Bolivarian battlefield

by ERIK LEIJON

Explosion-friendly Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (PS3, X360, PC/EA, Pandemic) plays exactly like its predecessor, which typically would make for a boring review. Either you liked the lawless gameplay, an extensive laundry list of killing methods and dodging gunfire every five seconds, or you have some misguided moral objection towards destroying some foreign country in the name of profit with intermittent shits and giggles.

If you’re in the latter group, then changing the locale from North Korea to Venezuela will seem equally callous. If the thought of shooting some Hugo Chavez look-alike between the eyes is already getting your palms sweaty, be warned that there are constant graphical glitches to contend with, an inconsequential friend and foe system and a horrible weapon balance. No one said war was pretty.

WAR NOT PRETTY:
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames

What’s fascinating about Mercenaries 2—and it wasn’t the hollow gameplay—is the absurd, emotionally-detached premise surrounding the game. I felt a similar ethical twitch when playing EA Montreal’s Army of Two earlier this year: both games star private military soldiers, although this one is far more cringe-inducing by attempting to make the war topical. As you might be aware, Venezuela and the United States are currently less than hospitable, and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has had a few instances early in his leadership where his hold on power seemed tenuous, so naturally a videogame in which the Bolivarian house of cards falls sounds logical.

The result is a multi-pronged war between big Texas-oil backed private contractors, the Venezuelan people, pirates, coalition forces and other nation states. No real people or locations are used, and the story is vapid enough and the violence so cartoonish it would be impossible to be offended.

Well, that last statement is untrue. While the possible cultural insensitivity of making a game based on destroying a political rival seems like a 21st century development on placing a picture of your enemy’s face in front of a dartboard, the game is so buggy and underdeveloped I was personally offended that causing an entire mountainside town to erupt in flames after an airstrike wasn’t as satisfying as it should’ve been. Why are tanks so hard to destroy, but so easy to hijack (by running up to them, no less)?

The main concept in Mercs 2 is, as a hired gun, you can play all sides and accept contracts from anyone with a chequebook, but just grazing the car of a friend will turn the entire cavalry on you—for about a minute before they forget and everything returns to normal. Hell, I was stealing oil from an oil magnate and no one seemed to care.

Mercenaries 2 isn’t the grand political statement it could be, and it won’t even make waves among gamers. Stick with Battlefield: Bad Company for gaming and Lou Dobbs for political outrage.

Cartoon baseball

Mario Super Sluggers (Wii/Nintendo, Namco Bandai) and MLB Power Pros 2008 (DS/2K Sports, Konami) are a couple of leisurely cartoon baseball titles. Power Pros has become a slight obsession in my case, as the game’s batting and pitching systems provide the perfect mix of simplicity and randomness. My only gripes are that the home run derby doesn’t have adjustable outs, and there’s a lack of season mode. Still, a quick exhibition game is ideal during commercial breaks while watching playoff baseball.

Super Sluggers, like the GameCube version, places Mario characters and locales in a jazzed up version of America’s pastime. Items such as Koopa shells, Mario-style level design and super moves are all harmless enough to not detract from the actual baseball action. Mimicking pitching and swinging motions with the Wii remote hasn’t lost its appeal just yet.