The latest offering from LucasArts and Pandemic has hit the Xbox and for fans of mayhem, destruction and all-round chaos Mercenaries is the perfect title.

The action takes place in North Korea following a plot by the government under the leadership of "the most dangerous man on Earth", General Song to export nuclear missiles to terrorist organizations around the world.

As a result Allied forces, North Koreans, South Koreans, Chinese and the Russian Mafia are all thrown together in a massive theatre of war and you get to choose who you work for.

You play one of three mercenaries working for a financially motivated military-help-for-hire company called ExOps which contracts out its usually lethal services to the highest bidder.

It all sounds promising but its the introduction of a Grand Theft Auto-like freedom to do what you want, to who you want and when you want to do it that sets this aside from other third-person shooters.

Alongside working for the Chinese, Allies, South Koreans and the Mafia you also have to apprehend North Koreans from the Allies Deck of 52' whereby every wanted man or woman has been assigned a playing card with the most wanted four given the ace positions.

If this sounds familiar to real-life goings on in Iraq, well, it is. Exactly the same, in fact.

Each bounty is worth more alive than dead which puts extra pressure on you to infiltrate a stronghold with maximum force, wipe out all enemy forces and grab your target without harming a hair on his or her head.

This can make things pretty tricky but, depending on which vehicle you choose, you can take on the disguise and pose a member of that particular faction and catch your foe with his pants down.

You have wealth of extremely cool battlefield resources, accessed via a personal data-pad, that allows you to call in all sorts of support vital to prolonging your status as a one-person army. You can call for vehicles, ammunition, weapons and air strikes including cruise missiles, artillery barrages and Stealth Bomber strikes and even a medivac when things get too tough.

So once you have nabbed your target just open your data-pad, call for evac and within seconds a helicopter will arrive to take him or her away providing all anti-air defences have been neutralised.

There are also more vehicles to commandeer than your average military shooter and a simple rule to follow; if you can reach it you can drive it which is particularly handy when you come across one of the several types of helicopter spread throughout the game.

The playing environment is very post-apocalyptic with the evidence of conflict everywhere throughout the built-up city areas and rural farmland but simply stunning to look at.

Another cool element is the ability to destroy just about everything you come across. Just hit it with enough firepower (or even one of those special bunker buster bombs) and watch it fall. Very satisfying if I do say so myself.

But just be careful who you kill as a high bodycount for any one faction will turn them against you prompting its forces to shoot on sight.

This is one cool game. Challenging, smart and very, very playable even if you fancy a short 30 minute bash. Another winner from LucasArts which you would do well to add to your collection.

Graphics 5/5 Sound 5/5 Gameplay 5/5 Gamespan 5/5 Overall 5/5