Another beautiful game world, hobbled by a very weak story, and repetative side missions.

User Rating: 7 | Far Cry 2 PC
By FlankerDFMax | Review Date:
Like most FPS fans, I was really looking forward to this game. The game world/level design is all it was cracked up to be; combined with excellent ambiant sound and atmosphere. The only fly in this ointment, is the lack of any dangerous wildlife (lions, crocs, etc), and that may be due to the part of Africa the Devs modeled their world on. The weapon sounds are some of the best I've heard in the last couple of years, and there was plenty of potential in the story. The variety of weapons is good (though most of the assult rifles and MGs are very weak and unbalanced), and provide for a wealth of play styles (and replay value). What's that yo say? Oh yes..........the physics. The ability to set fires, and blow stuff up. They're on par with the level design and sounds. Great! The fire aspect turned out to be far better than I thought, and the explosions and effects should please any destruction junkie!

There are a lot of VCPs (vehicle check points) in this game. The enemy respawn time frame; after you've eliminated the VCP guards and any mobile patrols who arrive on scene is ridiculous (less than five minutes on several occasions). You can run up and down the trails, fighting your way through VCP after VCP, or you can travel cross country by foot (frequently by 4 x 4 too) bypassing the VCPs, or eliminating the ones you choose, you can use the river network (via boat) to move more quickly and with fewer check points, or you can take the bus (1 center and 4 quadrant locations on each of the 2 maps) to teleport around quickly. Offering many options in game play style.

There are plenty of diamonds in glowing briefcases, laying around the maps, to be used for weapons and upgrades purchases, and you'll receive even more diamonds for taking main missions. Though the trader/weapons purchase mechanism will soon part you from most of your ill gotten gains (and I thought the whole point of mercing was to make make money in addition to the adventure of it all).

The story? That's where the problems start. The story is very weak; heavily scripted in you must take the main missions as offered to advance the game, and if you don't, the game halts for all practical purposes. Sure there are plenty of side and buddy missions. The side missions are all for the arms trader, who will ask you to blow up the same rival arms convoy over and over, varrying only in location, where they'll be driving in circles on the local trails, waiting for you to come by and ruin their day. The purpose of all this convoy busting is to "unlock" more weapons for purchase at the arms trader. Buddy missions add some variety, and a relationship dynamic that's ultimately destroyed by the story progression, rendering the the buddy aspect meaningless. The game ending is beyond lame........weaker than the story itself, and not worthy of the game world. Yea, they're games, and we're not expecting high art, but it's such a shame, as the story could have been so much better (and it did have a fair bit of potential) with only a little more effort.

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