Though much has changed in the gaming industry in the three-and-a-half years since the original Mercenaries, developer Pandemic banks smartly on the first game's proven formula in this sequel, relying on one of life's few constants: Blowing things up is fun. A lot more fun than death and taxes. World in Flames doesn't do much to evolve that formula, but this is one of those rare cases where that's alright -- Mercs still does open-world destruction best, and despite a plague of idiotic A.I. drones and some other nagging annoyances (left over from the first game), this sequel is almost everything it needs to be.
Shifting settings from North Korea to Venezuela, World in Flames' environment is a lot more varied where it counts -- thick jungles, rocky canyons, dilapidated shanty towns, and large expanses of water keep things visually interesting (if not a bit too reminiscent of underrated open-world action title Just Cause), while the diverse terrain makes basic exploration more engaging. Considering its massive size, the game world still feels meticulously built -- but you'll occasionally get hung up traversing steeper slopes and moving past larger foliage. Realistic, perhaps...but it feels like a by-product of unfinished animation rather than a physical restriction.
The main appeal of such a world is that every object within it can be destroyed with enough firepower. From individual trees to entire offshore oil rigs, nothing is safe from your more destructive impulses. You can simply drive through the former (and man, is it satisfying to not get stopped dead in your tracks by even the skinniest of trees, as in Grand Theft Auto and most every other game with a car), while the latter requires some carefully placed C4 or a full-on airstrike to take down. Combining game-wide destruction with the already dynamic nature of an open world makes for dozens of laugh-out-loud enjoyable scenarios. I was tasked with taking out a target on the far side of a giant hill; not knowing what else lay beyond it, I simply loaded up a truck full of allies and rocketed over the top of the hill. I easily cleared the outer wall of what turned out to be an open-air base and landed dead center in a nest of enemies. My friends and I hopped out, our ride was promptly blown up, and the scene turned to absolute chaos. With so many objects in play and so many different ingredients for destruction, no two base raids feel exactly alike -- even if they make up the majority of the tasks at hand....