Previous Next

Since the publication of the original Mercenary on the Commodore 64 back in 1986, the 3D vector-driven adventure game, and those that have followed it, have become cult classics. Since the original, we've had The Second City (essentially a data disk for the first game), the excellent Damocles and now the trilogy is drawn to a close (probably) by the cleverly-titled Mercenary III (subtitled The Dion Crisis). It's bigger, better and tougher than those that have preceded it, with the 3D filled-vector environment that author Paul Woakes is famous more now more sophisticated and believable than ever before.

This time around, the player travels between planets in a bid to unravel a top-level political conspiracy. Interaction with characters now plays a major part in the adventuring, but mostly the gameplay will be familiar to Mercenary fans - travel around collecting objects and using them in the right way.

It's not particularly sophisticated stuff, but the realistic environment and the multitude of things to do give the impression that it is, and that's fine by me.

Of course, anybody who enjoyed the earlier Mercenary games won't need to be told that this is right up their street also. Unfortunately, the game's innovative way of doing things, its tricky puzzles, weird sense of humour and overall feel isn't to everybody's taste, so newcomers may want to check it out before taking the plunge. It's definitely worth looking out for, though, as those who have the patience and take the time to get into the game will find it thoroughly absorbing.