Mercs
System: Genesis
Release Date: October 1991
Developer: Sega
Publisher: Sega
Genre: Shoot ‘em Up
Only the best of the best can make it on the battlefield as Mercs! A terrorist organization has kidnapped the former President of the United States and thanks to diplomatic reasons, the army is unable to intervene. This is good for your bank account, though, as you belong to a hardened group of mercenaries who would love nothing more than to take out anyone standing in their way. Can you run through both modes of action and save the president?
You’re given a choice right away to play the Arcade Mode or the Original Mode. Both are basically the same thing, but the levels differ and a little bit of gameplay differs. Both modes have you in control of a lone mercenary. You run up the screen and kill everything in your way. You’re equipped with a weapon that you fire with Buttons A or C. I turned Rapid Fire on in the options menu so I didn’t wear the poor things out. Button B uses a Mega Crash Bomb that destroys anything on screen. You have a limited number of these that you can replenish with certain icons, or by finishing a level in Arcade Mode. I did not get past level four in the Arcade Mode with the four lives I was given. The bosses were mean to me if I didn’t have enough bombs in reserve.
Original Mode is a little more interesting. You begin with one mercenary and through the levels, you pick up a few more. These characters act as your lives, but you can switch among them with the Start Button. They each have their own weapon that powers up independently of one another. They also have their own number of bombs, speed, life bar length, and can pick up a protective vest and gas mask. Juggling your mercs in and out is the appeal of this mode.
If one of them dies, you can pick up an elixir that brings them back from the dead at certain friendly tents found as you go through the stages. In order to afford them, you need to find medals that are hidden in crates. Crates can hold powerups, health restoratives, medals, or dynamite. The dynamite is something you want to avoid, because it will do big damage if you get caught in its explosion radius. Less health means you’re going to have trouble, because the enemies are relentless and you can’t scroll the screen down to take out approaching baddies. A hot tip I have is when you find a gold first aid kit, you can fill everyone’s health by switching characters right as their health bar fills up.
The end of each level has a boss. These are relatively difficult, though I’m sure their patterns would have emerged had I played many more times. If you have bombs stashed away, this is the time to use them. Some weapons work better than others, so figuring out what you want to hold on to in Arcade Mode, or which merc to have active in Original Mode is part of the challenge. The final boss was extremely anticlimactic, as it was just an ICBM rising to the surface that I destroyed in a matter of seconds with my overpowered merc friends.
Graphics: 2.5
The snow or fog effect is brutal. Other than that, it looks decent enough.
Sound: 3.0
The music goes well with the game and other than the laser, the sound effects weren’t awful.
Gameplay: 2.5
Using Button A to strafe would have made this so much more playable.
Difficulty: 2.5
The enemies are relentless and I didn’t have enough lives to get through Arcade Mode on easy.
Fun Factor: 2.5
Running and gunning is kind of fun, though, so it’s not bad.
Overall Rating: 2.6
Mercs earns a B-. This is a good enough game for you to come into and blow through. Think Commando, but better.