correction: you can tag multiple fuel tanks and pick them all up at once. my bad! in my defence the game does not explain this super well. cheers :)

I'll never forgive EA for destroying this studio and this series. EA is where great studios go to die, tragically.

When you’re a kid and this was rated T and the closest thing to gta, it was incredible. I absolutely loved this game just because of the driving and destruction it was peak childhood for many I assume

I think the only line I'll ever remember from this game is "WOOO Bumper cars!"

I'm from Venezuela and remember how wacky it was back in the day to have my city represented in a videogame, downscaled to oblivion. Still feels funny being able to drive from one end of the country to the other in 5 minutes lol

I played the Mercenaries 2 on PS2 and was so confused as to why pistols and motorcycles were in the cutscenes but not the actual game. That was how I learned demakes were really a thing.

I loved everything Pandemic made, Mercernaries 1 & 2, Star Wars Battlefront 1 & 2, Lord of the Ring Conquest, Destroy All Humans, hell I even enjoyed The Saboteur. I still hold a grudge for EA and wonder what could've been if EA hadn't closed them down, what with Battlefront 3 and Mercenaries 3 in development at the time. And yeah that song commercial is still stuck in my head too "OH NO YOU DIDN'T"

I remember being so bummed out that the Deck of 52 was removed in the sequel. I've always had this hope that some day the Deck of 52 would marry the nemesis system in a modern game. Great video! Love this series

This is exactly how I feel about every Just Cause after 2. Yeah it’s flashier and bigger and dumber, but it never gels together the way 2 did

the most vivid memory of this game was the Barack Obama and Sarah Palin DLC pack, it was wild to play those extra missions as them

I remember hearing "Oh No You Didn't" as a kid and thinking it was the funniest shit ever. I never really engaged with the game beyond that tho so it's cool to finally see what it's all about.

I remember as a kid my dad surprised me with this game after school when I became obsessed with the "OH NO YOU DIDN'T" ad and since my dad never really gave super personal gifts it sticks out as a really sweet memory. Another banger video man keep it up

I loved Mercs 2, but even at the time I could tell that the game was unfinished. It needed another 6 months to a year in development. Which is what The Saboteur fees like: a more polished (though less fun) experience.

As a kid, Mercenaries 2 on ps2 was my favorite game. When I enjoyed games like Metal gear solid V and Ghost recon wildlands, I realized i enjoyed them so much because they reminded me of Mercs 2. I didn't enjoy the gunplay necessarily, but rather what it allowed you to do made it stand out from any other sandbox game I played. It was the first time I really felt like I was in charge of something. It wasn't just like GTA where you get in gunfights in an open world, it was a game where you were constantly collecting assets and building a reputation, and it felt rewarding to actually go through with it unprompted. I made it a mission to collect 1 of every vehicle in the game and store it in my stockpile. I had connections with basically all the factions and would pit battles against each other just for the sake of it. I would put NPC's in the gunners seat of my vehicle to try to help them get the greatest killstreak possible. Exploring the map actually felt like being a pioneer because there were so many cool locations that don't even appear in the main story. For example, I was doing a class project about Angel falls in Venezuela for a school project, and I knew about VZ from playing this game, but I didn't know about the waterfall, so I booted up the game to see if it was included and sure enough, The game features the famous waterfall as an Easter egg, which was crazy to me that they would include it in the game but not turn it into a setpiece for the story, it was just something for a curious player to find. I guess as a kid it just checked all the boxes for me, and pretty much every time I play a game that invokes that kind of exploration and faction conflict, to me it always harkens back to this. Although looking at this footage I can't ignore how unbelievably ugly it is lol

I love all videos you put out, but I do just want to thank you extra for always having good subtitles! The accessibility makes the already amazing videos 10x better!

Really like both mercenaries games. They are so much fun. It would be awesome to get a new one but I know that will never happen sadly.

Looking back on it now, it's funny how 2008 was chock full of games where you play as a merc. Mercenaries 2, Army of Two, Far Cry 2, STALKER Clear Sky could kinda count I imagine, likely a few others too. It's a very fitting setting for a video game, which makes me a little nostalgic for that period of time where every big game was about being a merc causing trouble lol.

I’d love to see a remake for both PoD and WiF. Shame we don’t really see games like mercenaries 2 anymore though with destructible environments and multiple factions to juggle for the best equipment.

I still remember the amount of controversy this game just caused in my home country. It was such a masterpiece and the PC/360/PS3 was slightly accurate with the city distribution. They even got my home city kinda right.

