Mercenary Kings is a strange beast. It is on the one had a throwback to the great 16 bit run n gun games like Metal Slug, while on the other hand, also manages to push things in strong new direction and bring actual innovation to this style of gameplay. I was looking forward to the game coming out on Switch, and I am happy to say that I was not disappointed.
Mercenary Kings sees you pick your character ( this reloaded edition adds two new ones to the mix, joining the original two) and head off to fight the evil forces of CLAW. There is definitely a humorous tone to this game but don’t be fooled, as this is indeed a challenging game. You cannot just run in and shoot everything because you have a limited amount of shots before you need to reload. While reloading is unlimited, different weapons will have different amounts of shots they can carry. As the game progresses, you will craft new guns and melee weapons and go out and destroy your enemies. You will need to be strategic though, since some weapons may hold more ammo, but not deal as much damage. Other weapons will have extra effects, so there is a tradeoff to everything.
Mercenary Kings is just a fun game. It has beautiful visual art style and amazing music that really gets you into the experience. there are some issues however, such as some enemy placements being awkward. The levels are not straight left to right progression, but small stages you have to explore around. You will often return to the same area numerous times for missions, so you will get a chance to learn the areas. However, the issue I mentioned of enemy placement comes into play when you are running low on time in some missions. Certain enemies take more time to kill and require patience, which doesn’t fit well with the missions. Another issue that does come up occasionally is a sense of “where do I go”, as you will sometimes be confused where in the level you have to head to, although repeated playthroughs will solve this issue,
Mercenary Kings is a game meant to be played over and over again and it shows. There is something to it that I just cannot explain, it simply keeps me coming back for more. When playing for this review, I actually drained the Switch battery more than once, due to not wanting to stop playing. This is something special and I recommend checking it out!
Disclaimer: A review key was provided.