When it comes to fully destructible environments and big booms, more of the same can hardly be considered a bad thing, and from the demo of the early build we saw, Mercenaries 2 looks ready to slightly up the ante in just about every aspect of the original’s freeform gameplay. Whether you call in air strikes, hijack enemy tanks, make buildings crumble with rockets, or just shoot down bad guys the old fashioned way, expect to accomplish goals your way.

We witnessed the return of Mattias Nilsson, the punked-out badass biker from the original, and watched as he peppered an enemy’s jeep with the game’s new sticky C4 grenades before locking it on a crash course with an enemy bunker ahead. After leaping from the speeding jeep, the sticky C4 grenades were detonated, and the resonating explosion rocked the surrounding area – laying waste to the bunker and surrounding gunmen.

Although Mercenaries 2 doesn’t boast the sort of eye-searing visuals we’ve been seeing in some other upcoming next-gen titles, the game looks a lot crisper than the original – even at this early stage. Details are vague regarding a ship date for this upcoming shooter other than the fact that it’s expected to be ready sometime this year. So in the meantime, head over to the images tab above for a sneak peak at the latest screens for one of this year’s most dangerous and destructible sequels.