What's new since the last game?
For all of you ordnance fetishists out there, the MOAB is making its appearance in Mercs 2. While those guys are busy salivating, for the uninformed, a MOAB is short for "Massive Ordnance Air Blast" bomb (the colloquial version is "mother of all bombs") where it's supposedly the largest and most powerful nonnuclear bomb in the U.S. military. In fact, when videos of a MOAB blast are shown to civilians, they tend to incorrectly identify it as a nuclear explosion. Yikes.
Besides having a massive weapon of wanton destruction, players can now rescue and capture people. So now all the destruction courtesy of things like the MOAB, vehicles like the Endriago and the La Rana (the former is an attack helicopter, the latter is a beefed-up APC), and weapons like antiaircraft missiles (also known as MANPADs, for Man-Portable Air Defense System) can be balanced by saving civilians or capturing hostiles. Another new gameplay tweak that complements the destruction is the acquisition of fuel. While you won't need to worry about hitting up the gas pump for a jeep or a tank, you do need to obtain the fuel necessary for an airstrike before calling one in, so if snagging a barrel of oil is hard work, you better make that airstrike worth it.
The other big news is the presence of "modern pirates." Which gets us thinking a lot. We hope this doesn't mean a bunch of guys burning DVD bootlegs. Do modern pirates still hoist the Jolly Roger and make people walk the plank? Do they replace cutlasses and pirate pistols with machetes and Magnums? Do they drink grog or Captain Morgan's? It's mysteries like these that occupy our minds when we're simply told that pirates are in the game.
How does it push the PS3?
One nice bit of news that anyone who has played Turok for the N64 can appreciate is that Mercs 2 will have no fog. Not even "really good draw distance with minimal fog." Just none. You can see far into the distance, and the only thing obscuring your vision will be smoke from fires (that you hopefully caused). Besides that, Mercs 2 will also be one of the big pushers of physicsbased gameplay, especially when it comes to using and manipulating fire as a weapon.
Is it still relevant?
The previous Mercenaries was both a success story in terms of pure games sales and as an example of creating a new intellectual property in a sequel-driven industry. Mercs 2 could have easily been a lazy sequel, but so far, it looks like a nice, properly next-generation-ized version of the first game
