In the mid to late 2000s there was a bunch of 3rd person, over the top action games which I would call dumb fun. Games like Saints Row 1, Just Cause and Crackdown were not particularly graceful games, but they were fun to play. They often had dumb enemy AI, ugly graphics, horrible dialogue and a style of gameplay that focused on action but wasn't very refined. Mercenaries 2 is another one of those game. It gives me a certain style of nostalgia going back to play these games because they are really a window to video games at the time, when having a cool concept and a trailer with some nice explosions would sell a game. Looking back, these games kinda suck but they are fun which is the most important factor.

Mercs 2 puts you in the middle of a fairly insensitive for the time fictional Venezuelan civil war. You and your group of mercenaries start off trying to kill the president, but you end up in a big free-for-all with a bunch of different factions trying to blow everything up. The gameplay is peak PS2 style GTA loving open world 3rd person shooting. The enemy AI is horrible and the gameplay is pretty glitchy, plus it has some very tough missions that can be very frustrating.

Aside from the main story, you also have the constant battle for resources and turf with the rival gangs throughout the map. You can attack these bases on foot or by vehicle, with a huge number of weapons and some nice destructible buildings. They throw in a lot of random mechanics also. You can call in air strikers and air support from your home base. These require you to spend certain resources such as oil and money, which also need to be collected (via helicopter pick up which you call in) and are normally guarded by a bunch of enemies. It's a very time consuming ebb and flow, with enemies and bases respawning and various groups controlling different areas.

It reminds me of a mix of different mechanics from games of a similar era such as Far Cry 2, The Godfather and Just Cause. It's a classic case of dumb fun, these extra elements of open world gameplay are a nice distraction when you get stuck on some difficult campaign mission, yet you could find yourself totally engrossed in them. A dated buggy and ugly mess, Mercs 2 is a classic mid 2000s copycat game with its dated humour and gameplay design. Still enjoyable though.

The Forza Horizon games get a lot of love, and I can see why. It's a game series that really combined all of the racing game trends of the time into a well polished and fun package. You have a big detailed open world map, beautiful graphics, lots of cars and upgrade options and interesting online modes. It's really like an updated version of the Test Drive games for the mass market. There is so much to do in this game. Now this may be great for some people, but it felt a bit bloated for me. There are the collectables, finding new vehicles and smashing through boards. You have skill tasks and jumps. There are the speed traps that you need to drive through as quickly as you can. These all add to the bulk of the game and can make free-roaming around the beautiful map fun if you are into that type of thing. The races themselves are fine, they do their job, but one major issue I have is that the game wants you to complete each race multiple times with different car types. Of course, these are optional, it is just one of the ways that game goes down the "more is better" route. Now, I'm not a huge fan of open world racing, as I think specifically designed tracks and more fun to race on. This issue persists in this game a little, but the decent controls and other racers AI did keep it enjoyable. In this regard it is one of the better open world racing games in terms of the actual racing. It's probably a case of a good game, which is just not for me. I don't care about a clustered map full with collectables, we get enough of that from Ubisoft games. I also am not a fan of the Mid 2010s edgy banter and festival design. I don't love a lot of the features of modern racers with its open world races, rewinds and style points. However, if you do like these things, this is a great game and a pretty decent sequel to the first one on the console, without really changing much. In terms of pure racing, it's pretty fun and better than a lot of racers on the console, and I can recommend it based on that. I do still think its a bit vapid though.