The slew of games trying to capitalize on Grand Theft Auto's "sandbox" style of gameplay has brought about a bunch of disappointments. Games like True Crime and Driv3r have brought about their share of hype, only to be shunned and booed by gamers and critics alike. Mercenaries is the game that comes the closest to the chaos and destruction brought about by the GTA series by a company that isn't called Rockstar North.

Mercenaries is set in a modern day war in North Korea where different factions of countries are out to take down a dictator by the name of General Song, who killed his father, President Kim and started a coup. A number of countries, such as China, South Korea, the Russian mafia, and the Allied Nations, are fighting to take out Song and his associates (designated by playing cards...hmmm...sounds a tad familiar). You're a member of a secret mercenary group called ExOps who gets contracted to help out in the war while keeping as low of profile as possible. You can choose between three members of the ExOps team, each with different specialties like stealth and speed, demolitions specialists, or those who are walking tanks that are armed to the teeth.

Gameplay is very similar to the likes of the older and newer GTA games. You gain contracts through the different factions to perform certain tasks and to gain respect from them. Usually, you'll find yourself taking a contract from one faction to backstab another...all in the life of a freelance merc. In return for your services, aside from the obvious paycheck, you'll also gain intelligence on the "deck of 52" starting with the business men that finance Song's armies, all the way up to his closest generals. You'll get into trouble if you fall too far from grace with factions as they'll become hostile and attack you on sight...so you're best left to keep everyone as happy with you as possible.

Anyone who has played any of the GTA games will be able to pick this one up right away, as controls are very similar both while on foot and driving around the countryside. One difference is that the vehicles you drive are a little flaky at times, whereas the light armored carriers can take turns like formula cars, but can easily be toppled by a rock or tree. Tanks have the ability to roll over anything in their paths, yet they tend to jump in the air while going over train tracks. Just small nuances here, but should totally be mentioned. You can honk the horn near friendly soldiers and have them pile in and come along for the ride with you. Any vehicle that isn't civilian has a gun mounted on it so you can perform drivebys on the evil North Koreans that sprinkle the countryside. One lacking aspect of this is that friendly soldiers don't have great aim, and if you run out of the vehicle to fight a skirmish, they won't follow and tend to just stick around the vehicle. You'll also find them shooting at empty hillsides and totally ignoring the action that's going on around them, so don't count on them for much help...you're better off going at it alone.

As you're taking down all the cards in the "deck of 52", you'll gain intelligence on how to get the Ace of the suit, which will bring you one step closer to getting your hands on General Song. Intelligence and info on your missions are held in your PDA which keeps tabs on all the helpful email that you're provided, stats on your progress, info on the deck of cards, and also allows you to get onto the Merchant of Menace website where you can spend your hard earned bucks on buying perks like air strikes, mortar support, vehicles, and supply drops.

While the core gameplay is pretty fun and addictive in and of itself, the true icing on the cake is the destruction you can cause. You are capable of destroying anything of your path, such as buildings, vehicles, and entire towns...all without the worries of the cops and FBI coming in to take you down. You'll find yourself commandeering a tank and wasting time taking out farm houses and buildings to fulfill your sadistic needs. Is a stubborn structure not coming down easy? Call up a strategic missile strike or mortar barrage to take it down or just destroy everything around it.

Just to get gripes aside, loading times are a tad annoying. You have to go through two loading screens when you start and load the game as well as when you start a new mission. Load times only last a minute or two, but they tend to break the overall flow. Thankfully you don't have any load times while aimlessly roaming the countryside. Another gripe is that you don't have an option to load a previous game when you die; you only have the option to continue which sets you back a thousand bucks and places you at the local Allied MASH. You have to exit the game and load your save from the main menu which results in about three more loading screens for you to sit through. Smoke 'em if you got 'em...you'll have time. Another useful feature would have been an auto save option when you complete a mission. I automatically assumed there was one and failed to save after beating two missions only to have to do them over again the next evening. That could just be my fault though. I'm man enough to admit my mistakes halfway sometimes.

Not only does Mercenaries play great, it looks great as well. The North Korean countryside and the cities that litter it are well detailed and very lifelike. Vehicles show damage and have smoke and fire effects when they're about to go kaput. All of the characters you play are well designed and the baddies you take out don't look bad either...albeit not as good as you look. Explosions are very satisfying and crumbling buildings collapse realistically in clouds of dust. The game's draw distance doesn't go very far out and there's a good amount of fog being used, but that's just another minor gripe.

Mercenaries also has an epic soundtrack along with it, it sounds perfect for a war game of this type. A lot of it is forgettable, but sets the mood just fine. Guns, explosions, and vehicles (both ground and air) all sound great and pack a punch when needed, although skids and the noise you make when you jump a hill sound a little weak and tinny. Voice acting is well done and features Carl Weathers who was Apollo Creed in the original Rocky movie playing Chris (the aforementioned walking tank). All the other players sound great; especially the actors that play the leaders of the factions you're hired for. Talk about making a blanket statement.

If you found yourself setting things on fire and making makeshift pipe bombs as a kid, then Mercenaries is definitely a game for you. There's nothing like the (almost) total freedom of destroying everything and everyone in your path with minimal consequences that just makes this reviewer stiff as a board, so to speak. The fun never seems to stop as you have plenty to do whether it be the game's main missions, the small side missions along the way, or finding a hidden bunker of baddies, you won't find an ounce of tedium in this game despite clocking in at over twenty plus hours of game time, Mercenaries without a doubt will give you the biggest bang for your buck.

- Brad Hicks (aka Dr. Swank), SwankWorld Media