Definitely a wonky sequel. (Even if I still prefer it to alot of modern open world games.) I do at least like the greater amount of weapons and the additions of pistols, even if they're kinda pointless. (What's weird is that with a controller, you have two different "Switch gun" buttons so why not make it so Pistols have their own dedicated slot and use the D-Pad weapon switch for that?) I also enjoyed how there were giant ships and oil rigs you could raid and blow up in the world map.

I really appreciate how sincere you are. No memes or over the top references, just qualitycontent on unique obscure topics.

For me the tonal change from the first game was really what soured me. I still enjoyed Mercs 2, I was wickedly hyped for it to release and I remember staying up late playing it on weekends. Just a shame what happened to Pandemic.

I loved both of these games back in the day. I played the Mercs 2 demo on my PS3 sooooo many times before I finally bought it. Mercs 1 is a lot more grounded, but I still think I enjoyed Mercs 2 more overall. To me, there is much more to do outside of the main story, and I've spent a lot more hours in that game just messing around.

If any franchise deserves a comeback, it would be this one for sure

The first game hit the tone just right. The 'deck of 52' not only was 'of its time' in mirroring the supposed deck used during the war on terror in real life but the also created a lore to enemy forces. You felt each one had a job or role and their was a genuine hierarchy which elevated the badness of the main antagonist. The location felt possible, combined with the story that the war was essentially won by the A.N but the missing nukes were literally a ticking time bomb adding a preassure to the story as was the deployment of Chinese troops which could have escalated the conflict. It had the hall marks of a realistic conflict. You could feel tension in the factions and the multiple ways you could play meant there was some desire to replay. The second game seemed to miss the elements that made it great and confuse that with an inflated personality. A bit like someone telling one good joke then thinking their personality was what the group liked and not the quality material they produced. By making the tone jokey, the setting and story contrived and turning from a semi serious game with realistic setting and challenging missions into one with corny jokes, weak characters and a near consequence free environment, they made a fun but shallow playground. On the plus side, the tanks did feel chunky and there was a reward in achieving the annoying quick time events on a high end vehicle. The push at the end to either support the A.N or China was the only real drama and food for thought outside of the game. I wish they would have had the opportunity for a third game that got back to that darker, slightly more serious tone the first game had.

The PS2 version was what I ended up playing as a kid. Never played the real version until somewhat recently. It really just made me miss Mercs 1, that deck of 52 system was just too good.

Wish I could tell you the joy I feel each time I see a new Minimme vid in my feed.

THIS JUST TOOK ME SO FAR BACK INTO MY CHILDHOOD!!! I cannot thank you enough for reminding me of this. Genuinely made my night. Especially the theme song!

Oh no he didn't

The delivery missions are fun "What are you delivering?" "Parrots." "The pirates have you smuggling parrots?" "ARRR"

11:55 "It tried to spin too many plates" followed by the discus thrower statue. Nice touch!

God I'm so glad to see a video about Mercenaries 2. I had the PS2 copy and played the hell out of it on a broken controller through some pretty bad times IRL. It'll always hold a special place in my heart as a defining kusoge of my childhood. Awesome video!

I remember playing this as a kid, that was awesome at the time. I loved gta and other games but this one was always special for me. It was not serious, but I absolutely loved every aspect of it. You can join one team or another, have airstrikes, a lot of vehicles, some kind of economy and cool features like grappling hook (obviously from JC2) and destructions. You can even choose a character and watch cutscene with him, although it would not affect any kind of plot, but that was unique. Gonna download this game on a weekends, thanks for the video!

This was such a blast from the past, and it resurrected so many emotions and memories in me. Thank you so much!

Hi! Actual Venezuelan here. Mercs 2 was indeed very controversial down here when it came out. There was a misinformation campaign going around here that was all about banning the game from being sold under the premise that the game puts you in the shoes of US army soldiers invading Venezuela to seize control of oil supplies, take down the government and mass murder the population. This campaign eventually led to the government trying to ban videogames as a whole, and we even lost stuff like gaming magazines and such for a while. One of my fondest memories as a teenager back in 2009 was to buy some games at a store, they weren't even on display, I had to directly ask for them and the clerk actually went to the back of the store, wrapped them up in black tape and put them in my backpack between my school notebooks. "Make sure the guards don't see you with them and if anything happens, you didn't get them here", he said. It was straight up just like purchasing drugs lmao. The ban on videogames didn't last long, of course. But I always thought it was kinda curious, and it made me wonder back in the day if all those war games that were set in countries like Russia and Germany got banned in their respective countries, even thought they were all telling fiction stories, and I feel that's where some people fails to draw the line. That being said, playing Mercs 2 back in the day and being able to blow up an aparment building that looks pretty much like the one where I live, located in a tiny fictional version of my own city, felt a bit shocking at the time, not gonna lie. P.S.: Great video and review!

