Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction

Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction
Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction
	Box art for Mercenaries.
Developer(s)	Pandemic Studios
Publisher(s)	LucasArts
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, Xbox
Release	Xbox January 11, 2005; February 18, 2005; Playstation 2 January 11, 2005; February 18, 2005; April 28, 2005;
Genre(s)	Third Person
Mode(s)	Single player

Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction is a third-person shooter which takes place in the near future. It was developed by Pandemic Studios and published on January 11, 2005 by LucasArts.

It is available for the Sony Playstation 2 and the Microsoft Xbox. The Xbox version is currently not compatible with the Xbox 360, and no plans to make it so have been announced.

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is currently in production for the PS3 and maybe the Xbox 360 and set to come out in 2007.

The story

Template:Spoiler In the near future, presumably in 2009 or 2010, the president of North Korea, Choi Kim, extends an olive branch to South Korea. The hopes he has of a peaceful reunification spread to South Korea and the South Koreans agrees to send North Korea money on the condition that they disband their military. North Korea agrees. All is well until the night of the reunification.

President Cho Kim's son, General Choi Song, is dissatisfied with the peace treaties and talks. On the eve of the reunification of North and South Korea, he stages a violent military coup, storming the summit and kidnapping his father, seizing control of the country.

General Choi Song then expels all foreigners from North Korea into South Korea. North Korea goes "dark". No weapon inspectors or foreign press are allowed in and all communications with the outside world cease. Eventually, the world's eyes turn to other matters. Still rumors run rampant, all hinting the worst, but, as many hoped, they are just rumors.

A North Korean freighter, floundering in a storm, is rescued by the Royal Australian Navy. The RAN finds the crew making a hasty attempt to scuttle the ship, and becomes suspicious. Upon searching the ship, the RAN finds nuclear weapons bound for an Indonesian company known to be a front for terrorists. The link between Song, terrorists, and nuclear weapons is made. Within hours of the discovery, Chinese intelligence reports that Song's missile capabilities are much higher than once assumed - he can hit any target on all seven continents.

The Allied Nations (a fictional version of the UN) forms a combat force with troops from all over the globe, initiates a large-scale landing, and smashes through a division of NK regulars, taking the missile sites at Yongbyon. The NK troops are not well trained or equipped, and have never experienced real war - most flee or surrender, and the Allied Nations emerge victorious with minimal losses. But their euphoria over breaking Song's grip on the country is cut short - they find documents containing evidence that Song is building 30 more nuclear warheads and missiles at an unknown launch site. Worse yet, the documents indicate that the weapons will be ready in three weeks.

The AN top priority becomes to find and capture or kill Song before he is able to launch the missiles. After two weeks of searching fruitlessly for Song, the AN issues a "Deck of 52", (most-wanted war criminals playing cards - much like the one used in the Iraq War). The Clubs are members of Division 39, a state-sponsored mafia consisting of ministers in the government. The Diamonds are high-ranking military officials. The Hearts are noted scientists credited with developing nuclear ICBM and biological and chemical weapons. The Spades are General Song's all-female special forces squad and their male commanders. Song, of course, is the Ace of Spades. A 100 million US dollar bounty is placed on his head, with the bounties on the other members of the Deck of 52 beginning at $25,000.

The player is a mercenary working for Executive Operations, or ExOps (a name which may be derived from the actual private military company Executive Outcomes), a private military company that provides military services to world governments and large corporations. The player has been tasked with finding and either capturing or killing members of the Deck of 52, and most specifically, General Song, before he can launch his nuclear warheads.

Characters

The three initially playable characters in Mercenaries are sufficiently distinct to make the game somewhat re-playable. Each has a particular strength which will alter the player’s strategy somewhat, as well as a unique language proficiency which will render side conversations from a particular faction understandable. For instance Jacobs, who can understand Korean, is able to understand the South Koreans; Mattias knows Russian, which the Russian Mafia speak; and Jennifer, being born in Hong Kong, and thus fluent with Chinese, can understand the Chinese army. And since all of them know English, they have no problem understanding the AN (who speak English).

Christopher Jacobs

35 years old
Korean/American
Speaks English and Korean
Ex-Delta Force soldier
High Constitution - able to take more damage than other mercenaries
Years with Exops: 5

Jennifer Mui

33 years old
Overseas Chinese/British (Born in Hong Kong)
Speaks English and Chinese
Ex-MI6 Agent
Stealthy - Less likely to be noticed by nearby enemies than other mercenaries
Years with Exops: 7

Mattias Nilsson

31 years old
Swedish
Speaks English and Russian
Ex-Swedish Navy artillery officer
Agile - Moves faster than other mercenaries
Years with Exops: 1

Like many console games, Mercenaries contains unlockable perks as rewards for completing certain in-game tasks. Among these are secret characters/skins. For instance, picking up a certain number of National Treasures will allow access to playing with an NK Elite skin (However, this has no effect on your character's attributes. North Koreans will still attack).

This being a LucasArts game, it is also possible to unlock both Indiana Jones and Han Solo as playable characters. The Han Solo Skin can be unlocked with a cheat code or by obtaining 110 WMD blueprints. Indiana Jones can be unlocked by collecting 20 Chinese national treasures, or likewise with a cheat code.

Factions

After Song's coup, the Allied Nations move quickly to invade and end the threat of nuclear Armageddon posed by the dictator. Sensing an opportunity, a few other "interested parties" also establish a presence inside North Korea. Now, five major powers dominate the arena, all with various conflicting objectives and agendas. These competing factions can be played off against each other for the benefit of the mercenary.

North Korea:

General Song's dictatorship, busily engaged in mass-producing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons for sale to the highest bidder and to further Song's own plans for conquest. North Korea is cast as the primary enemy in the game, and is always hostile to the player.

The North Korean forces are largely composed of nondescript khaki-clad troopers, equipped with AK-47 and RPGs, who are led by NCOs armed with sniper weapons and sub-machine guns. A stronger, more heavily-armed and armoured Elite Corps stands as the NK reserve force. NK elite troops and high-priority targets (cards) carry RPD light machine guns. The North Koreans use a wide variety of vehicles - including scout cars, Armoured Personnel Carriers, adapted Soviet battle tanks and helicopter gunships - but can be considered to be one of the least technologically advanced factions. It should be noted that players receive a cash bounty for destroying any NK vehicle; the more advanced the vehicle, the greater the reward. Killing NK soldiers in the presence of troops belonging to any of the other factions raises that faction's favor with the player as well.

