Mercenary III is a game I remembered vaguely but couldn't find until recently, because I couldn't remember what it was called. It was the first game I played on this scale. An open sandbox world where you could go anywhere and do anything. Kind of like Elite, but with characters and a plot.
It revolves around the hero of the last game, who has to run for president to prevent the apparently evil P C Bil from taking over the universe or something. But you can't just kill him, you have to be clever. So with me in charge, we're probably doomed.
This will be a long one, but I hope it will be entertaining, especially if you played this yourself back in the day. I never finished it the first time, but I hope to this time around. No spoilers please :)
Free (and legal, yes really) Windows clone of Mercenary III and all the prequels:
http://mercenarysite.free.fr/mddclone.htm
Mercenary III on Moby Games:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/mercenary-iii-the-dion-crisis
Estimated time since last play: 16 years.
"Ain't Played In Ages" is a live narrated walkthrough / let's play series of various games that I haven't played for many years. Usually I'm playing them in the video for the first time since I was a kid. That's a long time ago.
Intro music is from the classic "cracktro" by Unit A. The full version can be heard and seen here:
http://flashtro.com/page.php?id=54