There are more weapons on Reloaded Edition, but they feel more like icing on the cake than a necessary corrective to a major issue. Likewise, the game puts an impressive array of firearms at your disposal, allowing for all kinds of satisfying explosions. It still borrows nicely from its influences in a way that comes off as a homage, without ever seeming too derivative. Some things remain the same, to be sure, but it’s the stuff that the game did well to begin with. Rather than throwing everything it has at you right off the bat, the game eases you in with some easier missions - then it gets tough. This time around, things seem a little more balanced. Similarly, the original version of Mercenary Kings had a pretty steep learning curve. Now, by contrast, it runs perfectly smoothly, even on the Vita. After all, when Mercenary Kings first came out on PS4, there were points where it was chugging pretty noticeably.
The biggest improvement, of course, is just that the game works. It’s a sign of how far the game has come in four years that, playing its Reloaded Edition, all the criticisms I had the first time around no longer seem as significant. While some people admired the way it borrowed from games of yesteryear like Metal Slug and Contra, it had its fair share of detractors, too - myself included.
When it first came out on PS4 as a PS Plus title back in 2014, its reception was, at best, mixed. It’s pretty remarkable what a fresh coat of paint can do for a game.