Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction (XB/PS2, 2005)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-7.5 Control-7/6* Challenge-7.5 Story-6.5
Level Design-7? Frustration-7.5/8.5* Fun-7 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7
*Capturing all leaders
*When trying to land a chopper or snipe while being attacked or find a landing zone
+
Highly destructible environment and you start off with C4 (can blow up entire buildings with certain turrets and air strikes, some skyscrapers can be demolished)
Three different playable characters (Chris Jacobs (black american) - resilient but slow+speaks korean, Jennifer Mui (Asian Brit) - better sneaking (she doesn't get detected at all if on foot outside of an enemy's cone of vision)+speaks chinese, Mattias Nilsson ("Swede") - fast and tough+speaks russian)
Various vehicles and you can steal enemy vehicles (jeeps, tanks, APCs, rocket truck, helicopters - these also have a winch for carrying and dropping objects; enemies can also steal yours if you leave them behind). Can run over enemies. Can also hijack a helicopter as it's taking off or jump out of a jeep while it's moving - cool!
Good weapon variety (stun and frag grenades, explosives with remote triggers, rocket launcher, shotgun, anti-air and anti-tank missile launchers, rifles and machine guns, sniper rifle, scopes for some other weapons (?), air (and other) support - for picking up captives and taking out artillery, homing rocket launcher on two of the choppers - first one only gets two shots though)
Fairly unusual setting (North Korea)
Fight alongside a bunch of CPU allies (you'll also come across NPCs or different factions fighting against each other and can choose to join in or not)
Can change allegiances (the game shows a faction's gauge going up or down depending on your actions; Pirates!). Can also bribe a hostile faction at their HQ. Some gates only open for vehicles of a certain faction
Satisfying explosions and they send enemies flying
Pretty good map system (marks the next objective+your location+side mission locations, mini-map which also shows side missions (dollar signs)+wanted enemy leaders/cards+faction areas in blue+enemy and ally aerial vehicles+restricted areas in red where you'll be killed if you enter)
Rescue/Medivac feature (costs some money but it's cheap at 1k, also restocks you+repairs your vehicle if you drove/flied to the MASH - see notes below, you also end up getting medivaced automatically if you get KO'd as long as you have $1k)
Basic stealth (stay disguised as long as no one saw you get into a vehicle belonging to their faction (can also move far enough away from where you were seen to re-disguise), lose the disguise if a faction's officer spots you; sniping, alarm towers - can also trigger them in an allied base, sneaking on foot doesn't really work - see below). Can also sneak better as Jennifer though it's not that useful?
Shop from anywhere outside (vehicles, weapons and ammo, explosives, air strikes; wares are delivered to you via helicopter drops - similar to JP: Lost World (MD) and later used in Just Cause)
Decent variety (defense/holdout missions, can choose to capture and extract or kill wanted enemy leaders/cards (capturing yields more money), air strike and satellite guiding with a laser, retrieval/collection, steal vehicles to sell to the russian chopshop, escort and rescue missions, some side missions (racing against the clock, maintaining minimum speed for x meters, destroy NK jeeps under a time limit, taxi rides, etc) - mostly decent, ). Decent freedom in how you use your weapons and vehicles to tackle a mission
Some voiced assistance and commentary (occasionally the instructions and comments are too obvious)
Can investigate units and objectives for more info with the binoculars
Crouching stance (weapon effectiveness is increased during it, can move but the stance is automatically left if you start running; L3)
Less blurry and bloomy than on XB
Some funny dialogue (pretty cheesy overall)
Most main missions take place in the same instance of the game world (unlike in Spider-Man 2 or Incredible Hulk: UD). Ace contracts are an exception
Can abandon or retry a mission via the pause menu - keep playing where you left the mission with minimal interruption
Can listen in on some radio transmissions talking about how things are progressing
Optional side objectives/bonus conditions during most of the main missions
Different ending depending on which faction you help the most and if you stopped the nuclear missiles or not
+/-
Mostly non-linear structure with two large hub areas (gain access to 15 minor side missions after the first main one, linear main story structure until after you've done one mission for each faction - after that you can choose who to work for and when for the most part (for ace leader missions you can't choose), can also capture some clubs/leaders outside of the main missions by following clues picked up during missions, optional side objectives/bonus conditions during most of the main missions, gain access to the second hub area after finishing enough missions - ?, work for the south koreans becomes unavailable at one point (after the timed artillery mission at the NE gate even if you beat it in time), not much point in going back to the first hub after getting to the second - can only do the leftover side missions at that point)
No hard ability gating besides using a chopper, fast ground vehicle or an air strike for certain missions
