...apart from some cool explosive effects and solid controls, Mercenaries 2 is utterly mediocre in almost every sense that matters. From the initial sorties onwards it's bogged down by the worst kind of brain-dead cannon fodder enemies, lead-you-by-the-hand level design, arbitrary boundaries, and some technical howlers. It lacks challenge, excitement, personality and any real verve whatsoever.

One of the fundamental problems is the AI of enemies. We've seen plenty of action games with dumb enemies, but those in Mercs 2 rank very near the bottom of the list. They show almost no signs of intelligence other than raising alarms or occasionally moving to a vacated gun emplacement. We regularly saw enemies stood motionless between buildings, firing RPGs at us from touching distance and driving into each other

Mercenaries 2 seems balanced for two players more so than one. Especially since, in co-op, your teammate can revive you if you die. They just have to get near you, hit the proper button, and you're back on your feet. In single-player, death kills you, so to speak. It helps to communicate, as one man's explosion can often be his friend's untimely demise. With two people calling in air strikes, these can get pretty crazy on screen. There's something eerily poetic about laying a hail of bullets on an enemy as your face is awash in the glow of a nuclear detonation. Co-op is a powder keg of goodness.

There’s also the occasional odd visual glitch or letdown. Scooting about in a chopper, at one point, we were engulfed in the thickest fog of war seen this side of an RTS. Other glitches saw the AI spot our position even though we were obscured from view, and our support chopper got stuck on the environment on more than one occasion. That said, these aren’t deal breakers. For a virtual world that spans 8 square kilometres we guess this sort of stuff is, at times, unavoidable.

But what makes the game a true standout is how streamlined its design is — the controls are extremely approachable and players are trained slowly in their use. Rather than inserting endless fill-in dialogue, "Mercenaries 2" makes in-depth data on characters, locations and story elements available for optional reading through an intuitive menu interface. The overall effect is that players can concentrate on everything there is to do in the game world without getting stuck in an overburdened story or overcomplicated controls.

how come the people said..co-op offline mode also can..i already buy this MERCENARIES 2..only xboxlive ..stupid info

i agree about the ai being brain-dead. what i like about the game is their explosion, free roaming and how ruckus the world is. other than that it's just mediocre.

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is the upcoming sequel to 2005's Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, due for release in the US on August 31, 2008 and in Europe on September 5, 2008, as confirmed by the official website. It is being developed by Pandemic Studios and published by Electronic Arts. The game is set in Venezuela.

:: Features ::

* Destructible environments
* Offline and online co-operative mode
* A fire effects engine that allows the player to ignite things such as oil, foliage, and trees and the ability to swim
* Powered by the Havok 4.5 physics engine
* New vehicles such as boats have been added
* Hijacking now consists of a small minigame, ranking in difficulty relative to the vehicle being hijacked
* Ability to build a Private Military Company and recruit mercenaries into it