Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction

(minutes are in bold)
00 - I select New Game and the first hour of Mercenaries begins. First I need to choose my agent: Jacobs, Mui, or Nilsson? They're all members of ExOps, and American, British, and Swedish respectively. What's hotter though than a girl named Jennifer Mui with a British accent going covert in North Korea though? I select the experienced female agent. A news cutscene begins, a violent coup has been committed in North Korea, and a nuke has gone missing. Troops are pouring across the DMZ!

01 - The President is also posting bounties on 52 major bad guys? That's kind of crazy, though I assume it's all covert stuff. We're looking at a PowerPoint of the Song Initiative, an ExOps proposal to head into North Korea.

02 - There are four major factions in North Korea: Allies, Chinese, South Koreans, and the Russian Mafia. Well, not to mention the North Koreans. ExOps is also after the bounty money for taking out the "deck of 52".

03 - This is a major mission for them, and Jennifer Mui is going to be the lone agent on the ground for ExOps. Looks like they're here to identify the new political and military leader, Song, and find the missing nukes. The game is loading and showing me some info about the world and tips on what to expect. 04 - Another cutscene, we're over the DMZ now in a giant airplane. Mui is inside and preparing to drop. The operator, Fiona, and Mui have some history together in Iraq. I get control in the airplane.

05 - I walk over and pick up a PDA, it pops up a radar with some yellow dots on it. Walking towards one grants me some frag grenades, the other is a carbine rifle. Jennifer seems experienced with both. I open the cargo door.

07 - Mui keeps saying "Five by Five," not sure what it means. Woah, her reward for the mission is 100 million dollars! I hop into the vehicle, she checks the mirrors, and reverses it onto the Korean landscape. Man, that airplane was close to the ground. I regain control in the scout vehicle.

08 - I'm supposed to head to Allied headquarters and try to blend in. I ram a lightpost and it doesn't budge, though the lights do go out.

10 - I ram my way through a road block, but I wish I knew how to shoot the mounted gun. Pressing L does hop out of the vehicle though.

11 - This is all a bit confusing, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to get out of my vehicle and fight or just keep driving. Running into stuff really damages the scout, and it's down to half health. 12 - I finally make it to a guard and begin a conversation. A cutscene flips over to inside the headquarters, Jennifer wonders if they've caught the two of clubs yet. Heh, she knows her stuff. I accept their contract.

13 - Back in control, I'm supposed to verify the two of clubs. According to an email, verify means capture or kill the target. Kills are only worth half the bounty of a capture though, good to know.

15 - An explosion rocks the road and blows a hole into it, which I drive into... guess I'll be hoofing it from here out.

17 - Just got into a bunch of one-on-one firefights, taking out the bad guys without any problems. There's health packs around every corner, and here's an assault rifle. I pick it up but it has a lot less ammo than my first gun.

19 - I'm just trying to see if it's possible to equip my original weapon! The controls sure are awkward.

20 - As I approach the two of clubs, the game zooms in on him and recommends I take him out with the X button. Want to keep him alive, remember? 21 - Another quick tip, first the X button to punch, and then Y to knock him out. The game automatically calls for a helicopter, and I'm supposed to drag him to the pick-up zone. Hope it is close. Heh, no dragging in this game like Hitman, Mui throws him on her back and we take off.

23 - Oh, I first had to throw a smoke grenade to show the copter where to land. I press Y to toss him in, "1 down, 51 to go!" Jin-ho Yong has been captured, and I bank $25,000.

24 - No rest for the weary though, as now I'm supposed to take out their artillery. I get something added to my support menu called Surgical Strike. A rocket? Oh, that's cool, just point and tell the jets where to toss their bombs, like Call of Duty 4. But no where near as cool.

26 - The artillery is down, and I pocket $22,000 more. Next orders are for me to return to HQ. I slide down the mountain slowly without taking damage.

27 - I hop into a North Korean vehicle to try to save my time, but I'm then "disguised as a North Korean" and the allies shoot at me! Back at HQ, the contract is complete, and the Colonel is hoping to use me in the future. As long as the money is good, Mui is on board.

29 - Next up is meeting with the South Korean army advisor, some guy named Buford. The game recommends I save since you're not allowed to save while on contract, thanks for the advice. 31 - I hop into a vehicle, and a challenge is presented to me. Can I drive to the HQ in two minutes or less? $5,000 is my reward. Why not?

33 - Only takes me about a minute to drive there, but I'm glad I did, walking would have taken forever, plus there were hostiles on the road. I approach the South Korean HQ guard, and he speaks some Korean to me and we head inside. Buford at least speaks English, and is offering me cash, that's good enough for a mercenary.

34 - Mui accepts the new contract of defending some city or something, and the next loading screen begins. Back in control quickly though, after a bit of banter between Mui and Fiona, I'm told about the key points I need to defend. Seems easy enough.

37 - The first point has been defended. There was a morale meter for the South Korean troops and it stayed high the whole time. Heck, with my help on the stationary guns, things went easy. I also received reward money for blowing up vehicles, nice.

38 - Oh crap, I just ran over two South Koreans, the game tells me they won't offer contracts unless I fix our relationship. Well, that's probably done by killing North Koreans, so might as well keep going.

40 - The second point has been defended, this time with some very fun recoiless rocket guns that did massive damage. Next point is already on my radar. 42 - I deal myself a whole bunch of damage by shooting the rockets at enemies way too close, but I heal up quickly after, and the north defense point is under attack again.

43 - My relationship with the South Koreans keeps going up as the blood of the North hits the ground. And that's it for that contract, $55,000 earned! I now have $150,000! Wow, that was fast.

45 - I get an email about the Five of Clubs... Tal-hun An, a major financial player in this war. Is this automatically accepted?

46 - Heh, another challenge: get to Mafia HQ in two minutes.

48 - Another easy ride, this time very little North Korean interference. I'm at the Mafia HQ, so might as well head inside. Sergei is the contact here. All of these conversations are the same, the main guy and his associate talk to me in a small room about what I need to do, same for all three factions so far.

49 - I accept the contract without really listening to the rest of the conversation, and the next mission begins. 50 - Need to destroy some machine guns, sounds pretty simple.

52 - I hop into a Mafia vehicle and start planting C4 by the machine gun turrets to take them out.

54 - Pretty straightforward stuff, the guns are gone, now I need to return a transport truck back to Mafia HQ. Oh man, I'm disguised as North Korean in this thing!

55 - Umm... I accidentally flipped the truck. Now what?

57 - I have no choice but to blow up the truck, have to retry... The game's loading screen then tells me if I get stuck, select the Medivac option from the main menu, I wonder if that would have helped?

60 - Back in that unlucky truck again, let's see if I can make it in time. Yep! Made my cash and finished the contract! And that's the end of the first hour of Mercenaries.