As a kid I managed to convince my mum to get me this on ps2, because it was the only GTA clone that wasn’t MA15. Even though looking back it’s genuinely one of the most depressingly scaled back ports of all time, and looks like crap, I absolutely loved it, especially the thick jungle atmosphere, which they managed to pull off better imo than the 360 version, and the destruction/helicopters/tanks all intact, at the time it felt like the first truly sandbox game to me, and wouldn’t be topped until just cause 2 came out

Babe wake up, new minimme video just dropped Imo Just Cause 2 was the real sequel to Mercenaries - it's basically what Mercenaries 2 should have set out to be imo.

Happy persian new year! You got just in time for Norooz!

Finally been waiting for this review! Still making my way through mercenaries 1, after watching your first review.

The first one was so good, really weighty and well paced. Sometimes I think about replaying it

When you mentioned the advert, and a catchy song… something awakened within me

Ohh my GOD the amount of old time gamers I talk about this game with and they dont even know it exists is so painful, this has been my favorite video game of ALL time EVER since the early 2000's. Its the reason why I still have my 360, I always wanted to play the original as well my entire life. Always played POD on the Jampack disc on PS2 since I was 6 and it wasn't until I was 16 I was able to play it remastered for the Xbox1. Best birthday gift ever to my favorite franchise of all time! Thank you so much for making this video and seeing it hit my feed brings a tear to my eye, I will always have this game for life.

as a kid i always loved taking a boat out at night to the little “pirate club/bar” with the lights hanging all around. seemed like such a cool place

I remember getting the ps2 version because the first game was so amazing (for a ps2 game). Hoo boy that was a mistake. Though the biggest issue for me and my brother was at the very end they make you nuke a bunker, but you basically have to be standing at the front door to use it. So getting away from the explosion posed a massive problem for us.

First game I got for the Xbox 360 I remeber it was the only game I could get away with getting everything else was rated m and my dad was super strict about that stuff so this game will always be a personal favorite despite the fact it fell a little short compared to the first one

Wow, this was conicidentally good timing for the video since I literally just remembered this game and wanted to see a modern review of it.

I always wanted to play this series but never got to. Also thanks for this video. I needed something to distract me and you dropped this at the perfect time.

As someone who never had the chance of play the first game, I really liked Mercenaries 2, the soundtrack was great, the vehicle selection simply perfect with actual tanks instead of those wheeled APCs from the first 2 Just Cause games, and even the political backstory was kinda neat despite the cartoonish tone of the game. I remember how badass it was that cutscene around half of the campaign with the Allied Nations and China invading Venezuela. BTW, I´m actually surprised that a game that has you killing tons of people, it manage to get a T rating lol

The "thousand cuts" was a great point. M2 had a lot of little annoying things that wouldn't have been terrible in isolation, but added up to a lesser experience. If the tone and atmosphere and story were good, I might have still ended up liking M2 more. Loved the somber tone of the first game. It had some cringe humor here and there but it wasn't excessive. The second game went full slapstick humor and seemed like it was written by middle schoolers.

So pumped for another video. 😄

Excellent as always. This video is my wake up call that Mercs 2 on PS2 was not in fact the same as it was on 360, I wonder why I have recollection of that.

The environments you could absolutely destroy is the best part of this game

was waiting for this... I greatly enjoyed the first game on PS2, but never actually played this and heard it was the least favorable, but never knew why. I think it'll still be worth a go round 👍 and seeing as it has a PC version, maybe there are mods and community patches too.

Lmao You reviewing this is amazing timing since I'm attempting to recreate all the features of this game within UE5! I've already recreated most of the airstrikes!

Mini your doing amazing work and thank you ! Please keep it up your amazing and your videos are just brilliant!

OH NOOOO, OH NOOOOOO, OH NOOOOOOOOOOOO OH NO, YOU DIDN'T!

I love this game so much. I played it on the 360 and all these complaints with no fall damage must be completely different on this version. As it was brutally hard and I absolutely loved it.

Played Mercenaries 2 a ton as a kid loved it. Been wanting to re visit it and see if I still enjoy it.

