PS3/360 profile: mercenaries 2: world in flames
Known Info
Pandemic Senior Producer Jonathan Zamkoff, in an interview with IGN, confirmed that all three mercenaries from the first game will return, with Peter Stormare returning to voice Mattias Nilsson. In addition, a new mercenary, Eva Navarro, has been announced (A recent developer video has confirmed that Eva will not be one of the three central characters, and instead, will be a ‘recruit’). Fiona Amylee Taylor, the mercenaries’ key support operative, will be featured as a physical, though non-playable, character in the game.
The game begins with your character taking a contract for a man named Ramon Solano. Unknown to you, the contract you’ve taken on proves to be the trigger to a coup that puts Solano in power. Though this doesn’t mean much to your character, Solano refuses to pay for the mission and tries to have your character killed. The objective of the rest of the game is getting revenge on Solano.
As of February 2007, the game was said to be running on the Havok 4.5 Engine.
New features include cooperative multiplayer, which enables up to two players to do missions using two controllers or over the internet, Xbox Live, and Playstation Network; a partner can even join the player in the middle of a mission. Much like the idea for co-op in Gears of War and Crackdown.
The player can start his/her own private military company and be able to hire mercenaries as a way to expand support options.
The player will be required to secure oil resources in order to utilize support options, although usable vehicles will not consume fuel per se.
A hijacking mini-game will initiate each time the player attempts to hijack a combat vehicle, consisting of a button pressing sequence that will have its difficulty scaled by the type of vehicle being hijacked - less powerful vehicles will require only a simple button sequence and larger, more powerful vehicles will have a difficult and complex button sequence.
Destructible environments will add a tactical element to gameplay, for example by using a "Daisy cutter" to clear away a swath of dense jungle foliage in order to create a landing zone for support options. Enemy troops are also capable of occupying structures and using them as a vantage point from which to attack the player - subsequently destroying the structure will eliminate the enemies with in it.
So called "dangerous buildings" are occupied structures that continue to spawn a variety of enemy personnel until destroyed. The appearance of Dangerous Buildings are influenced by faction mood and are triggered in a random fashion throughout the game world or designated specifically as part of a contract mission.
The inclusion of the Grappling Hook adds a new vertical element to the game as the device can be used to hijack airborne vehicles, scale buildings and structures, and even attack enemies to some degree.
The player can now swim and dive underwater, as opposed to drowning in the last game. Boats and other aquatic vehicles, such as the jet ski, can be used as well.
The player can also set fire to buildings, soldiers, vehicles, trees, and other things in the environment.
The game will feature brand new weapons, items, over 200 vehicles including the V-22 Osprey, F-117 Nighthawk, motorbikes, a "sticky" C4 explosive, and the Daisy cutter bomb.
Confirmed factions include: an oil company named Universal Petroleum, the "People’s Liberation Army of Venezuela" known colloquially as the Guerillas, the Allied Nations, a Rastafarian pirate faction, China, and the Venezuelan State Army as the primary antagonists.
The game will feature many new environments ranging from massive, densely-packed urban environments such as Caracas, to the sprawling expanse of the Amazon jungle, including Angel Falls. It will also feature the cities and regions of Maracaibo, Cumaná, Mérida, Ciudad Guayana, Guanare, the Orinoco River, Lake Maracaibo, the Northern Andes, Isla de Margarita, and more.
There have been two recruitable mercenaries confirmed,Eva Navarro and Ewan.