NK civilians are strictly neutral, and a stiff penalty fine is imposed for "collateral damage" to them, as well as losing favor with the AN, SK, and Chinese factions.

Allied Nations:

A stand-in for the United Nations and the Coalition of the Willing, the Allied Nations commissioned a peacekeeping force, led by an American, Col. Samuel Garrett, to round up 52 members of the new North Korean power structure, including Gen. Song himself. The Allied Nations are the closest thing to the "good guys" this game has, and their only real goals are the neutralization of the "Deck of 52" and stabilizing the region, as well as providing humanitarian aid. As such, the Allied forces are generally friendly to the player, and killing AN troops results in a stiff fine. The Allied Nations control a great deal of the air-power in the region, and supply most of the airstrikes. Col. Garret finds himself having to rely on the player extensively due to bureaucratic red-tape; he often complains about needing authorization from superiors who imply that they distrust him. Most AN jobs are against the NK.

Allied troops are based on real United Nations peacekeeping troopers, with blue berets/helmets and standardised camouflage fatigues. Most AN soldiers are armed with the standard-issue M4A1 Carbine and grenades, but a few carry AT/AA missile launchers or AT sniper rifles. They are supported by a range of powerful military vehicles - heavily-armoured Humvee, various APCs, extremely powerful tanks and a variety of heavy-lift and fast-attack helicopter gunships. The combined AN air forces also operate the regular air patrols which overfly the warzones.

In addition, the Allied Nations are "attached" with GSRN (Global Satellite Reporting Network) field reporters, who have brought their own standardised all-terrain vehicles. This has made the AN's job rather more difficult in the way of working with the Russian Mafia in particular (this is elaborated at start of the game), as the increased media attention in the North Korean battle zones means that the more covert and underhanded measures applied by the Allied forces are no longer going unnoticed. AN leader Col. Garrett has a stereotypical old soldier's contempt for the press and naturally detests the pushy, over-inquisitive GSRN reporters. This overbearing press presence also makes it difficult for Colonel Garret to properly conduct his mission to remove Song; he has to keep the war "pretty" and he can't do that and hunt down Song's men at the same time. Killing GSRN reporters results in a huge fine, upwards of half a million dollars, due to the negative PR it presents for ExOps.

Incidentally, the AN Red Cross ambulance units are of the exact same design as the GSRN press trucks.

There is no way to raise favor with the AN outside of killing enemy soldiers or completing missions. Interestingly, the AN reacts favorably to killing Mafia soldiers as well as NK troops, due to Mafia depredations on expensive Allied technology.

South Korea:

While the regular South Korean Army is part of the Allied Nations forces, a separate detachment named "South Korea Union" was a covert operation group funded, fostered and backed by the CIA, in the person of Special Agent Mitchell Buford. These SK soldiers take their orders from Langley, VA. The South Koreans are after the reunification of Korea, and have moved aggressively to establish a strategic foothold. Needless to say, they are not happy about China's designs on their northern neighbors. The South Koreans control technology much like the Allied Nations, and provide access to stealth fighter and bomber support (courtesy of the CIA, ideal for getting aerial attacks past SAM vehicles). Agent Buford typically tasks the player with rescue/recovery missions or crippling infrastructure attacks that he does not want traced back to the South Koreans, though by the third "act" the SK and Chinese forces are engaged in open warfare. SK jobs can vary, but most pit the player against the NK or the Chinese.

The South Korean forces are equipped with the same basic weaponry (M4A1 Carbines, AT/AA missiles) as their AN counterparts, but their vehicle camouflage tends more towards a wintry white/grey pattern than the blue/green jungle/grassland colour scheme of the AN machines, while their soldiers wear fatigues with entirely different colour schemes (closely resemble the uniform wear by South Korean military police in the Joint Security Area of the DMZ). The SK also have an elite reserve force - the all-female commandos with members similar to the ROKA 707th Special Mission Battalion, who are armed with powerful H&K MG36 Prototype Rifles (an assault rifle/light machine gun with better ammunition capacity than the M4A1, in addition to a sniper scope.) SK snipers carry Dragunov sniper weapons, while some soldiers carry silenced MP5 sub-machine guns for stealth. The SK motorized and mechanized forces feature TOW-armed variants of the Allied Humvees, upgraded APCs and powerful helicopter squadrons, but since it is a covert unit, the SK forces lack heavy armour, such as tanks. Speed and mobility are the South Korean forces' primary assets, as they do not have the heavy armor or manpower to engage in sustained combat with Chinese or North Korean forces.

Collecting WMD blueprints (small blue-grey metal boxes with nuclear symbols on them) and/or destroying NK monuments (usually giant statues of General Song) will increase South Korean favor toward the player. Killing NK, Mafia, or Chinese troops in the presence of SK troops will raise favor for the player as well.

China:

The PLA, commanded by Col. Zhou Peng, would like to set up a pro-China regime in North Korea. This naturally puts them at odds with both Korean nations--South and North. The Chinese have access to a massive array of firepower, much of which is placed at the player's disposal when on Chinese missions. Col. Peng repeatedly sends the player on missions that his forces are too slow or unable to complete with sufficient precision, such as assassinations or reinforcing armor battalions. When working for the Chinese, jobs will often involve work against SK or NK forces.

Although officially part of the Allied coalition, the Chinese forces operate independently do not follow the standard AN equipment patterns - they wear winter/urban camouflage gear and use Type 56 assault rifles and RPGs extensively. Being the largest single military force in the world, the PLA has access to some exceptionally powerful vehicles - these include a wide range of heavily-armed APC and tank variants and some heavy-lift helicopters. The PLA also features vast artillery coverage and supplies the Fuel Air Bomb air strike.

Destroying SK listening posts (poles with an antenna dish and blinking red light on top) and/or recovering Chinese national treasures (crates with a crest spraypainted on the side) will increase Chinese favor toward the player. Also, killing SK, NK, or Mafia soldiers in sight of Chinese troops will increase Chinese favor.

