Open world tropical sandboxes- Panau or Venezuela?

[Tupin]

In other words, do you prefer Just Cause 2 or Mercenaries 2? To be fair, Mercenaries 2 came out in 2008 and Just Cause 2 in 2010, so I played Mercs 2 first. I thought it was pretty good when I first played it, but going back to it after Just Cause 2 just made me realize how much better Just Cause 2 is.

Controls in Mercs 2 are pretty awkward, and the world of Just Cause 2 obviously has more to do in it.

I'll give Mercs 2 two things, it had a kick-ass theme song and you could use nukes. And I kind of did like the option of stealing resources rather than blowing them up. Still, Just Cause 2 is just so much better.

Which do you prefer?

[Robocop2]

Tropico 3
I know its not the same type of sandbox game but I enjoy it more

[heybtbm]

I've played both games pretty thoroughly. Beat them both and have spent 100+ hours between the two.

First off...Just Cause 2 is not only better than Mercenaries 2, it's the best open-world/sandbox game made to date (Of course GTA and RDR win in the story department). JC2 has the largest in-game sandbox, tons of things to do (and destroy), secrets and easter eggs around every corner, and probably the most diverse landscape in any game I've played. Snow, mountains, desert, oceans, rivers, plains, swamps, jungles, forests, urban areas, it's all there. So much fun.

Merc's 2 is good, not great. Definitely a disappointment considering how promising the original Mercenaries was. So many glitches and infuriating errors. Anyway...good luck playing it now. EA took down the co-op servers and in a hilarious side effect...the game locks up when you start it (it's trying to find the non-existent server). Even if you're just playing single player...you're shit out of luck. The only fix is to play it offline, completely signed out of XBL. It's been this way since August 2010.

EDIT: I forgot to add...playing Just Cause 2 will make you feel completly landlocked when playing any other open-world/sandbox game. The freedom that the grappling hook/parachute combo gives you is dearly missed in all other similar games.