Save anywhere outside of contracts/missions (multiple slots, character and time taken only)
Can only carry two different guns at a time - not flexible enough at times and you can't mark where a weapon you didn't pick up was (later on you can bring supplies in though)
No lock-on but some aim assist when on foot - not very reliable as it moves kinda slow and sometimes just drops the aim (a bit worse with Nilsson maybe? - nothing about this in the guides)
No dodge or block moves - would've been useful vs rockets (you're expected to take damage here and there in the game). Dodging anti-air in a chopper is also near impossible though if you know where they are you can sometimes sneak up on them
Partial HP regen (up to 20 HP only)
The mini-map rotates with you as you turn (can't turn this off but it does always mark where North is)
Can't pick up items while in a vehicle besides the helicopters
Limited ammo for all non-melee weapons
Can't identify people and vehicles with a weapon's scope - have to use the binoculars (R3)
Can move ammo/armor/cargo crates around with the melee attack/bash
Can shoot a supply crate's chopper pilot to get the chopper (non-allied supplies only)
Can run into soldier NPCs outside of HQs but nothing happens (they just get displaced). Civilians on the other hand get killed and you lose money for it
Keeps track of various stats like amount of saves and shots fired but doesn't rank you on them
Non-interactive dialogue
Racing challenges progressively get harder in terms of the time limit depending on how many you've beaten rather than certain ones being harder than others (some routes are also simply harder to get through) - eventually they become impossible!
Game goes into slow motion/survival mode when near death (can help but the screen also gets a strong red tint and you can hear your heartbeat which can be stressful)
Exaggerated physics (sometimes good such as when running into other vehicles or jumping via ramps, sometimes bad - see below, oddly low weight to cargo boxes - can bash these and have them move quite a bit)
Can't switch character during the game
The map doesn't show railroads - these can be used to get past roadblocks when escaping bases
Can't carry health packs with you for later use
Can't grab ledges while jumping
Some missions are very short (first helicopter mission for the russians, )
Allied soldiers forget about you being in a vehicle a bit too quickly (and then think you're the enemy if you honk at them) - can just honk but you lose the disguise which sometimes feels clunky such as when a certain faction should know that you're on a mission be expecting certain vehicles
Grenades are a bit weak for how few you can carry - sometimes need 2-3 to take out a fuel tank or fuel truck
Respawning enemies at certain enemy structures (can be destroyed)
Only certain turrets can be fully rotated (the others are often useless because of this)
Sometimes have to work for a different faction than the one you want
Very little platforming and seemingly no ladders (would've helped with sniping at times)
No difficulty options
No armor or health bar upgrades
Generally can't choose which vehicle to use for Ace missions
Some enemies are really good at dodging rockets
-
Some control/interface issues (no camera quick turn button (also can't shoot opposite to the direction the camera is facing), unskippable in-game cutscenes and briefing scenes, no control config besides inverted Y axis for aiming/looking around and aiming speed (horizontal axis isn't flipped if inverting the y axis - I could eventually fix this by using dshidmini in PCSX2 (scptoolkit didn't work for this particular thing for some reason), can't map jump to X - can do it in emulation but then accelerate is mapped to circle), two different buttons for exiting a vehicle (for different functions but a button combo would've been better; exit without allies exiting, exit all, make allies exit only), etc), the character descriptions aren't particularly informative gameplay-wise, pop-up style tutorial messages that pause gameplay and are sometimes repeated (the game does have non-pausing ones for context sensitive actions with triangle so what gives), can't check a mission and say no then come back later, somewhat slow map movement while the view is zoomed in, kind of unfinished feeling physics when trying to climb steep slopes, the game is overly picky about landing zones for helicopters and you can only load a carried wanted leader into a helicopter from one side even if it's open on both sides, somewhat slow cutscenes when taking someone down which also flip the camera around afterwards, somewhat slow screen transition when going out of a menu back to gameplay, using L1 to exit a vehicle (only way to exit without others doing it too) sometimes triggers a grenade throw, the camera zooms in rather than the wall becoming transparent when your back is up against a wall - gives you a worse overview to the sides, a vehicle parked by the player will switch places somewhat after entering and exiting a faction's HQ, weapons lying on top of each other or on top of a leader/card can get in the way of what you want to pick up, can't place map markers - would've been useful for where you parked your chopper or another vehicle (or allied forces which also aren't shown on the map) for example, annoying how the game pauses when you gain a new inventory item, tanks accelerate too slowly and gunship choppers turn too slowly, sometimes have to mash the button to hijack a vehicle or it doesn't register, sometimes trying to use an air support item right after gaining it doesn't work, incredibly annoying how your sights get tossed around if you get shot while trying to snipe, satellite aim is too zoomed in)