Russian Mafia:

Success is a matter of exploiting opportunity, and the Russian Mafia sees plenty of opportunity in the war zone that is North Korea. Sergei Voronov, the local mob boss, and his lieutenant Josef Yurinov, are out for one thing: to establish a branch of the Mafia's criminal empire in a weakened North Korea. Therefore, they have no interest in seeing a strong power assuming control, although this also gives them an urgent need to see Song toppled. Maintaining good relations with the Russian Mafia is very important, since they run the "Merchant of Menace" website--the one-stop shop for in-the-field outfitting. Sergei will send the player on a variety of missions, including transporting contraband, stealing vehicles, or assassinating spies. Jobs here will be against any faction; there are even missions against AN troops and other Mafia factions.

Though undoubtedly powerful, the Mafia is first and foremost a criminal organization and therefore has no major military presence in North Korea. However, its well-armed thugs and customised vehicles patrol the streets of many North Korean cities - Pyongyang included - and enforce the Mafia's will with SMGs and combat shotguns. They have the lightest ground presence out of all the factions, with few men and no tanks or APCs.

Any land vehicle can be sold to the Mafia's chop shop. High-end vehicles such as tanks are naturally worth the most money. This is the only way outside of missions and killing NK or Chinese soldiers to raise the player's standing with the Mafia.

Attempting to access the Russian Mafia's Merchant of Menace website in real life takes the user to a mirror of the official website.

Gameplay

Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction sacrifices narrative cohesion for the sake of gameplay, and, thus, apart from the general premise outlined above, the game is mostly free-form, allowing the player to do what he or she wishes at any time (hence "Playground of Destruction"). The player can choose to capture cards, attack enemy locations, take missions, and advance the plot at any point he or she wishes - nothing is required at any time outside of a mission.

Insofar as the game has a structure, it revolves around the "verification" (i.e., death or capture) of the members of the "Deck of 52." As such, the game itself is divided up into four distinct "acts," one for each suit in a standard deck of playing cards, in the order Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades. Each "suit", similarly, consists of 13 members of Song's power structure wanted by the Allies, each fulfilling a different function for Song (Clubs are Song's financial backers, the Diamonds are the officers who run the chemical weapons program, the Hearts are Song's nuclear scientists, and the Spades are Song, his inner circle, and elite guards). The "cards" for that act's suit, with the exception of the Ace and the face cards, are hidden around the map. In order to uncover the location of each "card," the player must perform missions for each faction.

For the Two through Ten of each suit (the lesser bounties), a particular faction has a mission which will reveal the card's location as part of the reward for completion, at which point, the player can "verify" the card at his leisure and collect the bounty. However if the player goes into an area where a number card is located he/she can capture it regardless of whether or not they have completed the mission that tells them where it is. For the face cards (Jack through King), each of the friendly factions (except the Allied Nations) has a mission requiring the player to verify the card as a victory condition. Once enough intel has been gathered by verifying lesser cards, the Allies will make the Ace contract available to the player, which takes place on an island not accessible in the normal game.

After the player has verified an Ace, the next Act begins, and the new suit is placed around the map. After the Ace of Diamonds, a second map, about 100 miles north of the previous location, opens up, and Hearts and Spades take place there. Although the game's primary goal is to verify the Ace of Spades (General Song), the game can go indefinitely, up to that point.

The game also has a mechanic of competing allegiances. The player has a meter showing levels of approval from each of the competing factions. Because some of the friendly factions are hostile towards each other helping one faction will cause a player to fall out of favor with another. For example, the South Koreans wish to drive out the Russian Mafia. Helping the South Koreans will cause the player to fall out of favor with Russian Mafia and vice versa. Killing the soldiers of a faction gratuitously will also cause a player to lose favor with that faction. Killing non-combatant civilians will cause the player to lose favor with all factions except the Russian Mafia. If the meter's level goes down far enough then a faction becomes hostile towards a player and its soldiers will shoot at the player on sight.

Playground of Destruction mode

Once the Ace of Spades is verified, the player is given the option to do another playthrough in "Playground of Destruction" mode. Essentially, the player restarts from the beginning, but with all the cash and unlockables the player earned during the first playthrough, including the hefty bounty for Song. Furthermore, it is no longer necessary to verify the numbered cards to advance (in fact, numbers two through ten of each suit is pre-marked as captured/killed, per the first playthrough). Having the full array of vehicles, supplies and airstrikes handy from the start, along with vast resources to buy them with, makes "Playground of Destruction" mode comparatively easy, while emphasizing 'playground'. If one beats the game in "Playground of Destruction" mode, then the game will go back to "Playground of Destruction" mode again, which allows the player to unlock any items, verify any cards (with the exception of the face cards), or find any bounties that he/she missed during any times through the game.

In addition, the player can unlock a "Cheat Weapons" crate, which costs $800,000. With what it contains, many players feel that it is well worth the price:

Portable Airstrike- A weapon that fires an extremely large rocket. Huge splash damage; locks on to vehicles and aircraft. The rocket takes out all units, buildings, and most bunkers in one hit. But is ineffective against reinforced bunkers. This weapon is good for tagging large clusters of NK troops without friendlies nearby. Not good for close combat. 999/999
Pocket Artillery- Like a Grenade MG/Artillery, holds the position of mobile grenade launcher in the visual form of a Desert Eagle pistol. Like a sniper version of the Portable Airstrike, this lobs explosive projectiles in a ballistic path that do grenade-like damage on impact. 50/100
Street Sweeper- Basically a Minigun that resembles a MAC-10. Ultra-rapid fire rate. Great for anti-personnel and anti-vehicular uses (lightly armored vehicles) 3000/3000

Influences

The player is deposited in a vast "sandbox-type" environment, and set loose to pick up missions, perform side tasks, collect items, or just shoot stuff, all at the player's whim. To advance the story, one must perform certain missions, but the game doesn't lead the player around by the hand to do so. In fact, one can level all of the buildings in the playing environment, including the faction HQs. This means that the player will reach a point where he or she is forced to either load a saved game from before the destruction of the HQs or simply roam around and continue to wreak random destruction. However, if the player dies or calls a medivac, then the HQs will be restored.