Something I haven't seen mentioned is that is the collectables (money crates and I assume fuel. It's been a while since I played) would respawn when a game is loaded. While this stops you from soft locking, it also made it trivial to farm for resources.

I remember the chopper mission on ps2 was almost impossible. Probably took 100 tries a a kid back in the day 😂

I still remember the “oh no you didn’t” commercial as if it came out yesterday. Never heard of Mercenaries until that commercial. Fell in. Love with the game

1 minute in and I have a MASSIVE flashback. For the promo for the game there was the song "oh no you didnt" that would play in the trailers. My friends and I would watch the video on KZfaq over and over again. I got it day 1 on PS2 and got a cool beanie I still have for pre-ordering it. Sold it within a week because I beat it and was a little let down. Remember specifically getting $15 after spending $40. A big loss for a kid. Few years later I got it on PS3 and I enjoyed it quite a bit more. To this day I'll pop it in every once in awhile. EDIT: you mentioned the song 2 seconds later lol

Your uploads have become the most anticipated out of anyone I'm subscribed to.

Oh No You Didn't!!!

That was one of the things I felt when replaying it again recently after replaying the first. Mechanically, it's easily expanded upon and flourishes in content, but I feel like the balance was thrown out the window. At the start of the game, you can make around 12 million by doing the challenge missions for Fiona and by the time you get Ewan, you can do his heli mission on repeat for 5-25 million with ease each payout. The money balance was destroyed and everything felt equally worthless. There was as repair/restock mechanic hidden away but vehicles could very easily be just stolen from you by the game. What the first game did so well, was that you FELT the money spending when you purchased something. If you were to buy something, you'd be extra careful and thoughtful around it. I missed that when playing again. Another thing that you mentioned was another issue of mine, the game was too forgiving with health. The first game had medkits and pretty much non-regenerative health. You had to plan things out to be careful. The second game, fall damage was a like being a feather. I feel like they were supposed to add parachutes as for the fact they never intended you to die when falling high heights. On top of that, dealing with AA was much more harder than it was in the first game. The first one they'd have to lock on and you'd have a heads up immediately and know to evade. The second game had little warning until the missile was already fired. So I assume the spongey fall damage was put in place like a safety helmet to protect you. The story was generally *okay* but a little too joke-y and feeling extremely short in contrast to the first one. It pads out alright if you're hunting all the side objectives/challenges but even then, you can feel how short next chapters feel. One thing that was sad to see as well, was that they pretty much did not give us any proper faction confrontations like the first game. I.e, despite General Peng, for example, boasting how he's excited to take the war directly to them, there was next to no conflict between the factions. It was very rare to see much beyond the tiny scripted border skirmishes. Speaking of Peng as well, they destroyed his character in this game, no longer to the point and cunning but now a jokester with some weird generic Japanese accent. Narratively the game suffered in this realm. It was no longer a game where everyone was using you to get their own leverage over the others, but now just you using them for your own gain. Which isn't inherently bad but it just no longer felt like a "every decision you make, holds an impact on the game" sort of deal. Alas, I could ramble on but I'll spare you with any further ramblings. Happy to see you made this video. In case you weren't aware btw, there was a big interview with loads of the devs like a year ago on the official discord, you should check it out. Shows lots of insight on both games and also never before seen stuff as well from behind the scenes.

A fascinating & well done look at two ports of a similar game, very interesting! I have played the first game on my original Xbox years ago & own the 2nd game for the 360 but haven't played it yet. I wasn't aware of a 6th gen version of the sequel.

One of my favorite games growing up. This thumbnail brought back so many memories😄

My biggest issue with this game was the rampant bugginess, it just really wasn't finished. With that said, the online coop was INCREDIBLE. Even if the game wasn't as good, being able to goof off with a friend never got old. The tank mechanics were also really fun. The good tanks require you to get really far through the game to get ahold of them, and they feel incredibly powerful. Destroying oil rigs was also super fun. Lots of ways to entertain yourself in this game with the map they made.

