Nice effects, explosions, car sounds, gunshots...
Graphics:
Pandemic Studios has been known for using good graphics sauce in their meals...uh, games. There's little to no pop-up in the game, and the frame rate stays good throughout the game. The explosions look nice, and the buildings crumble and fall pretty well. There's no loading, other then going into buildings. Now for the graphics themselves. It's a pretty impressive-looking game on either systems, although the PS2 version has a little slowdown during some big moments. Nice details on most of the stuff you come across, and the vehicles and stuff show damage in the game. I could go on, but I'm not. So there's the graphics for you. Now it's time to blow stuff up.
Gameplay:
Pandemic has been making great games such as Star Wars:Battlefront, Full Spectrum Warrior, and the recently released Destroy All Humans! This one is no exception. The story sounds a little like something you'd hear off of CNN. It's 2009 in North Korea. The Allied Nations(I think that's what the U.S. is called in the game) have discovered that North Korea has been harboring nuclear weapons. The man behind these weapons, General Choi Song, has escaped, and has kidnapped North Korea's President Kim, who has the launch codes for the nuclear missiles. So the Allied Nations chase him down in North Korea, along with 51 other terrorists linked to his operations. These terrorists are represented by playing cards, with General Song as the Ace of Spades. However, South Korea, China, and the Russian Mafia are in the area as well. South Korea is still at war with North Korea, China is trying to protect itself from a possible threat, and the Russian Mafia is looking to increase in power. This is where you come in. You play as one of three different mercenaries from a group called ExOps who has been attracted to North Korea by the massive amounts of money for capturing members of the Deck of 52. I picked Mattias Nillson, the Swedish guy with a mohawk and shades. Let's face it, the Swedish are cool. Anyway, at first glance, the game looks a Grand Theft Auto 3 clone. It's a lot better then a GTA 3 clone. You drive around on the overmap, accepting missions from the various factions, while searching for card members. You're not just using guns and grenades, though. You can plant C4s, call in airstrikes, and have supplies and vehicles airlifted to you. You're going to need those, however. This game is pretty challenging, and you will die more often then not. One reason that it's challenging is because you have to balance the moods that factions have towards you. You kill too many SK soldiers, or blow up too many of their buildings, and they will be mad if you show up at their HQ looking for a job. You don't have to worry about North Korea, since they're always mad at you. One weird thing I did find was that the vehicle physics were just weird. Driving off-road is usually a bad idea, because you will most likely get flipped over by something for no reason. Also, I once drove a tank up a hill going at a near 90-degree angle. This may annoy some people, but it won't really bother you that much. The best part of the game is that you can, "blow the living crap of everything" as the commercial said, and it's still rated T.
Audio/Music:
Mercenaries has pretty nice sound effects. Explosions, car sounds, and the gunshots are good. The Voice-acting is decent enough, and at least your character says something once in a while. The interactive music is high-quality stuff, although there's not much of it. Each faction has their own theme for a job. The Allied Nations have a triumphant sort of theme. China uses traditional Chinese instruments. The Russian Mafia has an epic, "The Russians are Invading" sort of music. South Korea(my favorite) has orchestral music. They're all good pieces to listen to while blowing up something for acertain faction.
Replay Value:
Once you finish the game, you can start Playground of Destruction mode, which is the same, except you have all the money and access to airstrikes and stuff when you finished the game. The game becomes real easy when you can call in a fuel air bomb to blow up a certain thing, or to finish an objective from the safety of your chopper. It's also nice to find all the hidden stuff you missed the first time around. There's a likely incentive to play it again once you finish it the first time through, though it is much less challenging.