Not as great as the hype set it up to be, but doesn't mean its not a great game.
Enough of the games engine though onto the actually game. Alls I can say is I simply love this game. The missions are somewhat repetitive but the amount of ways you can do missions on this game makes it somewhat forgiving. Whether it be run and gun, snipe em out, or a more strategical advance onto the enemies grounds. The combat is awesome, bullets are constantly flying around everywhere and the AI isn't the brightest but its better than other games I have played. They sneak up behind you in the jungle and hide in buildings or around them. But what makes this game the best I believe is the reality of it. You don't have a ridiculously large health bar so you can't expect to just run in pistols flaming. It's quite easy to die if you don't plan your attacks before you run them and more often then not you will be at a certain spot for awhile trying to find out a perfect attack. The healing system makes you feel like you really are the character unlike other games where you press a button and are automatically healed (I know its because they are not meant to be a realism game like this one is), instead you heal when you get below your final bar by pressing a button and your character will do something disgustingly real to a part of his body that has been wounded. For example I was shot in the arm so he took out his knife and plucked the bullet out of his arm. Then when you are above the bar your character while inject himself with a type of painkiller. When you die you have these 'friends' that are helping you with missions throughout the game and one of them will show up and fight off the bad guys while dragging you around to find a safe spot. I thought it was pretty cool. After that they wont help you again till awhile longer then when you die your dead.
The missions mainly involve eliminating a specific target, interfering with a arms vehicle to disrupt someones supply, liberating a enemy base, obtaining intel. All of this is done to obtain diamonds which are the source of money here, unlock new weapons, and of course progress through storyline to find the Jackal.
Overall Far Cry 2 is a great game but I'm not sure that I would spend $60 on it just yet. It can be hard to get into the game but when you pick up the controller it can be hard to put down at times. If you love causing mayhem this game is definitely for you.