The Far Cry name has been forever tarnished, go play Crysis instead.
I was still intrigued by it all, however, "How could a game like Far Cry ever be bad," I even told myself. So what if it doesn't have Trigens or Jack, I'm sure there will be some twist or tie-in to previous games. Then screenshots and gameplay videos came out, a new engine, fire effects, day/night cycles, and an open world had me psyched beyond belief. At that point I didn't care if it had nothing to do with the original, it could all be forgiven if the game was as awesome as it looked. Then it came out. I got the game, installed, cranked up the settings, chose a character and.....
Was treated to the most boring introduction sequence I've ever seen. The first 10 minutes of the game is just your character sitting in the back of a jeep listening to a poorly voiced African giving you random facts and tidbits about the country as you pass fleeing civilians. Ok I thought, its a little dull, but it must just be heavy on narrative, I can dig that. Then the malaria strikes, GASP!, plot device, ok I said, the setup is here when do I start kicking ass? Cue another 10 minutes of listening to "the Jackal" explain to me the mission that I was briefed on by the loading screen. Finally he leaves, I get a gun, and am ready to kickass, and am promptly shot and wake up in some closet where I am talked to for another 10 minutes about how I'm now going to help some faction. The game is finally ready to start, they give me a gun, a flamethrower (SICK!) and an assault rifle to start out. I look at my new benefactor and am just waiting to hear what death defying mission I'm going to be sent on. Instead I have to fix a car and then go to some house 500 feet down the road to kill 2 people. This is where the panic started to set in, I'd been playing this game for almost half an hour and nothing interesting had happened.
Not only that but something seemed horribly off, my visual range didn't seem to extend very far in any direction, I checked my map and the panic hit. The "open world" was nothing but tiny corridors of jungle leading to little clearings and the only town in the game was the place I just got shot up in. It's ok I told myself, the gunplay wasn't too bad, the fire effects were cool, it will pick up. It never does. Far Cry 2 should have a big asterisk next to the title, because everything in the game seems to have a hidden condition to it that makes it suck. I give you the features of Far Cry 2*
Open World* - Just kidding, its nothing but corridors in-between cliff face with off color foliage and the occasional animal that will interest you more than anything else in the game due to its rarity.
Dynamic AI that works together* - I never once observed the AI working in any kind of group like they did back in 2004 with the first Far Cry. The AI seems to basically just shoot at you and occasionally toss a grenade or run behind cover.
A Living World* - Completely full of hostiles, in fact every 500 feet or so down the road it seems you encounter an enemy checkpoint you have to blast through, you never once encounter a friendly unit besides your designated buddy who only appears when you're in trouble and does nothing beyond that. The game justifies everyone hating you by saying you're undercover. Occasionally you will see a zebra or water buffalo, exciting, and those civilians you saw in the opening sequence? They don't exist, the game justifies this by claiming they've all fled the country. Apparently our little corner of Africa is completely devoid of life except armed mercenaries who sit around checkpoints waiting for you the player.
Tons of weapons* - That have to be bought with diamonds that are a total pain in the ass to come by. Sure you can find weapons in the field, good luck using them longer than 30 seconds before they bust apart. The weapon degradation system is commendable in this regard but ultimately pointless. It seems to serve no other purpose than to annoy you into buying new weapons and giving you some eye-candy when you're desperate.
Faction War*/Side Missions* - This is by far the biggest let down of the game. There is no faction war and the side missions are so simple and bad, the game was boring before I even really started and when I reached the missions it was like someone gave me a bottle of sleeping pills. Every mission has the same exact structure. Step 1. Receive mission from poorly voiced African in central town. Step 2. Drive across the map to said objective. Step 3. Halfway there be called by your buddy who tells you he has urgent information pertaining to your mission. Step 4. Drive back across the map to said buddy who then proceeds to give you a bonus objective he could have just told you over the phone. Step 5. Drive across the map back to the primary objective, keep in mind all this time you've been blasting through guarded checkpoints and usually on the second pass through the guards have respawned. Step 6. Approach objective, kill 5-10 guards, acquire item, kill bad guy, do bonus. Step 7. Drive back across the map to central town where a poorly voiced African gives you a new mission. Repeat until one faction's missions are complete and then do the other factions because you're undercover remember, you can do that. These objectives have nothing to do with the Jackal and your reason for doing them is to get closer to him. It just feels horribly pointless. Then there are the side missions, like the awesome, "take out the convoy" armory missions. Same formula as before, drive across the map, wait for convoy to circle around (it doesn't actually go anywhere, it just drives in a big loop), when its in sight just kill everyone, drive back, mission complete. Did I mention driving is boring and not in the least bit fun? Yeah that whole open world of corridors kind of ruins it, you're basically forced to stay on the road the whole time.
Save yourself the money. Skip over this boring game.