Back in 2004, a little known German company named Crytek made a first person shooter (FPS) for the PC called Far Cry. It was the sleeper hit of 2004, raved by critics for its non-linear gameplay, intense firefights, and immaculate AI (almost too good...). It was also hated for it's difficulty and lack of a save-anywhere option. After four subpar console spinoffs not made by Crytek, there finally is a sequel to Far Cry... sort of.
Far Cry is only a sequel in name. It has absolutely nothing to do with the first one (other than the one man army style gameplay). You are not going to see the protagonist from the first Far Cry, Jack Carver. Instead, you choose from nine different playable characters. The eight you do not pick will become NPC's (non-playable characters) in the game and will help you back up if you "die". But they are not like other NPCs. If they die, they are really dead. That doesn't really bother me since I know this game is trying to be realistic. One thing that I notice about the Far Cry series is that the story is definitely not it's strong suit (first one has monsters, something about your character having feral abilities in the spinoffs, etc). Far Cry 2 is no exception. Basically your main goal is to kill an arms dealer named "The Jackal". The Jackal is the sole reason civil war plagues the game's African setting. You will be doing a lot of side missions though from faction leaders or your buddies in a bar.
Gameplay-wise, Far Cry 2 is your basic FPS. You can tell that Ubisoft tried to make the game realistic. your weapons jam, You have to repair your vehicles, your player will remove bullets from himself, etc. The African setting you play in is about 52 square kilometers big. That is bigger than GTA: San Andreas' and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion's world. And this leads to a problem. One of the biggest gripes that I found is that it just feels like I am driving around for 15 minutes or longer just to get to firefight after firefight. A lot of the missions are basically "take out this convoy" which says in my brain "drive for an overabundant amount of time to get into firefights". One thing in Far Cry 2 that will always haunt you is that your character has malaria. A little bit after the game starts, you character contracts the disease and you have to start carrying pills. Now this is totally not needed in the game. The point of an open world game is to have the freedom to roam. Well I don't have that much freedom if I keep getting malaria attacks and have to take my medicine. And if you run out of medicine, you have to drive for another 15 minutes to get some more from a local priest. This game fails epically at an open world setting. But the game is still fun, thanks to the intense gunfights and the ability to buy/upgrade weapons. This game seems to be a copy of STALKER: Shadows of Chernobyl with it's realistic details. However, STALKER had one thing that Far Cry doesn't: an atmosphere that draws the player in.
Am I ever going to say something nice about this game? Well here's something... This game has amazing graphics. If you own an HDTV or a high-resolution monitor/good graphics card for your computer, the graphics will not disappoint. This game has some of the most lush and realistic jungles that I have seen since Crysis. The liberal use of bloom and contrast really makes the most of the day and night cycle. There were times that I went to go sleep in the safe houses just to avoid night time because daytime just looks THAT good. The attention to detail is just astonishing. You will see limbs from trees get shot down, leaves fall down after an explosion, wind making ripples through the grass, and fire propagate.
This game's biggest draw is the map editor. There is so much that you can put in. Mountains, rivers, jungles, Jeep Liberty's (yes... I'm serious), you name it. There is so much fun to be had in this editor. You can be serious and create a vast landscape for your friends to kill each other in... or you can be like me and just try to see how many exploding barrels stacked on each other you can explode (I think I'm near the hundreds...). You can also share your creations for others to play in multiplayer.
The multiplayer supports 16 players. I didn't really get to try it out very much. But it does have potential with its deathmatch, capture the flag, and VIP/control point mode. But I don't think it's going to replace Halo or Team Fortress 2 anytime soon.
All in all, this game has many problems. There are some points of boredom (driving around for 15 minutes, having malaria). But there are also some fun moments (intense firefights, map editor). Would I pay full price for this game? Absolutely not. Thank God I got this game for free with my new graphics card.
