Far Cry 2 is the thinking man shooter, once you learn it you wont left it
Far Cry 2 is a game that will not appeal to everyone because is not a pick and play, there is too much to take into consideration in every mission as well as many approaches, so don't quit on the game before you really know how to play it
Gameplay
FarCry 2 offers a typical control and movement layout, you have your default fire, aim, grenades, reload, action, crouch and jump button, you have three novelties in the controls, the Left Bumper will be your healing button (I will comment on this later), back will bring out the map, but you will see the map into the same gameplay as a navigation tool not as a screen, and finally a LT squeeze while you have the map out and you will bring out our monocular for scouting,
The gameplay in Far Cry is inteligent, you have this open world that lets you go wherever you want, this gives you tons of variables into the same mission, you can travel by running or in vehices, nd well you will use a lot of them because the gameworld is huge, the controls for vehicles are simple and the driving seems ok, not the strongest point in the game but you will be able to handle them properly, on a side note of roading is not a great idea with heavy vehicles.
The healing in Far Cry 2 is a mix of various sistems you have your life bar split in 5 sections, if you are injured by a bullet but it only took a part of the first section, you will automaticaly heal that section, however if you get more damage, only the last section of the bar of your health will fill, and finally if the damage gets into the last section it will flash in red, and you will be diying, unless you autoheal yourself , what happens here? well your character takes out a bullet or a branch sticked to his boddy or patches up (too many healing animations and most are coherent to the damage taken) if you use the auto heal, you will only recover the first two sections of our lifebar (in multiplayer you will heal completely)
Far Cry 2 has an element of RPG into it, as you make missions or rank up in multiplayer you will get a chance to get better equipment, so the more you play and the more you do the stronger you will be ad the more options in your arsenal you can get.
Also you handle the weapons with no sights or crosshairs, there is nothing on the HUD except the game, (however you can turn on the crosshair) so iron sights are your best friends, they are really precise, and you get to know how to use them.
Multiplayer and Single player have differences so I will explain them in their own space.
The good
+simple and functional controls
+Iron sights and a clean HUD helps realism
+autoheal animations are great to see
The bad
-you cant crawl
-off roading is really hard
Presentation
Far Cry 2 is a stunner (one of the best if you play it on pc) every jungle and landscape is wonderful, the game features some real achievements in technology, fire propagation is a really helpful game feature, fire behaves like in real life you cannot control it, but if you know where the wind is blowing you can do that maneuver you are thinking of, wind also is a great addition as it defines fire propagation, and storm weather, the game has also full day and night mechanics (a really great manner to think the best way to tackle an enemy base) the sound in the game is great, the envromental sound is really natural and realistic, you are accompanied by a really "into the jugle" soundtrack (is not bad but I chosed to turn it of for a more realistic feel), and well the wepons really have great and kind of realistic sounds, the mortar and the rocket launcher are great, explosions sound
great and are really flashy, also you have partial destructible enviroments, camps and straw will blow, grass will be burned (and it will take a while to heal) you can cut plants, everytime you get into a vehicle, you have this animation of how your character enters the vehicle he doesnt just teletransport to the seat, and well you cant shoot if you are getting climbing a ladder, and you see your arms when you are swimming, the voice acting in the game is acceptable but it coud be better
The good
+graphics and landscapes
+the sounds of the jungle, and the bushes as you pass
The bad
-not really bad, but voice acting dont help the immersion of the game
SIngle Player
The campaign puts you in a unnamed warthorn country in central africa, with two sides on the fight, the APR and the UFLL, you enter the country with a mission to kill an arms dealer known as the jackal, as you enter the country you are infected with malaria, and well you et to notice that the war is worst than you tought and that the jackal is a hard to kill man, I wont spoil the story but I can only tell you that the first half is not too interesting, but believe me the closing moments of the story are like oh my god you efing son of a you know.
In Far Cry 2 you dont play as a given character instead they gie you the option to choose from 9 different mercenaries each with a different background, the ones you dont choose will be in the game as your friends (more on this later)
As you progress the story and make mission for another arms dealer you will get access to better and deadlier equipment, with assault rifles, sub machine guns, handguns, shotguns, mortar rocket launchers, granade launchers, flamethrowers,homemade bombs, and of course sniper rifles, weapons degrade ovetime becoming rusty and jamming every now and then, to avoid this (or at least make it last longer) you can buy weapons manuals, and bandoliers, to get the most of them, every weapon you buy, gives you infinite stash of it so it works, oh by the way the currency to buy this and other things are diamonds, that are given to you by completing story missions, assassination missions or finding diamond cases hidden through the world.
Another element for healing in the game is that you can carry syrettes, wich will heal you to full health, at the beginning you can only carry 4 but you can get more if you buy upgrades, also there is the malaria thing, from time to time illness will attack you and ou will have to take your medicine (wich you get by doing some kind of missions)
The game has this huge map that you can explore as you please, every story mission takes place in some kind of base or camp (you even have to fight in a really small school, and an airfield) and well the main attractive of Far Cry is do it however you want, you only have to do your objective, the means are your to decide, the fun in Far Cry 2 is to explore the options, if you do every single mission with the same gear you wont like the game too much, and is crucial to make a battleplan, that if works fine will make you feel powerful and smart, you also have buddies some will give you different objective to a same mission, others will help you if you die (yeah they carry you out of the battle and heal you) however if a buddy dies he remains taht way the rest of the game, if they are wounded you can help them or ease their suffering by executing them, the roads in Far Cry 2 are filled with enemy outposts (57 of them in all the map) so if you try to cruise them is better to destroy tehm, because enemys will maul your vehicles, a bad thing on this is taht enemys spawn into their outpost like every ten minutes and well you cant fast travel anywhere (except the center and the corners of the maps, via bus) so be ready for some long drives (like ten minutes or so)
The good
+freedom to do your missions
+a really big map to explore with plenty of missions and things to do.
+really interesting game mechanics (weapon upgrades, buddies )
+a good story and many characters to choose from
The bad
- Outpost get annoying
-Some people are too lazy to think how to attack a camp
- long drives
Multiplayer
Far Cry 2 features a 16 player mutiplayer wich is interesting, in the beginning you will get very angry from time to time because you wont have the best weapons so you will die too much, but as soon as you get experience and ranks you will earn more weapons and the more weapons the more kills and well the more fun, so dont worry be persistenet and you will have that grenade launcher you want, you get to choose 5 classes each with aunique set of upgradable weapons, a thing i dont like that much is that the enemy can take too much damage in the torso (a headshot is fatal however) some mechanics like healing and fire propagation are also featured in the MP, ou have 4 game modes, deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the diamonds, and sublevation (a player of each team is named aptain and he has to take 3 control points, once you have the points under your control you only have to kill the other team captain to win), but well the really great thing in Far Cry 2 is the map editor, you can create everything you can think of, from ground to enviroment, buildings, furniture, weather daytime, anything you have more than 1,000 objects to use, and well of course you can publish your map, and play it in player matches
The good
+Map editor
+battles are intense and this game is perfect for snipers
+ crazy game modes with the editor
The bad
-experienced players will sweep the floor with you
- you need to have quick reflexes and a great aim if you want to survive
Closing comments
Far Cry 2 is a great game it could have been better, but dont get it wrong it is a really complete experience, that the people who like to watch details will love, you just have to sit in the beginning with patience and suddenly its magic will make you love it, it has na outstanding presentation, a good story really interesting game mechanics, smetiems is too realistic I see it as a good thing