Glitchy Games?

[m0nkeybl1tz]

I recently started playing my PS2 again after a hiatus of a couple months. All seemed fine until I started playing Mercenaries: PoD. It started well enough, but after a while, the soundtrack will begin to loop. That's acceptable. Then, if you try to pause, the disc will start to whirr and it will freeze up for a bit. That, too, is acceptable. However, after a while, bridges will become invisible, tank hulls will appear out of nowhere, and the background will start spasming. I remember a similar issue in GTA 3, with invisible bridges, or tunnels, or something.

Now, DVDs play fine, and the couple of other games I've tried seem to work, but I'm still wondering if my PS2's at fault. Anyone know of this kind of problem? Also, if it does turn out the game's buggy, is there anything I can do about it? Should I contact who I bought it from/Pandemic/LucasArts? What's the procedure here?

[CappyCobra]

Those symptoms you describe smacks of a faulty drive/disc. If you just bought the game, I would swap it out, otherwise try that copy on a friend's PS2.

[helava]

What I think it is is that your PS2's drive is getting old, and it's not streaming the data off the disc fast enough, without errors, for the game to work properly. I had borrowed Mercenaries for a couple days, and simply couldn't play it on the PS2 - any time I was in a helicopter, for instance, buildings would appear literally *after* I'd run into them. I don't believe the disc is at fault, though it certainly could be making the problem worse, if it was dirty or scratched. I think the far more likely issue is that a.) this game really beats up the PS2 regardless, and b.) your drive is wearing out.

seppo

[Starky27]

Mercenaries itself is a very buggy game. I was playing on my PStwo a few months ago and had it not load after completing two of the ace missions, as well as a handful of graphical and sound glitches. Some of it's fun (like the collision physics going nuts when you're driving over train tracks) but most of the time it was annoying...

[secretvampire]

Is the PS2 version a lot more buggy than the Xbox version? I honestly didn't notice very many glitches at all on the Xbox version, and I played for many hours.

[kaw]

I'm 3/4 of the way through Mercenaries on the Xbox, and I haven't noticed very many glitches. The glitches I have noticed have been minor:

Helicopter stuck in the ground.
Crate floating in mid-air.
Car hits mysterious bump that looks flat and flies end over end.
When you're carrying a guy the shadow on the ground doesn't show the guy on your back, just your hands in the air (not really a glitch per se).

Still a fun game, minor glitches and all.

[m0nkeybl1tz]

So, is there anything that can be done about the drive, if it is at fault? Or would it be easier to just get a new one, or wait till the PS3?

[111111]

marvel vs capcom 2. there's seriously like over 100 glitches in that game. 5 or 6 known glitches to freeze the game at will.