The concept of the "Deck of 52" is borrowed from the method used by Coalition forces in Iraq to identify wanted members of Saddam Hussein's deposed government.

Executive Operations, the name of the fictional company the player character works for, is most likely a reference to Executive Outcomes, a private military company that ceased to exist in 1999.

Controversy

Mercenaries was banned from shelves in South Korea for depicting war in its still-hostile theatre, as was Ghost Recon 2. The delicate situation between North and South Korea means that the government is under severe pressure to ban media that depicts war between the two nations, for fear that it could further strain an already tense diplomatic situation.

Weapons and vehicles

Below is a list of weapons and vehicles in the game:

Infantry Weapons

AK-47/Type 56 Assault Rifle - This 7.62x39mm rifle is the standard weapon of the Chinese and NK infantry, It is a good all-round weapon with a medium-to-high rate of fire, a medium-size magazine and decent mid-range accuracy and stopping power.
M4A1 Carbine - The standard-issue light armament for AN and SK infantry. The 5.56x45mm M4A1 has a 30-round magazine and improved accuracy compared to the AK-47, but its barrel tends to overheat significantly after extended firing.
RPD Light Machine Gun - A 7.62x39mm mid-range squad support weapon with a 100-round drum magazine and a very high rate of fire, the LMG is exceptionally effective against light vehicles and enemy personnel with body armor, but its accuracy decreases over medium-to-long distances. It is used by most of the Deck of 52
Prototype Rifle (HK MG36) - This 5.56x45mm German-made rifle is used by some ROKA troops, including the elite 707th Special Missions Battalion, as well as General Song, the leader of North Korea, and features exceptional medium-range accuracy, It comes standard with a telescopic scope and a 100-round magazine. The G36 has particularly good stopping power over short-to-medium distances. However, the recoil from full-auto fire makes it impossible to shoot accurately with the scope, unless one aims down while firing to compensate, but even this is an unsure proposition.
Type 85 Submachine Gun - This 7.62x25mm Submachine Gun is the standard armament for most Mafia thugs and North Korean NCOs, This weapon has good short-to-medium range and accuracy and a 45 round magazine.
Covert Submachine Gun (SMG) - A 9mm MP5 variant with short-to-medium effective range, medium accuracy, a fair-sized magazine and decent stopping power, this close-quarters assault weapon is fitted with a standard deceleration suppressor for covert operations and assassinations.
Shotgun - This pump-action 12-gauge Remington 870 (short version) shotgun is wildly inaccurate over anything but short-to-medium ranges and has a very limited 7-round tube magazine, but makes up for its shortcomings with exceptional short-range stopping power and is also highly effective against lightly armored vehicles. Due to a glitch in the PlayStation 2 version, the firing of the shotgun is completely silent. The ricochet on the ground and the reloading, however, are audible.
SVD Dragunov Sniper Rifle - A 7.62 x 54 mm R sniper rifle, It has a good rate of fire and range. However, its small calibre ammunition is less effective against lightly armored vehicles then the KSVK.
Anti-Material Sniper Rifle (KSVK) - A high-velocity anti-armor snipers weapon that fires 12.7mm ammunition that allows it to punch through body armor and light vehicle armor with relative ease. It comes standard with a telescopic sight.It is very inaccurate when fired on the move.

Heavy Weapons

RPG - An all-purpose shoulder-launched support weapon, the RPG has limited accuracy over longer ranges but is very useful against ground vehicles, slower air units and buildings.
Anti-Aircraft Missile - An American anti-air weapon, this weapon fires heat-seeking missiles which cause heavy damage to aircraft but have limited power against ground vehicles and fortifications.
Anti-Tank Missile - A guided rockets fired by this weapon cause heavy damage to armor units and can easily kill tanks.
Grenade - This hand-thrown grenade causes severe injury or death to enemies and can even damage vehicles and buildings.
Flash Grenade - This flashbang-type grenade stuns enemies within its explosive.
Composition-C4 - A remote-detonated plastic explosive charge with a wide blast radius and powerful effects. It is capable of causing significant damage to vehicles and buildings when placed strategically.

Vehicles

A "*" next to the name denotes that the player cannot control the vehicle, a ** means can only be found once or is very rare. A *** means that the vehicle delivers supplies to the player, but cannot be flown.

Allied Nations

Aircraft:

YAH-56 Gunship (an AH-64 Apache "Longbow") - A common sight in the airspace around Allied military bases and field hospitals, the YAH-56 is a narrow-hulled attack craft and a main armament of air-to-ground/air-to-air missile launchers. It is fast and agile and its medium armor makes it virtually immune to small-arms fire, but RPG fire is capable of downing it in 1-2 shots. It is also a viable target for AA vehicles. It should be noted that it is very difficult to acquire this vehicle for use; the only way to get one is to either lure the helicopter low to the ground by shooting rockets above it (sometimes the rockets will end up hitting it) and initiating a hijack move, or shooting the pilot and letting the helicopter fall to the ground (sometimes the fall will do enough damage to destroy it). Either method will most likely result in the vehicle's destruction, making the effort in vain.
CH-47 "Chinook" Cargo Helicopter*** (Only seen delivering supplies during AN contracts) - The US Army's standard heavy-lift helicopter is used to transport large vehicles - such as the M2 Bradley APC - to designated landing zones. Its powerful engines and tough hull design enable it to survive medium-to-heavy ground fire, but it is unarmed. Its considerable size makes it an easy target for RPGs and anti-air missile launchers
UH-60 "Blackhawk" Troop Transport Helicopter - This transport helicopter has a passenger capacity of six, plus driver, and can use its underside magnetic clamp to transport light vehicles. It is smaller and less durable than the CH-47, but is still large and fast enough to survive light-to-medium ground fire, and is armed with two side-mounted, M134 miniguns.