I'm gonna be honest, I don't think I really agree with the assertion that mercs 1 is better; but it may have something to do with we having played 2 first growing up. All of the mechanics you describe as "death by a thousand cuts", have always felt engaging to me, and when it comes to calling in airstrikes, I always try and have the ones I need equipped to my quick menu before a mission. The QTE's get old fast, but that's hardly unique to Mercs 2, really, it's just what that era of games are. They're easy too, so I really think it's a minor annoyance. It may be easier to Rambo through things as Mattias, but the other characters can't be as bold, as they do not regen health. Also managing ammo can be tough, so strategic use of vehicles and airstrikes can be essential to a smooth mission vs a near-death struggle. Gathering fuel is pretty easy, if you just do it as you go. Call in a pickup when you see a tank, and move on. You'll be swimming in it, so long as you keep on top of actually picking it up. That DOES assume you explore the map and do side content, though, because if you just rush through missions, I can see one running out. Just my views on the game

As a kid I only played the PS2 version, so when you were doing your first video on Mercenaries 1 I was trying to figure out why it looked so familiar. Now I know! Super cool that the PS2 port was both so similar and so different from the PS3 version!

As soon as I saw the mercenaries video I've been waiting for this one loo

Production value in this video is top tier mate

There actually was a way to pick up multiple fuel or munitions in a single run from Ewan. You just had to tag multiple items at once, then call in the chopper. He would pick up whatever the first item you tagged was but all the items you tagged would then be taken with him. This was never explained in the game and I’m pretty sure it was a development oversight. But it was possible

This game holds a special place in my heart. A while ago i managed to get online coop working by using someone's software to make a fake server, and then connecting through LAN. I can't tell you how much i missed this game.

Hell nah you unlocked a childhood memory that was behind a paywall Thank you

Oh dip, I almost forgot these two games existed, even though I loved them way back when (or at least the first one). Mercenaries 1 still has some mechanics I wish would be reused in a modern game. That deck of cards bounty system was super fun.

I remember playing this a lot and a minor detail that I loved was the fact vehicles don't despawn unless they're NPC vehicles or destroyed

Played this on the Xbox 360 somewhat recently because the online functions were being shut down, and I still found it to be pretty fun. There's still simple joy and fun in going around blowing stuff up.

Minimme your back bruvva🎉 Hope all is well❤

I absolutely adored this game franchise! Thanks for the video!

Well done explaining why the 2nd game did not live up to the first. I would also say the atmosphere and graphics of the first game was preferred by me because it felt like a war torn area. The Grindy tasks and quick time events break immersion to often. Great video!! 🎉

I remember that you could pick up more that one fuel tank at the time. You needed to mark them before calling the chopper.

Is there anyway to get the game emulated and be able to play with a friend on pc currently I’ve been trying to get it running to play with my buddy but I didn’t find anything

I played this game so much as a kid. I do appreciate now some aspects like the weirdly accurate depiction of Venezuelan mid-2000s military hardware and the huge number of different airstrikes and stuff that I thought was fun but I'm not sure how I'd feel about it now. Might try it again

I've gotta say, the water effects in Mercenary 2 looked really great for the time and still hold up decently today.

I had the ps2 port growing up and when i saw this video i instantly thought about that turret section. I never could beat that level as a kid and it caused me to just replay the game up to that point over and over

Minimme hits the nostalgia buttons with finesse

One of my favorites of all time. I still miss playing mercenaries 2.

I remember having a lot of fun with Mercs 2 playing with my friend on Live. But I honestly don’t remember a whole lot about it specifically. But Mercs 1 I remember really well, vibes and all.

What would I have to do to play this game today? Would I be able to just buy a ps3 and get mercenaries 2 on eBay or Amazon?

I remember Australia got multiple incompatible versions with no differentiation in boxes and turning to score the same one your friend had was a nightmare

the biggest problem I had with the co-op was that the person joining had to start from scratch instead of porting in their own character and progress, so they had no access to weapons, fuel, or airstrikes. they were basically relegated to a controllable support NPC.

I used to play Mercenaries 2 with my friend a ton back on the 360, was a great time. Sad you can't buy or run it on PC anymore, would be a nice throwback to experience.

Never played it but I remember the "sponsored by" ads for it on Sky One whenever my Dad would watch Star Trek TNG or Voyager

This is one of my favorite games of all time. It's very underrated and I believe it was ahead of its time. The destruction is still, to this day, some of the best you can get from a video game. The only games I can think of that comes close is the Just Cause series.

PS 2 Version of mercs 2 and mercs 1 really made my childhood

The free fuel happened in Edinburgh as well, I remember driving past the que

the cheeseball nuke you get at the end has to be the biggest FU disappointment. With its blinding explosion, massive mushroom cloud, all with a blast radius of a handgrenade.

GOD i appreciate this channel ❤

Wow this brings me back. I had this on ps2 and at the time I thought it was great bc I was never allowed to play gta so it was like the next best thing that I knew of