LucasArts Announce Mercenaries News

Having discovered the first information last month, LucasArts today officially announced Mercenaries for the Playstation2 and Xbox.

Described as a â??revolutionary, 3rd person action shooterâ?, the game is set in the near future and inspired by real world events. As we suggested in our earlier article, Mercenaries depicts a ruthless dictator who stages a military coup to take control of North Korea on the eve of a historic reunification between North and South Korea. Recognising the threat of a nuclear war, the international community launches a global task force to stabilize the region. However when diplomatic efforts collapse, they announce a one hundred million dollar bounty on the ruthless dictator and his advisors; taking cue from the recent Iraq conflict, the targets are identified in a â??most wantedâ? list in the form of a 52 card deck of playing cards. As one of the top operatives for a private mercenaries company named Executive Operations, itâ??s up to you to collect the bounties.

LucasArts claim that â??Mercenariesâ?? features completely open-ended gameplay, allowing you to complete missions by whatever means you choose; whilst the promise of a completely interactive environment sounds impressive.

Other features include dozens of military and civilian vehicles to take control of, ranging from tanks to helicopters; whilst the game also makes use of a â??reputationâ?? system that is driven by an embedded journalist that records player actions, which determine how civilians and warring factions respond to the player.

Weâ??re certainly looking forward to checking out Mercenaries in more detail and will have a closer look soon.