Most people who go missing shouldn’t expect an army of heroes to spring into action and scour the globe to find them, but money changes everything. When a billionaire is abducted, four brave and cash-starved mercenaries join together to save the unfortunate man from whatever fate his captors have in mind. Along the way, the foursome punch, slash, shoot, and blast their way to victory as the resulting body count goes through the roof.
The Expendables 2 video game (just barely) tells a story that unfolds shortly before the events depicted in the upcoming movie of the same name. That means you won’t have to worry about spoilers as you work through the game’s 20 stages. Aside from a few brief scenes that are surprisingly light on exposition, there’s not really a narrative. The lackluster plot is as much a benefit as it is an issue, though, because there’s nothing to distract you from focusing on the real action.
With the exception of some relatively brief and infrequent on-rails sequences that take place in vehicles, The Expendables 2 is a shooter in the vein of Neo Contra, or 2009’s G.I. Joe movie tie-in. The action is viewed from an isometric angle that lets you see a substantial portion of whatever environment you might be navigating, but in this case there are four heroes working together to deal pain to the seemingly endless waves of enemy goons instead of the usual two. Those four heroes can be controlled either by real friends or by the computer, depending on your preferences and circumstances.
The available mercenaries each have two primary weapons they can switch between, as well as melee attacks and signature killing moves. Visually the character models resemble the characters in the film franchise, particularly Stallone’s character, but the main reason to pick one mercenary over another is the primary weapon selection. Yin Yang carries a simple machine gun and some deadly throwing knives, while the bulkier Gunner Jensen can choose between a shotgun and a sniper rifle with a laser sight. Barney Ross is a middle-of-the-road character, meanwhile, and Hale Caesar packs more explosive equipment than the other guys.
They all start out quite strong (these guys didn’t get where they are due to misfiled paperwork), but you make them even stronger by purchasing skill and weapon upgrades with the experience points you earn while playing through the campaign. Health, movement speed, and weapon effectiveness can all be enhanced slightly, just enough to make later stages less intimidating but not enough to make them too easy. The differences between a fresh character and one that has been powered may not be substantial, but upgrades still serve as a nice reward for your efforts.
If you’ve played games of this sort in the past, you shouldn’t have much trouble with The Expendables 2 on the default Casual difficulty setting. There are a few places throughout the campaign where the action gets crazy enough that you might get unlucky and fail a mission, but generous checkpoint placement typically prevents you from losing much ground, and there usually are enough points of cover that four heroes are quite capable of cutting a swath through any enemy forces. There’s also the option of the Hardcore setting, if you think you’re up to it.