Allied Nations Ground Vehicles:

Cargo Truck - nondescript and fairly common, this useful transport vehicle is capable of a fair turn of speed and can be used to carry a large number of supply crates around the North Korean countryside. However, it is unarmed and its unarmored chassis cannot survive anything more powerful than small-arms fire.
M1025 Scout - a classic wide-bodied recon/transport car, the standard M-1025 features an armored chassis, a turbocharged V6 engine and a pintle-mounted topside 12.7x99mm Browning M2HB machine gun. It has a seating capacity of five, driver and gunner included.
M1097 "Avenger" Humvee - this two-man mobile artillery unit is based around a simple Humvee forward chassis, but the rear section has been replaced by a revolving one-man FIM-92 Stinger missile anti-aircraft system. It is often used to provide anti-air support for Allied vehicle columns, and also makes appearances around many of the Allied bases in North Korea.
M1126 "Stryker" APC - branded as the "bigger, badder brother of the M1025 Scout", the M1126 features a well-armored hull, eight large wheels with all-terrain tires and a Remote Controlled 12.7x99mm Browning M2HB machine gun set into the cupola. It can carry five soldiers (one serve as the gunner), driver not included, and is capable of a fair turn of speed.
M1A2 Abrams Tank** (only used in Ace of Spades mission and the first and last Mafia missions in N. Province) - Widely considered to be one of the best front-line MBT in the world, the Abrams features totally bulletproof and flameproof depleted uranium armor and a powered turret armed with a pintle-mounted M60E4 machine gun and 120mm smoothbore cannon and a AGT-1500 gas turbine engine. It can survive significant anti-tank fire, and is entirely impervious to small-arms fire. On a level road surface, the M1 can achieve speeds of over 72km/h without an engine governor.
M3 APC - The infantry fighting vehicle of the AN forces, The Bradley is a large tracked vehicle with a bulletproof hull, It has seating capacity for 4 soldiers and the driver and is armed with a M242 Bushmaster 25 mm chain gun and TOW-2B Anti-Tank Guided Missiles, It is fairly fast over flat surfaces and can survive unlimited amounts of small-arms fire, as well as significant amounts of artillery fire.

Chinese

Aircraft:

WZ-9 Light Attack** - A Chinese built Eurocopter Dauphin helicopter with twin missile launchers. It is of little practical use and is usually avoided by players.
MI-17 "Hip-H" Transport Helicopter - Similar to the Allied Chinook CH-47, this large armored aircraft can carry large vehicles with its magnetic clamp to any designated landing zone. It is tough and features a powerful engine system, but can easily be brought down by Anti-Aircraft fire.
S70 "Sikorsky" Transport - Similar in many ways to the Allied UH-60; the only major differences between the two helicopters are that the Chinese S-70 looks more similar like a US MH-60K helicopter with its protruding radar dome and refueling probe.

Chinese Ground Vehicles:

BJ2020 Scout - This half-ton scout vehicle has an open-topped three-man design, with a medium machine gun mounted on a revolving stand at the back. It is fast and maneuverable, but its open sides and top leave its passengers vulnerable to incoming enemy fire.
Cargo Truck - as above.
Fuel Truck - Similar to the Cargo Truck, but its storage space is filled entirely with a tank of highly flammable aviation fuel. It is as vulnerable to enemy fire as the Cargo variant, but the devastating explosion caused by its destruction means that it can be used as a powerful mobile bomb, if one has access to enough C4 explosive to use as a detonator.
Type 80 Tank - The most common MBT among the Chinese armored forces, this medium-armored tank features a winter camo pattern, It is impervious to small arms fire and can survive light missile fire, and is armed with a pintle-mounted heavy machine gun and a 105mm cannon. It is fairly fast for a tank of its size, and has particularly high-grip tracks.
Type 89 APC - an armored APC, it is virtually bulletproof and can stand a few heavy hits, armed with TOW missiles it contains a total of 5 passengers.
Type 96 Tank - A heavily upgraded variant of the Type 80 MBTs, the Type 96 tank is larger, faster and more heavily armored than its predecessors, and can survive for longer under medium-to-heavy artillery and missile bombardment. Its turret weapons array includes a pintle-mounted heavy machine gun and 125mm cannon.
Type 95 Anti-Air - A Chinese built copy of the Russian Tunguska-M1. It features 8 anti-air missile tubes (4 on either side) and twin 30mm cannons. It is better used against infantry, lightly armored vehicles and air targets. It is possible to hit heavily armored with the missiles, but it's a bit tricky. Otherwise, its speed, armor and general survivability are the same as its MBT counterparts.
M1955 Artillery (Chinese) - This towed artillery unit consists of a low trailer chassis with a 152mm medium-to-long-range artillery cannon mounted on it. Somewhat inaccurate over any distances, its high-explosive shells are nonetheless devastating when on target and can be used to lay down deadly suppressing fire. The M1955 is used in the various Chinese Artillery Strikes.
Type 66 Artillery - This is largely similar to the M1955, and is also used in the Artillery Strikes. There are a few aesthetic differences, but none particularly worthy of mention here.

Mafia

Aircraft:

KA-50 "Kamov" Attack Helicopter** (only seen in one mission) - an advanced "dome-hull" helicopter prototype, evidently stolen from a Russian military testing ground and smuggled across the Russian/North Korean border by Mafia heavies. The KA-50 is equipped with an encased pressure-lift rotor system, a well-armored hull design (capable of surviving significant small arms fire, as well as light missile fire), a cannon and a quadruple-tube anti-tank/anti-air missile launcher. This is another helicopter that is difficult to gain control of, due to the fact that there is only one in the game and when you come across it, it usually has or is about to take off.
MD-530 Scout Helicopter - this extremely fast, maneuverable scout helicopter is armed with twin 12.7mm machine guns and air-to-ground rockets. Its two-man cockpit is protected by a bulbous bulletproof glass canopy, but the small size and light armor of the chopper itself make it highly vulnerable to missile fire or even medium-to-heavy small-arms fire.
Mi-26 Cargo Helicopter*** (only seen delivering supplies during the game) - very similar to the Chinese Mi-17, the MI-26 differs in that its design is less bulbous and more streamlined, and lacks the side pylons.

