Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
Tags: violence

Plot synopsis:
=== Beginning ===
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is set in August 2010 in Venezuela. The story begins as the player approaches businessman Ramon Solano's villa. The player is greeted by a man named Blanco, who worked with the player in the past. In the meeting inside the villa, Solano hires the player to rescue a Venezuelan Army General Carmona who is being held prisoner in an old colonial fortress on an island off the coast by the Army after a failed coup attempt. The player uses weapons and air strikes supplied by Solano to assault the fortress and rescue Carmona. But once Carmona is rescued, Solano attempts to murder the player to avoid paying and to make sure there is no one to interfere with his plans. The player escapes despite being "shot in the ass", and begins to plan revenge on Solano.
Following a second successful coup by Carmona, Solano is chosen as the "civilian leader of a military government". Solano attempts to seize control of the country's oil supply, which is held by a company called Universal Petroleum (UP). Fierce fighting ensues between Universal Petroleum's hired mercenaries and the Venezuelan Army (referred to as the VZ in the game) under Solano's control. This results in the collapse of the country, especially in the city of Maracaibo, where the UP's overseas headquarters is located. This chaos drives people from their homes and causes widespread property damage. After taking control over Solano's villa, the player establishes their private military company (PMC) and helps the causes of the factions in exchange for money and information on Solano. This includes capturing VZ outposts, "verifying" High Value Targets (or "HVTs" for short) by either capturing or killing them, destroying key structures, and doing other work that the faction's forces cannot accomplish.
The mercenary first works for Universal Petroleum in the city of Maracaibo. The merc is given his first proper contract by the CEO Dr. Lorraine Rubin, to rescue a high-ranking member of UP held by the VZ somewhere in the city of Maracaibo. Eventually, the mercenary finds him in an armored van on one of the main roads in the city and rescues him.
The player's next contract involves the protecting of the CFO of UP, currently stranded at the UP oil refinery. The refinery was evacuated due to Solano's "nationalization" program, which involved the overtake of the refinery. The CFO remained there in order to dispose of secret documents. The mercenary protects the CFO while he disposes of the documents, before they themselves escape as the refinery is overtaken by the VZ. During a conversation in the car on the way back to Maracaibo, the CFO reveals that Universal Petroleum didn't trick the country into letting them extract the oil for virtually nothing, but in fact that they tricked the country into paying UP for the oil rights.
At their return, Rubin gives the player the time of the meeting between Solano and Blanco, but doesn't know the location of the meeting. She then suggests that the merc should go to the PLAV, or the People's Liberation Army of Venezuela, for information.
Around this time, the player can choose to work with a faction of Jamaican-based pirate smugglers operating in the islands of the north section of Lake Maracaibo. Involvement with the "Pirates" does not alter the gameplay and the Pirates only offer HVT, bounty, and small contracts in exchange for money. There are no main contracts supplied by the Pirate leader, making them useful only for their superiority of the North section of Lake Maracaibo and their cheap equipment they can sell to the mercenary.
The merc meets with the PLAV (People's Liberation Army of Venezuela), a group of rebel guerrillas intent on taking the country back to civilian rule. The faction is backed by China, which is intent on gaining oil rights. The leader, Marcella Acosta, offers the mercenary some contracts in exchange for information, including taking of the town of Mérida from the Venezuelan army. After several contracts, Marcella conveniently tells the mercenary she knows the location of the meeting between Solano and Blanco and offers a final contract to destroy the oil platform the meeting is on and verify Blanco.
Upon verifying Blanco and destroying the oil platform, the player learns of Solano's hidden bunker at Angel Falls and attempts to destroy it, but fails as it is hardened against normal bunker buster weapons. Shortly after, the player is forced to defend their own headquarters from Carmona and VZ troops. After repelling the attack and verifying Carmona, it is revealed that sinking the oil platform triggered an international response. As expected by Carmona, a large coalition of US-led Allied Nation troops from the original game (an imitation of the UN) and the Chinese move into the country. However, Carmona and his men hold on to the country thanks to an agreement with North Korea which gives them advanced weaponry and training. The AN is supposedly a peacekeeping and nation-rebuilding force for war-torn countries (as seen in North Korea), but the player finds that at the center of the operation is a CIA agent named Joyce, who was ordered to secure the oil supply when it became clear that their allies, Universal Petroleum, could not do so. The Chinese Army invaded when it became clear that the PLAV only wanted to stop Blanco and Carmona for personal reasons rather than overthrow the new government. Both factions battle for control of Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela, and the oil supply.
=== Allied plotline ===
As the Allies invade, they begin to make posts across the country, and heavily reinforce the city of Maracaibo, the location of the Universal Petroleum headquarters, and set their own headquarters south-west of Caracas, wishing to expand into the city with the help of the mercenary.
A CIA agent named Agent Joyce offers contracts in exchange for a Nuclear Bunker Buster. The first contract involves stopping the Chinese bombardment on the city using both artillery and boats.
The next contract is to destroy a CIA plane wreck on the nearby Chinese occupied island of Margarita and rescue the surviving crew as a bonus.
