15 Most Criminally Underrated Video Game Franchises Of All Time

6. Mercenaries

Where to start? Mercenaries 2

Just Cause certainly perfected various aspects of the "Dynamically use vehicles, weapons and physics systems to take down your foes in a huge open-world" setup, but the now-closed developer, Pandemic, most definitely got there first.

The original is a solid, anarchic proof of concept, but it's part two, World in Flames, that upped the ante in every respect.

Giving you a series of targets to find and take out however you saw fit, Mercs 2 had quick-time event hijackings, environmental destruction, helicopters with winches to pick up and swing whatever you liked - it solidified the sort of kitchen sink-throwing madness we now associate with the likes of Saints Row or Just Cause, except done on a world positively teeming with things to see and do.

Revisiting Mercs 2 hammers home how ahead of the curve Pandemic were, and what a loss to the industry the closure of their studio truly was.