steam review.
Excellent as always. This video is my wake up call that Mercs 2 on PS2 was not in fact the same as it was on 360, I wonder why I have recollection of that.
I remember when I got it on xbox I was so confused why your mansion hq was different. Didnt realize until this video I was remember the ps2 version, doesnt have the interior right? Just like a garage and a tunnel that led to the back of the house.
I wanted Mercenaries 2 so badly as a kid. I played the first one for hundreds of hours, but my family couldnt afford a PS3 or an Xbox 360. Still, my parents wanted to deliver, so for my birthday they got me the PS2 version alongside the Strategy Guide for the PS3 version. I played the hell out of the PS2 Mercenaries 2. All while being disappointed by certain aspects, and bewildered by others. I knew something was wrong, I knew something was different than the pictures I was seeing in the strategy guide. Regardless, I played it for another hundreds of hours. Strange experience.
As someone who never had the chance of play the first game, I really liked Mercenaries 2, the soundtrack was great, the vehicle selection simply perfect with actual tanks instead of those wheeled APCs from the first 2 Just Cause games, and even the political backstory was kinda neat despite the cartoonish tone of the game. I remember how badass it was that cutscene around half of the campaign with the Allied Nations and China invading Venezuela. BTW, I´m actually surprised that a game that has you killing tons of people, it manage to get a T rating lol
in one of the escort missions for UP, an NPC actually comments on this very thing, saying "oh god im shot! Dying...not bleeding though...stupid T rating"
Ohh my GOD the amount of old time gamers I talk about this game with and they dont even know it exists is so painful, this has been my favorite video game of ALL time EVER since the early 2000's. Its the reason why I still have my 360, I always wanted to play the original as well my entire life. Always played POD on the Jampack disc on PS2 since I was 6 and it wasn't until I was 16 I was able to play it remastered for the Xbox1. Best birthday gift ever to my favorite franchise of all time! Thank you so much for making this video and seeing it hit my feed brings a tear to my eye, I will always have this game for life.
First game I got for the Xbox 360 I remeber it was the only game I could get away with getting everything else was rated m and my dad was super strict about that stuff so this game will always be a personal favorite despite the fact it fell a little short compared to the first one
I remember getting the ps2 version because the first game was so amazing (for a ps2 game). Hoo boy that was a mistake. Though the biggest issue for me and my brother was at the very end they make you nuke a bunker, but you basically have to be standing at the front door to use it. So getting away from the explosion posed a massive problem for us.
Funnily enough the PS2 version was the better one And yeah that mission is hard to get right. For starters the laser can be used from further away if you climb the mountains (which is easy with dropped vehicles) which makes it easy to get away. I found it as a fun challenge of the game's mechanics that wasn't just "go here, shoot a lot"
@@frosbittenmelon2247 For starters the movement was more responsive (unlike that slide that locks you into the animation and is slower than crawling and the overall clunky movement of the newer version) The delivery system was more free form and allowed storing/delivering ANY vehicle you found (which allowed for more creativity in levels and rewarded capturing vehicles while exploring). It also was accessed with up and down in the dpad instead of having to pause the game and go trough menus Levels had no invisible walls and where WAY more open (you could go anywhere in the map even during missions), which aided the freedom of ordering any vehicle at any time (this is honestly my main issue, the newer version was very linear) The guns had slightly more impact Popularity system between factions which could affect how you aproached certain missions (altho i do admit it could get in the way too) and rewarded you for helping NPCs in fights (unless they where fighting against another of your allies) Only issue some have is that compared to the new game, the areas seem a bit more empty. But it really is just decorative stuff and still on par with other PS2 games
The "thousand cuts" was a great point. M2 had a lot of little annoying things that wouldn't have been terrible in isolation, but added up to a lesser experience. If the tone and atmosphere and story were good, I might have still ended up liking M2 more. Loved the somber tone of the first game. It had some cringe humor here and there but it wasn't excessive. The second game went full slapstick humor and seemed like it was written by middle schoolers.
Babe wake up, new minimme video just dropped Imo Just Cause 2 was the real sequel to Mercenaries - it's basically what Mercenaries 2 should have set out to be imo.
I remember playing this as a kid, that was awesome at the time. I loved gta and other games but this one was always special for me. It was not serious, but I absolutely loved every aspect of it. You can join one team or another, have airstrikes, a lot of vehicles, some kind of economy and cool features like grappling hook (obviously from JC2) and destructions. You can even choose a character and watch cutscene with him, although it would not affect any kind of plot, but that was unique. Gonna download this game on a weekends, thanks for the video!
Ironically i got all mp trophies same year before they announced shutting down servers. Now i can get platinum at anytime i want. Also the challenges are way easier in coop. It's very hard doing them in single playthrough, which is why i got them with some random person who wanted all mp trophies as well.
Same! I've been looking for this game for ages but all I could ever find was "Red Faction", even to people I tried talking to about it. It was like... nearly but not quite. It's a nostalgia trip seeing this again after finally finding it :D
I love this game so much. I played it on the 360 and all these complaints with no fall damage must be completely different on this version. As it was brutally hard and I absolutely loved it.
One big difference between Merc 1 and Merc 2, if my memory is correct, is that in Merc 2 destroyed structures is permanent where as in Merc 1 structures, except for the statues would resurrect after leaving the area. The fall of 2008 for me was golden with Merc 2, Saints Row 2, and a Fallout 3 all being released. Merc 2 is a lot of blowing stuff up fun. Want to nuke a city? You can in Merc 2. Also there are controller imputed chest codes to get all of the fuel and nukes you want along with infinite ammo for helicopters. I haven't played Mer 2 for about 10 years so it may not have aged well, but it was lots of fun back in 2008-2012.
was waiting for this... I greatly enjoyed the first game on PS2, but never actually played this and heard it was the least favorable, but never knew why. I think it'll still be worth a go round 👍 and seeing as it has a PC version, maybe there are mods and community patches too.
The PC version is actually the worst version of the game. It was ported from console to PC and they introduced a bunch of bugs that never got fixed, the console version is the one you want. If you don't mind emulation, I had good luck and played the entire PS3 version on RPCS3.
This game holds a special place in my heart. A while ago i managed to get online coop working by using someone's software to make a fake server, and then connecting through LAN. I can't tell you how much i missed this game.
My biggest issue with this game was the rampant bugginess, it just really wasn't finished. With that said, the online coop was INCREDIBLE. Even if the game wasn't as good, being able to goof off with a friend never got old. The tank mechanics were also really fun. The good tanks require you to get really far through the game to get ahold of them, and they feel incredibly powerful. Destroying oil rigs was also super fun. Lots of ways to entertain yourself in this game with the map they made.