Can't give other orders to allied soldiers than summon to vehicle and get out of vehicle - telling them to move out of the way of your vehicle, retreat, give cover fire or take cover would've been useful
Some trial & error (surprise reinforcements, if you say no to a side mission after entering a vehicle then it's gone forever - you might just've wanted to grab the vehicle for now, so-so draw distance for people and some fog, focusing on working for the South Koreans seems to be the fastest way to get continuous access to armed helicopters - can get an allied one around the mid-game but it can't be upgraded with rockets, when to use air support during some missions - sometimes need to scout ahead and reload pretty much, inspector rescue mission in the northern area)
An allied helicopter can show as an enemy on the map if you're in a vehicle of a different faction and don't honk at them (made me accidentally shoot at a reinforcement helicopter once)
Sometimes stupid allied AI in terms of friendly fire and shooting deck 52 members/key enemies (which you should capture instead)
Some tedious aspects (a chopper can sometimes disappear if parked outside of a faction HQ (or even at the helipad at the MASH camp!) after taking on a mission there, near impossible to snipe certain chopper pilots, no checkpoints - can die in one hit from some attacks and from falling, dead space - after three missions you'll be able to buy new vehicles and have them delivered to you however it takes a while before you get proper fast travel via helicopter unless you kill the pilot of a supply helicopter (and travel distances between bases can get pretty long, also even in a chopper it takes a while to get across the map and they are pretty rare until you gain them as a supply drop (even then you have to finish all missions for certain factions to gain the armed ones as a supply drop - I never did), can teleport but only to one spot on the map which isn't at any faction base), too easy to die from falling - even falling about the same length as your own height can kill you if you're low on health (can even take damage from running down a steep slope as Nilsson - wtf), nearly impossible to stay undetected when sneaking around on foot (unless playing as Jennifer?; soldiers can basically see you moving through walls and crawling up from behind doesn't work) - otoh you're counted as not seen unless an alarm is sounded for rescue missions so you'll generally just lose some favour with that faction, jeeps blow up+turn over+get stuck too easily plus you lose a bit too much speed from touching obstacles, a bit too easy to run over allied soldiers, sometimes 20+ seconds of loading before a mission, even a melee attack can kill an enemy leader if they're very low on health, the required vehicle (bus) or the taxi side mission is too slow, NPCs sometimes run into the road as you're driving near them, weird and tedious how you can't do the bait and switch mission's sub objective after the main one (deliver a slow missile truck to the russians - you can actually leave the leader lying on the ground and drive all the way back and forth without him being rescued by the north koreans which is funny and awkward), have to get too close to Kang-Keun Ha (SE of Kaesong) for him to appear on the map, a parked chopper seems to disappear after an ace mission, can't enter a vehicle or move over knee-high obstacles while carrying someone, can't make the pilot during the escort/rescue mission jump over a small obstacle to get into you vehicle nor make him follow you on foot, the chul kang/general chang mission - too rigid structure (have to slowly approach and man a cannon to fire it at another cannon covered by radar jammer, both cannons placed on mountains, no helicopters, takes a bit too long thanks to the mix of tanks and respawning rocket soldiers) and ends without as much intensity, the slow mo when near death is kind of annoying when hit by a rocket or tank shell since you're also stunned for about as long as the duration of the slow mo, can't blow through fence gates with rockets or grenades - only C4)
Some of the side missions are pretty lame (move a barrel 50m) and most of the early ones are short races against the clock
In the audio options the sfx slider controls the music volume
At some points you can only work for one faction even if you focused more on others beforehand (Allies after bait and switch mission)
Can't talk to most NPCs
Can't enter most buildings
Indestructible trees and they can also block your view if standing right in front of them and facing away from them
Certain mission objectives aren't worth it in terms of the reward due to the high cost of calling in the support to deal with them
Sometimes stupid enemy AI (sometimes a manned vehicle simply won't react until you're very close even in range and in front of it)
Somewhat low contrast and saturation visuals (occasionally better on XB)
Somewhat worse framerate and sometimes more fog than on XB (some pop-up as well, not sure if worse here)
The intro mixes in some IRL footage - clashes with the rest
SMGs kinda suck?
