Developer : LucasArts
Release date : February 18, 2005
Synopsis :
Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction is an action-adventure video game developed by Pandemic Studios and published by LucasArts for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The game features an open world environment, with elements of potential stealth gaming and reputation-based social mechanics, and is set during a fictitious multi-national military action in North Korea, in an alternate history version of the year 2007. The player gains control of one of three mercenary main characters and completes contracts in the war-torn country for profit and to prevent a nuclear war. Critics gave favorable reviews to the game, in particular praising its focus on explosive mayhem.
A sequel, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, was released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Following Pandemic Studios’ closure in November 2009, Electronic Arts announced Danger Close Games would be developing a second sequel, tentatively titled Mercs Inc. The game was eventually canceled following the closure of Danger Close Games in 2013.
The game world takes place in North Korea, where General Choi Song leads a violent coup against his father President Choi Kim’s government. Supposedly killing his own father, as well as several North and South Korean delegates during a peace ceremony, General Song seizes power and closes off North Korea to the world. Some time later, the Royal Australian Navy locates a North Korean freighter in distress but also discovers it’s cargo of nuclear warheads bound for known terrorist elements, triggering an Allied Nations invasion to topple Song’s regime. The Allies are able to secure Song’s nuclear missile silos, but they soon learn of another launch site, it’s whereabouts unknown. Furthermore, the North Koreans launch a counterattack, pushing the Allies back whilst the Chinese, South Korea as well as the Russian Mafia enter into the conflict to assert their own agendas with North Korea whilst also undermining the Allied Nation’s position. Desperate to locate the silos, the Allied Nations post bounties related to the “Deck of 52”; including North Korean businessmen, ranking officers, weapon scientists, General Song’s personal bodyguard as well as Song himself. The mercenary is given the choice of either apprehending or killing members of the deck, though killing them only rewards the player with half their bounty. The bounty increases according to the importance of that member all the way up to General Song, who is posted at $100,000,000.
Prior to entering the game world, the player is given the choice of playing as one of three available mercenaries. The choice does not affect the plot, and each character has slightly different statistics to each other and can understand a different language used by one of the four factions in game (except for the Allied Nations). The four factions are the Allied Nations, South Korea, China and the Russian Mafia. Each faction concerns itself with one goal influenced by the mercenaries actions. The Allies for instance, only intend to remove Song from power though they possess the missions for the “Ace” contracts that advance the game. China and South Korea respectively both want to conquer North Korea, bringing the two factions closer to conflict as the game progresses. The Russian Mafia concerns itself only with exploiting the conflict and setting up illegal activities, and dealing arms which the mercenary may buy.
The player is airdropped somewhere over the DMZ, finding the Allied Nations headquarters under artillery attack orchestrated by the “Two of Clubs”. The mercenary assists AN forces in repelling the attack, destroying the guns and verifies the Two before venturing on to meet the other three factions in play. In completing assigned missions for each faction, the player is given intel relating to members of the Deck of 52 in the game world. By embarking on these optional missions, the player gathers enough intelligence to unlock the Ace contracts, the theatre of war moving from the Southern Province to the Northern Provinces midway through the game. The player finally arrives on the Ace of Spades contract; General Song himself. After heavy fighting against Song’s remaining forces, the mercenary discovers through the still alive President Choi that Song has acquired the launch codes for his country’s nuclear armament, and launches them before the mercenary enters battle with him.
Depending on the player’s actions, there are numerous endings. If the player does not abort the nuclear missiles in time, a post-ending news report details that Seoul, as well as several other cities worldwide have been destroyed by the nuclear weapons. Furthermore, depending on who the player decided to assist the most, another report indicates that faction assuming control over the North Korean state.
Source : Wikipedia
