Far Cry 2 (PC)

Far Cry 2 is the (spiritual?) successor to the Ubisoft/Crytek original, Far Cry. Is it any good?

I'll just lay it out for you: in honor of the original game, Far Cry 2 is pathetic, even by modern FPS standards.

 

WARNING: May contain plot spoilers.

 

Graphics: 9/10

In terms of graphics, Far Cry 2 is outstanding. The Dunia engine expertly renders a living, breathing African environment. This engine in itself has much potential in it, especially if used in the right hands (my initial thoughts is that Bethesda should license this engine to use for their next TES/Fallout game). Fire has a nice effect on the environs and you'll come upon wild animals every now and then. The world couldn't have been rendered better.

 

Gameplay: 3/10

By far, Far Cry 2 is a FPS joke. Missions are repetitive and tedious; long travel times from one side of the map to the other gets old, really fast. The fast travel (using buses) alleviates some of the annoyance, but not much. At its basics, gunplay is completely intact.

 

As for the enemies? How is it that they always seem to know which car you drive in, that the Jeep conveneintly passes by their camp has Public Enemy No. 1 in it? The answer is unknown; the AI is omnipotent, to the point where you can pretty much forget about using "night time" as a cover for "stealth". To add more insult to injury, guard posts and any area with enemy NPCs in them automatically respawn shortly after you leave them, taking away immersion.

 

Tackling missions pretty much boils down to this:

-Run in, blow everything up, achieve objective

-Try to sneak in, get seen and fired at, blow everything up, achieve objective

-Snipe from afar, get position compromised by omnipotent AI, blow everything up, achieve objective

-Blow everything up from afar, run in unopposed, achieve objective

 

Guns in Far Cry 2 are a wide assortment. From the G3 to the AR16, it's a fairly large variety. However, most guns feel out of place, especially coming from the Jackal, who is supposedly a "black marketeer". Where are the M4s, the G36s, the guns of the more famed companies? For gun nuts (like me), this is a complete disappointment. Oh, and you can pretty much beat the entire game using nothing but the Mac-10, M79 Grenade Launcher, and the RPG; their effectiveness outperforms any other weapon in the entire game.

 

And on top of that, Far Cry 2's acclaimed "buddy" system, is also a joke. Buddies serve no purpose other than giving you reputation and allowing you to take on an "alternate" way to complete a mission (usually resulting in having to bail your "buddy" out of a bind). As of the time of this writing, I have gone through 3 "buddies", all of whom died while I tried to save them, using at least 3-4 syringes on them before flatlining.

 

Multiplayer is enjoyable, which is the only saving grace it has, but it has nothing special to distinguish it from other FPSs.

 

Sound: 4/10

Voice acting is horrible. If you've seen my TimeShift review, this game shares the same horrible fate of having HORRID VOICE ACTING; in fact, I'd go to wager that this is even worse, considering that even the supposed "American" characters in the game try to say their sentences like a tongue-twister.

 

Gun sounds are nothing special. The AK47 sounds much to high-pitched for its own good. Ambient background music is rare to hear.

 

Story: 3/10

The story is nothing special. You're supposed to kill the Jackal, an infamous arms dealer. The clinch? In the end, you don't even get the chance to kill him, and the ending leaves more questions than answers, along with initial thoughts as to who the heck wrote the story in the first place. All of this wrapped up in a standard war-torn African country. It gets an A for effort, though.

 

tl;dr: Far Cry 2 is a visually stunning game, but at its heart, it's all that it really is.

 

Verdict: 4.8/10