The game seems inconsistent about lowering your standing with a faction as you can sometimes kill a soldier while another one is watching if they were stunned by a flash grenade but not knock one out
Choppers break too easily from a quick landing (can be just above ground after takeoff and still lose half its HP if you hold the down button down)
Can't jump or parachute out of a chopper
Sometimes uneven difficulty (capturing instead of killing the leader north of kaeju without an armed chopper - heavily entrenched with radar jamming plus two choppers will attack by surprise, dodging Anti-Air vehicle rocket fire, sudden attacks by choppers or APCs when you don't have the right weapons or a chopper of your own (can't hijack the APC, homing rockets take out the allied rocket+cannon vehicle in one hit); easy bosses (wanted leaders/cards) overall, near impossible to do the assassination mission for the russians quietly due to an unexpected super tight timer on the NK prisoner, easy: repo man mission (vehicle recovery in the northern area) and road block mission (also northern area), wmd inspection mission, etc)
Notes:
-The intro's dialogue is glitched out in PCSX2
-Cheap HP/Weapon/Vehicle Loadup (this also happens if you park outside of a HQ and go inside to take on a mission) - To get a very cheap loadup on a vehicle, fly/drive to the MASH. I usually park on the helipad, and then medivac. You will respawn with full health and ammo. The vehicle is fully tanked up as well, for the cost of a detour and $1,000.
-Beat it as Mattias with the SK ending, got most but not all items
Bugs:
-Due to an oversight, Jennifer has both Mattias's speed bonus and a stealth bonus on XB (check PS2). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suuOa90WESE
-The physics can glitch out when running over fencing - can make a rocket truck blow up if an enemy vehicle is next to it
-The first ace's AI can glitch out and have him not run away after destroying the tower
Level Design-7? Frustration-7.5/8.5* Fun-7 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7
*Capturing all leaders
*When trying to land a chopper or snipe while being attacked or find a landing zone
+
Highly destructible environment and you start off with C4 (can blow up entire buildings with certain turrets and air strikes, some skyscrapers can be demolished)
Three different playable characters (Chris Jacobs (black american) - resilient but slow+speaks korean, Jennifer Mui (Asian Brit) - better sneaking (she doesn't get detected at all if on foot outside of an enemy's cone of vision)+speaks chinese, Mattias Nilsson ("Swede") - fast and tough+speaks russian)
Various vehicles and you can steal enemy vehicles (jeeps, tanks, APCs, rocket truck, helicopters - these also have a winch for carrying and dropping objects; enemies can also steal yours if you leave them behind). Can run over enemies. Can also hijack a helicopter as it's taking off or jump out of a jeep while it's moving - cool!
Good weapon variety (stun and frag grenades, explosives with remote triggers, rocket launcher, shotgun, anti-air and anti-tank missile launchers, rifles and machine guns, sniper rifle, scopes for some other weapons (?), air (and other) support - for picking up captives and taking out artillery, homing rocket launcher on two of the choppers - first one only gets two shots though)
Fairly unusual setting (North Korea)
Fight alongside a bunch of CPU allies (you'll also come across NPCs or different factions fighting against each other and can choose to join in or not)
Can change allegiances (the game shows a faction's gauge going up or down depending on your actions; Pirates!). Can also bribe a hostile faction at their HQ. Some gates only open for vehicles of a certain faction
Satisfying explosions and they send enemies flying
Pretty good map system (marks the next objective+your location+side mission locations, mini-map which also shows side missions (dollar signs)+wanted enemy leaders/cards+faction areas in blue+enemy and ally aerial vehicles+restricted areas in red where you'll be killed if you enter)
Rescue/Medivac feature (costs some money but it's cheap at 1k, also restocks you+repairs your vehicle if you drove/flied to the MASH - see notes below, you also end up getting medivaced automatically if you get KO'd as long as you have $1k)
Basic stealth (stay disguised as long as no one saw you get into a vehicle belonging to their faction (can also move far enough away from where you were seen to re-disguise), lose the disguise if a faction's officer spots you; sniping, alarm towers - can also trigger them in an allied base, sneaking on foot doesn't really work - see below). Can also sneak better as Jennifer though it's not that useful?
