It doesn’t take much for games to piss off certain lawyers and politicians in the US. But you know a game has really got something going for it when it manages to enrage the president of a foreign country. Mercenaries 2: World in Flames made headlines late in May, not for its unique gameplay or impressive visuals, but because Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez found its content to be objectionable.

The game itself does in fact center around the elimination of a “power-hungry tyrant” who has a solid grasp on Venezuela’s oil supply, thus turning the country into a war zone between guerilla fighters and those hired to protect certain interests. The message hit a bit too close to home for Chavez, who boldly declared that the game was one of Washington’s campaigns to foster support for an actual invasion.

Pandemic denied the allegations (which was probably not even entirely necessary) with this statement issued by Greg Richardson, the studio’s VP of commercial operations: “Pandemic has no ties to the US government. Pandemic Studios is a private company, focusing solely on the development of interactive entertainment.”

Whatever the case may be, one can’t deny the underlying political themes behind Mercenaries 2. So much so, that a publicist for Pandemic went on the record to state that the team “always wants to have a rip from the headlines” and added “although a conflict doesn't necessarily have to be happening, it's realistic enough to believe that it could eventually happen.” We’ll be wrecking havoc with this one sometime in 2007.