Far Cry 2
Posted By: Richard on Dec 08 2008

My time with Far cry 2 began with a jeep ride across the African Savannah as my guide explains to me the local politics. It seems as though a weapons dealer known as The Jackal has been supplying guns to both sides of the current war between the APR and the UFLL and my job is to find and eliminate him. The situation quickly turns from bad to worse as I contract malaria, get caught in a firefight, and have to quickly escape town. From here, things open up and I have a bit more freedom. I do some work for rebels to complete the tutorial stages and then I'm on my own. To anyone familiar with open world games this is nothing new, a clear objective but a long way to get there and it's up to you to decide how to go about it.

Far cry 2 gives us 50 square kilometers of wilderness to explore, every inch of which is like stepping into a work of art. Everything reacts naturally, from wind effects to the rippling of water as boats go by. Fire spreads with the wind forcing you to carefully consider where and when you toss that Molotov cocktail. Even the AI can be counted on to react well in most cases, hiding in the bush and trying to flank you.

I was impressed by the size of the game and the length of the single player campaign, with missions for both warring factions as well as for friends, gun dealers, and others. But what holds the game back is also one of it's biggest selling points. With such a large amount of terrain to cover there is a whole lot of nothing. I spent a lot of time driving around with little to break the monotony, and some missions will have you driving from one end of the map to the other. The only thing there to break it up are military check points you must fight through, but after a while these just become tedious. With that said, there is not much else to complain about. All the weapons you use work well, and are realistic. Older guns show abuse and may jam or even explode if the chamber is not manually cleared.

The malaria twist is a fantastic way of keeping you in check and helps to add a sense of realism and tension to the game play. When the effects of the disease start to show heavily you can take a pill to hold them off, but run out of pills and you will have to find more. This will require side missions being done that will show you more of what is going on in the world and who is being effected by the war.
Watching my character take care of his wounds was a trip, he will pull bullets from his body using pliers, pat out flames when on fire, and even use matches to cauterize wounds. More moderate wounds are taken care of using medicine found liberally throughout the game in the form of syringes.

Multiplayer lacks variety, offering only four match types: Deathmatch, Team DM, Capture the Diamond(flag), and Uprising where players fight to secure multiple checkpoints then take down the opposing team's leader. Weapons are upgradeable, and six classes are available in online play. What really brings you back to multiplayer though is the custom maps. FC2 allows you to build custom maps for multiplayer play with a very detailed map editor. Many terrain features are available as well as buildings, bridges, and many vehicles even hang-gliders. As an example of the detail, I recently played a match on a very well done reproduction of Halo 3's Valhalla map. It took a little getting used to but after a short while I was creating maps like a pro.

With all the titles coming out this holiday season this could very well be one that falls to the wayside. Don't let it. With an engrossing story that will keep you coming back for more, gorgeous graphics, spot on game play, and a map editor and multiplayer that will keep things lively long after the single player campaign is over with, this is one game you should not miss.