1 minute in and I have a MASSIVE flashback. For the promo for the game there was the song "oh no you didnt" that would play in the trailers. My friends and I would watch the video on UA-cam over and over again. I got it day 1 on PS2 and got a cool beanie I still have for pre-ordering it. Sold it within a week because I beat it and was a little let down. Remember specifically getting $15 after spending $40. A big loss for a kid. Few years later I got it on PS3 and I enjoyed it quite a bit more. To this day I'll pop it in every once in awhile. EDIT: you mentioned the song 2 seconds later lol
The whole game is challenging as hell, I played it as a teenager when it came out and couldn't beat it. I tried playing it again not too long ago and still couldn't beat it lol.
I did the train and the gunner on the first try lol. Granted I got lucky with the gunner. The train in San Andreas the key to that is to drive far enough away from the train so smoke doesn’t shoot the side of the train.
Something I haven't seen mentioned is that is the collectables (money crates and I assume fuel. It's been a while since I played) would respawn when a game is loaded. While this stops you from soft locking, it also made it trivial to farm for resources.
That was one of the things I felt when replaying it again recently after replaying the first. Mechanically, it's easily expanded upon and flourishes in content, but I feel like the balance was thrown out the window. At the start of the game, you can make around 12 million by doing the challenge missions for Fiona and by the time you get Ewan, you can do his heli mission on repeat for 5-25 million with ease each payout. The money balance was destroyed and everything felt equally worthless. There was as repair/restock mechanic hidden away but vehicles could very easily be just stolen from you by the game. What the first game did so well, was that you FELT the money spending when you purchased something. If you were to buy something, you'd be extra careful and thoughtful around it. I missed that when playing again. Another thing that you mentioned was another issue of mine, the game was too forgiving with health. The first game had medkits and pretty much non-regenerative health. You had to plan things out to be careful. The second game, fall damage was a like being a feather. I feel like they were supposed to add parachutes as for the fact they never intended you to die when falling high heights. On top of that, dealing with AA was much more harder than it was in the first game. The first one they'd have to lock on and you'd have a heads up immediately and know to evade. The second game had little warning until the missile was already fired. So I assume the spongey fall damage was put in place like a safety helmet to protect you. The story was generally *okay* but a little too joke-y and feeling extremely short in contrast to the first one. It pads out alright if you're hunting all the side objectives/challenges but even then, you can feel how short next chapters feel. One thing that was sad to see as well, was that they pretty much did not give us any proper faction confrontations like the first game. I.e, despite General Peng, for example, boasting how he's excited to take the war directly to them, there was next to no conflict between the factions. It was very rare to see much beyond the tiny scripted border skirmishes. Speaking of Peng as well, they destroyed his character in this game, no longer to the point and cunning but now a jokester with some weird generic Japanese accent. Narratively the game suffered in this realm. It was no longer a game where everyone was using you to get their own leverage over the others, but now just you using them for your own gain. Which isn't inherently bad but it just no longer felt like a "every decision you make, holds an impact on the game" sort of deal. Alas, I could ramble on but I'll spare you with any further ramblings. Happy to see you made this video. In case you weren't aware btw, there was a big interview with loads of the devs like a year ago on the official discord, you should check it out. Shows lots of insight on both games and also never before seen stuff as well from behind the scenes.
Mercenaries 1 feels amazingly fun even to this day, it has aged really well Mercenaries 2 looks like a generic 2008 3rd person shooter that there were dime a dozen back then I dont know why, but it just looks that way, I played them both, but this is visible imo even from the gamplay videos
I'm gonna be honest, I don't think I really agree with the assertion that mercs 1 is better; but it may have something to do with we having played 2 first growing up. All of the mechanics you describe as "death by a thousand cuts", have always felt engaging to me, and when it comes to calling in airstrikes, I always try and have the ones I need equipped to my quick menu before a mission. The QTE's get old fast, but that's hardly unique to Mercs 2, really, it's just what that era of games are. They're easy too, so I really think it's a minor annoyance. It may be easier to Rambo through things as Mattias, but the other characters can't be as bold, as they do not regen health. Also managing ammo can be tough, so strategic use of vehicles and airstrikes can be essential to a smooth mission vs a near-death struggle. Gathering fuel is pretty easy, if you just do it as you go. Call in a pickup when you see a tank, and move on. You'll be swimming in it, so long as you keep on top of actually picking it up. That DOES assume you explore the map and do side content, though, because if you just rush through missions, I can see one running out. Just my views on the game
mercs 1 is hard to play now on the original Xbox just feels dead, mercs 2 was a ton of fun where you could just constantly fuck around and blow stuff up, I like it more
THIS JUST TOOK ME SO FAR BACK INTO MY CHILDHOOD!!! I cannot thank you enough for reminding me of this. Genuinely made my night. Especially the theme song!
This is one of my favorite games of all time. It's very underrated and I believe it was ahead of its time. The destruction is still, to this day, some of the best you can get from a video game. The only games I can think of that comes close is the Just Cause series.
the biggest problem I had with the co-op was that the person joining had to start from scratch instead of porting in their own character and progress, so they had no access to weapons, fuel, or airstrikes. they were basically relegated to a controllable support NPC.
After watching your review of the first game, I've given this game a shot because the first game sadly isn't available on PC. This game truly is so tedious that it gets boring real quickly even for someone who was super impressed by what the first game had to offer: I went in expecting a game where we would start off relatively weak, and grind for money through enjoyable mechanics, and eventually become super strong and feel satisfied by the end-game. Instead, what I got was a game where cash was super easy to make but the ways to spend it were so tedious and underwhelming that nothing felt satisfying in the end. I've only managed to squeeze a few sessions from this game before I stopped succeeding to get myself to play it.
There actually was a way to pick up multiple fuel or munitions in a single run from Ewan. You just had to tag multiple items at once, then call in the chopper. He would pick up whatever the first item you tagged was but all the items you tagged would then be taken with him. This was never explained in the game and I’m pretty sure it was a development oversight. But it was possible
sorry, might be unpopular but i think Mercs 2 was magnitudes better than Mercs 1. I love both games but the sequel my god, for me Mercs 1 was a 9/10, Mercs 2 was 11/10, pure fun, and the co-op was the best co-op fun i've had in any game and it just felt better to play in general
I still remember the “oh no you didn’t” commercial as if it came out yesterday. Never heard of Mercenaries until that commercial. Fell in. Love with the game
As a venezuelan, I love seeing clips of this game and having a good laugh at how the locations are geographically or visually nothing like the places it's supposedly taking place on.
