Mercenaries thoughts, halfway through

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Yeechang Lee - 24 Nov 2006 07:08 GMT

Based in part on others' recommendations here, I bought Mercenaries
for the Xbox last month and have been playing a mission or three every
few days. Now that I've arrived at the halfway point, having captured
26 of the 52 most-wanted, some thoughts and tips (avoiding real
spoilers):

* I laugh whenever I see (while searching for game-related information
on the net) that Mercenaries is "not a GTA clone." Oh, please! It
couldn't be any more of a GTA clone without the the label "GTA:
Korea" on the cover. And that's a *good* thing; what's wrong with
copying all the good things the market leader does right? The cars
drive like those in GTA. The many tanks and APCs drive like GTA's
beloved tank. The choppers fly like GTA's choppers. I've never
played GTA on Xbox but wouldn't be surprised if the control
buttons are exactly the same.
* Mechanicwise, the game feels like a step behind Vice City. No
swimming, like Vice, but also no fixed-wing aircraft or
motorcycles. (Not that I'd expect a GTA-like crotch rocket in a
battlefield, but why not a cycle with sidecar?) Like GTA, despite
the dozens of available vehicles, in practice a half dozen or so are
the ones you and I end up using most of the time.
* There's no player garage to keep vehicles! Thus, no way to keep that
nifty tank or chopper found in a mission. This is the single
most-unfortunate difference with the GTA titles. I don't know if
this was done to avoid the idea of an impregnable "safe zone" where
enemies can't intrude on in a battlefield, but if no one in North
Korea drives with door locks on . . .
* In turn, this means that choppers and stronger vehicles like APCs
and tanks can be a real hassle to find. The player gains the ability
to have delivered to him certain new vehicles every mission or two,
but the first really useful one (i.e., one that isn't available
everywhere and isn't easy to hijack) only became available to me
just before the one for the 26th most-wanted (for which said vehicle
is essentially a requirement).
* The inability to carry more than two weapons at once is a hassle,
but yes, it does raise the difficulty level in a reasonable way. The
limit means that most of the time players will have with them a
machine gun (I recommend the carbine) and a sniper rifle, which
poses a problem given the number of tanks, APCs, and other armored
vehicles against you (NPCs driving tanks, in particular, can spin
the turrets to aim at your precise location much better than the
player can in the same situation). In turn, the sniper rifle becomes
even more of a godsend than in GTA or other titles, as the player
tries his best to makes sure that all infantry and visible vehicle
gunners are picked off before making a run for it (or to hijack a
vehicle). The existences of a) an always-available pair of
binoculars with adjustable zoom and auto target-ID and b) toggleable
tiny flags depicting NPCs' affiliations (and, not incidentally,
their locations to sniper PCs), is also a huge plus . . .
* . . . as the game's colors are awfully muddy. Yes, it's a
battlefield as opposed to a (relatively) peaceful US city, but the
browns and greens everywhere are a) boring and b) hard to make
anything out in front of. Since North Korea isn't exactly the
hippest spot around architecturally, the cities (really small towns
about as large as San Andreas' burgs in the boonies, yet with
Stalinesque concrete-block towers) don't provide much relief from
the visual sameness.
* Anti-aircraft systems exist in the game and, boy, are they
powerful. Once one has locked onto the player's chopper, death is
one to three hits away, so it's advisable to get near the ground
ASAP. Chaff or, at the least, some reasonable hope of outmanuvering
the incoming missile would've been appreciated.
* That said, it's *much* easier to snipe pilots and gunners in
choppers than in GTA. In turn, the odds are about 50/50 that a
chopper not too high up with a newly-dead pilot will land in flyable
shape, which is great because (as noted above) finding choppers is a
hassle. If the chopper is low enough, another fairly-effective
method at grabbing it is to follow under it on the radar as closely
and possible while repeatly pushing the hijack button; the odds are
good that eventually the chopper will come in low enough to be
hijackable in midair.
* It is usually possible to get one or more friendly NPCs to accompany
the player. Many military vehicles have external guns in addition to
or instead of a player-controlled (while driving) weapon, and
the NPCs that automatically man these weapons are surprisingly smart
at fighting enemies. However, in practice most missions will end up
as solo efforts, because player control of non mission-specific NPCs
is limited to ordering them to enter and exit vehicles, not any kind
of squad tactics on foot.
* The missions themselves have been enjoyable and only a few have
required more than three or four attempts. The "anything except
trees, earth, and rocks can be destroyed" aspect of the game engine
and the many weapons options (including a variety of airstrikes)
mean that, if anything, there's more ways to accomplish a given task
than in GTA (if accomplish means "blowing something or someone
up"). However, perhaps it's the war setting, but there so far hasn't
been anything like GTA's sheer variety of missions. The comfortable
majority of missions involves capturing one of the most wanted, and
the necessary steps (find the fugitive's general location, eliminate
his henchmen, subdue the fugutive and summon the retrieval chopper
[I am playing to avoid killing any of the fugutives]) are too often
familiar.

