The mercenary who’s after Hugo Chavez

Mattias Nilson is a mercenary who doesn't care how it gets it; he just wants an explosive reaction... And it seems that he's got a bone to pick with the new Venezuelan head of state. It's just a video game, but it hasn't gone down all too well in Caracas.

The hero of the game has helped to get new head of state, Ramon Solano, into the top spot. But betrayed by his former silent partner, he decides to take vengeance on the new dictator's army to get revenge. And to do it, he has to go to an American oil company.

"World in Flames" is the second part of the "Merceneries" game series(the first part was set in North Korea). Makers Pandemic Studios insist that the characters are entirely fictional and not based on real people. However, looking at the preamble, it's hard not to see a Venezuela specifically ruled by Hugo Chavez, who keeps the petrol rich state in permanent throws with the Unties States.

Target Ramon Solano is introduced as "a power-hungry tyrant [using] Venezual's oil supply to overthrow the government and [turn] the country into a war-zone". The dictator dreams of making the country into a superpower on the continent and nationalising foreign energy companies. In the opening scenes of the game, which depict Caracas as chaotic, webusers said they noticed PDVSA signs - the national Venezuelan petrol company - on buildings. The images have since been removed.

Ismael Garcia, a parliamentary close to Hugo Chavez, said the computer game was preparation work for a real invasion by Americans. After the attempted US-lead coup against the president in 2002, Chavez has become consumed by the idea.

"Carefully planned free advertising"

Duran Ciao is a video game developer in Caracas.

When I read the headlines that this game had caused, I could only think about the carefully-planned-free-advertising that the marketing team of Mercenaries 2 has got so as to attract more clients. (...)

I think it's best to see this game as a product of people who've spent too much time watching Rambo. (...)

Reading the preamble to the game, I think they took certain aspects of the situation in Venezuela and added some satirical fantasy touches to it. What's important to them is not that they're well informed on the situation in the country, but to make money."

"We may as well sue Hergé for depicting General Alcazar as Fidel Castro in TinTin"

Dereck posted this comment on the video game forum Fluctuatnet.

Remember that Chavez developed a great paranoia after they tried to do a coup against his government in 2002. Something of a tradition [in Venezuela], as Chavez himself tried twice to do coups against Carlos Andrés Pérez, the corrupt president from that time. Legally elected in 1998, Chavez multiplied his efforts in the social domain - free healthcare, food provisions and microcredit.

However, he couldn't make the people, or the oil conglomerates, fall in love with him. Particularly because he tries to control the media and the economy, but also because 80% of the country still live below the poverty line, even though Chavez cleaned out the top dogs of the petrol industry and increased tax on petrol exports to the US.

Everything could blow up at any minute in reality; the video game civil war scenario is not entirely unrealistic. There's no reason to fear that the game is propaganda, taking in count the second degree humour of the first part of the series. [If they're going to complain about this], we may as well sue Hergé for depicting General Alcazar as Fidel Castro in TinTin as well."

The "Mercenaries 2: World in Flames" trailer