Played this on the Xbox 360 somewhat recently because the online functions were being shut down, and I still found it to be pretty fun. There's still simple joy and fun in going around blowing stuff up.
Well done explaining why the 2nd game did not live up to the first. I would also say the atmosphere and graphics of the first game was preferred by me because it felt like a war torn area. The Grindy tasks and quick time events break immersion to often. Great video!! 🎉
What angered me the most about Mercs 2 was just how relentlessly in-your-face unfunny it was. The first game didn't exactly win any awards for its writing, but its humour was dry-witted enough to put the game tonally in league with, say, the Hitman games, only without any graphic violence or gratuitous swearing that would've otherwise earned it a Mature rating. The sequel on the other hand clearly was designed for and marketed towards a teenage audience, or rather EA's preconception thereof, with all the stench of "teenagers are dumb and like dumb shit" that entails.
Is it me or it looks like it's running on the Saint's row/Saint's Row 2 physics engine? The slow fall cut here reminded me of doing insurance fraud side/activity missions on both SR and SR 2.
I adored the first and felt the 2nd addressed some of the issues. RPG troopers now carried side arms and weren't.. so gungho to take you, their friends, and the bounty to the void with them. I felt a big draw back was the removal of the deck of 52. The deck of 52 came with a story to each bounty that culminated in boosting the story behind the main guy. Without knowing what his crew was really responsible for, the main villain in 2 just became.. some dude. The factions were played too hammy, and because of that you didn't really feel like there was this growing serious conflict between them. You could leave VZ and careless what was left behind. Even when you unlock outposts or did missions for them.. it was like at most.. 4 for each faction.. and two of UP's were just drive car from a to b. UP and PLAV were suppose to be arch enemies.. and yet you had to craft story yourself by taking bounties.. often meaningless NPCs that don't add or detract from anything. opportunity The base in general was a hot mess. Yeah, it would change depending on your stock.. but it never felt like you were starting a professional business. The oil tanks were just scattered randomly about your yard.
I had the ps2 port growing up and when i saw this video i instantly thought about that turret section. I never could beat that level as a kid and it caused me to just replay the game up to that point over and over
Lmao You reviewing this is amazing timing since I'm attempting to recreate all the features of this game within UE5! I've already recreated most of the airstrikes!
Only played 2, loved it. Had a friend who had the first one and I might have tried it for maybe an hour or less. Still only have good memories from both. RIP Pandemic, when it died so did my childhood
I cannot thank you enough for opening my eyes on the Ps2 version of Mercenaries 2. I simply had no idea that it existed, this is quite literally like a fever dream. For years I was always saying Mercenaries 2 would be literally better if it was on the first games engine. As my biggest complaints were that in the second game the overall vibe was too bright and cheerful. Not only that, but when it comes to the gameplay I'd argue that the physics were worse and the game was far too easy due to how slowly the enemy projectiles move. I am so happy right now because I'm gonna do what I can to find myself a copy of this game so I can truly experience what I believe should've been the norm for the sequel.
I don't care what anyone says; this game was a masterpiece. It had humor, it had action, it had crazy movement, it had destructible environments, it had china vs america in a third world shithole, it had somali pirates, and it had a fun cast of characters. The only complaint I have with this game is the excessive use of quick time events, specifically in the last mission. I remember having to redo that last QTE at least 8 times because I kept fucking up the button sequence. Nevertheless, this game has remained a fond memory simply because I could level entire cities with hydrogen bombs.
I have distinct memories of playing Mercs 2 on PS2 and being very underwhelmed, then years later getting to try it on 360 and being equally underwhelmed
Watching this review makes me hope for you to review the Army of Two games. They were games I was super pumped to get, but once I started playing, I quickly got bored. But maybe that was just me.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
correction: you can tag multiple fuel tanks and pick them all up at once. my bad! in my defence the game does not explain this super well. cheers :)
minimme can you plz do a game called saboteur it’s rlly awesome and would love to see a review
@@beastmodethegoat6334 I think he's done it already
Unrailed destruction, just cause says hi 👋
to be fair I love the game and have played it several times, never knew this either
@@savnoorsamra3597 no
I'll never forgive EA for destroying this studio and this series. EA is where great studios go to die, tragically.
And activision is where they go to work the cod dlc mines and make pure garbage
@@Sad_Elf RIP Crash Bandicoot 4 devs. May they someday escape the COD Warzone mines
@@dbat978 i will forever be angry about raven software, they didnt make a single bad game until they worked on cod, their worst game was their last game and its mediocre at worst
@@Sad_Elf how we never got anymore Jedi Knight games :( now we have fallen order. That is like going from staying in a 5 star hotel to a motel that escaped convicts hide in
@@BeatRoot14 agreed, fallen order is also has a story that goes nowhere, it just spins its wheels for 20 hours
When you’re a kid and this was rated T and the closest thing to gta, it was incredible. I absolutely loved this game just because of the driving and destruction it was peak childhood for many I assume
i played gta vice city at my cousins thought it was the perfect game just needed destruction of buildings, then found this game and it was awesome blowing buildings up with helicopters.
Same bro, it was a T rated M game. I was 10 or 11 when I got it and played the hell out of it.
Dude complete facts. I spent hours playing this game just causing destruction and mayhem all over Venezuela ☠️
Loved this game ! The GTA of militery games
My mom wouldn’t let me get m rated games so this was the best one. This guy complaining about the game should’ve brown up more buildings and had the factions fight eachother
I'm from Venezuela and remember how wacky it was back in the day to have my city represented in a videogame, downscaled to oblivion. Still feels funny being able to drive from one end of the country to the other in 5 minutes lol
This takes me back to playing True Crime Streets of LA discovering the very simplified depiction of Venice High School and the area surrounding it
Te entiendo perfectamente Juli, te mando un saludo desde Valencia.
For real, I remember this game was one of the reasons Chávez banned belic videogames 😂😂
No hay puente de maracaibo :(
They made fewer buildings because the more there are the more laggier it is,this game wasn't that well optimized back then
I played the Mercenaries 2 on PS2 and was so confused as to why pistols and motorcycles were in the cutscenes but not the actual game. That was how I learned demakes were really a thing.
Admit it you want blanco revolver as souvenir
The fact that PS2 version was so broken made me buy PS3.
@@mariuszpudzianowski8400 same to me but x360!
PS2 version had vehicles you couldn't find in the main version. They had a twin barrel ZSU-57 that could only be found on PS2 but could be found in the pictures on the back side of all game cases.
