Shadow Ops: Red Mercury is a rather interesting Modern Warfare shooter, notably manufactured before Call of Duty ever thought of exiting its World War II niche. More tactical shooter than the stop n' pop romps of Shadow Ops' successor, thanks to low health pools, fast time-to-kills, and a wholly necessary leaning mechanic. The lack of regenerating health alongside ZERO checkpoints throughout missions creates a very tense and often frustrating experience. Luckily, the ludicrous and over-the-top cinematic presentation of the story gives the game a small amount of value, but incoming players who are more used to the contemporary innovations of cinematic modern shooters, such as regenerating health and forgiving checkpointing, should shunt the difficulty down to easy.
The first ever Modern Warfare clone and predates it for like three years. Pretty wild.
In fact, most situations from this game got redone in Call of Dutys and other shooters that came after COD4: sniper level with """stealth"""" on the snow, the mission in Syria is basically the touristic destination in every COD/Battlefield/You name it (generic Middle Eastern country at war), and Eastern-European (the bad guys) terrorists invade one (1) Central-European (the good guys) country. You even go to a harbour full of soldiers in Chechenya at night, exactly the same as in Black (game released two years later). Either this is the most influential game for shaping the 7th Generation or the guys who made it predicted the literal standard for shooters in the forthcoming years.
I'd say I liked it mostly because it is technically functional, as I didn't have to download any unofficial patch for other than having the game localized in my language, and because, as the COD kid I was, it was entertaining to say the least. Anyhow, it has nothing to makes itself stand out - despite mentioning Black, Shadow Ops: Red Mercury WISHES it had such great combat mechanics -, the main atractive being the silliness of the cutscenes, whose editing look straight out of a music video from 2004. The plot is non-existent and ridiculous.
In fact, most situations from this game got redone in Call of Dutys and other shooters that came after COD4: sniper level with """stealth"""" on the snow, the mission in Syria is basically the touristic destination in every COD/Battlefield/You name it (generic Middle Eastern country at war), and Eastern-European (the bad guys) terrorists invade one (1) Central-European (the good guys) country. You even go to a harbour full of soldiers in Chechenya at night, exactly the same as in Black (game released two years later). Either this is the most influential game for shaping the 7th Generation or the guys who made it predicted the literal standard for shooters in the forthcoming years.
I'd say I liked it mostly because it is technically functional, as I didn't have to download any unofficial patch for other than having the game localized in my language, and because, as the COD kid I was, it was entertaining to say the least. Anyhow, it has nothing to makes itself stand out - despite mentioning Black, Shadow Ops: Red Mercury WISHES it had such great combat mechanics -, the main atractive being the silliness of the cutscenes, whose editing look straight out of a music video from 2004. The plot is non-existent and ridiculous.
While there is a fun charm to this mid-2000's shooter, I found myself getting more irritated by the game as it wore on. The number of enemies increases of course, and with that, the problems of the game are more noticeable. Examples of getting shot through doors before they are fully open, enemies with incredibly precise aim even on the easier difficulties and blind spots where enemies can hardly be seen with minimal cover to utilize provide lots of opportunities for the player to take unavoidable damage that can be immensely frustrating. The worst example of this was the second to last level as you scale the Eiffel Tower, a neat concept that sadly gets deflated by numerous instances of blind corners and moments that can't be avoided, making the level frustrating when health packs are minimal and the number of enemies feels endless. When enemies aren't assaulting you all at once, they sometimes go right into the open and make it incredibly easy for you to pick them off with a headshot, making for moments of weirdly uneven difficulty throughout certain levels.
Despite the gameplay being frustrating at times, the game generally runs smoothly aside from some glitches involving climbing up stairs that can mess you up if you're in combat. The sound is perhaps the best all-around element, with it roaring and providing a strong atmosphere, especially since it's THX certified. The cutscenes throughout are also gloriously cheesy, making for lots of unintentional humor throughout the game. The plot is barebones to say the least. As far as mission structure, several levels will make up a single mission. However, without any explanation most of the time, your loadout and the teammates you're with just randomly change between levels on the same mission. It makes for very odd and frustrating moments when you're expecting a certain gun and you no longer have it.
It's easy to have fun with this game at first, but the issues seem to compound more as the game goes on and one only desires to finish it for the sake of finishing it. There are some interesting levels and settings to go through, but the game just doesn't come together all around. I highly doubt I will ever play this one again.
Despite the gameplay being frustrating at times, the game generally runs smoothly aside from some glitches involving climbing up stairs that can mess you up if you're in combat. The sound is perhaps the best all-around element, with it roaring and providing a strong atmosphere, especially since it's THX certified. The cutscenes throughout are also gloriously cheesy, making for lots of unintentional humor throughout the game. The plot is barebones to say the least. As far as mission structure, several levels will make up a single mission. However, without any explanation most of the time, your loadout and the teammates you're with just randomly change between levels on the same mission. It makes for very odd and frustrating moments when you're expecting a certain gun and you no longer have it.
It's easy to have fun with this game at first, but the issues seem to compound more as the game goes on and one only desires to finish it for the sake of finishing it. There are some interesting levels and settings to go through, but the game just doesn't come together all around. I highly doubt I will ever play this one again.