Since the original Mercenaries, much has change in the gaming industry, which is over three and a half years. The developer Pandemic relies on the game’s proven formula for this sequel, Blowing things up can be fun. World In Flames doesn’t do much to evolve that formula, but this is one of those rare cases where that’s all right Mercs still does open world destruction the best.

Different scenery from North Korea to Venezuela, World in Flames‘ environment is a lot more varied where it counts — thick jungles, rocky canyons, dilapidated shanty towns, and large expanses of water keep things visually interesting. The diverse terrain makes basic exploration more engaging. Taking into consideration its size, the game still feels meticulously built.

The main attraction is that every object within it can be destroyed with enough firepower. From oilrigs, to trees, nothing is safe from be destroyed. I was engaged in a mission of taking out a target on a hill, not knowing what was behind it, I had my truck packed with allies and I rocketed over the hill. I cleared the outer wall the open air base and ended up in the center of my enemies. We got out, no sooner our ride was blown up, and the scene was absolute chaos. With many objects available in play with different ingredients for destruction, no two base raids are the same.

Like in previous Mercs, World In Flames will have you doing missions for different factions, like the People’s Liberation Army of Venezuela and Universal Petroleum initially, while dealing with the hostile rebel VZ forces, in the course of your mission of taking down drug lord Ramon Solano. The story is not that interesting, but the option of running missions for different forces against one another is good; you can easily turn off friendly factions and you would not get any work from them until you get back into their good graces, but there are dozens of missions on the side you can do to get back in favor. New weapons, air strikes, and vehicles are constantly added to your arsenal and unlocked for purchase as you complete missions, and they’re all available as airborne drop-offs whenever you need them.

The mechanical addition in World In Flames works well, you can get helicopters from the ground; a button-pressing mini game is tied into vehicle jacking and you will have the ability to swim. All driving controls are mapped to the face buttons instead of the triggers and can’t be changed. Loading target into the helicopter could be difficult if you are not within the specific loading zone. While Mercs is awesome, I do not think it can be considered realistic.

You can bypass some problems by using a real buddy via online co-op throughout the campaign. This was assumed to be a good feature, but the execution is not ideal. Like Grand Theft Auto, you can’t be on opposite ends of the world from one another and stay within a relatively restrictive radius. When a mission to steal and deliver a car ask you to deliver two cars instead while playing co-op, it’s good, but because you cannot drive too far ahead of your partners while being fired upon, makes things even harder compared to playing by yourself. There are some glitches in the co-ops sessions, which is difficult to tell if it is because of the network. Any playing the game with a friend can work with some sacrifices on your part, this is fun and not much of a critical feature. While Mercs does not have anything new, it is all about having fun as long as you enjoy blowing things up.

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