Far Cry 2

aka: FC2
Moby ID: 37038
Xbox 360 Specs
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Description official descriptions

The government in an unnamed African country has collapsed and the whole land has plummeted into a civil war with the two central factions UFLL (United Front for Liberation and Labour) and the APR (Alliance for Popular Resistance) at the front. Those who were not able to leave the land now hide in their homes while in the streets death reigns the day. But as bad as it has been, now it is even worse with shipments of modern weapons entering the land despite a weapons embargo. The player is sent into the country to find and eliminate the person responsible for it. Known only as "The Jackal", he has been successfully hiding from the federal agencies for years. Sadly, after the player enters the country he immediately infects himself with malaria. Now he has to fight two enemies at the same time.

The game puts the player in a 50 square kilometers big area in which he can do what he wants with only the goal to find and kill "The Jackal" and survive the disease. But to do so he needs weapons, vehicles and, most importantly, pills to hold the malaria in check. To get all that he gets missions like escort a weapons shipment or kill the head of police from the various factions and NPCs in the world which increase his reputation (access to better gear and missions) and gain the only currency in the game: diamonds. The world can be freely explored, but taking out certain enemies or visiting specific locations often only becomes relevant when the right quest has been triggered.

Weapons can be picked up from dead enemies but those are not in the best condition and may jam when the player least suspects it. If the weapon is too badly damaged, it will be destroyed. The player can only carry one of each of the four weapons categories. Vehicles take damage and stop working after a while but can be repaired anytime by the player. If there is no vehicle available to get across the land, the player can also just go to one of the many bus stops in the world to get through the country without being attacked.

The player is not alone on his shooting spree through the country. Other mercenaries roam the bars and lands and if the player does something for them, they will help him in his missions. Either by giving him tips for the current mission, coming with him and fight side-by-side or by expanding the scope of the current mission to increase the award at the end. These buddies always wait in one of the many safe-houses which can be unlocked by clearing them from enemies. They are also used for ammo storage, saving the game and to fast-forward time to a certain time of day.

Besides the single player campaign, the game also features a multiplayer-mode for up to 16 players in Deathmatch, Team-Deathmatch, Capture the Diamond (a Capture the Flag-variant) and Insurgence. In Insurgence two teams fight over capture points on the map. Once a team has control over all points, the enemy captain can be killed in order to win the round. Each of the game modes also uses a class-based system with six classes like sharp-shooter or rebel (uses weapons like the flamethrower) and different weapon load-outs for each class.

The different versions are identical, including the editor, except for the save system. In the Windows version the game can be saved at any point, while the console versions prompt to save at checkpoints.

Spellings

  • 孤岛惊魂2 - Chinese (simplified) spelling
  • 極地戰嚎 2 - Chinese (traditional) spelling

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Credits (Xbox 360 version)

750 People (734 developers, 16 thanks) · View all

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[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 82% (based on 100 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.5 out of 5 (based on 110 ratings with 9 reviews)

Far Cry 2 may be a sequel only in name, but it is still a fun action game.

The Good
Far Cry 2 has nothing to do with Far Cry 1. This alone is a bit of a disappointment, but if you can ignore that and call it something else, like "Blood Diamond: The Game" or "Burn Down Africa," or if you really want to be simple "Jackal hunt," you'll find a compelling action game.

The first thing you'll notice once FC2 starts up are the amazing visuals. The game looks absolutely incredible, better than anything currently on the PC. Plus it helps that the engine here is 10,000 times better coded than CrySis (Before you flame me: CrySis is a great game, but the engine is terribly programmed with no optimization) so that my 5 year old computer can run it on a high quality with a great frame rate. Everything from the shadows to treetop canopies and of course flames licking every square inch of burnable terrain.

The game itself is sort of like a mixture of Grand Theft Auto minus the large immersive city, and Fallout 3 minus the role playing. It is a sandbox first person shooter with great car controls, and an immersive jungle environment. It can be a little monotonous sometimes, but at others, it is great fun to explore the jungle. Firefights are intense and fun. The missions are good, but they can be repetitive, and side missions aren't that fun.

The AI is surprisingly smart for a game like this. Many firefights play out like cat and mouse chases.

The multiplayer, while standard for the genre, is extremely well executed and fun.



The Bad
Although the guns sound alright, the music is somewhat droning and the voice acting is awful.

Repetition is relatively common in this game, while it can be fun in short bursts I wouldn't recommend long periods of time.

The bus system isn't too helpful, it only takes you to the four corners of the map. It would've been nicer to have more bus stops so that if you are trying to get to a target in a hurry that isn't right next to the corner you go to you wouldn't have to walk so far.

The story is confusing, muddled, and meaningless. It had a lot of potential, but the game didn't tap into it.

The gun jamming happens too easily, which makes it annoying. Although sometimes it can help the immersion and make firefights more intense, more often than not its frustrating if anything.

The Bottom Line
FC2 is a fun sandbox shooter. Its not for everyone, and some may be off put by the fact that it is not a true sequel to the first and best game in the series. While it can be repetitive, it can also be very fun, and it is very easy on the eyes, and blowing stuff up and shooting the guns is fun. The immersive world is great as well.

Windows · by Kaddy B. (777) · 2009

Good idea, awful implementation

The Good
I liked the idea behind the game. Unfortunately...