Mafia Ground Vehicles:

Mafia Hummer H2 SUV - A Hummer H2 fitted with armor plating, forward bull-bars and a pintle-mounted 12.7x99mm machine gun, the SUV is fast and drives well on most terrain types, and can survive significant small-arms fire. It can seat 4 passengers along with the driver.
VIP Sedan - unarmed and only lightly armored, the VIP Sedan is nonetheless a fast, stylish and luxurious vehicle, featuring an improvised four-wheel-drive system and eight cup holders. The car is possibly an old Volga or Moskvitch.
Machine Gun Technical - a wide-bodied, three-man pickup truck variant, this fast, maneuverable combat vehicle can survive significant small-arms fire and light missile fire, and is armed with a 12.7mm tripod-mounted machine gun in the rear cargo tray.
TOW Technical - this combat vehicle is armed with a tripod-mounted TOW missile launcher, but is otherwise identical to the MG version.
Grenade Launcher Technical - this vehicle is identical in chassis design, speed and survivability to the two variants above, but it replaces the machine gun/TOW tripod with a grenade launcher.

North Korea

Aircraft:

Mi-17 "Hip-H" Transport Helicopter - the NK Mi-17 is identical to the Chinese version except for its different camouflage colour scheme.
MI-2 "Hoplite" Light Attack Helicopter** - a fast, maneuverable, lightly-armored assault craft, the MI-2 features a standard Mil MI series rotor system and a multi-use missile launcher. It can withstand light-to-medium small-arms fire but is heavily susceptible to missile fire.
Mi-35 "Hind" Gunship - an export version of the Mi-24 Hind, the Mi-35 has a stronger armored hull and is immune to bullets, but can be brought down by sustained AA fire or SAMs. It is fast, agile and is armed with a combination of 23mm anti-personnel cannons and air-to-ground missiles. It can also carry up to 6 people in its rear cabin.
MD-500 Scout - similar in hull design, speed and survivability to the Mafia MD-530, the MD-500 replaces the 530's heavy machine guns and rockets with a minigun and twin Anti-Tank missile launchers.

North Korea Ground Vehicles:

BMP-1 APC - a well-armored and reasonably fast armored vehicle, the BMP is resistant to small-arms fire and light missile fire, can carry up to four passengers (plus driver), and is armed with a turret-mounted 73mm tank cannon.
BRDM Scout - fast and agile, the BRDM can carry 2 people (you and gunner) and is armed with a 14.5mm pintle-mounted machine gun. However, its lightly armored chassis is highly vulnerable to missile attack, and can only survive a certain amount of small-arms fire.
BTR APC -(BTR-60) an quick 8 wheeled APC which can carry 6 passengers and 1 gunner. Armor is light and it only has a 12.7mm machine gun.
Ural-4320 Cargo Truck - a standard flatbed cargo vehicle, the two-man Ural-4320 Cargo Truck is fairly fast and durable, and can be used to transport supply crates in the same manner as its Chinese and Allied counterparts. It can survive light-to-medium small-arms fire but is highly vulnerable to missiles, grenades and other such explosive devices. Some of them carry highly explosive fuel tanks in the back.
Control Vehicle - this unarmed but well-armored vehicle is capable of a fair turn of speed and can survive significant small-arms fire and light missile fire. Its revolving electronics array features a wide variety of communications and surveillance equipment, including a Doppler radome, infrared ranging devices and an electronic radar jamming system. It is the most technologically advanced ground vehicle in the NK armory.
FROG-7 TELAR - a Cold-War era missile truck, the FROG-7 TELAR consists of a ZIL-135 8x8 truck chassis with a missile launch rail mounted behind the cab. It is fairly fast and the truck itself can survive significant small-arms fire, but the FROG missile mounted on its rail is in a constant state of launch readiness and therefore is susceptible to detonation when under fire. The FROG-7 TELAR is used for the Strategic Missile Strike.
Sungri Scout - the most common North Korean vehicle, this three-man light scout car has the same basic open-topped layout as the Chinese BJ2020, but has a far flimsier chassis and is highly vulnerable to both missile fire and light-to-medium small-arms fire. Fast and agile, the Sungri is armed with a rear tripod-mounted medium machine gun.
M1955 Artillery - this mobile artillery unit is based on a tracked, armored chassis with a 135mm long-range adjustable artillery cannon. The chassis can survive significant small-arms fire and light missile fire, but is very slow to move (in the game it is, for all intents and purposes, largely immobile). The high-explosive shells fired by the M1955 can cause significant structural damage to most buildings, and the M1955 is therefore largely used to bombard enemy positions.
M1978 Artillery - apart from some minor aesthetic differences and a slightly higher-calibre artillery cannon, the M1978 is identical to the M1955. The M1978 is mounted on a T-54/55 chassis & can rotate all the way around, unlike the M1955/66.
SA-8 Anti-Air - the most common Anti-Aircraft unit in the game, the SA-8 is a wide-bodied two-man support vehicle with a well-armored chassis (can survive significant small-arms fire and light missile fire, & can even withstand .50 caliber machine gun rounds) and a revolving AA weapons system, which consists of a wide-angle air radar unit and twin AA missile launcher banks. The SA-8 is fairly fast and can be seen at nearly every NK installation in the game.
Type 07 Supergun** - the Type 07 consists of a giant tracked chassis, with a gigantic artillery cannon set into a firing platform on top. The rail car contains chemical toilets and bunks for the gun's supervision crew, as well as the loading and firing mechanisms. The supergun is impervious to small-arms fire and all but the heaviest weapons - in fact, only a Bunker Buster Air Strike or a BGM-109 Tomahawk Cruise Missile can destroy it. The cannon itself fires 7,000-pound quasi-nuclear composite ammunition, which cause explosive and radioactive effects similar to the detonation of a 0.2 kiloton nuclear device.
Type 07 Prototype Supergun** - the Prototype version is slightly smaller than the final Type 07 & lacks a radar jammer, but is otherwise identical in every way.
Ural-4320 Transport Truck - this troop transport vehicle uses the same cab and chassis design as the Cargo version, but replaces the flatbed cargo section with a four-man seating area protected by a canvas canopy. The Ural-4320 Transport is slightly more resistant to small-arms fire than the Cargo Truck, but is still vulnerable to missiles. Speed and overall maneuverability are the same as the Cargo Truck.
T-54 Tank - a modified Soviet-era battle tank, the T-54 features an entirely bulletproof hull and can survive light-to-medium missile fire. It is fairly fast and its turret armament includes a pintle-mounted 12.7mm machine gun and a 100mm tank cannon.
T-62 Tank - the T-62 is similar in most ways to the T-54, but its armor is slightly thicker and its main cannon is a 115mm instead of a 100mm.
ZSU-57 Flak Anti-Air - the ZSU-57 consists of a bulletproof tracked chassis (with limited resistance to missile fire) with an open-topped revolving gun turret, equipped with double 57mm AA cannons. The ZSU-57 is faster than many of the other NK armored vehicles, but with its open turret, it makes it easy for the player to shoot the operator from the turret and take control without the need to hijack.

