Far Cry 2

From what I've been told, Far Cry 2 has very little to do with the original Far Cry aside from both being published by Ubisoft; and both looking quite stunning. But, having never played Far Cry for myself, i cant comment too much about it without sounding like a dickhead. So moving along.

Far Cry 2 is an open-ended first-person shooter developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft that was released late 2008 to PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.
Though it is the sequel to Far Cry, i see next to nothing that actually tie the games together. The protagonist from the 1st game is nowhere to be seen, unlike the player controlled character in FC2; and the setting is no longer a tropical island, but some unnamed East African nation.

STORY
As i mentioned, this is a completely new story from the original Far Cry game, which isn't a problem. What is a problem is that the story isn't explored as much as you might like. All that players are really told is that you are a mercenary (one of multiple, which the player chooses), and the African nation you're in is amidst Civil War. Your character has been hired by an unknown client to kill the man that armed both sides; known as the Jackal.

Although killing this arms dealer is supposedly your main mission; he hardly ever makes an appearance. You see him at the start after contracting Malaria; where it seems like he's nursing you back to health which, for a mercenary, seems pretty weak; then one or two times before the end of the game.
I always thought that the main antagonists actions should constantly be felt in a game; and although this man supplies your enemies with weapons; his presence seems absent on the most part.

PRESENTATION
OK, this is where Far Cry 2 earns its praise. It definitely has that feel of a dirty, run down, impoverished African country in the middle of a Civil War. It looks just like i would imagine Africa would look; from the rolling Savannas and Oasis' to the dense jungles and shanty towns. There is no background music, which in this case is good, as it would break the immersion if it did have it.
The playable map is huge, and these varying locales are numerous, although many areas feel like they've been copied, pasted, then tweaked ever so lightly.

Sound effects in FC2 are sounds you would expect to hear in Africa; the buzzing of mosquitoes and flies, the sound of wind whistling through trees, the sound of fire crackling as a bushfire burns out of control. (By the way, the fire looks quite cool; and spreads as you might expect a fire to burn).

Voice acting in this game is a little dull; and its often hard to distinguish between characters that you'll meet in the game. Most have a rather generic African accent, or a hilarious South African accent in some cases. My biggest problem with the dialogue in this is that it just seems so forced. It may just be me, but when a script is read; i like to feel emotion being conveyed in it. This may be why the story just didn't grab my attention like it should have.








GAMEPLAY
Far Cry 2 really doesn't bring a whole lot of innovation to the table of First Person Shooters. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Your character moves as if they actually have mass behind them. They aren't just cameras on a hover board, as many fps's make their characters feel.

Standard actions are available to players; running, jumping, crouching and attacking; with the added ability to slide to cover while running. Sadly, there is no button for melee attacks unless you arm yourself with your machete, leaving a few seconds between switching weapons, with which the enemy are using to turn you into Swiss cheese. I'm not asking for some Call of Duty-esque move where you instantly whip out the combat knife and switch back to your previous weapon. A killzone/halo style ramming of the butt of your gun into the enemies head would suffice.

Speaking of weapon switching, Far Cry 2 allows players to switch between a primary weapon, secondary weapon, special weapon and the machete. The problem with this is that it always forces you to take a secondary weapon that you may never use; without allowing you to swap it out for enemy primary weapons; which would be perfectly feasible in real life.
This is probably done to make the game more intense; just like the addition of weapons degradation. Now, this feature wasn't all bad. It definitely made me more conscious of my weapons state; and it made for some climactic gunfights when my gun jammed. That said, guns degrade way too quickly; and enemy weapons come pre-rusted; so you can expect gun jams often.

Still on the topic of gunplay, there is quite a variety of weapons to choose from. Sadly, many weapons of the same type don't feel different to others. There are some really cool weapons, like the Mortar, that are amazingly fun to use if you can master them.
Upgrades can be bought for weapons, as well as your character, and these can include stealth upgrades, ammo upgrades, or vehicle repair upgrades.

