Pandemic's Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is largely the original Mercenaries game with a new paint job and a couple added features. The same three characters are back in this sequel, but this time they're in charge of their own private company of mercenaries. Much like Apple's takeover of Disney, this means two things: a little more destruction, and ultimately, more fun for fans. If you like blowing things up for hours on end, it's going to look and play better than before--and you won't be as lonely this time around, with two-player online or offline cooperative play. Running next to Crysis on the show floor, Mercenaries 2 had a lot of competition in the graphics department, and it managed to hold its own with an impressive display of effects. Maybe it was a poorly-calibrated HDTV, but the game seemed saturated in color, almost to the point of fantasy. There didn't seem to be much bloom at work, and yet every object popped off the screen with a vividness I've rarely seen in a game. Characters and vehicles look like polished, animated statues--perhaps too sharply modeled, but fitting within the overall style. Explosions are golden torrents of light, crackling and expanding as huts and forests were torched indiscriminately. Streams of bullets slice branches from trees, although not quite to the precision of Crysis--and the tracer fire is oddly abundant, as if from a laser weapon of some kind. A helicopter soon hovered into view during my session, the player grappling onto the undercarriage with a single button press. The mohawk-laden mercenary hung on to the vehicle by a hand, then swung himself up to the door, prying it open with a timed button press and tossing out its occupant as if in a combination of Superman and Grand Theft Auto. It was ridiculous, but it worked--and soon the over-sized targeting reticle of the chopper was up on screen. An enemy chopper was automatically targeted, and a missile streaked off on a collision course. Raining fire down on an entire city now, buildings exploded out from the first floor with a more realistic poof of smoke and debris before collapse. It was clear that much of development focused on creating a large, beautiful world for players to raze. The story revolves around the mercenary trying to get back at someone, and something about Venezuelan oil companies, and Chinese armies, and pirates. Does any of the really matter, beyond the pirates? This is Mercenaries. It's about blowing stuff up. Tiny helicopters can attach cables to oil tankers and swing them around like explosive wrecking balls. If you played the original game, you know what to expect here. With over 200 vehicles to play around in, Pandemic will be delivering more of the same this holiday season. Fans of the original formula will undoubtedly be pleased with the new graphical touches and cooperative support, while those unhappy with the basic nature of the original are unlikely to find much new. Pandemic Studios plans to ship Mercenaries 2 in Q4 2007.

Reporting from E3 like everyone else, GameSpy has a Mercenaries 2: World in Flames preview going hands-on with the action game sequel.

Also at IGN is this Mercenaries 2: World in Flames preview. The article offers hands-on impressions and includes new screenshots.

A new Mercenaries 2: World in Flames preview can be found at GameSpot, offering an overview of what the game will be about. Includes new screenshots.

Team Xbox has been updated with a Mercenaries 2: World in Flames Q&A. Lead designer Scott Warner talks storyline, characters, game structure, factions, new gameplay features and coop support.

Over at GameSpy you can find a Mercenaries 2: World in Flames Q&A. Lead designer Scott Warner is asked about fleshing out the experience on nextgen hardware, platform differences, coop support, returning characters, and easter eggs.

New at Eurogamer today is this Mercenaries 2: World in Flames Q&A. Pandemic's Scott Warner is asked about setting up your own military company, environmental damage, additional vehicles and weapons, coop support, side missions, and the game engine.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and his supporters have been quite vocal in their dissatisfaction that the events of Pandemic Studios' free-roaming destruct-a-thon Mercenaries 2: World in Flames--set for release this fall on PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC--take place in a virtual recreation of Venezuela. With those past complaints having little tangible effect, the Venezuela Solidarity Network is now asking religious leaders and secular-minded individuals to petition a seemingly unlikely target: U2 lead singer Bono. Why Bono? The singer is a partner in Elevation Partners, the firm that acquired Bioware and Pandemic Studios in 2005, meaning Bono is in part funding development of the game. The VSN hopes that Bono's connection to Pandemic and his "efforts to erase the plagues of debt and famine from our planet" will give them the edge in their goal to "to see that 'Mercenaries 2' is pulled from stores and not sold anywhere." Citing that "behavioral science research demonstrates that playing violent video games increases the likelihood of aggressive behavior," the VSN's letter states "a game like 'Mercenaries 2' in which the player assumes the role of killer in scenes that appear very life-like is even more likely to provoke aggressiveness." The group is also concerned "that the game inevitably will provoke increased tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela. Pandemic Studios has made a similar training game for the U.S. military. This fact is not overlooked by Venezuelans, who see this as further evidence of U.S. government hostility toward their country." Mercenaries 2 "is just a video game--and as they say in the movies, all characters and events are purely fiction," Pandemic cofounder Josh Resnick told GameSpot. "Our setting provides gamers with the overall look and feel of Venezuela, although it is not an accurate street by street depiction and the characters as well as the storyline are completely made up. More to the point, the characters are categorically not based on any real political figures in Venezuela or elsewhere." Resnick went on to describe the practice of setting fictional storylines in real places as a "common practice in the entertainment business [of] both movies and video games," claiming the situation "isn't any different than setting a movie like Goodfellas in New York."

Despite being announced only for PlayStation 3--though not explicitly labeled an exclusive--Pandemic Studios' anticipated action sequel Mercenaries 2: World in Flames has long been considered a shoe-in to appear on at least Xbox 360 as well. Today, Pandemic and publisher Electronic Arts finally came clean, announcing that the game is in development not only for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, but PC and, most surprisingly, the aging PlayStation 2 as well. "Mercenaries 2: World in Flames delivers the next evolution in explosive open world gameplay--regardless of the system you play it on," said Pandemic CEO Andrew Goldman in today's press release. "All four platforms are incredible gaming machines, and from the beginning we designed an experience that accentuates their individual strengths and delivers the interactive freedom and explosive action Mercenaries fans demand." Earlier this month, EA announced that it would be distributing the game through its EA Partners program for independent developers, and along with that announcement stated that the game would be released during the 2007 holiday season. Today's platform update reiterated that holiday 2007 release period across all four systems.