South Korea

Aircraft:

K-60 Troop Transport - largely identical to the Allied version, the SK UH-60 only differs in its blue winter/urban camouflage pattern and the addition of external fuel pods, refueling probe and radar randome, akin to an American MH-60K helicopter.
K-53 Sea Stallion*** (seen delivering supplies on SK contracts and on one mission at Inchon Airfield on an AN contract) - a large heavy transport helicopter, the K-53 uses its turbocharged engines and powerful magnetic clamp to carry even the largest armored vehicles over large distances. While not usable, the K-53 sports four M134 miniguns. Highly resistant to small-arms fire and light missile fire, the K-53 is used to deliver vehicles and supplies to the mercenary when he or she is on a South Korean mission.
LHX Light Attack Helicopter "Comanche" - the Comanche is a powerful light strike helicopter, with a durable narrow-hulled design, an encased rear rotor and an integrated 20mm AP cannon/multi-use missile launcher weapons system. Fast and maneuverable, the Comanche is resistant to small-arms fire and light missile fire.

South Korea Ground Vehicles:

Cargo Truck - as above.
K966 Scout - this is largely identical to the Allied M1025 Scout, but sports a blue winter/urban camouflage pattern and a TOW missile launcher in place of the M1025's 12.7mm machine gun.
K1025 Scout - this is entirely identical to the M1025 Scout, save for its camo pattern, as it retains the 12.7mm machine gun.
K200 APC - this large armored vehicle features a bulletproof armored hull (with fairly high resistance to missile fire) containing a four-person seating area and a small inbuilt chemical toilet, like some of the Allied and Chinese armored vehicles. The K200 is capable of a fair turn of speed over flat road surfaces, and is armed with a formidable cupola-mounted 25mm Anti-Personnel cannon.
K200 Surveillance - this is largely identical to the K200 APC, but replaces the 25mm cannon with a full-spectrum electronics array, incorporating radar, infrared and electronic radar jamming systems.

Other

Jaju - a standard civilian car: white-painted, fairly fast but highly susceptible to small-arms and missile attack.
Metro Bus - a common public transport vehicle in Pyongyang and other major cities. It is fairly fast and durable but hard to steer, and is very vulnerable to small-arms and missile fire.
SMC 2100- A North Korean civilian transport truck, commonly seen near urban centers.
Paektusan* - a luxurious sports SUV: fast, durable and with a capacity of five, driver included. The Paektusan is vulnerable to missile fire but can withstand significant light-to-medium small-arms fire. This vehicle was removed from the game, presumably to balance out the vehicles.
Lada 124 - the hallmark of Soviet civilian life, the Lada was exported to communist North Korea in vast numbers during the Cold War. Now it is a common sight in and around Pyongyang and other cities. Speedy and reliable, it has a capacity of four (driver included) but is very vulnerable to any attack. However, it is not as common as the Jaju.
SMC 2300 - a standard white-painted cargo truck with a two-man cab, the SMC 2300 is a common sight on the roads of North Korea. It is fairly fast and can survive significant small-arms fire, but is very vulnerable to missile fire.
SMC 2200** - The same as the SMC 2100, except it is a flatbed version.
Baggage Carrier - a common sight at the various airbases and civilian airports dotted around North Korea, the Baggage Carrier is a small, two-man transport vehicle. It is quick and nondescript, but is extremely vulnerable to any attack.
GSRN Truck - an all-terrain press truck, owned by the Global Satellite Reporting Network. Fast but vulnerable to all forms of attack, this four-man vehicle is a common sight at many Allied bases and field hospitals. The GSRN Truck features an all-frequency radio broadcast system, and if the player moves close to one of these vehicles, then he or she will be able to hear an update on the latest developments to do with the Deck of 52.
Sports Car - a classic crimson racing vehicle, this expensive two-seater luxury machine is agile and capable of very high speeds, but its fragile chassis is highly susceptible to attack.
Taebaek - a cheap South Korean SUV, a Ssangyong Rexton, the four-seater Taebaek is aesthetically pleasing and quite fast, but its chassis is very flimsy and can easily be damaged. A single RPG rocket or an extended burst of small-arms fire is generally enough to destroy a Taebaek.
Ambulance - this vehicle is identical in design, speed and durability to the GSRN Truck, but it is used by Allied medics instead of GSRN reporters.
Grenade Machine Gun - a tripod-mounted rapid-fire 40mm grenade launcher, capable of laying down a devastating 180° field of fire. Its grenade ammunition is designed for Anti-Personnel use, but has devastating effects on light vehicles as well.
Heavy Machine Gun - this tripod-mounted weapon takes the form of a 15mm machine gun, and can often be seen set up behind sandbags and defensive positions around the bases of various factions.
Recoilless Rifle - this follows the same sort of tripod setup and defensive positioning as the Grenade/Heavy Machine Gun versions, but the weapon in question is a medium-range armor-piercing recoilless rifle unit, capable of destroying most armored vehicles in three or four shots.
Hummer H3: A powerful 4-wheel drive SUV, procured from the Hummer factory by the Mafia. Its fairly resistant to small-arms fire and can go virtually anywhere off-road.