On that note, vehicle sections are really quite annoying. Unless you stick to the predetermined roads; you're likely to lodge yourself into a pile of rocks or a tree; but if you follow the paths, you're likely to run into enemy patrols..... Alot.
Cars handle badly and, more often than not, you'll be too focused on your map than the road, and you'll have to manoeuvre your way out of some predicament involving trees, rocks, or a Zebra corpse.

Enemy AI in Far Cry 2 must have bionic eyes, because I'd often be spotted by a randomly patrolling guard from almost 100 meters away, through thick forest. I don't know if this is just me, but i wouldn't be able to see shit in those conditions from that far away! Next thing i know, I've just snuck up on another guard who i could have sworn was just staring straight at me a minute ago.
Its perplexing! Sometimes enemies have futuristic binoculars, and sometimes; their eyes are in their ass.....
It was sort of cool to hear them talking after they'd lost sight of me, or see them trying to flush me out of my last known position with gun fire and grenades.

Friendly AI is also a bit mixed. You rescue "Buddies" in game, and they become your backup, for if you get downed during combat or something. This is helpful, because if you die, you normally go back to the last save point. However, when they save your wussy ass, more often than not, they'll be gunned down, and theres no indication of where they are except pained groaning and blue smoke (which is hard to see through thick forest by the way). Then you have the choice to waste your own medical supplies on them or a single bullet. Seems like an easy choice, but you may be more compassionate than I.

Final word about gameplay focuses on the different types of gameplay in Far Cry 2. It should be rather short though because theres not much variation. All missions in this game can really be summed up as either go to a place and kill some guys OR go to a place and blow stuff up... THEN kill some guys. They're all basically the same, yet most times you'll need to go to a telecommunications tower to get "Assassination Missions" or Weapons dealers to get "Convoy" missions where you blow up convoys (which helpfully drive around in circles). Otherwise, you'll be getting missions from "Buddies" or the Factions; which are a mixture of the killy/explodey fun.

Oh and the map is a bitch to get around due to aforementioned vehicle/AI retardation and the fact that the only fast travel is by bus. And you'll have to use a vehicle to cover the ground between buses and your objective anyway.

REPLAYABILITY
If you're one of those trophy/achievement whores (not unlike myself), you may find yourself covering every square kilometre of the FC2 landscape and doing every single mission that is available. This will eat up ALOT of time, and would be absolutely fine if the gameplay wasn't such a nagging pain in the back of my head. Not the gunplay, but anything vehicle related.
Along with the huge single player campaign, there is a multiplayer mode. This mode i didn't experience too much of, but from what i did, I'd draw the conclusion that it was absolutely mediocre when compared to other games.

OVERVIEW
OK, its not like i absolutely hated Far Cry 2. I caught myself having fun while i was having a shootout with 8 other guys while a bushfire blazed mere feet away from me, and my gun had jammed. It was rather dramatic. Problem is, that theres so much travelling in between those moments. In my opinion, the game would have benefit from a quick travel option that would take you closer than your bus rides.

Gameplay is solid, save for the horrendous vehicle sections and AI is a bit strange, when one moment they're friggin super soldiers, and the next, they've turned into complete morons. However, they do have some moments of pure brilliance which will get a pass from me.
That said, i think the developers may have been a bit lazy, in that, all enemies will shoot at you on sight, no matter what you're doing. The official reason is that you're doing secret (deniable ops) missions for each faction, therefore you're no friend of anyones. It just seems silly to me.

Story was rather forgettable while playing, which is sad, because it had a fair bit of potential. Voice acting in FC2 turned me right off the characters; and i really hated those vehicles, SO MUCH.

So is it worth buying...? These days, it'd be down to about $30, so i think if you want something that's fairly entertaining in small bursts, then sure, its worth buying. A game without a great story can still be OK with good gameplay, but that vehicle section bull just keeps getting to me.
So buy Far Cry 2 if you're into that. Or not.


As per usual, if anyone actually reads this, constructive criticism is awesome. And i screwed up my posting schedule somewhere along the line, so fuck it. =D