Mercenaries 2 World in Flames preview Xbox 360

If a spree of wanton destruction is up your street, then we think you'll find Mercenaries 2: World in Flames to your liking when it's released in February 2008. The sequel to Mercenaries, World in Flames will be set in South America, and many of its missions will be free-form, allowing you to roam through villages, towns and cities all full of buildings just waiting to be blown up by your impressive arsenal of weapons. We've gone hands-on with World in Flames this month - read our preview to find out more.
Click here to read our preview of Mercenaries 2 World in Flames for Xbox 360 now!

Mercenaries 2 World in Flames preview for Xbox 360
The original Mercenaries - as its television advert proudly stated - was all about blowing the hell out of it, then blowing the hell out of it some more. Take that to its logical extreme, and you've got Mercenaries 2: World in Flames - a game where its predecessor's strapline of ‘playground of destruction' is far more appropriate here. Pretty much everything you see can be destroyed. Vehicles, houses, even gigantic stone buildings can be reduced to piles of smoking rubble. And considering how much flammable material or liquid is usually in the vicinity, you'll likely emerge from the wreckage with a literal ‘world of flames' behind you.

As a sequel, Mercenaries 2 doesn't do an awful lot new, but then it didn't need to. The original Mercs was a generous helping of undiluted fun. In a day when most games are striving for issue-based realism, intense human emotion and moralistic soul-searching, World in Flames feels like a glorious throwback to a time when games didn't worry about such things and just tried to provide non-stop entertainment. It's a lolloping Labrador of a game - lacking in the old brain department, but you can't help but love its infectious enthusiasm.

That's not to say that it doesn't have a sharp wit, or a striking self-awareness - Mercs 2 is a game that's never content unless it's poking fun at itself. As in the first game, you get to choose from three characters - bearded Swede Mattias, described as ‘the animal', femme fatale Jennifer, and selfstyled leader Chris.

Click here to continue reading our preview of Mercenaries 2 World in Flames for Xbox 360 now!