I was so confused the why ps2 port looked so much worse than the advertisments lol
I loved everything Pandemic made, Mercernaries 1 & 2, Star Wars Battlefront 1 & 2, Lord of the Ring Conquest, Destroy All Humans, hell I even enjoyed The Saboteur. I still hold a grudge for EA and wonder what could've been if EA hadn't closed them down, what with Battlefront 3 and Mercenaries 3 in development at the time. And yeah that song commercial is still stuck in my head too "OH NO YOU DIDN'T"
I had actually forgot the damn song even when he referenced it I couldn't bring it up in my mind but now you made me actually remember and I hate/love you for it
I had no idea Pandemic made all these games, they were all my favourite games when I was younger
I agree with everything you said completely. EA needs too go
Army men RTS
SUCKAS TRIED TO PLAY ME… 🎶 literally the BEST commercial ever.
I think the only line I'll ever remember from this game is "WOOO Bumper cars!"
Lmao hell yea
I know that line from a Kitty0706 video.
@@SimonStrange P Kopp k k kop
"You're the Merc Solano shot in the ass"
YES
I remember being so bummed out that the Deck of 52 was removed in the sequel. I've always had this hope that some day the Deck of 52 would marry the nemesis system in a modern game. Great video! Love this series
can you play mercenaries 2 without leaving maricaibo
Surprised to see you here😂
@@jerbusf Hasn’t the man suffered enough? Let him cook.
@@jerbusf Was just about to say this!
Man I watch you pretty much everyday!
the most vivid memory of this game was the Barack Obama and Sarah Palin DLC pack, it was wild to play those extra missions as them
Wait what!?
Same that’s the main thing I remember about Mercenaries 2 😂
I'm sorry how the hell did I not know about this
There is no way this is a thing. At least not in the Europe PS3 store 😮
WHAT.
This is exactly how I feel about every Just Cause after 2. Yeah it’s flashier and bigger and dumber, but it never gels together the way 2 did
I agree Completely they messed it up just like Mercenaries it could have been SO MUCH BETTER - However they Failed to do that.
They both had the exact problem. Reduced the ability to call whatever you wanted whenever with no limit but your currency.
I found that the npc and base battles were the best in one but 2 had a better world design
They ruined being able to get into car chases past 2
@@Holuunderbeere The soundtrack in the first one was fucking great also. Plus you could shot grenades while they were on the air 😮
I loved Mercs 2, but even at the time I could tell that the game was unfinished. It needed another 6 months to a year in development. Which is what The Saboteur fees like: a more polished (though less fun) experience.
id love to agree but so many game stopping bugs.
Saboteur was far more fun.
@UnjustifiedRecs The Saboteur was amazing what are you even talking about? Everything this game tried to do, The Saboteur actually did and did it well. The only huge difference I can see someone making between this game and The Saboteur that could technically be a negative is the building destruction, but even then, The Saboteur never marketed itself as some grand "nuke the world and watch it burn" sandbox game.
oh yeah the saboteur is more polished but lacks the core elements of mercanaries to truly be fun
like environment destruction
I remember as a kid my dad surprised me with this game after school when I became obsessed with the "OH NO YOU DIDN'T" ad and since my dad never really gave super personal gifts it sticks out as a really sweet memory. Another banger video man keep it up
My friends and I joked about that ad for such a long time. It was insane to watch on tv.
Man I remember that advertisement,and it's the first thing I think of with this game.
I remember hearing "Oh No You Didn't" as a kid and thinking it was the funniest shit ever. I never really engaged with the game beyond that tho so it's cool to finally see what it's all about.
Yea wen I played games back then I didn’t even care about a story unless it was cod or gta anything else I just wanted to shoot drive and fly around 😂😂😂
Same here. And to this day, I can still hear the song while seeing the commercial in my head.
“More money for me!”
I remember learning Piano just so I could play "Oh no you didn't", back in Highschool. Still remember most of the lyrics too, catchy song!
As a kid, Mercenaries 2 on ps2 was my favorite game. When I enjoyed games like Metal gear solid V and Ghost recon wildlands, I realized i enjoyed them so much because they reminded me of Mercs 2. I didn't enjoy the gunplay necessarily, but rather what it allowed you to do made it stand out from any other sandbox game I played. It was the first time I really felt like I was in charge of something. It wasn't just like GTA where you get in gunfights in an open world, it was a game where you were constantly collecting assets and building a reputation, and it felt rewarding to actually go through with it unprompted. I made it a mission to collect 1 of every vehicle in the game and store it in my stockpile. I had connections with basically all the factions and would pit battles against each other just for the sake of it. I would put NPC's in the gunners seat of my vehicle to try to help them get the greatest killstreak possible. Exploring the map actually felt like being a pioneer because there were so many cool locations that don't even appear in the main story. For example, I was doing a class project about Angel falls in Venezuela for a school project, and I knew about VZ from playing this game, but I didn't know about the waterfall, so I booted up the game to see if it was included and sure enough, The game features the famous waterfall as an Easter egg, which was crazy to me that they would include it in the game but not turn it into a setpiece for the story, it was just something for a curious player to find.
I guess as a kid it just checked all the boxes for me, and pretty much every time I play a game that invokes that kind of exploration and faction conflict, to me it always harkens back to this. Although looking at this footage I can't ignore how unbelievably ugly it is lol
I was 16 when Mercs 2 came out on the PS2 and I could never get past the halfway point. Tried it again as an adult with a wife and kids and I STILL couldn't beat it lol! Fun game but pretty brutal honestly.
@@Travybear1989I think the idea that airstrikes are marked with hand thrown grenades doesn't help.
It's one of those games that is pretty fun to play as long as you don't try to compare it too much to other things. Even though other games might be a9/10 game, a 6/10 isn't objectively bad, and I've played tons and tons of games that, while didn't have lasting impact, were just a good ride while playing, amd that's all games need to be.
That was beautiful my friend.
I love all videos you put out, but I do just want to thank you extra for always having good subtitles! The accessibility makes the already amazing videos 10x better!
Definitely a wonky sequel. (Even if I still prefer it to alot of modern open world games.)
I do at least like the greater amount of weapons and the additions of pistols, even if they're kinda pointless. (What's weird is that with a controller, you have two different "Switch gun" buttons so why not make it so Pistols have their own dedicated slot and use the D-Pad weapon switch for that?)
I also enjoyed how there were giant ships and oil rigs you could raid and blow up in the world map.
TBH you could make pistols there on slot even with only one switch weapon button: tap to quick draw pistol, hold to pull second primary.
Really like both mercenaries games. They are so much fun. It would be awesome to get a new one but I know that will never happen sadly.
I really appreciate how sincere you are. No memes or over the top references, just qualitycontent on unique obscure topics.
