Far Cry 2 is a decent game overall, but it could have been so much more.
The game begins well, with you riding in the back of a jeep & cruising through the game world you will be exploring. You will certainly be wowing at the game by this point as graphically FC 2 is a fine looking game. I'd say about half as beautiful as Crysis which is still quite a compliment if you consider Crytek's masterpiece leaves almost everything else in the dust.
The graphics are nicely complimented by the audio. Weapons sound terrific & explosions even better. The ambient noises at night time are very well done. Voice acting however, is not so impressive. The games storyline is so bad that I think Hollywood talent would have been wasted here. Characters just blurt their instructions at you & thats it.
My biggest complaint about FC 2 is the amount of bizarre omissions from the game. There is no lean function. I almost yelped when I realised this. I was hoping to use a fair amount of stealth but without a lean function in first person I really don't see the point.
It gets worse. Theres no night vision or flashlight. Headlights yes, but as you step out the vehicle they turn off. It's not critical but many times I found myself yearning for said items.
Where did all the wildlife go? I counted 3 types of animal & some birds in the sky. No giraffe's, lion's, elephant's, snakes, nothing. At first I dare not dive in any rivers for fear of crocs, leeches & snakes but alas the water in FC 2 must all have been poisoned. The land is bare.
The travel system is poor. There are five bus stations that take you to the corners & centre of the map but there is still plenty of mind numbing travelling to be done. What makes it worse is those idiotic jeep gunners that just appear, drive straight into the front of your vehicle & open fire with a heavy machine gun. No hassle. While he unloads dozens of rounds into my face that in reality would tear you limb from limb, I'll just hop on my gun & mow him & the driver down in a few seconds. Then use a syringe to heal the one segment of health I lost & thats on Hardcore. Softcore more like.
I really don't like the AI or enemies in this game either. Sometimes they'll flank & take cover but often it's the same old story: they'll just stand in the open or run around in a daze & be shot. Quality AI still seems to be very elusive with these single player fps games.
To be honest I could moan about the games faults for many more paragraphs but heres the thing. I love this game. Bit like Stalker. Theres a great game to be had but the developers underperformed. I enjoyed many things about this game. I loved the weapons & upgrade system, the way fire spreads, & the fact that the game is huge. Hopefully mods and/or patches will come to this games rescue, because they're needed & whoever designed those jeep gunners & respawning guard posts needs the sack. Don't these people learn that these are not fun things to put in a game. I think Bioshock is the only game I can forgive respawning enemies.
I have yet to play the multiplayer so this review is based only on the SP.
So overall I would say get Far Cry 2. It has plenty of annoyances but the game itself plays very smooth, looks & sounds great & will suck you in. It's unique also being set in Africa but they sure could have made it feel a bit more like Africa with more than just Zebras & a few Antelope. As I say hopefully some of the grievances of this game can be modded or patched but even in it's current state it's well worth your time.