10 Incredible Forgotten Games From Massive Studios

Pandemic Studios were big news in the 2000s, developing some truly iconic games, including Star Wars: Battlefront and Destroy All Humans!. With the scope, imagination and skill to deliver innovative and exciting games, their properties were usually big hits on release, but that didn't always translate to a long lifespan.

An oft-overlooked classic, Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction was one of Pandemic's greatest games. With war raging in North Korea, five factions - Allies, China, South Korea, North Korea and Russia - duke it out, and a band of mercenaries parachute in to help turn the tide in whatever direction they see fit. No points for guessing that you play as the mercenaries, and are treated to a vast sandbox open world environment - one to rival GTA - featuring an unparalleled level of destruction (seriously, you can raze skyscrapers) and the power to decide how you want to complete your missions.  

And yet Mercenaries never achieved the status or permanence of its competitors.

While the sequel advanced the action into online play, and was loads of fun, it felt rushed, failed to wow critics and did a sloppy job of advancing features like co-op, all but leaving the franchise dead in the water. Even if Pandemic hadn't been bought and then killed by EA in 2009, the two further planned sequels may never have seen the light of day.