When most people looked at the original Mercenaries, the first thing that came to mind was "oh great, another Grand Theft Auto clone." After playing the game, they realized how much fun the game really was. It was like being in an actual war and you could do whatever you wanted. Shoot countless enemy soldiers, hijack vehicles and helicopters, and rain fire down on lots of buildings with limitless airstrikes. Basically it was about blowing shit up and making lots of money doing it. Of course you still had to capture or kill the "Deck of 52" as well. Now Mercenaries 2 is finally here and it still follows the same premise as its successful original. Blow even more stuff up and enjoy every minute of it...now in co-op as well.

Even though you get to cause massive amounts of destruction, there is still a storyline here. Mercenaries 2 is a story about revenge. This is what happens when you don't pay your bill to the Merc and shoot them to boot. That's right, you performed a job in the basic tutorial to set up the game. Then as you return from the successful mission your client, Ramon Solano, repays you by shooting you. That's right he shoots you, and of all places, he shoots you in the ass. So, sore ass and all, what does a merc do now? Simple, find every weapon you can and blow Ramon Solano and the rest of Venezuala back into the stone age. The story overall plays out like your typical action movie without the likeness of Stallone or Schwarzenegger, but of course I'm sure you'll be spitting out some one liners while you wreak havok everywhere.

You can choose between three different characters, each with different styles and abilities.

Once completed the vehicle is yours to wreak havok in so do whatever you wish. Destruction does come at a price though since you can't kill civilians. Killing them will result in collateral damage and a loss of money so watch what you destroy. Of course if you have some money to burn then be my guest and blow them up too.

Different factions also play a role here. Among them you'll find Universal Petroleum, the People's Liberation Army of Venezuela, the Chinese army, the Allied Nations, and the Rastafarian Pirates. Each faction offers their own sets of missions for you to accomplish. Remember Merc that a specific faction has to like you to get missions from them, plus they won't shoot you either. Also remember that doing missions for one faction may irratate another faction so after completing that mission you might want to score some "brownie points" with a rival faction to get more missions from them. Factions can also give you tips on capturing or killing specific enemy targets that you must find as well as acquiring different airstrikes and vehicles. So in the end, making good with the different factions can help you accomplish your goals even though you'll piss them off from time to time.

The graphics and sounds in Mercenaries 2 are very nice here. The Venezuelan countryside and cities look great, but let's face facts...we're not here for a little tour of the country, we're here to destroy it. The explosions from the airstrikes are a sight to behold here. The effects of leveling a building look fantastic and leave you wanting more. You can see and hear the bullets whiz right past you. The roar of the V8 engines in the cars sound almost realistic. The helicopters and tanks even sound awesome. The sounds of your bombs are out of this world. The overall looks and sounds make you feel like your in a warzone and it's all good.

So what's new with Mercenaries 2...that would be multiplayer. Now two players can have the satisfaction of destroying the world either locally or on Xbox Live. Co-op is of a drop-in, drop-out style and not effect the gameplay one bit. Blowing shit up with your friends makes Mercenaries 2 even more enjoyable as well as keeping the replay value of the game high. You can join anyone's game and help them through any mission or just wreak havok with them. So if your having trouble with a specific mission, dial in a friend and destroy the world together, you can see who causes the most destruction, or even kick the living crap out of each other...do whatever you wish. It is a sandbox game as you know.

While everything I've describled to you so far makes you drool in excitement, there are some issues that detract from the destructive fun although you might not care. Speech between in game characters, not cutscenes, are somewhat limited. You'll hear the same lines so many times that it may drive you nuts. After awhile you might as well kill them just for talking because your tired of the same line over and over again. Also the enemy AI can have he IQ of the village idiot. Sometimes they just stand there and do nothing even when they try to shoot you. Basically that makes them a sitting duck to your weapons or of course you can melee them as well. Your allies can also be a little retarded especially when you call them over to get into a vehicle to assist you. These are just small issues, but as I said earlier, you'll be too busy blowing shit up to even care about it.

In summary, Mercenaries 2 has everything you've been looking for in a sandbox game. It has your ass kicking mercs, plenty of vehicles to drive or destroy, loads of missions to accomplish, plenty of enemies to kill, plenty of places to demolish, and of coarse lots of money to make. It gives you all of this while having the feeling of being in an actual warzone. The inclusion of multiplayer co-op is a sweet bonus that will have players coming back for more. Sure there might be some distractions from making it perfect, but you're not going to care because you'll be too busy blowing shit up which can make this a great game to blow off some steam especially if you having "one of those days." After playing Mercenaries 2 it also might have you saying "Grand Theft who."