When the merc returns, they find Joyce crippled in a wheelchair due to an IED, as part of a small attack on the AN base. Apparently, Solano had found out that Joyce was working with the mercenary and set to "disuade" him. The final contract is to stop the impending Chinese invasion of Caracas. The mercenary is also told to "verify" General Peng, leader of the Chinese campaign in Venezuela. As the Chinese invade, the Allies prepare a counterstrike, and the mercenary secures the city and makes their way to Peng's castle near Cumaná, another occupied city to the east, causing the player to become an enemy of the state to the Chinese. Eventually, the mercenary makes their way to the castle and verifies Peng, saving the Allies from major defeat in the region. The player meets with Joyce, who gives them the money promised but refuses to hand over the nuke. However, they then see a mushroom cloud in the distance, and Fiona, the mercenary's support operative, tells them that Solano just nuked the Allied HQ. Solano then broadcasts over the city that if Allied troops do not evacuate the country immediately, more destruction will follow. Joyce is told by his superiors he must retreat back to America, and gives the mercenary the weapon to stop Solano.
=== Chinese plotline ===
China invades Venezuela to secure another source of oil to meet their growing demand. The allied take control of Margarita, an island in the northeast portion of the map, and the outskirts of the Allied-controlled city of Cumaná.
Soon after, the faction pays the mercenary to take various outposts around the city. After this, they meet with General Peng, who was promoted after his successful campaign in North Korea. Peng reveals he is glad the mercenary is back, and offers him a series of contracts in exchange for a nuclear weapon. The Allies are holding a Chinese soldier hostage in the center of Cumaná. To Peng's annoyance, the Chinese are ordered to halt operations until the soldier is saved. Peng tells the mercenary that in his first contract, he must rescue the soldier, and for a bonus, destroy the three key Allied-controlled buildings in the city. The Chinese then occupy the city for themselves. The second contract is to secure the oil for China by eradicating Universal Petroleum by:
Destroying the General Carmona bridge linking Maracaibo to Caracas and the bulk of the AN forces
Destroying the Universal Petroleum HQ in Maracaibo
Destroying the Universal Petroleum processing plant, thus rendering it useless.
The mercenary levels the buildings, leaving only ruins. China then secures the country's oil.
Peng offers the player his last contract, leading the Chinese assault on Caracas by verifying CIA operative Agent Joyce at the Allied HQ, destroying key Allied Nation occupied buildings in the city, and stopping any counterstrike from the AN. After battling through Caracas, the mercenary eventually gets to the Allied HQ and verifies Joyce. In Caracas, they meet with Peng, who tells the mercenary that the nuke and the cash are being delivered as they speak. They are interrupted in their conversation by a mushroom cloud going off in the distance, with Fiona revealing that the Castle of Saint Anthony near Cumaná, the Chinese base, was destroyed by Solano. Solano then broadcasts over the city that if Chinese troops do not withdraw from the country, more devastation will follow. Peng is ordered by Chinese superiors to return to China, and wishes the mercenary the best of luck with their final mission.
=== Ending ===
The player returns to Solano's bunker in a second attempt to destroy it. After fighting through Solano's heavier defenses, the player uses the nuclear bunker buster to blast open an entrance. Solano almost escapes the ruins in a helicopter, before the player hijacks it and kills the pilot. The player confronts Solano, with Solano begging for his life. The merc shoots Solano then bails out of the helicopter. If the player has captured all of the game's HVTs prior to capturing Solano, then Solano is knocked out and captured by the player, who calls the faction leader of the side assisted in the battle for Caracas, and informs them of this fact, wanting revenge for Solano nuking their HQ. The end cutscene does not change, however. The game ends with Fiona declaring Solano "Verified" on her laptop and talking about moving to India for their next contract.

Review: Forget the bad reviews, this game is brilliant. I came across Mercenaries 2 for very cheap in a second hand store and assumed that the low price meant that it would be an inferior game, but since I needed a game to play I just went for it. I was a little apprehensive about the negative reviews but once I started playing I was instantly hooked. They complained of glitches, but there really ain't any more than your average video game.Since I only had the Gamecube out of the last generation consoles I never got to play the first Mercenaries game, but it matters not. This is a stand alone sequel. You play as one of three characters (I chose Marcus Nilsson) hired and betrayed by a Venezuelan leader called Solano. The rest of the game is your hunt to find and kill Solano, working for various factions in order to gain info and supplies.The missions are all of the hunt/kill/rescue/deliver variety.I found some of them to be rather difficult but I never had to retry more than five times, so that ought to give you an idea of the overall difficulty. There are plenty of trophies too, but, annoyingly, a lot of them are rewarded for online play, which I am not really interested in.There are loads of guns and explosives and vehicles for you to experiment with, and almost everything in the entire gaming environment is destructible. I loved demolishing a towering skyscraper with a C4 package, tank or even air strike.Pros:Bright, colorful graphics featuring loads of sunshine and blue sky. Good music by Chris Tilton. Great voice acting by Peter Stormare. Grim satisfaction in gunning down adversaries and getting paid for each one.Cons:Annoying long drives between destinations. Timer on bets with friends used unfairly. Fiona's repetitious dialogue got on my nerves.The cheap price is not a reflection of quality. If you find this game don't hesitate to pick it up.Graphics A Sound A+ Gameplay A- Lasting Appeal A-. Stanleys Stamp Of Approval: This Game Is A Blast!. I loved Mercenaries, and when i heard about the second one, I was pumped. A few days later I saw a commercial and I told all my friends about it. Then I played it, and I was hooked for hours. The first one was amazing. The second one is amazingly awesome. You can have the usual helicopters, trucks, tanks, cars, and including some new stuff, like motorcycles, sports cars, and yes, a moped. You are in Venesuela, so there is an obvious Venesuela setting, with a soundtrack to match it. The environment is destructible, for example, if your driving a tank, and you see a non-sturdy house you can plow right through it. So its a bit more destructive than the first. So it I were you, I would take the money you got, go out, and immediately buy it. Its a game you wont leave easily!!! -$tanley