Mercenaries: 'GTA-like' ?

[ATB]

I've never played a GTA game as the subject matter is a turn off, nor have I really seen it in action.

I started up mercenaries this week and am enjoying it quite a bit so far.

I've seen in many write ups of Mercenaries that state that it is 'GTA-like'.  How so?  Is this now a generic term to mean open ended gameplay?

Or is M similar to GTA because there's a hierarchy of quests like M's deck of 52...

Anyone know of any games that are similar to Mercs?

[whiteboyskim]

I'd say it's GTA-like in that you can jack cars and the world (once you get past a few required missions) is more of an open sandbox where you can do as you please. GTA has way more mini-games though compared to the treasure hunts and challenges of Mercs, so take that for what you will.