It makes me sad how you say mercenaries 2 is obscure
For me the tonal change from the first game was really what soured me. I still enjoyed Mercs 2, I was wickedly hyped for it to release and I remember staying up late playing it on weekends. Just a shame what happened to Pandemic.
He was right, the tonal shift definitely made it more like a Just Cause sequel.
The first game hit the tone just right. The 'deck of 52' not only was 'of its time' in mirroring the supposed deck used during the war on terror in real life but the also created a lore to enemy forces. You felt each one had a job or role and their was a genuine hierarchy which elevated the badness of the main antagonist.
The location felt possible, combined with the story that the war was essentially won by the A.N but the missing nukes were literally a ticking time bomb adding a preassure to the story as was the deployment of Chinese troops which could have escalated the conflict. It had the hall marks of a realistic conflict. You could feel tension in the factions and the multiple ways you could play meant there was some desire to replay.
The second game seemed to miss the elements that made it great and confuse that with an inflated personality. A bit like someone telling one good joke then thinking their personality was what the group liked and not the quality material they produced. By making the tone jokey, the setting and story contrived and turning from a semi serious game with realistic setting and challenging missions into one with corny jokes, weak characters and a near consequence free environment, they made a fun but shallow playground.
On the plus side, the tanks did feel chunky and there was a reward in achieving the annoying quick time events on a high end vehicle. The push at the end to either support the A.N or China was the only real drama and food for thought outside of the game. I wish they would have had the opportunity for a third game that got back to that darker, slightly more serious tone the first game had.
I still remember the amount of controversy this game just caused in my home country. It was such a masterpiece and the PC/360/PS3 was slightly accurate with the city distribution. They even got my home city kinda right.
What about Ps2 vesion? I recommend checking it out, incredible, uplayable mess.
It looks absolutely nothing like the real Venezuela lmao
I’d love to see a remake for both PoD and WiF. Shame we don’t really see games like mercenaries 2 anymore though with destructible environments and multiple factions to juggle for the best equipment.
Looking back on it now, it's funny how 2008 was chock full of games where you play as a merc. Mercenaries 2, Army of Two, Far Cry 2, STALKER Clear Sky could kinda count I imagine, likely a few others too. It's a very fitting setting for a video game, which makes me a little nostalgic for that period of time where every big game was about being a merc causing trouble lol.
Kane and Lynch came out in November of 2007 too and I really love that game.
I loved both of these games back in the day. I played the Mercs 2 demo on my PS3 sooooo many times before I finally bought it. Mercs 1 is a lot more grounded, but I still think I enjoyed Mercs 2 more overall. To me, there is much more to do outside of the main story, and I've spent a lot more hours in that game just messing around.
That ps3 demo was insane to my 9 year old brain
See that's actually one of my problems with Mercs 2, I found there wasn't as much to do outside of the main story. Like enemy bases felt a lot less deadly then the first game, with less enemies and they are more spread out. No bunkers that endlessly spawn infantry, jeeps, and tanks till destroyed either, just barracks that only spawn RPG guys in the windows.
@@jonnyalec5646 Yeah man I was like 12 & thought we reached the top
@@TC-re7nvI was 13 and loved using the bunker buster
The delivery missions are fun
"What are you delivering?"
"Parrots."
"The pirates have you smuggling parrots?"
"ARRR"
If any franchise deserves a comeback, it would be this one for sure
Especially since just cause became stagnant
The PS2 version was what I ended up playing as a kid. Never played the real version until somewhat recently. It really just made me miss Mercs 1, that deck of 52 system was just too good.
Deck of 52 is still one of the best collectable systems I've ever seen in a game. Was also really cool how completing story missions would give you intel on their approximate location, but you still had to scout around to find and capture/kill them from there. Having them all marked on the map from the start kinda ruined things, especially how it doesn't even say what faction they are!
I booted up the first game recently, and I had a mission where I had to extract someone from Pyongyang airport. I drove a Chinese car over (the airfield is owned by the Chinese), parked it in a secluded area, called over a civilian car to use later, and then drove the Chinese car in. I drove around the backs of hangars, quietly took out the guards therein, and got the guy out quietly. I drove him to the secluded area, still disguised as a Chinese vehicle, swapped to the civilian car, and drove him back to SK HQ without incident, because none of the factions will shoot at a civilian car.
I tell this story because it felt so cool, it was like a tense spy movie where anything could topple at a moment's notice. I tried to pull a similar gambit in Mercenaries 2 back in the day, and it just didn't work the same. The first game was something special-- it still is. But the second is just... alright.
As a kid I managed to convince my mum to get me this on ps2, because it was the only GTA clone that wasn’t MA15. Even though looking back it’s genuinely one of the most depressingly scaled back ports of all time, and looks like crap, I absolutely loved it, especially the thick jungle atmosphere, which they managed to pull off better imo than the 360 version, and the destruction/helicopters/tanks all intact, at the time it felt like the first truly sandbox game to me, and wouldn’t be topped until just cause 2 came out
Hi! Actual Venezuelan here. Mercs 2 was indeed very controversial down here when it came out. There was a misinformation campaign going around here that was all about banning the game from being sold under the premise that the game puts you in the shoes of US army soldiers invading Venezuela to seize control of oil supplies, take down the government and mass murder the population. This campaign eventually led to the government trying to ban videogames as a whole, and we even lost stuff like gaming magazines and such for a while.
One of my fondest memories as a teenager back in 2009 was to buy some games at a store, they weren't even on display, I had to directly ask for them and the clerk actually went to the back of the store, wrapped them up in black tape and put them in my backpack between my school notebooks. "Make sure the guards don't see you with them and if anything happens, you didn't get them here", he said. It was straight up just like purchasing drugs lmao.
The ban on videogames didn't last long, of course. But I always thought it was kinda curious, and it made me wonder back in the day if all those war games that were set in countries like Russia and Germany got banned in their respective countries, even thought they were all telling fiction stories, and I feel that's where some people fails to draw the line. That being said, playing Mercs 2 back in the day and being able to blow up an aparment building that looks pretty much like the one where I live, located in a tiny fictional version of my own city, felt a bit shocking at the time, not gonna lie.
P.S.: Great video and review!
God I'm so glad to see a video about Mercenaries 2. I had the PS2 copy and played the hell out of it on a broken controller through some pretty bad times IRL. It'll always hold a special place in my heart as a defining kusoge of my childhood. Awesome video!
3:30 "It just doesnt feel the same dude! Like, it just doesnt feel the same! Like, it just... doesnt F E E L the same, dude!" might be my favorite kind of Steam review.
Excellent as always. This video is my wake up call that Mercs 2 on PS2 was not in fact the same as it was on 360, I wonder why I have recollection of that.
