Far Cry 2 leaves much to be desired!
I've really tried to give Far Cry 2 its due. I've spent almost ten hours traversing the African landscapes killing almost every human being I see. No matter how much I play and no matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to get into the game. It's very - 'Surfacy' in the sense that the missions are just so generic in the 'go there - kill everyone you see along the way - and then kill everybody else' way.
I'm a fan of first person shooters - always have been. I find it's difficult to wrong with them. Even mediocre shooters are fun to play because, well, they're shooters, but Far Cry 2 is just boring. Sure the graphics are lovely. Sure the day and night cycle and weather conditions are a nice addition to the shooter genre and sure malfunctioning weapons add a sense of reality to the title, but these things don't make a bad game good.
I'm an audio producer - and one thing I always tell my clients is: 'no amount of production can make a bad song good'... and that is exactly what we have here. All the bells and whistles in the world can't make a boring game fun. Sure I'll dive in once in a while - but the lack of character depth, emotion and story will just kick me right out again.
Oh well... they can't all be gems!