The arcade classic Mercs has made its way to the Sega Genesis. As a member of an elite Special Forces group, you're constantly traveling around the world to various hotspots of terrorist activity. So far, you've always come home relatively unscathed, but this mission is the most dangerous and potentially deadly you've ever faced, so stay sharp and get ready for a fight of epic proportions. A former President has been kidnapped, and its your job to bring him home safely! With the help of your machine guns, bazookas, and other heavy artillery, the terrorists will be no match for your superior skills and sharp shooting ability. So stay frosty, and remember your mantra: shoot first, ask questions later.

Mercs arcade mode is very faithful. In Mercs you choose from easy, normal, or hard difficulty as you move forward, killing all in your path, until you reach the boss. You begin with your standard machine gun but can upgrade your weapon by collecting powerups. Among them are the spread gun, flame thrower, grenade launcher, and laser. Each weapon has its strengths and weaknesses. For example, the flame thrower is slow but can kill many enemies with only one pass. The grenade launcher is also slow but extremely powerful.

The Mega Crush bomb annihilates everything on screen and is especially deadly when used on bosses (three is usually enough to take out most of them). Food powerups found in boxes can be used to replenish your life meter, as well as the famous Capcom POW which increases weapon power. Medals add to your score and are sometimes hidden in trees or even on suicide attackers!

As in arcade mode, vehicles can be confiscated from the enemy for use. Jeeps, tanks, and boats add to the game play by giving you a reprieve from enemy fire, as well as a means to get the heck out of Dodge when the going gets rough (you can pass enemy vehicles and continue upscreen).

The graphics in Mercs are well done, although characters are somewhat small. Color is well used, given the Genesis' capabilities in that department, and while there isn't any parallax, some nice fog effects appear in a few levels. Mercs feels very arcadey, and the level of detail is cool.

Mercs is one of those games that's instantly fun to play, with bullets and bodies flying all over the place, and there are hordes of enemies to mow down. Besides manning weapons like machine guns and flamethrowers, you can also commandeer enemy vehicles. You can level trees and villages, creating total mayhem. With bosses like planes and tanks, you mission won't be easy, but you'll have a blast.

Now this is some serious arcade action! Mercs is a totally fun and addicting vertical-scrolling shooter. It's a lot like Rambo, or Front Line for you classic game veterans. You boldly advance into enemy territory, shooting and bombing the bad guys while grabbing bonuses and power-ups.

Imagine yourself as the best that American covert forces has to offer, the ultimate trained assassin. You've been called upon by the president to aid the government on a covert operation so secret, that standard military can't be allowed to get involved.