I remember when I got it on xbox I was so confused why your mansion hq was different. Didnt realize until this video I was remember the ps2 version, doesnt have the interior right? Just like a garage and a tunnel that led to the back of the house.
I wanted Mercenaries 2 so badly as a kid. I played the first one for hundreds of hours, but my family couldnt afford a PS3 or an Xbox 360. Still, my parents wanted to deliver, so for my birthday they got me the PS2 version alongside the Strategy Guide for the PS3 version.
I played the hell out of the PS2 Mercenaries 2. All while being disappointed by certain aspects, and bewildered by others. I knew something was wrong, I knew something was different than the pictures I was seeing in the strategy guide. Regardless, I played it for another hundreds of hours. Strange experience.
As someone who never had the chance of play the first game, I really liked Mercenaries 2, the soundtrack was great, the vehicle selection simply perfect with actual tanks instead of those wheeled APCs from the first 2 Just Cause games, and even the political backstory was kinda neat despite the cartoonish tone of the game. I remember how badass it was that cutscene around half of the campaign with the Allied Nations and China invading Venezuela.
BTW, I´m actually surprised that a game that has you killing tons of people, it manage to get a T rating lol
in one of the escort missions for UP, an NPC actually comments on this very thing, saying "oh god im shot! Dying...not bleeding though...stupid T rating"
11:55 "It tried to spin too many plates" followed by the discus thrower statue. Nice touch!
Oh no he didn't
Ohh my GOD the amount of old time gamers I talk about this game with and they dont even know it exists is so painful, this has been my favorite video game of ALL time EVER since the early 2000's.
Its the reason why I still have my 360, I always wanted to play the original as well my entire life. Always played POD on the Jampack disc on PS2 since I was 6 and it wasn't until I was 16 I was able to play it remastered for the Xbox1. Best birthday gift ever to my favorite franchise of all time!
Thank you so much for making this video and seeing it hit my feed brings a tear to my eye, I will always have this game for life.
First game I got for the Xbox 360 I remeber it was the only game I could get away with getting everything else was rated m and my dad was super strict about that stuff so this game will always be a personal favorite despite the fact it fell a little short compared to the first one
I remember getting the ps2 version because the first game was so amazing (for a ps2 game). Hoo boy that was a mistake. Though the biggest issue for me and my brother was at the very end they make you nuke a bunker, but you basically have to be standing at the front door to use it. So getting away from the explosion posed a massive problem for us.
Funnily enough the PS2 version was the better one
And yeah that mission is hard to get right.
For starters the laser can be used from further away if you climb the mountains (which is easy with dropped vehicles) which makes it easy to get away.
I found it as a fun challenge of the game's mechanics that wasn't just "go here, shoot a lot"
@@rompevuevitos222 What made the PS2 version better?
@@frosbittenmelon2247 For starters the movement was more responsive (unlike that slide that locks you into the animation and is slower than crawling and the overall clunky movement of the newer version)
The delivery system was more free form and allowed storing/delivering ANY vehicle you found (which allowed for more creativity in levels and rewarded capturing vehicles while exploring). It also was accessed with up and down in the dpad instead of having to pause the game and go trough menus
Levels had no invisible walls and where WAY more open (you could go anywhere in the map even during missions), which aided the freedom of ordering any vehicle at any time (this is honestly my main issue, the newer version was very linear)
The guns had slightly more impact
Popularity system between factions which could affect how you aproached certain missions (altho i do admit it could get in the way too) and rewarded you for helping NPCs in fights (unless they where fighting against another of your allies)
Only issue some have is that compared to the new game, the areas seem a bit more empty. But it really is just decorative stuff and still on par with other PS2 games
The first one was so good, really weighty and well paced. Sometimes I think about replaying it
You should, I did recently and it was a blast. I even powered through frequent crashes playing a xbox copy on an xbox 360
Do you have a retro gaming store in your city?
@@Skoopyghost I still have my original copy and working ps2, plus theres emulation
@@CommunistHamster I have used a emulator, and I have a working PS2.
The "thousand cuts" was a great point. M2 had a lot of little annoying things that wouldn't have been terrible in isolation, but added up to a lesser experience. If the tone and atmosphere and story were good, I might have still ended up liking M2 more. Loved the somber tone of the first game. It had some cringe humor here and there but it wasn't excessive. The second game went full slapstick humor and seemed like it was written by middle schoolers.
Babe wake up, new minimme video just dropped
Imo Just Cause 2 was the real sequel to Mercenaries - it's basically what Mercenaries 2 should have set out to be imo.
When you mentioned the advert, and a catchy song… something awakened within me
OH NO YOU DIDNT!
I remember playing this as a kid, that was awesome at the time. I loved gta and other games but this one was always special for me. It was not serious, but I absolutely loved every aspect of it. You can join one team or another, have airstrikes, a lot of vehicles, some kind of economy and cool features like grappling hook (obviously from JC2) and destructions. You can even choose a character and watch cutscene with him, although it would not affect any kind of plot, but that was unique.
Gonna download this game on a weekends, thanks for the video!
Ironically i got all mp trophies same year before they announced shutting down servers.
Now i can get platinum at anytime i want.
Also the challenges are way easier in coop.
It's very hard doing them in single playthrough, which is why i got them with some random person who wanted all mp trophies as well.
The environments you could absolutely destroy is the best part of this game
This was such a blast from the past, and it resurrected so many emotions and memories in me. Thank you so much!
Same! I've been looking for this game for ages but all I could ever find was "Red Faction", even to people I tried talking to about it. It was like... nearly but not quite. It's a nostalgia trip seeing this again after finally finding it :D
I love this game so much. I played it on the 360 and all these complaints with no fall damage must be completely different on this version. As it was brutally hard and I absolutely loved it.
Compared to the first game it was extremely ez
One big difference between Merc 1 and Merc 2, if my memory is correct, is that in Merc 2 destroyed structures is permanent where as in Merc 1 structures, except for the statues would resurrect after leaving the area.
The fall of 2008 for me was golden with Merc 2, Saints Row 2, and a Fallout 3 all being released. Merc 2 is a lot of blowing stuff up fun. Want to nuke a city? You can in Merc 2. Also there are controller imputed chest codes to get all of the fuel and nukes you want along with infinite ammo for helicopters.
I haven't played Mer 2 for about 10 years so it may not have aged well, but it was lots of fun back in 2008-2012.
was waiting for this... I greatly enjoyed the first game on PS2, but never actually played this and heard it was the least favorable, but never knew why. I think it'll still be worth a go round 👍 and seeing as it has a PC version, maybe there are mods and community patches too.