Bottom line: Mercenaries is definitely a nice gap filler for us GTA
fans as we await the next iteration. It's just not quite like the real
thing, but it doesn't pretend to be anything more than it
achieves. Recommended.

Signature

"Sorry, but I consider lack of a 'pause me' command [in World of
Warcraft] to be a bug. At the very least, a lack of needed feature.
fwiw, I am a programmer by profession."
-Burt Johnson, alt.games.warcraft, 11 Jan 2006

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Bondi (Class-1) - 24 Nov 2006 08:36 GMT

> Based in part on others' recommendations here, I bought Mercenaries
> for the Xbox last month and have been playing a mission or three every
[quoted text clipped - 99 lines]
> fwiw, I am a programmer by profession."
> -Burt Johnson, alt.games.warcraft, 11 Jan 2006

Nice review. I've said a few times before: Mercenaries fcking rocks!!
Played it through 3x. Regarding the drab environment, it's a muddy
warzone! Whadda people expect it to look like ffs! But [spoilerage
ahead] wait until you get to the snowy & sunshiny areas - you will be
pleased. ;)

These days, however, Just Cause trounces it IMO. Well, at least on the
360.
But I hear Mercenaries II is on the cards. Shweet! =)

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furious.2@hotmail.com - 26 Nov 2006 10:18 GMT

[Furious02 u563550]

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Luke Synchronizer - 29 Nov 2006 03:38 GMT

>Based in part on others' recommendations here, I bought Mercenaries
>for the Xbox last month and have been playing a mission or three every
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> played GTA on Xbox but wouldn't be surprised if the control
> buttons are exactly the same.

>Bottom line: Mercenaries is definitely a nice gap filler for us GTA
>fans as we await the next iteration. It's just not quite like the real
>thing, but it doesn't pretend to be anything more than it
>achieves. Recommended.

It is a great game, but would you like some debate action?
(heh, I've missed this newsgroup - great to see your Mercs post)

After my (5) 100% games in SA, and (2) 100% games in LCS,
I went back and got another 100% in both GTAIII and VC.

Then I started going back to military, paramilitary, and stealth first
person shooters (FPS)I don't use PSP so pretty much VCS-less for now.
I've gone through all the Medal of Honor series, all 3 Call of Duty
games, finished Manhunt another 3 times, and completed
Castle Wolfenstein: Operation Resurrection two more times.
Went through KILLZONE and Black three more times,
definitely awesome and KZ has offline multiplayer,
which can wreak havoc on one or two players forever.
Played a ton more games to completion, on PC, XBox, and PS2.

However, Just Cause and Mercenaries....
VERY similar to each other, and definitely GTA.
Ripoffs? Perhaps, but not bad ones like Driv3r or
Streets of *pick one*

(Here we go)
I'll get Just Cause out of the way due to the Mercs thread title.
Bought it used, love it, missions are shortlived, hard but great,
and our GTA-alternative strategies are relatively useless.
The "No-Fly Zone" glitch (yes, I say glitch) extends supposedly to
ALL formats of the game from PC to XB-XB360 to PS2.
Why have Rioja/Guerrila safe houses with great reward attack
helicopters in a NFZ if they incinerate upon entering?
(or character ejection)
Case in point: That blows, hard.
It's great to have all the Liberations, they make the game worth it.
As far as GTA, the Just Cause race-challenges suck indefinitely.
All hardcore gamers that I know of, from real life, to my website,
have completed this game and no one has completed the races.

Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction
Definitely agreed, highly recommended, a must-have.
HOURS of death. Both them and you.

