Graphics

Now let's discuss the graphical quality of the game. As can be expected, the PC version of Mercenaries 2 outshines its console counterparts to a great degree, despite its being a console port of the Xbox 360 version. Character models, water effects, and shadows look decent but are still lackluster compared to many of the today's games. Even so, the overall design of the game has made for some beautiful scenery that is definitely eye catching. The 360 and PS3 versions are nearly identical in their presentation, the only noticeable difference being the higher contrast given to the game for the PS3. Nonetheless, players will be equally pleased or displeased regardless of which console they use.

The one element that I feel that deserves the most attention is the game's performance during the huge explosions. I find this particularly important since destruction is one of the major selling points of the game. While the PC's frame rates held fairly steady at 50+ frames per second throughout the game on a machine using an 8800GT with an overclocked dual-core processor and plenty of RAM, frame rates dipped severely into the teens whenever fire and flying debris fills a good portion of the screen. This of course is dependent on how far the game's camera is from an explosion and the size of the structure being blown up, but for a game that prides itself on mass destruction you'd think it would handle such effects much better. Players who own the PS3 and 360 version of the game can expect an even greater hit as many explosions reduce performance to that of a beautiful slide show.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7orrAp5utnZOde6S7zGiqoaenZH93fZRobg%3D%3D