The Bad
... it just doesn't work.

From the absolutely horrible and most annoying rapidly re-spawning enemy AI ever to feature in a video game, the immersion breaking "town" which contains six mercenaries and a priest, the maze-like map and right down to stupid details like road signs coloring to indicate which path to take (as if the ever-present GPS and a detailed interactive map weren't enough). It just doesn't work.

The Bottom Line
Here's some selective commentary on the typical Far Cry 2 session.

You arrive back into the "town" and check the map for a triangle with an exclamation point (indicating quest givers). This will invariably be one of the two faction HQ's for the main missions. You arrive at the door and all your weapons are removed by the guard to prevent you from ending the game early, upon which you ascend the stairs and listen to the mission details. You then either accept or refuse, although you have to accept to progress in the game, making the choice rather pointless. The faction leader then gives you twenty diamonds and tells you that it's a super secret cover ops mission, so don't expect any helps from his troops. In fact, he says, they will actively engage you. This is in a way convenient since there's no way to distinguish, visually or otherwise, between the two sides anyway. There are no civilians whatsoever anyway.

You hoof it back to your vehicle or take a conveniently placed re-spawning town vehicle and immediately get a call from your best buddy to meet him in some safe house or another. You check the map. Oh great, your friend is on one side of the map, and the mission objective on the other? Oh well, lets go. Wow, this car sure feels like a spaceship. Is that a shack I see at the end of the bridge? Suddenly, machine gun fire everywhere. A second after you pass the checkpoint you're being pursued by an amazingly fast accelerating assault truck that's carrying a gunner who hits you with sniper-like accuracy with a heavy machine gun, all while speeding down Africa's dirt roads at 90 mph. The inhuman assault truck never ever gives up.

Okay, you made it to your friend's safe house at the other side of the map either by destroying five assault trucks or stalking through Africa walking or swimming. Your friend tells you how she would like you to alter your mission to suit her. Why exactly couldn't you have told me this over the phone?

Ten assault trucks later, you arrive at your mission objective. You snipe (sniping is easy, no bullet drop, perfect aim, always a kill) a few stupid enemies, throw a couple of grenades and it's over in a minute. After this pseudo-climax, you feel very empty and alone.

But wait, your friend calls you. She's in trouble just a bit off the objective. You rush to help her, kill a couple more stupid AIs and you're presented with a menu option "press X to medicate your best buddy" and "press Q to mercy kill your best buddy".

You press escape, click on Quit, click Quit in the main menu, confirm that yes, you do want to Quit and are thrown onto the desktop. You bask in the ineffable complexity of situations which bothered to publish this trash.

Windows · by dorian grey (243) · 2008

Only a sequel by name

The Good
I like that there's actually an ending in the game so it doesn't repeat itself more than it already does. Other than that, I don't like anything else.

The Bad
Those who cried about how Quake looked so brown, you will cry even more about this. There's is up to four shades of brown in this game. And some blue which comes from the sky.

All the missions are the same, go there, kill that, return. It's a long way to your mission. The enemies spawn way too fast. The weapons of the enemies never break when they use it but when you get it from them they do almost directly. Searching for diamonds is useless since the diamonds you find aren't worth a damn. The malaria feature is useless and always shows its symptoms when you're in a firefight.

The faction choosing is weird since you do one mission for one side and when you're done you can't go back so you must choose the other faction.

The Bottom Line
A loss for us veteran Far Cry fans, a punch in the groin and the face at the same time is too kind do describe how bad this game is.

Windows · by Wormspinal (619) · 2009

[ View all 9 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Who are you? xroox (3895) Jan 8, 2009
Is Really a Sequel? retinadesgastada (304) Nov 4, 2008

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Far Cry 2 appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Marketing

As part of the marketing for this game, the blog "War Unlimited: My journey through a warzone" was created at http://reubenblog.typepad.com/ . It was ostensibly created by a journalist called Reuben Oluwagembi, a fictional character you meet in the game. It contains a lot of background information for the game and some photos edited to look like they were taken of APR and UFLL militia. The 'Jackal Tapes' - a collectible item in Far Cry 2 enhancing the story by detailing the Jackal's history and motivation - are available on the site, all seventeen of them.

References

  • In the second part of the game you will find a small region named "Heart Of Darkness". This is a clear reference to the homonym short novel by Joseph Conrad, published in 1899 and set in Africa.
  • When you meet Frank Bilders, one of the NPCs helping you when you're in serious health troubles, at the end of the first conversation he will say: "A bit of ultra-violence!". This is a reference to the movie A Clockwork Orange and the novel it was based on.

References to the game

Far Cry 2 was parodied in an episode of "Die Redaktion" (The Editorial Team), a monthly comedy video produced by the German gaming magazine GameStar. It was published on the DVD of issue 01/2009.

Awards

  • GamePro (Germany)
    • February 26, 2009 - Best Console First Person Shooter in 2008 (Readers' Vote)

Information also contributed by re fold

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Sicarius.

Additional contributors: Sciere, Niccolò Mineo, Patrick Bregger, sgtcook, Starbuck the Third, Lain Crowley, Victor Vance, FatherJack, 一旁冷笑.

Game added October 26, 2008. Last modified March 7, 2024.