Not a GTA replica? Please, I made my first $100,000
just from continually jacking cars, buses, jeeps and tanks
and selling them at the Russian Mafia Import Garage.
That was in the beginning, where most guys I know
had only made money from rushing through all the missions.

Didn't know about it the Import Garage?
Everyone had to of known of this, it is one of the rewards
of one of the first Mafia missions.
They will do the same as GTA Import/Export docks,
take a damaged vehicle, but not pay full price.
I have a list somewhere but an example:
Jujo, $750, Bus - $500, gunned Jeeps into the thousands,
and Tanks are huge at like $7500 even wasted at 12% health left.

Just stand out in front of it for an easy first 35-40 civilian
vehicles. Also, if your Russian Mafia faction mood gets low,
simply take one of the two challenge Mafia trucks there nearby into
the garage, you won't get paid, but you WILL get the mood raised.
(Like "respect" in San Andreas)
I love this feature of Mercenaries.
Mostly because, the Import/Export starting from GTAlll
is one of my favorite things....grand theft auto.

Free-roam: Got it. Hunt down packages, low-lying card members,
blow up monuments, all for the money. Good money in
blowing up the enemy's vehicles as well.
Free-roam discovery and exploration, gotta love it!
(NK in every hidden nook and cranny and dirt road)

Hidden packages? Got 'em.
Didn't even do three storyline missions.
Went for ALL the first map Blueprints and National Treasures.
The rewards like the special cheats suck, but some of the drops and
air assaults and weaponry, not to mention good faction moods,
are good rewards best had early in the game.

Start a new game, and like GTA, do all the side stuff first.
Just do the storylines that open up stuff like the Import Garage, etc.
Then go for the hidden packages, many are like GTA, on rooves
that you can use ambulances for, or combo like the Jujo - Bus run-jump
plus there are some that only a chopper can get to, speaking of
which....

Helicopter operation similar to GTA - Not even close.
30 seconds to do a 360 rotation? Really blows that
they are under-developed chopper operations.
Man I was dogfighting two cop choppers at a time w/Sea Sparrow
miniguns in VC flying backwards over Little Havana and Little Haiti
for years, not to mention San Andreas.
I've always loved the Sea Sparrow, and used it for every mission
that would let me.
The Hunter was great too, but a bit more difficult to master.
Of course, rockets rule.
Note the airplane guys in SA are a different breed of player.
I love the Hydra, and planes, and dogfights,
just more at home in a chopper. Mastered them completely.
Mercenaries choppers are slow, lethargic, not well planned
by the developers, and always, always, sitting ducks for RPG's, etc.
Even the Just Cause attack choppers blow away Mercenaries ones.
Of course, I am always reloading and trying again.
DETERMINED to master the art of the Merc chopper ops.

Mercenaries AI - smart like in GTA, if that says anything.
Predictable, but in Mercenaries, the NK are lethal.
I would dance with Ballas anyday over the North Koreans.

However, UNLIKE Grand Theft Auto, this war is possibly the
best never-ending spawn of bad guys (NK) that I've ever seen.
This is a serious game, to be loved and admired.

Long before it was time, I destroyed every guy, vehicle, building,
SAM, Jammer, and Anti-Aircraft Stationary Gun Turret at the NK
Artillery base south of the MASH unit,, but I cannot even imagine how
to get to the jammers at the NK Fortress. The artillery base is a
piece of cake compared to the fortress. I will figure this out.

Man that sh.t is totally insane off the hook. Freakishly fun.
You can use many GTA type methods, and especially stealth in an NK
heavy tank to get there. You can even destroy all the buildings and
guys at the gate, but once you cross that zone of red, the NK
air forces have ultimate superiority. They mean business in this game.
(Invincability cheat code? Cross the bridge to the fortress they still
blow it up and you can't do much there. Except not die, heh.)

It is obviously more a Lucas Arts, than Pandemic production,
I like Pandemic games but I haven't forgotten how Lucas
ripped us up in "Shadows of the Empire".

This is another case in point for the younger generation,
who have never played Shadows. Mercs is very similar,
in that it all seems impossible. But it is in fact, do-able.
The NK Fortress should never be explored in free-roam,
but of course, I had to do it.