Shop from anywhere outside (vehicles, weapons and ammo, explosives, air strikes; wares are delivered to you via helicopter drops - similar to JP: Lost World (MD) and later used in Just Cause)
Decent variety (defense/holdout missions, can choose to capture and extract or kill wanted enemy leaders/cards (capturing yields more money), air strike and satellite guiding with a laser, retrieval/collection, steal vehicles to sell to the russian chopshop, escort and rescue missions, some side missions (racing against the clock, maintaining minimum speed for x meters, destroy NK jeeps under a time limit, taxi rides, etc) - mostly decent, ). Decent freedom in how you use your weapons and vehicles to tackle a mission
Some voiced assistance and commentary (occasionally the instructions and comments are too obvious)
Can investigate units and objectives for more info with the binoculars
Crouching stance (weapon effectiveness is increased during it, can move but the stance is automatically left if you start running; L3)
Less blurry and bloomy than on XB
Some funny dialogue (pretty cheesy overall)
Most main missions take place in the same instance of the game world (unlike in Spider-Man 2 or Incredible Hulk: UD). Ace contracts are an exception
Can abandon or retry a mission via the pause menu - keep playing where you left the mission with minimal interruption
Can listen in on some radio transmissions talking about how things are progressing
Optional side objectives/bonus conditions during most of the main missions
Different ending depending on which faction you help the most and if you stopped the nuclear missiles or not
+/-
Mostly non-linear structure with two large hub areas (gain access to 15 minor side missions after the first main one, linear main story structure until after you've done one mission for each faction - after that you can choose who to work for and when for the most part (for ace leader missions you can't choose), can also capture some clubs/leaders outside of the main missions by following clues picked up during missions, optional side objectives/bonus conditions during most of the main missions, gain access to the second hub area after finishing enough missions - ?, work for the south koreans becomes unavailable at one point (after the timed artillery mission at the NE gate even if you beat it in time), not much point in going back to the first hub after getting to the second - can only do the leftover side missions at that point)
No hard ability gating besides using a chopper, fast ground vehicle or an air strike for certain missions
Save anywhere outside of contracts/missions (multiple slots, character and time taken only)
Can only carry two different guns at a time - not flexible enough at times and you can't mark where a weapon you didn't pick up was (later on you can bring supplies in though)
No lock-on but some aim assist when on foot - not very reliable as it moves kinda slow and sometimes just drops the aim (a bit worse with Nilsson maybe? - nothing about this in the guides)
No dodge or block moves - would've been useful vs rockets (you're expected to take damage here and there in the game). Dodging anti-air in a chopper is also near impossible though if you know where they are you can sometimes sneak up on them
Partial HP regen (up to 20 HP only)
The mini-map rotates with you as you turn (can't turn this off but it does always mark where North is)
Can't pick up items while in a vehicle besides the helicopters
Limited ammo for all non-melee weapons
Can't identify people and vehicles with a weapon's scope - have to use the binoculars (R3)
Can move ammo/armor/cargo crates around with the melee attack/bash
Can shoot a supply crate's chopper pilot to get the chopper (non-allied supplies only)
Can run into soldier NPCs outside of HQs but nothing happens (they just get displaced). Civilians on the other hand get killed and you lose money for it
Keeps track of various stats like amount of saves and shots fired but doesn't rank you on them
Non-interactive dialogue
Racing challenges progressively get harder in terms of the time limit depending on how many you've beaten rather than certain ones being harder than others (some routes are also simply harder to get through) - eventually they become impossible!
