A high concentration of old style, full of flavors and references to late 1980s games, was blended with popular parts of current gameplay, the result was a fine, but occasionally monotonous game.
The plot and major purpose of Mercenary Kings are as straightforward as constructing a battle knife with which Rambo can open canned food: members of the titular mercenary squad must retake an island full of scientists from the clutches of the heinous organization CLAW. The bad guys seize control of the enigmatic Mandrake Formula, which provides individuals regenerative abilities and other superpowers. The two heroes, King and Empress, are likewise treated with the mandrake serum after their initial loss, and they are now the only ones who can battle the terrible Commander Baron. This is the start of our quest on a weird two-dimensional island. We sprint and leap, much as in the original Metal Slug, and roll across colorful levels full with heavily armed foes, accomplishing hundreds of objectives. We begin by picking a mission from the base and then proceed to the helicopter, which will transport us to the appointed location. The tasks are separated into different categories: sometimes we have to acquire a certain quantity of objects, sometimes we have to liberate prisoners of war, and occasionally we have to hunt down a certain boss or a group of specified opponents.
After completing the missions, the released convicts and resources gathered along the route will be beneficial. POWs may prove to be important members of the camp, and will gladly assist in the construction or sale of a new, superior arsenal. We use all of the acquired elements to create new weapons of devastation, straight from the Monster Hunter series. We don’t have to limit ourselves to a rigorous logic framework with the correct elements, a shotgun that sprays bullets like a light machine gun? So why not? A cool gun that shoots flaming missiles? This is also possible after you have a few pieces. The number of possible combinations is extremely huge, but choosing the ideal elements takes time and care. In addition to fiddling with weaponry, we may conduct further scientific experiments that give benefits such as a larger health bar, stronger armor, or better success in discovering goods. The prospects for advancement are appealing, but they frequently need repeated missions, with foes losing particular elements. The mission selection technique is most obvious here, as it gives us fresh objectives to fulfill while sending us to the same areas again and over. The settings might become monotonous after a time, and foes patrolling the same location again and over don’t provide anything fresh.
Aside from the monotony of the regions visited, the issue is the model of reviving foes. It’s enough for the guy you just shot to vanish from the frame, and the mandrake’s power returns him back to life. When trying to climb a few platforms higher, we sometimes have to shoot again at the guard who has been slain for the tenth time after sliding down. This wouldn’t be so bad if missions didn’t frequently demand circling the map and the amount of first aid kits was restricted. Death diminishes the money spent on completing the job, therefore we must be cautious at all times. Of course, as our mercenary grows and our equipment improves, we become increasingly tough to kill, but we’re still talking about a hundred missions, each of which takes considerably more skill and endurance. The arcade aspects extend beyond the typical platform game. The hero’s carrying capacity determines his walking speed and jumping height. If we wish to run about with a large cannon, causing fire and carnage, we must keep in mind that climbing onto some platforms may be tough. It’s also worth learning to know your own weapon because each one reloads differently, and the Gears of War dynamics dictate that the faster we reload, the faster we can shoot.
Despite the richness of the armament, throwing lethal missiles is limited by mechanical constraints. We can only shoot in four basic directions, despite the fact that adversaries may readily hit us with diagonally launched missiles. It’s difficult to explain where this strategy originates from, but in the unforgettable Contra, we could throw the adversary into the sand by directing fire at a 45-degree angle. True, decreasing the accuracy of a customized rifle allows you to shoot in unconventional directions, but it does not guarantee that the following bullet will land where the previous one did. The imprecision with which grenades are hurled may sometimes be unpleasant, especially because we only have a limited amount of them. One can successfully detonate as soon as it comes into contact with an adversary, whilst the other will bounce and roll to the side, leaving the enemy out of the explosion radius. Mercenary Kings, on the other hand, does not combine players with approximate character parameters, and we frequently come across someone who is already in the final missions, where we die after a few hits due to our poor equipment, or we play with someone who is still running around with the starting weapon and we have to see the same landscape you already know to the core for the hundredth time.
A game with a hilarious plot about commandos rescuing the world is not a terrible game, and it cannot be described as undeveloped or constrained. On the contrary, it appears that the primary issue with this title is the urge to stretch it to its boundaries. As a result, the enjoyment of playing is less than it appears.