Chapter 1 - General Strategies

This section provides some general strategies for surviving Far Cry 2’s challenging single-player story mode. The world of Far Cry 2 is vast and there are dangers on nearly every road. Effective balance of weaponry, tactics, and driving ability can elevate mission success.

• As you learn during the tutorial mission, there are diamond briefcases spread all over the world. In fact, when you open up the map, the number of diamond briefcases on the current map section appears on the upper left corner of the screen. Follow our story walk-through and you’ll find a bunch of them. You’ll need to find a lot in order to recover enough diamonds to purchase all the weapons and their respective upgrades and manuals. Take the time to search for the briefcases, especially when you have the GPS open and the diamond locator is blinking-there’s one nearby!
• If you’re having trouble with combat then make life easier by unlocking more powerful weapons. You can do this by visiting the weapon shop whenever you do not have another mission active. When you do, you’ll find the arms dealer inside the shop. He can offer you a mission; complete it and you unlock a set of weapons for purchase. If you want to play Far Cry 2 using stealth tactics then completing the convoy missions is a must-a stealth player can’t leave home without the Silent MP5 or the dart rifle! Check the Arms Dealer Missions section of this guide for tips on completing each one as well as list of the weapons unlocked.
• When engaged in combat, there are a couple of first-person shooter staples to keep in mind (if you’re a veteran then these will sound familiar). First, aim for the head! Enemies go down much faster when they are shot in the head. Second, fire your assault rifles or sub machine guns in short, controlled bursts. Don’t simply let loose with wild ammunition spray. Aim for the head and fire in bursts for maximum accuracy. And finally one specifically to Far Cry 2: purchase the accuracy and reliability upgrades for your favorite weapons as soon as possible.
• The Far Cry 2 world is huge. Driving a vehicle from mission to mission can be exhausting not to mention dangerous-there are enemy patrols everywhere! Unless you are eager to wage war, take advantage of the bus system. Many of the mission objective locations (as well as side mission locations) are near the bus stations. When you do take the roads, look for opportunities to bypass guard stations so you avoid fights. If you do enjoy driving on the open road then take advantage of the vehicle repair upgrades in the weapon shop. Purchase the manuals for your favorite vehicles (the weapon mounted jeep is a good choice). It will improve the speed of vehicle repair and increased reliability.
• There are safe houses scattered all over the game world and you don’t need to capture them all but it’s certainly a wise idea to take control of the safe houses outside mission areas-if only to safe your game before you engage in a tough battle. There’s little more frustrating than getting rammed by an enemy jeep and instantly killed when you haven’t saved for a long time. Don’t let that happen to you! But that brings up another point: when you hear the roar of an enemy vehicle engine, get behind something. Like your own car or a rock-those enemy drivers go straight for you and it’s a one hit kill.
• One of the upgrades available on the weapons shop computer are the primary, secondary, and special weapon crates. Purchase these and you will be able to store one weapon of each type in its respective crate. You can grab a weapon from the armory and place it into a crate and then recover that weapon at a safe house. This allows you to return to a safe house instead of the armory to acquire a fresh weapon. You can mix up tactics from stealth-using a sniper or silenced weapon-to more power-using assault rifles or rocket launchers-by just returning to the safe house outside the mission zone to grab a new weapon. Note that the weapon’s condition when you place it in a crate will be the same as when you take it out of a crate.
• Speaking of weapon condition, it’s a real problem in Far Cry 2! As you use a weapon, it degrades. You can detect its deterioration by how the weapon looks-if it begins to rust, change color, or otherwise look dirty then it has started to degrade. Another surefire way to tell-the weapon starts to jam! Never a good thing in a frantic firefight! Return to safe houses and the armory often to replace your weapon with a fresh one so you avoid problems. If you keep using a flawed weapon, it eventually breaks apart.
• Most of the story missions assigned by factions have alternate objectives assigned by your buddy. If you complete these objectives, you can unlock upgrades for your safe house. These upgrades include the addition of small or large medical kits at the safe house, the addition of ammo, fuel, or explosive piles at the safe house, and the addition of a vehicle at the safe house. You can also receive upgrades to your vehicle’s mounted weapon that’s parked at the safe house.
• One of the upgrades available on the weapon shop computer increases the amount of ammo you can carry. Each type of weapon features a different ammo upgrade. For example, the "Assault Webbing" upgrade benefits the ammo quantity for weapons such as the AK-47, AR-16, FAL, and Silent MP-5. The "Light Assault" Webbing benefits the MAC-10 and Uzi. Several are fairly obvious: the shotguns, the pistols, and the racketeers. Sniper players should grab the "Marksman Bandolier" to upgrade the ammo quantity for the AS50, Dragunov SVD, MI903, and the Dart Rifle. Getting the Grenadier upgrade not only improves the capacity for the grenade launchers but also the number of grenades you can hold. Likewise, the Pyrotechnic Satchel improves the flamethrower and flare pistol but also the Molotov cocktails.
• Employing a stealth strategy for missions is certainly a viable tactic. Here are some basics. First, complete the convoy missions to unlock the silent weapons, the Silent MP-5 (primary weapon), the Silent Makarov 6P9 (secondary weapon) and the Dart Rifle (special weapon). Second, purchase the "camo" upgrade using the weapon shop computer. It makes you harder to detect. Third, conduct missions at night! Just sleep at a safe house and adjust your watch to wake up at night.
• A stealth player should also approach each mission area carefully. When you approach mission areas, don’t drive too close. The sound of the car could alert enemies. Take cover in high grass or behind rocks or trees and use the monocular to recon the area. Look for sniper towers and scan for the location of patrolling guards. Use the dart rifle to eliminate as many guards as possible. After a successful snipe, move positions. Continue to scope for guards. Exhaust your dart rifle ammo before moving toward the mission location. While inside the base, take cover behind objects and attempt to sneak up on guards so you can eliminate them with the machete. Otherwise go for head shots using the silent pistol or MP-5.
• For some reason there are a lot of explosive barrels scattered around the mission area-perhaps it’s fuel for enemy vehicles! Whatever it is in there, put those barrels to good use by shooting them from long-range. Take advantage of this if you’re a stealth player because the explosion causes fires and fire causes general chaos. Enemies will run for cover or, if you’re lucky, just get burned up in the process. Take out your sniper and look for enemies taking cover from the fires and eliminate them with headshots.