Game goes into slow motion/survival mode when near death (can help but the screen also gets a strong red tint and you can hear your heartbeat which can be stressful)
Exaggerated physics (sometimes good such as when running into other vehicles or jumping via ramps, sometimes bad - see below, oddly low weight to cargo boxes - can bash these and have them move quite a bit)
Can't switch character during the game
The map doesn't show railroads - these can be used to get past roadblocks when escaping bases
Can't carry health packs with you for later use
Can't grab ledges while jumping
Some missions are very short (first helicopter mission for the russians, )
Allied soldiers forget about you being in a vehicle a bit too quickly (and then think you're the enemy if you honk at them) - can just honk but you lose the disguise which sometimes feels clunky such as when a certain faction should know that you're on a mission be expecting certain vehicles
Grenades are a bit weak for how few you can carry - sometimes need 2-3 to take out a fuel tank or fuel truck
Respawning enemies at certain enemy structures (can be destroyed)
Only certain turrets can be fully rotated (the others are often useless because of this)
Sometimes have to work for a different faction than the one you want
Very little platforming and seemingly no ladders (would've helped with sniping at times)
No difficulty options
No armor or health bar upgrades
Generally can't choose which vehicle to use for Ace missions
Some enemies are really good at dodging rockets
-
Some control/interface issues (no camera quick turn button (also can't shoot opposite to the direction the camera is facing), unskippable in-game cutscenes and briefing scenes, no control config besides inverted Y axis for aiming/looking around and aiming speed (horizontal axis isn't flipped if inverting the y axis - I could eventually fix this by using dshidmini in PCSX2 (scptoolkit didn't work for this particular thing for some reason), can't map jump to X - can do it in emulation but then accelerate is mapped to circle), two different buttons for exiting a vehicle (for different functions but a button combo would've been better; exit without allies exiting, exit all, make allies exit only), etc), the character descriptions aren't particularly informative gameplay-wise, pop-up style tutorial messages that pause gameplay and are sometimes repeated (the game does have non-pausing ones for context sensitive actions with triangle so what gives), can't check a mission and say no then come back later, somewhat slow map movement while the view is zoomed in, kind of unfinished feeling physics when trying to climb steep slopes, the game is overly picky about landing zones for helicopters and you can only load a carried wanted leader into a helicopter from one side even if it's open on both sides, somewhat slow cutscenes when taking someone down which also flip the camera around afterwards, somewhat slow screen transition when going out of a menu back to gameplay, using L1 to exit a vehicle (only way to exit without others doing it too) sometimes triggers a grenade throw, the camera zooms in rather than the wall becoming transparent when your back is up against a wall - gives you a worse overview to the sides, a vehicle parked by the player will switch places somewhat after entering and exiting a faction's HQ, weapons lying on top of each other or on top of a leader/card can get in the way of what you want to pick up, can't place map markers - would've been useful for where you parked your chopper or another vehicle (or allied forces which also aren't shown on the map) for example, annoying how the game pauses when you gain a new inventory item, tanks accelerate too slowly and gunship choppers turn too slowly, sometimes have to mash the button to hijack a vehicle or it doesn't register, sometimes trying to use an air support item right after gaining it doesn't work, incredibly annoying how your sights get tossed around if you get shot while trying to snipe, satellite aim is too zoomed in)
Can't give other orders to allied soldiers than summon to vehicle and get out of vehicle - telling them to move out of the way of your vehicle, retreat, give cover fire or take cover would've been useful
Some trial & error (surprise reinforcements, if you say no to a side mission after entering a vehicle then it's gone forever - you might just've wanted to grab the vehicle for now, so-so draw distance for people and some fog, focusing on working for the South Koreans seems to be the fastest way to get continuous access to armed helicopters - can get an allied one around the mid-game but it can't be upgraded with rockets, when to use air support during some missions - sometimes need to scout ahead and reload pretty much, inspector rescue mission in the northern area)
An allied helicopter can show as an enemy on the map if you're in a vehicle of a different faction and don't honk at them (made me accidentally shoot at a reinforcement helicopter once)
Sometimes stupid allied AI in terms of friendly fire and shooting deck 52 members/key enemies (which you should capture instead)