Great game, and a great way to pass the time until GTA:IV

Unless VCS gets ported sooner, that is.
I am glad to see others enjoying Mercenaries, I'm
totally absorbed in it right now, which it takes alot to
get me away from a game I was already playing like
KILLZONE, or the highly-addictive Black.
Just Cause is a novelty, one should own anyway.

By the way, if you like anti-terrorist games, I highly
recommend Black, as once you complete it and save,
all of the levels are re-playable, but with infinite ammo.
There is also no weird grid system, you run, and also,
you don't have to use some lame a.s team.
It's awesome hardcore FPS at it's shortest but best.

Killzone is also awesome, but the benefits are
4-playable characters as you meet them
through the storyline. The "battlefield" mode
is what is keeping me up at night - no crack
servers with script-kiddies who cheat in M/P,
you can do it offline alone or with a friend on the 2nd PS2
controller. It really is addictive.

But yeah, Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction,
Great game, and a great way to pass the time until GTA:IV...
The sequel is either already out, or out soon......

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Yeechang Lee - 01 Dec 2006 07:46 GMT

> After my (5) 100% games in SA, and (2) 100% games in LCS,
> I went back and got another 100% in both GTAIII and VC.

I can't replay games. Period. I periodically reread favorite books,
but can't replay games.

> I'll get Just Cause out of the way due to the Mercs thread title.
> Bought it used, love it, missions are shortlived, hard but great,
> and our GTA-alternative strategies are relatively useless.

You mean missions are very linear? A pity.

> As far as GTA, the Just Cause race-challenges suck indefinitely.

Worse than GTA3's race with the shotgun-of-doom in St. Mark's, or
"Driver" in Vice City? Oy vey. I completed both of them, both the
former only after 30-40 tries before getting lucky with the
random-number generator.

> Not a GTA replica? Please, I made my first $100,000 just from
> continually jacking cars, buses, jeeps and tanks and selling them at
> the Russian Mafia Import Garage.

I do know about the import garage; as you note, an early Mafia mission
takes one there. (I'm about halfway through the third suit so far, and
have done all storyline missions and have captured, not killed,
everyone, with no use of the medevac or mission retry. Same way I
played the GTA titles.)

> That was in the beginning, where most guys I know had only made
> money from rushing through all the missions.

That said, I've not bothered to bring more than a few vehicles to the
Mafia garage because I've never once had money troubles, in part
thanks to always getting the card bonuses and most of the mission
bonuses.

> Helicopter operation similar to GTA - Not even close.
> 30 seconds to do a 360 rotation? Really blows that
> they are under-developed chopper operations.

True. The flight models are otherwise OK, though.

> Mercenaries choppers are slow, lethargic, not well planned by the
> developers, and always, always, sitting ducks for RPG's, etc.

Agreed, as I noted in my first message. Any missile lock-on and one
might as well start heading to the nearest hill to land on because
it's better than being blown out of the sky.

> However, UNLIKE Grand Theft Auto, this war is possibly the
> best never-ending spawn of bad guys (NK) that I've ever seen.
> This is a serious game, to be loved and admired.

Good point and something I should've mentioned. Mercenaries is, in a
sense, the full-on rioting in the final missions of San Andreas writ
large across an entire countryside. It is a lot of fun mowing down the
endless waves of North Koreans (while, at the same time, not all the
places where actual missions take place are like this, thank
goodness).

> Long before it was time, I destroyed every guy, vehicle, building,
> SAM, Jammer, and Anti-Aircraft Stationary Gun Turret at the NK
> Artillery base south of the MASH unit,, but I cannot even imagine how
> to get to the jammers at the NK Fortress. The artillery base is a
> piece of cake compared to the fortress. I will figure this out.

That's where "Knock Knock"--the mission to capture the King of
Diamonds--occurs, right? I didn't find it that difficult; just
painstaking. Fly a chopper there (and almost immediately get shot down
inside the first gate, but after having blown up a jammer), head to
the eastern hillside, snipe everyone (and there's *lots*, not
including the infinite-spawn doorway), obtain a vehicle, pass through
the second gate, stick to the sides, snipe again, use the SE artillery
piece to blow up most of the others, blow up the remaining pieces,
snipe everyone around the tank the King is hiding in, run for the tank
between shells and hijack it, subdue the King, call in the
chopper. (Whew.)

