I Heart Mercenaries

Well, love is such a strong word. I really like it though. This game pulls off emergence so effortlessly you don't entirely realize it's there. And they combined it with blowing the hell out of things, which every gamer keeps true to their heart.

It's passing the girlfriend test, though by the skin of it's teeth. Without the ability to wander around setting hookers on fire a la GTA, it's harder for her to burn off the frustration of the occasionally difficult combat system. Still, being able to wander around the countryside and play factions against each other, all the while lighting the place up in style - well, it's easy to get accustomed to that.

At the same time, there's a few frustrations. I don't really feel like my merc is capable of building anything as opposed to being this constant lone wolf. I miss the trend GTA was moving into of getting a house, owning a car, etc. I'm not saying a white picket fence would be appropiate, but it would be nice to have a carport to store that tank in. I can see why they went this route for balancing reasons, easier to keep the player a bit in check if they can't amass their own personal army, but it still feels a bit vacant in that category.

Most impressively is somehow you can still tell that this is from the guys who did Desert Strike, Jungle Strike, etc. There's this wonderful marriage between that classic gameplay and the fresh start of GTA-like wanderlust.

Well played, Pandemic. Looking forward to Destroy all Humans!