Some tedious aspects (a chopper can sometimes disappear if parked outside of a faction HQ (or even at the helipad at the MASH camp!) after taking on a mission there, near impossible to snipe certain chopper pilots, no checkpoints - can die in one hit from some attacks and from falling, dead space - after three missions you'll be able to buy new vehicles and have them delivered to you however it takes a while before you get proper fast travel via helicopter unless you kill the pilot of a supply helicopter (and travel distances between bases can get pretty long, also even in a chopper it takes a while to get across the map and they are pretty rare until you gain them as a supply drop (even then you have to finish all missions for certain factions to gain the armed ones as a supply drop - I never did), can teleport but only to one spot on the map which isn't at any faction base), too easy to die from falling - even falling about the same length as your own height can kill you if you're low on health (can even take damage from running down a steep slope as Nilsson - wtf), nearly impossible to stay undetected when sneaking around on foot (unless playing as Jennifer?; soldiers can basically see you moving through walls and crawling up from behind doesn't work) - otoh you're counted as not seen unless an alarm is sounded for rescue missions so you'll generally just lose some favour with that faction, jeeps blow up+turn over+get stuck too easily plus you lose a bit too much speed from touching obstacles, a bit too easy to run over allied soldiers, sometimes 20+ seconds of loading before a mission, even a melee attack can kill an enemy leader if they're very low on health, the required vehicle (bus) or the taxi side mission is too slow, NPCs sometimes run into the road as you're driving near them, weird and tedious how you can't do the bait and switch mission's sub objective after the main one (deliver a slow missile truck to the russians - you can actually leave the leader lying on the ground and drive all the way back and forth without him being rescued by the north koreans which is funny and awkward), have to get too close to Kang-Keun Ha (SE of Kaesong) for him to appear on the map, a parked chopper seems to disappear after an ace mission, can't enter a vehicle or move over knee-high obstacles while carrying someone, can't make the pilot during the escort/rescue mission jump over a small obstacle to get into you vehicle nor make him follow you on foot, the chul kang/general chang mission - too rigid structure (have to slowly approach and man a cannon to fire it at another cannon covered by radar jammer, both cannons placed on mountains, no helicopters, takes a bit too long thanks to the mix of tanks and respawning rocket soldiers) and ends without as much intensity, the slow mo when near death is kind of annoying when hit by a rocket or tank shell since you're also stunned for about as long as the duration of the slow mo, can't blow through fence gates with rockets or grenades - only C4)
Some of the side missions are pretty lame (move a barrel 50m) and most of the early ones are short races against the clock
In the audio options the sfx slider controls the music volume
At some points you can only work for one faction even if you focused more on others beforehand (Allies after bait and switch mission)
Can't talk to most NPCs
Can't enter most buildings
Indestructible trees and they can also block your view if standing right in front of them and facing away from them
Certain mission objectives aren't worth it in terms of the reward due to the high cost of calling in the support to deal with them
Sometimes stupid enemy AI (sometimes a manned vehicle simply won't react until you're very close even in range and in front of it)
Somewhat low contrast and saturation visuals (occasionally better on XB)
Somewhat worse framerate and sometimes more fog than on XB (some pop-up as well, not sure if worse here)
The intro mixes in some IRL footage - clashes with the rest
SMGs kinda suck?
The game seems inconsistent about lowering your standing with a faction as you can sometimes kill a soldier while another one is watching if they were stunned by a flash grenade but not knock one out
Choppers break too easily from a quick landing (can be just above ground after takeoff and still lose half its HP if you hold the down button down)
Can't jump or parachute out of a chopper
Sometimes uneven difficulty (capturing instead of killing the leader north of kaeju without an armed chopper - heavily entrenched with radar jamming plus two choppers will attack by surprise, dodging Anti-Air vehicle rocket fire, sudden attacks by choppers or APCs when you don't have the right weapons or a chopper of your own (can't hijack the APC, homing rockets take out the allied rocket+cannon vehicle in one hit); easy bosses (wanted leaders/cards) overall, near impossible to do the assassination mission for the russians quietly due to an unexpected super tight timer on the NK prisoner, easy: repo man mission (vehicle recovery in the northern area) and road block mission (also northern area), wmd inspection mission, etc)
Notes:
-The intro's dialogue is glitched out in PCSX2
-Cheap HP/Weapon/Vehicle Loadup (this also happens if you park outside of a HQ and go inside to take on a mission) - To get a very cheap loadup on a vehicle, fly/drive to the MASH. I usually park on the helipad, and then medivac. You will respawn with full health and ammo. The vehicle is fully tanked up as well, for the cost of a detour and $1,000.
-Beat it as Mattias with the SK ending, got most but not all items
Bugs:
-Due to an oversight, Jennifer has both Mattias's speed bonus and a stealth bonus on XB (check PS2). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suuOa90WESE
-The physics can glitch out when running over fencing - can make a rocket truck blow up if an enemy vehicle is next to it
-The first ace's AI can glitch out and have him not run away after destroying the tower