Makes you wonder what secret futuristic games GS-reviewers are playing to call this game anything less than good.
Visuals: 8.0
Sound: 8.0
GamePlay: 8.5
Replay: 7.5
Summary:
You can choose from three characters, each which will allow you a certain attribute: Fast Regeneration, More ammo, Faster Running. Other than that the only thing else you get is their tripe lines they think is clever and really just proves how lonely these 3D sprites are. You start the game landing in Venezuela and using your basic controls: Shoot, Melee, Airstrike.
From there you learn you're a Mercenary with no morals unless they involve killing some South American. Now from here, I will start with all the bad things, as to set the record straight.
The game's bugs that have been mentioned DO HAPPEN. However, they have happened to me maybe once every two hours and if you're any kind of mercenary you have more than enough money to make up for it. So here is a list of Bugs/Oopsies/Bad Programming:
AI: AI will destroy what they are paid to protect, ruining your bonus cash. But honestly, killing the guy is a lot easier and losing some cash isn't a big deal if you are a real Merc. Besides you can get back at them by artillery striking their home camp, going to their city, making some role play story about how his family lives in some schlump house, and calling in a carpet bomb.
Clip Glitch: When you call in some supplies (including vehicles), the helo pilot will drop it either through the Earth or it will just vanish before your eyes. This has happened to me once and it seriously wasn't a big deal. I actually sacrificed another 26k to call him back so I could AA-Missile his face off for being incompetent.
Friendly AI: Probably the most common, your AI will either kill themselves, do nothing, or throw themselves in front of your bullets. This has ruining three missions for me. But it didn't phase me too much.
So let's remember. For every bug, you can get your compensation by destroying everything they love. I began hoping the bad guys would should there own captain, or shoot me down so I could crash their helo into their captain.
Now the good:
The game wasn't made for you, Aaron Thomas, or anyone else to learn some political background of Venezuela. This game isn't made for you to gain moralistic views of revenge, oil, and violence. No. This game is made for you to have open game fun, traveling in a helo, and emptying payloads of missiles into an innocent city. The game was designed to be fun, easy, and hilarious to all.
No matter what kind of gamer you are, if you like video games, you will like this game. If you're a failed blogger who empties their thoughts of politics into note-pad, this game is not for you.
Now granted, you must spend 2-3 hours to get your basic hardware (2 pilots and a mechanic). Once you have these guys you can drive around finding some High Value Targets on your hit list, and there're plenty of them. With every HVT comes some fuel tanks (which are a secondary necessity to purchasing 90% of your merc supplies/airstrikes) and one or two randomly placed nearby payloads of bombs and missiles (yes, they leave these laying around like Mario 1up's).
Now, I will admit, your airstrikes are over all useless as they require to you be nearby most anything to have it bombed. However, you can hi-jack any vehicle with repetitive button mashing (for you GoW fans). And basically you will spend 75% of the game in some form of vehicle.
The game isn't realistic AT ALL. However it is loads of fun which allows you to unleash carnage with nearly no consequence. It's a great stress reliever and it's fun to just make believe there is some other story going on.