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Luke Synchronizer - 03 Dec 2006 11:26 GMT

>> missions are shortlived, hard but great,
>> and our GTA-alternative strategies are relatively useless.>
>You mean missions are very linear? A pity.

Yes it kind of sucks despite all the game could be.
It is more fun liberating the villages than doing the missions.

>> As far as GTA, the Just Cause race-challenges suck indefinitely.>
>Worse than GTA3's race with the shotgun-of-doom in St. Mark's, or
>"Driver" in Vice City? Oy vey. I completed both of them, both the
>former only after 30-40 tries before getting lucky with the
>random-number generator.

GTAlll races and off-road challenges are totally do-able.
They even become fun once you get into them, especially the off-road
challenges. Same with LCS.
But the races in Just Cause blow. There is just not enough time given
the availability of vehicles. You have to plan and think and note and
remember, where is that special vehicle that will beat this race, and
of course, there is simply not enough time.
The Driver in VC just takes patience and knowing the course.
I had problems the first time, but after that I just go with it.
Realizing many obsess over this race, I prefer to just finish it.
100% in VC a number of times, I don't stress over that race at all.

>> Not a GTA replica? Please, I made my first $100,000 just from
>> continually jacking cars, buses, jeeps and tanks and selling them at
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>everyone, with no use of the medevac or mission retry. Same way I
>played the GTA titles.)

That is outstanding work.
No kills just captures is what I was going for in my 2nd (Mia)
play-through. Damn NK's love to drop their RPG's anywhere
so I lost a couple of clubs that way, and a few diamonds
by my own RPG and tank activities. sh.t happens.
No medevacs is outstanding as well. I only have a few but they
were at 1 health after major tank battles with NK over a single hidden
package early on, and pinned down by NK forces.
I've since learned to use even more stealth
to avoid getting hit by rockets. There sure are alot of them
finding all the treasures and blueprints..
This game I have 0 deaths and 0 replays, but a few medevacs.

>> That was in the beginning, where most guys I know had only made
>> money from rushing through all the missions.
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>thanks to always getting the card bonuses and most of the mission
>bonuses.

Yes the mission bonuses and general payoffs are sweet cash wise.

>> Helicopter operation similar to GTA - Not even close.
>> 30 seconds to do a 360 rotation? Really blows that
>> they are under-developed chopper operations.
>
>True. The flight models are otherwise OK, though.

They look cool. I love the helicopters and tanks looks-wise.

>> However, UNLIKE Grand Theft Auto, this war is possibly the
>> best never-ending spawn of bad guys (NK) that I've ever seen.
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>places where actual missions take place are like this, thank
>goodness).

There seems to be no end to the NK's where I'm at in the game.

>> Long before it was time, I destroyed every guy, vehicle, building,
>> SAM, Jammer, and Anti-Aircraft Stationary Gun Turret at the NK
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>between shells and hijack it, subdue the King, call in the
>chopper. (Whew.)

The King of Diamonds is in the NK Artillery Base, south of the MASH.
One which I have completely destroyed a number of times.
"Knock Knock" is the mission, yes. It was no problem.

The NK Fortress is the place where I cannot find the jammers,
in free-roam, or free-play mode..
(The storyline missions change the scenario)
I know it is only the first map, but after the SK's take Inchon,
and the airfield, which was a relief,
I've still only gotten 3 of the 5 hidden packages.
One is past the bridge, by the monument that needs to be blown up,
the other is in the cavern below the bridge. Both are in the red.
So, I look forward to finding out how to get those,
similar to the oysters at Easter Basin in San Andreas.
(5-star wanted level swimming normally -
no-wanted level missions in Las Venturas, alternatively)

On another Mercenaries note, the load times takes forever,
in comparison to San Andreas.

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Luke Synchronizer - 05 Dec 2006 06:29 GMT

>The NK Fortress is the place where I cannot find the jammers,
>in free-roam, or free-play mode..
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>(5-star wanted level swimming normally -
>no-wanted level missions in Las Venturas, alternatively)

Problem solved, the Jack of Diamonds mission.
"Master of None" for the South Koreans.
Eliminate the 7 artillery batteries, and the supergun.
No red zones, piece of cake then.
This was actually very GTA in that just do objectives first,
collect packages/blow monuments second, after everyone dead.

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