Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Hard to describe"

Ever want to visit Africa? Far Cry 2 will probably change your mind, for good. Okay yeah, the game isn't that realisitic, however, Far Cry 2 offers believable graphics and enviroment that really make you feel like you're there. What the game struggles to be good at is giving a more variety in missions and events that occur throughout the game as after around 10 hours of playing around in the world of Far Cry 2, you'll no dought find something annoying.

By something I mean it could be the annoying guards who come charging at you whether your on foot or a vehicle and smash you down till you have to do the same 'getting out, fighting and fixing your car' all over again. Or maybe it's the phone calls you get from a friend within the game telling you they've thought of a better idea to alter the mission you just took which will probably take twice as long as it should've. If only these could've been tweaked, that would mean most of the problems being taken care of.

The graphics of Far Cry 2 are perhaps some of the best on the console, this is mainly due to it's realistic feel and, to put it bluntly, beautiful enviroments. From the deepest jungle to the miles of sand and dust, to the shining rivers and lakes, Far Cry 2 is one of the most believale looks at Africa any game has ever done. It's almost feels like you're there and that's not a lie. Of course, if you ever get bored of your view, you could always get the flamethrower and burn it down. But honestly, if you can tear yourself from the battles and take a look around, you'll see that the game is beautiful to say the least.

I guess what sort of feels mostly bad about Far Cry 2 is that nobody is your friend. Apart from those who help you occasionally if they want you to do something for them known as your 'buddies', you'll never find yourself looking at a car coming toward you or a bunch of people and think "maybe I shouldn't shoot because they might be allies". Instead, just get whatever weapon you have equipped and shoot the hell out of it/them. Yeah it's disappointing to say the least, however, the game does make up for it in other ways, especially if you get past the first boring start of the game and get to the point where you're loaded with weapons, money and you know exactly how to handle yourself.

There is no real deep story to the game, you basically select whichever chaaracter you wish to play as and try to find 'The Jackal'... that's about it. Most of the time you won't even be paying attention to the storyline as you'll be too wrapped up in missions you got going. Which, by the way, there are a lot of, plus there are quite a few side-missions to partake, so don't feel you won't be getting enough missions to complete.

Of course, if you want to play something a little different, Far Cry 2 does offer a fun online mode that plays out very similar to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare because of it's similar controls and gameplay modes. Perhaps not as good, that's all. Of course, one big thing within the multiplayer of Far Cry 2 is it's brilliant map creation that you yourself can simply create a map and play it online. The map creation is very deep as you can add any bit of detail you wish or as far as your imagination will take you.

To end this review it's as simple as this. Far Cry 2 is a great game, but like pet, it needs a lot of your time putting into it to really get the best out of it. If you feel you cannot do that, this isn't the game you're looking for.