I have a bit of a confession to make here. I completely missed the original game on the Xbox and PS2 those many moons ago, but from what my brain can remember from back in the day, it seemed to be a Grand Theft Auto for the “let’s blow stuff up” generation. Pandemic have had much success in this field with not just this franchise, but Destroy All Humans and its sequels pulling their weight too. Maybe it’s best to come into this with no game time under my belt from the previous excursion. Only one way to find out.

The story begins with you taking control of the hero from the first game, Mattias Nilsson, as he does a job (for money of course) for a wealthy businessman by the name of Ramon Solano. Once said mission is done, you are then double-crossed by Mr. Sharp Suit and have to make a break for it to stay alive. After getting away, with a memento to show for it, namely a bullet in the backside, Mattias starts to plan his revenge and enlists some friends both old and new to help get revenge, whatever the cost.

The first couple of missions settle you into the game very nicely and you really get a sense of fun from Mercenaries 2. Within minutes you have a grenade launcher in hand and are trying to see just how far you can launch an enemy soldier from the impact. The graphics, in my opinion are on par with the other big South American style exploratory violence-fest, Just Cause, with this game just edging it because of one major thing…