The PC version is actually the worst version of the game. It was ported from console to PC and they introduced a bunch of bugs that never got fixed, the console version is the one you want. If you don't mind emulation, I had good luck and played the entire PS3 version on RPCS3.
@@EnyoTaiz I emulate everything, so I guess that'll have to be the direction lol thanks m8!
This game holds a special place in my heart.
A while ago i managed to get online coop working by using someone's software to make a fake server, and then connecting through LAN.
I can't tell you how much i missed this game.
My biggest issue with this game was the rampant bugginess, it just really wasn't finished. With that said, the online coop was INCREDIBLE. Even if the game wasn't as good, being able to goof off with a friend never got old. The tank mechanics were also really fun. The good tanks require you to get really far through the game to get ahold of them, and they feel incredibly powerful. Destroying oil rigs was also super fun. Lots of ways to entertain yourself in this game with the map they made.
As an Iraqi🇮🇶, I thank God that they did not tarnish the reputation of my country, as they tarnished the reputation of Venezuela 🗿
OH NOOOO, OH NOOOOOO, OH NOOOOOOOOOOOO
OH NO, YOU DIDN'T!
1 minute in and I have a MASSIVE flashback. For the promo for the game there was the song "oh no you didnt" that would play in the trailers. My friends and I would watch the video on UA-cam over and over again. I got it day 1 on PS2 and got a cool beanie I still have for pre-ordering it. Sold it within a week because I beat it and was a little let down. Remember specifically getting $15 after spending $40. A big loss for a kid. Few years later I got it on PS3 and I enjoyed it quite a bit more. To this day I'll pop it in every once in awhile.
EDIT: you mentioned the song 2 seconds later lol
I remember the chopper mission on ps2 was almost impossible. Probably took 100 tries a a kid back in the day 😂
The whole game is challenging as hell, I played it as a teenager when it came out and couldn't beat it. I tried playing it again not too long ago and still couldn't beat it lol.
For some people, the train from San Andreas is their childhood's hard mission, for me it was the chopper gunner mission of Mercenaries 2 on PS2
I did the train and the gunner on the first try lol. Granted I got lucky with the gunner. The train in San Andreas the key to that is to drive far enough away from the train so smoke doesn’t shoot the side of the train.
Something I haven't seen mentioned is that is the collectables (money crates and I assume fuel. It's been a while since I played) would respawn when a game is loaded. While this stops you from soft locking, it also made it trivial to farm for resources.
Wish I could tell you the joy I feel each time I see a new Minimme vid in my feed.
That was one of the things I felt when replaying it again recently after replaying the first.
Mechanically, it's easily expanded upon and flourishes in content, but I feel like the balance was thrown out the window.
At the start of the game, you can make around 12 million by doing the challenge missions for Fiona and by the time you get Ewan, you can do his heli mission on repeat for 5-25 million with ease each payout. The money balance was destroyed and everything felt equally worthless. There was as repair/restock mechanic hidden away but vehicles could very easily be just stolen from you by the game. What the first game did so well, was that you FELT the money spending when you purchased something. If you were to buy something, you'd be extra careful and thoughtful around it. I missed that when playing again.
Another thing that you mentioned was another issue of mine, the game was too forgiving with health. The first game had medkits and pretty much non-regenerative health. You had to plan things out to be careful. The second game, fall damage was a like being a feather. I feel like they were supposed to add parachutes as for the fact they never intended you to die when falling high heights.
On top of that, dealing with AA was much more harder than it was in the first game. The first one they'd have to lock on and you'd have a heads up immediately and know to evade. The second game had little warning until the missile was already fired. So I assume the spongey fall damage was put in place like a safety helmet to protect you.
The story was generally *okay* but a little too joke-y and feeling extremely short in contrast to the first one. It pads out alright if you're hunting all the side objectives/challenges but even then, you can feel how short next chapters feel. One thing that was sad to see as well, was that they pretty much did not give us any proper faction confrontations like the first game. I.e, despite General Peng, for example, boasting how he's excited to take the war directly to them, there was next to no conflict between the factions. It was very rare to see much beyond the tiny scripted border skirmishes. Speaking of Peng as well, they destroyed his character in this game, no longer to the point and cunning but now a jokester with some weird generic Japanese accent. Narratively the game suffered in this realm. It was no longer a game where everyone was using you to get their own leverage over the others, but now just you using them for your own gain. Which isn't inherently bad but it just no longer felt like a "every decision you make, holds an impact on the game" sort of deal.
Alas, I could ramble on but I'll spare you with any further ramblings. Happy to see you made this video.
In case you weren't aware btw, there was a big interview with loads of the devs like a year ago on the official discord, you should check it out. Shows lots of insight on both games and also never before seen stuff as well from behind the scenes.
Mercenaries 1 feels amazingly fun even to this day, it has aged really well
Mercenaries 2 looks like a generic 2008 3rd person shooter that there were dime a dozen back then
I dont know why, but it just looks that way, I played them both, but this is visible imo even from the gamplay videos
Oh No You Didn't!!!
as a kid i always loved taking a boat out at night to the little “pirate club/bar” with the lights hanging all around. seemed like such a cool place
I'm gonna be honest, I don't think I really agree with the assertion that mercs 1 is better; but it may have something to do with we having played 2 first growing up. All of the mechanics you describe as "death by a thousand cuts", have always felt engaging to me, and when it comes to calling in airstrikes, I always try and have the ones I need equipped to my quick menu before a mission. The QTE's get old fast, but that's hardly unique to Mercs 2, really, it's just what that era of games are. They're easy too, so I really think it's a minor annoyance. It may be easier to Rambo through things as Mattias, but the other characters can't be as bold, as they do not regen health. Also managing ammo can be tough, so strategic use of vehicles and airstrikes can be essential to a smooth mission vs a near-death struggle. Gathering fuel is pretty easy, if you just do it as you go. Call in a pickup when you see a tank, and move on. You'll be swimming in it, so long as you keep on top of actually picking it up. That DOES assume you explore the map and do side content, though, because if you just rush through missions, I can see one running out. Just my views on the game
mercs 1 is hard to play now on the original Xbox just feels dead, mercs 2 was a ton of fun where you could just constantly fuck around and blow stuff up, I like it more
1:20 - You didn't even have to play a note of it and it's already stuck in my head for the rest of the week.
Oh, no you di'n't.
THIS JUST TOOK ME SO FAR BACK INTO MY CHILDHOOD!!! I cannot thank you enough for reminding me of this. Genuinely made my night. Especially the theme song!
This is one of my favorite games of all time. It's very underrated and I believe it was ahead of its time. The destruction is still, to this day, some of the best you can get from a video game. The only games I can think of that comes close is the Just Cause series.
