3DS-owning fans of strategy RPGs have a cool new way to scratch that waiting-for-Fire-Emblem-Fates itch: Mercenaries Saga 2, a well-designed little package that's as addictive as one would hope for an entry in the genre. Better yet, it's a title that's as large in gameplay time as it is cheap to get.
The game follows the titular Order of Silver Eagle and its members as they try to unravel a conspiracy to assassinate their monarch. The plot is pretty much what you'd expect, and truth be told, it's there more to add flavor to the battles than to wow anyone with storytelling. In this, it works, and it avoid some ultra-cheesy plot pitfalls seen in games such as Final Fantasy Tactics A2 for the DS.
If you're acquainted with the genre, there really isn't much to say of the gameplay, except that it works very well and keeps you coming back for more. If you're not, here's how it is in a nutshell: you have to position your characters on a battlefield and engage enemies on different landscapes. Each battle may have a different win/lose condition, but most require you to wipe out the opposing army while making sure the same doesn't happen to yours. Eventually, new characters start to join your group, adding more and more strategic decisions pertaining to each unit's style of gameplay. There's no permadeath, meaning characters that are defeated can come back for more in subsequent stages.
Between battles, of course, you get to level up your soldiers and buy gear for them, which is one of the more interesting aspects of the game (and of the genre as a whole, really). Each character class can be eventually evolved into more specialized jobs, with the additional perk that characters get to keep all of the abilities they unlocked on each job as they go after a new one. Aside from the regular weapon/armor shop, there's also a neat magic-item-crafting option, where you get to try and forge the perfect gear for each of the characters (be prepared to pay steep prices in the in-game currency, though).
Mercenaries Saga 2 is a surprisingly engaging little game that packs many hours of strategic fun. Its deepness doesn't really compare to more fleshed-out (and full-priced) entries in the genre, of course, but what's here should be good to last you quite a while. Design-wise, everything is in its right place, and the sum of its different parts makes the game very much worthy of a spot on your 3DS library.
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