Airstrikes (Incl. Vehicles/Aircraft)

1) Air Superiority: F/A-22 Raptor - used to clear the local airspace of hostile aircraft, this satellite-guided air strike takes the form of a brief Raptor fly-by, during which all unfriendly aircraft in the area are targeted and destroyed by independently-targeting AMRAAM-120 Air-to-Air missiles. The air-targeting systems of the AMRAAMs mean that this air strike is entirely ineffective against ground vehicles.
2) Artillery Strike: Type 66 Artillery - guided by standard high-plume red-dye smoke grenades, this suppressive strike consists of a brief artillery attack by a portion of the Chinese 7/23rd Field Artillery (the PLA artillery battalion assigned to Col. Peng's occupation force). Inaccurate and dangerous to both friend and foe, the Artillery Strike nonetheless is highly effective when used to slow enemy advances, and can cause significant damage to buildings and vehicles alike.
3) Artillery Barrage: Type 66 Artillery - this negotiated artillery assault is largely identical to the Artillery Strike above, but lasts for a longer peiod of time, is slightly more accurate and uses more powerful ammunition.
4) Artillery Bombardment: Type 66 Artillery - the most powerful of the Artillery strikes, this particular attack involves the majority of the 7/23rd Field Artillery and consists of an extended heavy-ammunition bombardment, capable of causing widespread devastation and destroying enemy vehicles and buildings rapidly when on target.
5) Bunker Buster Bomb: F-15E Strike Eagle - this missile strike uses a laser-guidance system similar to that of the Surgical Strike below. When the target information has been relayed, an F-15E performs a fly-by, releasing a 4,000-pound maximum-penetration "Bunker Buster" bomb. This impacts with its target building/area with a small explosion and then burrows down through layers of earth or concrete before detonating its primary charge. This massive air-burst explosion can instantly demolish even the largest buildings, and the shockwaves and pressure burst can have devastating effects on vehicles and infantry in the surrounding area. In the aftermath of the explosion, a large cloud of smoke and dust - peaking at around 600ft - rises over the blast zone.
6) Carpet Bomb: B-52 Stratofortress - this satellite-guided airstrike is best used when facing large enemy forces or fortified bases. A massive B-52 bomber performs a bombing run, releasing up to 30,000 pounds of high explosives over an area about 500 metres squared. Anything caught inside the blast zone - be it building, vehicle or infantry - is utterly destroyed by the rolling wave of fire. Due to the large explosion radius, it is not recommended for the user to stand within 50 metres of the blast zone.
7) Cluster bomb: A-10 Thunderbolt II - this air strike uses the same satellite guidance system as the Carpet Bomb. Once the target information has been relayed, a USAF A-10 flies over the target zone and releases a Rockeye Mk. II/B cluster bomb. Shortly after release, the bomb separates into multiple high-explosive bomblets. These unguided explosives are equipped with contact detonators and are highly effective against infantry and light vehicles, making the Cluster Bomb an excellent suppressive weapon. However, the bomblets have little effect on fortified buildings and heavily-armored vehicles.
8) Fuel Air Bomb: Su-25 Frogfoot - this is yet another satellite-guided air strike, and is delivered by a Chinese Air Force Sukhoi Su-25. The Su-25 flies over the target area and drops a thermobaric oxy-reactive charge containing a highly flammable explosive epoxy. Upon detonation, the Fuel Air Bomb releases a large cloud of superheated gas, which ignites in a massive thermal explosion. The explosion is accompanied by a low-level firestorm, which creates a small vacuum around the point of detonation. This combination of heat and pressure can have devastating effects on enemy forces, instantly killing all nearby personnel and destroying vehicles and buildings in a wide radius around the point of detonation.
9) Gunship Support I: AC-130 Specter - guided by a continuous laser targeting system, this air strike is top of the range when it comes to suppressive attacks. An AC-130 gunship overflies the target zone in a continuous circle, firing its 20mm cannons at whatever the laser pinpointer is aiming at. It is immensely effective against infantry, and when used extensively, can also destroy buildings and armored vehicles.
10) Gunship Support II: AC-130 Specter - this air strike is largely identical to the "I" version above, but lasts for a longer period and uses more destructive 25mm rotary cannon ammunition.
11) Gunship Support III: AC-130 Specter - the most powerful version of the Gunship Support air strike, this maximum-duration attack utilizes upgraded 30mm cannon fire to saturate the target area in suppressive fire.
12) Stealth Fighter Attack: F-117 Nighthawk - the 2,000-pound bombs used in this laser-guided strike are similar to those used in the Surgical Strike below, but are launched by the electronically invisible F-117 Nighthawk. This means that enemy radar and Anti-Aircraft systems will provide no prior warning or defence against the attack.
13) Stealth Bomber Attack: B-2 Stealth Bomber - a more powerful satellite-guided variant of the Fighter version above, this is basically a minor version of the Carpet Bomb.
14) Strategic Missile Strike: FROG-7 - this Cold War-era missile strike is guided via satellite and launched via the Russian FROG-7 missile truck. Accurate and powerful, the Surface-to-Surface missile used here has a devastating effect on buildings, vehicles and infantry alike.
15) Surgical Strike: F-15E Strike Eagle - this laser-guided missile strike takes the form of an AGM-25/A Air-to-Ground missiles fired from an overflying F-15E aircraft. The 2,000-pound missiles are exceptionally effective against reinforced buildings and armored vehicles.
16) Tank Buster: A-10 Thunderbolt II - this satellite-guided air strike uses selectively-targeting Hellfire S/AG-71 Anti-Tank missiles to destroy all vehicles in the target area, while leaving buildings and infantry units alone. The A-10's fly-by attack destroys any hostile vehicles in an area about 500 metres by 100 metres.
17) Cruise Missile: BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missile - this extremely accurate satellite-guided strike involves an independent computer-controlled sea-launched missile with similar destructive power and blast signature to the Bunker Buster strike above.

Aircraft seen flying in the game:

Trivia

There are a large number of humorous easter eggs in the names of the WMDs, such as references to software piracy (Key Generator Program, 1337 dIc7i0N4rY, etc.) and Star Wars (Kessel Run Star Chart, Plans for Death Star, Screenplay for Episode VII etc.).
Chris Jacobs is voiced by Phil LaMarr (MADtv, Pulp Fiction), Mattias Nilsson by Peter Stormare (Fargo, Prison Break), and Jennifer Mui by Jennifer Hale (Star Wars:Knights of the Old Republic, numerous other video games). Phil LaMarr and Jennifer Hale both appear together in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
After finishing the first ace contract during the news announcement there is an easter egg at the bottom of the screen where the words are scrolling across the screen it says: Tipoca City: Clones cloned.

Awards

Included on Game Informer's list of "Top 50 Games of 2005"

External links