14:35 the disguise system is back? Pretty sure there is a disguise system in Mercenaries 2 on the 360.
the biggest problem I had with the co-op was that the person joining had to start from scratch instead of porting in their own character and progress, so they had no access to weapons, fuel, or airstrikes. they were basically relegated to a controllable support NPC.
After watching your review of the first game, I've given this game a shot because the first game sadly isn't available on PC. This game truly is so tedious that it gets boring real quickly even for someone who was super impressed by what the first game had to offer: I went in expecting a game where we would start off relatively weak, and grind for money through enjoyable mechanics, and eventually become super strong and feel satisfied by the end-game. Instead, what I got was a game where cash was super easy to make but the ways to spend it were so tedious and underwhelming that nothing felt satisfying in the end. I've only managed to squeeze a few sessions from this game before I stopped succeeding to get myself to play it.
Both of the Mercenaries games live rent free in my head. A lot of fond memories from these games.
There actually was a way to pick up multiple fuel or munitions in a single run from Ewan. You just had to tag multiple items at once, then call in the chopper. He would pick up whatever the first item you tagged was but all the items you tagged would then be taken with him.
This was never explained in the game and I’m pretty sure it was a development oversight. But it was possible
sorry, might be unpopular but i think Mercs 2 was magnitudes better than Mercs 1. I love both games but the sequel my god, for me Mercs 1 was a 9/10, Mercs 2 was 11/10, pure fun, and the co-op was the best co-op fun i've had in any game and it just felt better to play in general
I still remember the “oh no you didn’t” commercial as if it came out yesterday. Never heard of Mercenaries until that commercial. Fell in. Love with the game
As a venezuelan, I love seeing clips of this game and having a good laugh at how the locations are geographically or visually nothing like the places it's supposedly taking place on.
One of my favorites of all time. I still miss playing mercenaries 2.
Played this on the Xbox 360 somewhat recently because the online functions were being shut down, and I still found it to be pretty fun. There's still simple joy and fun in going around blowing stuff up.
Well done explaining why the 2nd game did not live up to the first. I would also say the atmosphere and graphics of the first game was preferred by me because it felt like a war torn area. The Grindy tasks and quick time events break immersion to often. Great video!! 🎉
What angered me the most about Mercs 2 was just how relentlessly in-your-face unfunny it was. The first game didn't exactly win any awards for its writing, but its humour was dry-witted enough to put the game tonally in league with, say, the Hitman games, only without any graphic violence or gratuitous swearing that would've otherwise earned it a Mature rating. The sequel on the other hand clearly was designed for and marketed towards a teenage audience, or rather EA's preconception thereof, with all the stench of "teenagers are dumb and like dumb shit" that entails.
Played Mercenaries 2 a ton as a kid loved it. Been wanting to re visit it and see if I still enjoy it.
Wow, this was conicidentally good timing for the video since I literally just remembered this game and wanted to see a modern review of it.
Is it me or it looks like it's running on the Saint's row/Saint's Row 2 physics engine? The slow fall cut here reminded me of doing insurance fraud side/activity missions on both SR and SR 2.
I adored the first and felt the 2nd addressed some of the issues. RPG troopers now carried side arms and weren't.. so gungho to take you, their friends, and the bounty to the void with them. I felt a big draw back was the removal of the deck of 52. The deck of 52 came with a story to each bounty that culminated in boosting the story behind the main guy. Without knowing what his crew was really responsible for, the main villain in 2 just became.. some dude.
The factions were played too hammy, and because of that you didn't really feel like there was this growing serious conflict between them. You could leave VZ and careless what was left behind. Even when you unlock outposts or did missions for them.. it was like at most.. 4 for each faction.. and two of UP's were just drive car from a to b. UP and PLAV were suppose to be arch enemies.. and yet you had to craft story yourself by taking bounties.. often meaningless NPCs that don't add or detract from anything.
opportunity
The base in general was a hot mess. Yeah, it would change depending on your stock.. but it never felt like you were starting a professional business. The oil tanks were just scattered randomly about your yard.
Production value in this video is top tier mate
I had the ps2 port growing up and when i saw this video i instantly thought about that turret section. I never could beat that level as a kid and it caused me to just replay the game up to that point over and over
I remember that you could pick up more that one fuel tank at the time.
You needed to mark them before calling the chopper.
Lmao You reviewing this is amazing timing since I'm attempting to recreate all the features of this game within UE5! I've already recreated most of the airstrikes!
Mercenaries 2 on ps2 it was easier to get vehicles to keep, you could drive them to the garage and store them. I kept a ton of tanks there
Only played 2, loved it. Had a friend who had the first one and I might have tried it for maybe an hour or less. Still only have good memories from both. RIP Pandemic, when it died so did my childhood
I cannot thank you enough for opening my eyes on the Ps2 version of Mercenaries 2. I simply had no idea that it existed, this is quite literally like a fever dream. For years I was always saying Mercenaries 2 would be literally better if it was on the first games engine. As my biggest complaints were that in the second game the overall vibe was too bright and cheerful. Not only that, but when it comes to the gameplay I'd argue that the physics were worse and the game was far too easy due to how slowly the enemy projectiles move. I am so happy right now because I'm gonna do what I can to find myself a copy of this game so I can truly experience what I believe should've been the norm for the sequel.
Turn out you can carry multiple oil in pc just tag the tanker but animation of chopper move only once
The free fuel happened in Edinburgh as well, I remember driving past the que
Happy persian new year! You got just in time for Norooz!
I remember playing this a lot and a minor detail that I loved was the fact vehicles don't despawn unless they're NPC vehicles or destroyed
I don't care what anyone says; this game was a masterpiece. It had humor, it had action, it had crazy movement, it had destructible environments, it had china vs america in a third world shithole, it had somali pirates, and it had a fun cast of characters. The only complaint I have with this game is the excessive use of quick time events, specifically in the last mission. I remember having to redo that last QTE at least 8 times because I kept fucking up the button sequence.
Nevertheless, this game has remained a fond memory simply because I could level entire cities with hydrogen bombs.
At 1:34 can we talk about the fact that the bullet caused the turret to move when hit.. that’s some detail
I absolutely adored this game franchise! Thanks for the video!
Throwing a grenade into the tank AND closing the lid is always the most satisfying thing known to mankind
I have distinct memories of playing Mercs 2 on PS2 and being very underwhelmed, then years later getting to try it on 360 and being equally underwhelmed
Watching this review makes me hope for you to review the Army of Two games. They were games I was super pumped to get, but once I started playing, I quickly got bored. But maybe that was just me.