Blow the Bejeezus out of everything
The game will drop you right into the action. You don't have to capture/kill all of the Deck of 52 cards, but will gain extra money by doing so. There are also contracts you will have to take in order to make progress in the game, even if that means obliterating a military faction that has you on their good side. Some of the contracts were a piece of cake, while others seemed way too easy. At times I felt a bit ripped off. But for all of the contracts that seemed too easy, the last contract (the Ace of Spades) definitely made it up for them.
You will find yourself blowing up buildings, vehicles, and people all over the place. If you are familiar with GTA, it's kind of like that, but with much more firepower and explosive force. The Gamespot review is right about explosions being much more than real life, but hey, that's what we like, right? BIG EXPLOSIONS. And when you set off a C4 charge in the middle of 4 North Korean jeeps you should get some great pleasure out of the fireworks show that follows.
You can, if you choose to kill time, go around collecting and destroying all of the extra options on the side. You can gain more air drops, money and cheats by doing so. The outcome of the game was not affected because I didn't spend hours picking up all the extras.
There are plenty of different vehicles to drive/hijack/buy. Although for me, when trying to get around, I think it would have been nice to have more helicopters available for free. Driving from one end of the map to the other can get old after a while.
Now for the things I didn't like:
-The constant driving from here to there, especially after dying and starting back at the Allied MASH
-Why do I have to jump over a 6" curb and other very low lying obstacles?
-Tanks don't cross bridges very well. For some reason they hit an invisble obstacle and go out of control. So be careful crossing bridges in a tank at full speed.
-There wasn't much of a variety in the soundtrack, although the music was composed well.
-For some reason enemies, including dangerous vehicles such as tanks and APC's, can see you through rocks, buildings and other solid objects. So, once they know where you are, they will not lose their lock on you.
-If I'm in a tank, I have 40 shells. If the AI is in a tank, it never runs out. Likewise, I get a max of 3 RPG's, but the AI has an unlimited supply. WHAT THE?
-If a civilian or ally runs out in front of your vehicle or line of fire and gets wasted you get fined 10,000 per civilian and 25,000 per ally. The AI shouldn't be that stupid. It can get annoying at times, but it's not a constant problem.
Mercs is definitely a game you should play if you like somewhat open mission-based games. And you especially need to play it if you like destroying stuff.