A great game for the casual gamer although it may be annoying since it is slightly repetitive with occasionally dumb A.I
Far cry, the sensational revolutionary shooter released in 2005 marked the beginning of a new era of FPSs, beautiful and amazing gameplay. Three years on, Ubisoft takes on the role and releases Far Cry 2 (let me make something clear, Crytek WAS NOT involved in making the game, however 2% to 3% of CryEngine is used), and guess what, it is pretty darn good.
It is just what it says, a huge sandbox game sprawling with enemies you want to will AND stuff you REALLY want to blow up. The game's story is simple: hunt down and kill The Jackal, a notorious arms dealer who's been supplying arms to the two dominant factions in the game's African setting: the APR and UFLL, who are vying for control of the nation. The story may seem bland at first, but soon when you get into it the story develops and really becomes interesting, even though it moves rather slow (with the missions and all that). Personally, I finished (or am finishing) the story and it really is something. You will discover a few interesting twists and turns and after that, there is still a load of things you can do, such as get every trophie and acheivement possible (trust me, it adds up to a huge amount). Of course the big extras are the great map editor and and super multiplayer.
Strangely, you only get to choose from a list of characters to play as, but trust me, it doesn't really affect anything etc.
So, in the beginning you and your indian-accented driver well, drive, to your hotel, and guess what, you get malaria as you arrive. And so, you faint and re-awake, greeted by The Jackal (who acts like a smart-arse). You get thrown out (after a interesting tutorial) to the 50km2 land in front of you. The story progesses in missions and then there side missions and underground missions (missions in which you must carry out a set of instructions to recieve malaria medicine). During these missions you will encounter people called "buddies", people who help you (in various ways, such as missions), call you, and sometimes rudely stand by your bed as you had slept. Buddies are of course, NOT invincible so if you randomly leave an area where your buddy is during a mission and return to find a truckload of enemies, well, I don't think he or she will be standing (or sitting, for that matter). If buddies get mortally wounded you must either heal them (using syrettes, the first aid in this game), or comfort them as they die, mercy kill them, or simply leave them. Of course if you leave them they'll die, but since the developers included a nifty organizer you can check their condition, living, missing, mercy killed or dead. Of course if you get along with them you will build up your history with them, as in their disposition.
Onto other things:
Graphics:
As you guessed, the game is disgustingly bad. I mean INCREDIBLY good. The graphics are just right, with huge draw distances, nicely detailed rocks and buildings etc. and great-looking shadows. The graphics suit the African setting Perfectly, although it is annoying to keep seeing the same thing over and over, but hey, it's a sandbox game. The PC version (as always) has the upper hand, with better anti-aliasing, better textures etc. and there are medium system requirements:
System Requirements:
Minimum:
Microsoft Windows Operating System: Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista
CPU: Pentium 4 3.2 GHz, Pentium D 2.66 Ghz, AMD Athlon 64 3500+ or better.
Graphics Hardware: NVidia 6800 or ATI X1650 or better; must support Pixel Shader 3.0,
Memory: 1 GB
Hard Drive Space: 6 GB of free space
Recommended:
Microsoft Windows Operating System: Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo Family, AMD 64 X2 5200+, AMD Phenom or better
Memory : 2GB
Graphics Hardware: NVidia 8600 GTS or better, ATI X1900 or better
Hard Drive Space: 6 GB of free space
Of course you may have to upgrade your computer a bit. But hey, the system requirements beats Crysis. The game looks great on the console versions but the anti-aliasing isn't as snappy and there are a FEW low textures, it's still the great Far Cry 2 experience. You will definitely like the graphics, with the depth of field and huge explosions and beautiful waterfalls and wildlife etc. Note that the only thing used from CryEngine is (by my reckoning) Polybump. The game runs on a engine called Dunia. The game also has a very slick day and night cycle and storm and rain and fog effects. Please note the console versions have banding issues in the lighting
Gameplay:
The game gives you a huge number of real world weapons, including assault rifles, sniper rifles, RPGs etc. and the player can carry three weapons at any time. A major gameplay and annoying feature is that these weapons degrade over time. Weapons become dirty and jam and eventually become completely unusable. Although it is sometimes epic and frustating during a huge firefight to see weapons jam, it still is immersive. A rather slick thing you can do is slide while running. It does feel Hollywood-ish to run along bulidings and slide very stylishly into a hole in a fence and then run and slide again behind the door of a building and sit there, while the uncertain enemy searches for you. You can actually hide in the game, like behind rocks, cars, buildings etc. The game doesn't have a guided cover system, but you can improvise. The music in the game is generally good, and the fast-paced anklets music gets you running, however sometimes there isn't any music at all, and you'd wish you could play music from your hard-drive. The AI in the game is good and better in ways you won't notice, it basically is the Usual. It is funny sometimes (and strange) to be standing next to a enemy and they're shouting about finding you. They take cover, exchange ammo etc. but a annoying yet good thing is that they fire RPGs at you if you are too far away, and even ram you with a car and give chase. You also have a map that you can use (and will use very often).
Saving the game is no problem on the PC version since you can save when you want, but on the console versions they are all pre-defined which is annoying, since you may have to occasionaly drive halfway across the map for a save point. Since this is one huge game you WILL be swimming, running driving etc., and a annoying thing is that you will be doing these over and over if you die (unless you cleverly saved your game at the right time and place). The game's "fast travel" is buses that allow you to travel to any other bus station. The game can be repetitive, with cars, and occasionaly enemies. By the way there are also some cool yet somewhat inconvient heal animations
The casual gamer may find this slightly annoying but a sandbox gamer will be fine with it. The vehicles in the game are the usual: cars, jeeps and a few hidden gliders (that are a lot of fun to use). A few AI quirks are that allies and enemies may stand, say, behind a rock and shoot right through it to reach the enemy on the other side (of course this never works). You can purchase ammo from arms vendors. There are interesting extras, like finding Jackal tapes or the 221 diamond briefcases hidden in the wild. The game's dialogue is occasionally funny, like hearing a faction leader talking about dressing their soldiers up as women and forcing them to act like animals or using children as an excuse not to fight in the most useless of times. Last but not least, there is a seriously good map editor included in all three versions, it is very easy to use however you may have a few problems with it at first. The great multiplayer is challenging, with over six modes of play and this coupled with a great map editor, really does make Far Cry 2 a great game (or package).
Far Cry 2 is a great game with good gameplay that sandbox lovers will, well, love, but if you are still
in doubt I recommend you get it in the bargain bin. I recommend the console versions for people with not so powerful computers. The console version are still every bit as good as the computer version(s).
And there is my review. I know that I have missed out on a few things and hey, this is all I can give for now. Please excuse my grammar and spelling mistakes.
Coming Soon: A separate review on criticisms!
Also coming soon: Reviews on Crysis, MGS4, Oblivion and others!
Thanks for reading!