Far Cry 2

The Good
The sequel to 2004’s PC smash hit Far Cry. Far Cry 2, is a different beast. It has little to nothing to do with the original game. And it is a freeform game, or sandbox game if you prefer. But will such a system work for a FPS?

Heart Of Darkness

In Far Cry 2, you play as a mercenary. Whom you get to choose. I picked this badass looking Indian dude. You are sent to a war torn and unnamed area of Africa. And not unlike the protagonist in Conrad’s Heart Of Darkness, you mission is to kill an arms dealer, no, not Col. Kurtz, your target is known only as The Jackal.

You take jobs from either the APR of the UFLL. Two faction vying for control of the region. You can also take work from both. Along the way you meet many people all who seek to use you. But that’s cool as you only goal is to kill the Jackal. Not everyone is Far Cry 2, is out to use you. You will meet others, mercs like yourself. They will be your buddies. And serve a multitude of functions. They can come to your aid when you are in trouble. They can also help you on a job. If they get into trouble, you can help them. Or if they have wounds to severe, you can put them out of their misery. Or you can be a dick and abandon them.

There are also, special “buddy-missions”. In these scenarios, you go and do a job for a buddy. Which increases your reputation, in the game world. And it increases your buddies view of you.

There is a lot to do in Far Cry 2. Aside from the main missions. You can work for the weapons dealer. And destroy convoys. Thus unlocking new weapons to purchase. And there are lots of real, weapons. Which you even must keep in good shape, or they will jam, and possibly explode. You can also take assassination jobs. Upon finding satellite towers, you receive a phone call, from a creepy sounding guy, giving you the coordinates of your target. The job pays diamonds upon completion of the job.(The currency of choice in Far Cry 2.-MM-) These are the most fun side-jobs in the game. In one such scenario, I had to sneak into town and kill my target. Of course towns and villages are cease-fire zones. So, I snuck up into a bell-tower. And pulled out my Dragnov. And making like Chow Yun Fat, I killed the target. And then had to escape. As the entire militia was after me. Not all of the hit man jobs are this dramatic. In some cases you just have to kill your target in a secluded area, or blow up his vehicle.

Not all the danger in Far Cry 2, comes from enemies. As earlier upon your arrival, you contract malaria. You are given pills to keep your symptoms in check. When you are running low, you can take jobs for the underground. In these you must deliver, travel papers, in exchange for medicine. Thus you get to continue living, and you also get to save some poor refugees. It’s a win-win situation.

“I bless the rains down in Africa, Gonna take the time to do the things we never had…”-Toto, Africa

Aside from all the missions, you can spend and probably will, spend a lot of time just exploring. While exploring, you can find diamonds, your GPS, will lead you to them, as it blinks more fiercely the closer you get. You can also find recordings of the Jackal. Which can be given to a reporter. You can also unlock safe-houses. Here you can rest, save, and replenish your supplies. The area you explore is huge, so going on foot would take too long. Luckily, there are many vehicles, to be used. Cars, SUV’s Jeeps with gun turrets, go-karts, and many boats as well. Unfortunately there are no flying vehicles. You can also scout out all guard posts. This will let you know what kind of things can be found there. There are many different regions to see. From deserts, to swaps and jungles. This game actually reminds me of Oblivion. Even more than Fallout 3 did. It is also very long. Consider that most first person shooters only take 10-20 hours to complete. Far Cry 2, took me some 47 hours. Of course, I did just about all the missions, and explored most if not all of Africa.

The graphics are very good. All the people, places, and things look great in Far Cry 2. As one would expect. The lighting effects are amazing. And the attention to detail is outstanding. Say, for example, that you have a flamethrower. As you burn down your foes, you are bound to catch the trees and grass on fire. When you do it burns, and chars. The combat is visceral. Partially when dressing wounds. When you have a serious wound, you can bleed to death if not treated. When, you heal, your avatar will either bandage his wounds, or pull out the bullet with pliers. Or in some cases rip it out with his teeth.

There is also wild life to be seen in Far Cry 2. No lions, or anything like that. But you will see gazelles, water buffalo, and zebra. The game is just gorgeous. From the days, to the moon-lit nights. Either on standard of high definition, both look great.

The music and sound are good also. From, the African music, to the sounds of fire-arms, and wild-life. And how could I forget the great voice acting? All the characters sound great. And have accents from were ever they are from. For example, my Chinese, buddy had a think mandarin accent. The chatter of enemies if interesting as well. While I was attacking I heard them say, “How many are there?” “I think it’s just one man..” Great stuff.

The Bad
Far Cry 2, is far from a perfect game.(You could say it’s a Far Cry!-MM-) First off all. You fight way too much. This may seem, strange, considering that this is a FPS. But I felt that it was excessive. When you are going to a mission all these jack offs keep attacking you on the road. Even if your reputation is high. Now tell me, why would they attack you if they were afraid of you?

What is worse, is that say, you just clear out a guard-post. Then you come back, a short time later. And already it is fully staffed. WTF? There would not be that many people. Every time you got to a mission it is crawling with enemies. Why would all these places have so many guards?

The A.I. is also often cheap. One dumbass, will have mortar, or and RPG. To take out one man…right.

What is the point of these so called, sandbox games, that have a reputation system, if it rarely effects the game. It would have been so easy to implement. Just get attacked less, as you reputation grows. How hard is that?

The game has some minor bugs and glitches. That can get very annoying. If with the updates.

This game can be very tedious. As it follows the same basic patterns per mission. Say that you let your buddy help you out. At the end of the mission, you always have to bail them out of trouble. Every single time. Which makes the game to repetitive.

The Bottom Line
Overall, Far Cry 2, is a step in the right direction. For the genre. But there is lots of room for improvement. Of course I don’t think that this style of style of FPS will replace the tried and true type. Hell, they still make games like Painkiller and Serious Sam, to this day, and that is the very first type of FPS. If you are an FPS junkie like myself, you should at least give Far Cry 2 a go.