A Mercenaries 2 info spill has revealed that Pandemic's war zone sequel will feature online co-op multiplayer, a Just Cause -esque grappling hook for flooring enemies, scaling buildings and hijacking vehicles, and the ability to field your own army of fellow mercenaries recruited from the Venezuelan-set battleground. Point your eyes at this batch of new screens by hitting the Images tab above.

Multiplayer will work in a similar way to that of Gears of War - with one player inviting another into an existing game, where both can wreak double the destruction by teaming up to take on the campaign missions. Meanwhile, recruiting your merc buddies during operations opens up new missions, and enables you to take a minion along for the ride to offer some backup.

Finally, the new grappling hook gizmo can be employed in a variety of actions - fire it into enemy soldiers, use it to commandeer helicopters or climb buildings, and maybe even latch onto passing speedboats for some relaxing waterskiing.

These news snippets come direct from the latest issue of the UK's Official PlayStation Magazine, which blows Mercenaries' PS3 antics apart in a huge feature, revealing a game that fundamentally builds on the success of the first game, while retaining the fantastic feeling of unbridled destruction and mayhem. Also detailed are the Pirates faction, Mercs 2 's answer to the original's Mafia force, Rastafarian warmongers who can sell you the tools of the hired-gun's explosive trade.

February 12, 2007