Just give M2 a try, and I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
However, I would now like to refocus my review slightly. I would like to dedicate the rest of my review now to shedding some light on the grievances that especially Gamespot has made of M2. I hope this will help unsure gamers decide to get M2 or at the very least make them more informed of M2.
First and foremost, one of Gamespot's major problems with M2 is its glitches and bugs. I have played the game for more than ten hours, and I have yet to see any glitches of the sort Gamespot has reportedly encountered. With the recent "Total Payback" update, it seems that most of these bugs have been ironed out. Still, I know not everyone will have the same experience as I have had. Yes these bugs may happen to you even if I have yet to come across any. I will admit though, I have come across some bugs. In one example, I ordered a helicopter (I'm assuming the reader is familiar with this process) from the stockpile and I was happy to see it come into view. As it was landing, however, it suddenly disappeared! At first I was frustrated to say the least, but really no harm was done. It cost me little oil to airlift the copter, and I was right outside the outpost where I could just buy another one. The point is, yes these bugs should not be happening in a final product. However, these bugs do not make the game unplayable. As for the corrupt save game glitch, save whenever in doubt. I have not encountered this glitch yet, but honestly, it's never a bad idea to save a lot. Anything can go wrong when playing a game, so rationally it is always a good idea to save every now and then.
Now one of Gamespot's complaints really surprised me. They claim that the weapons in the game are unsatisfying. I personally feel they must have been playing the wrong game. True, these are merely my personal feelings, but I think as a diehard player of the first Mercenaries, M2 has some of the best weapons around. I will concede that some weapons, such as the lousy carbine, are completely useless. The pistol as well is a nice addition to your arsenal, but is hopelessly outclassed when you could use a light machine gun instead. However, I can't help but laugh-out-loud every time I use the grenade MG (seriously one of the greatest inventions ever). The new portable grenade launcher too is a fine piece of hardware. The sniper rifles too remain quite accurate and deadly. If you are using a low-powered weapon, like the carbine, well just get your hands on a better weapon! The LMG is one of my personal favorites, as well as the Russian sniper rifle. Overall, regardless of what Gamespot has said, there are truly some powerful weapons at your disposal.
It is unfortunate that the AI isn't the smartest around. But then again, the AI in the first Mercenaries wasn't that great either. Yes, sometimes allies will block your shot and you'll end up killing them by mistake. Despite this, I have never seen allies attack me on their own will like Gamespot has said they do. True, they occasionally shout, "Enemy spotted!" when they look at you, but at least they are not shooting at you.
I'm not going to lie but the missions are repetitive. But again, the first Mercenaries had repetitive missions too with the sporadic cool mission. Of course, you can put off the outpost missions and do something else. You could go verify more HVTs for other factions, do other work for a faction, go scour the land for resources, or go blow up the targets that the factions' need destroyed. The sheer amount and variety of things to do in the game allow you to not do that outpost mission just yet. Why not do that other contract for that other faction so you will then have access to a better air strike? In my humble opinion, I like doing these missions since it's always a blast overthrowing an outpost. Personally, aren't you always doing the same thing in these sorts of sandbox games? M2 makes the same missions fun by always allowing you to approach these missions differently each time and allowing you to utilize all of your kickass firepower.
While I hope my review made things a little clearer for the doubtful out there, I know that nothing will ever be 100% liked. If you are still unsure about getting M2, why not try out the demo (Though I think its way too short)? You could try renting it if that's your sort of thing. Regardless of what you do, I urge the reader to at least try to indiscriminately play M2. It doesn't matter what others say anyway. If you like it, then who is to say that you can't enjoy M2 or any other "bad" game? As that often hackneyed saying goes (I apologize if I have butchered it), "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."