Randomly Mine: Red Mercury (Patreon)

On two occasions already, I've played games that would've suited the video I released just before playing them. First, it was Resident Evil 2 Remake. Now, it's Shadow Ops: Red Mercury.

While Call of Duty 4 unquestionably popularized the Modern Military Shooter which dominated the 7th console generation, there were in-fact many, many attempts by large publishers and companies to spark the imitative early. Not to be confused with the Tactical Shooter Genre, brought to the forefront by Tom Clancy himself via Red Storm Entertainment.

No, there were a multitude of quick, accessible, and action-packed shooters mainly inspired by Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down. Funny enough, Infinity Ward used scenes from that movie as the intro for Modern Warfare's early builds.

I'm sure many reading this likely have played some games that used this setting before 2007. Battlefield 2. Socom. America's Army. But Shadow Ops: Red Mercury has a quality that those games, despite their success, don't have.

It's adorable.

Shadow Ops: Red Mercury is a war-themed action-romp about preventing the latest in Nuclear technology to be used against world leaders in a devastating terrorist attack... in which there's no cursing or bleeding. It's hilarious! You'll single-handedly clear Russian Bases one moment only to see a Military Leader lose multiple soldiers the next while yelling "Aw come on!"

There's music stings that play when soldiers suddenly appear from above, even though they're just walking into your line of fire. Rocket Launcher's have unlimited ammo until you've destroyed the required target. Level transitions are paced like a kid's cartoon show.

It's all so cute!

Which is good, because the gameplay itself is textbook mediocrity. Tiny levels crafted by modelers who only had a ruler, AI that'll spawn from closets and run single file, and weapons that take up 50% of your screen. Thankfully, the weapons themselves are surprisingly punchy and enemy reactions are varied enough to make combat not feel completely neutered. 

Just mostly.

Would I recommend Shadow Ops: Red Mercury? Well, if you're the type of person who also enjoys a whole batch of 5-7/10 games, I'd even say Shadow Ops is one of the most enjoyable, if only for how hard it tries.