Far Cry 2 makes the most out of its unique and engaging African setting in every exciting and explosive way.
Contains: Very Strong Language, Strong Action Violence and Bloody Injury Detail
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Far Cry 2 is an open-ended, modern First-Person shooter set in the wilderness of Africa, and sees you undertaking a mission to kill an infamous weapons dealer.
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STORY - 2/5
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For a game to take up the idea of story-telling in Africa, it doesn't quite provide the player with enough involvement into the conflict and events unfolding in such a politically charged continent. Never-the-less, the plot will tie you up in all sorts of action-packed encounters, as you progress through.
The game takes place in late 2008 in a small, failed Central African state, a nation in a state currently embroiled in anarchy a civil war. The government has recently collapsed, leaving two factions vying for control. At war are the United Front for Liberation and Labour (UFLL) and the Alliance for Popular Resistance (APR). Both factions have claimed to have the people's interests at heart, but both have shown ruthlessness, warmongering, greed, and a general disregard for the well-being of the people. Both sides have hired many foreign mercenaries to bolster their strength over the course of the conflict. The recent exhaustion of the nation's diamond mines has thrown the nation into further turmoil, leaving many foreign mercenaries without payment and no way out.
Your mission is simple: To find and assassinate the Jackal, an arms-dealer who has been selling weapons to both sides of the conflict. You must accomplish this goal by whatever means necessary, even if you have to reach the level of immorality employed by the warring factions and the Jackal himself.
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CHARACTERS - 3/5
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You take control of a mercenary on a lengthy journey to locate and assassinate The Jackal the notorious arms dealer, and there is a wide selection of characters to choose from, each with a unique look and back story. The character you pick doesn't really have any affect on the gameplay, since you'll never see your own face, but the affect comes into the buddies you'll meet. Depending on the character you choose, the way buddies are integrated means that you'll encounter each ones in different orders, which means you'll see the different personalities of some characters more than others depending on the mission.
At the core of the game is The Jackal himself, a villain who see's no mercy in suffering, but for some reason, doesn't kill you when he has the chance. He is a somewhat likeable villain for his way of challenging your character, and while you don't regularly come face to face, he does briefly offer some insight into his philosophy about the will to power. Scattered around the African region are Jackal audio tapes which were recorded by a journalist who is currently writing a book about the Jackal and his role in the conflict, and these tapes give you an idea of exactly what goes on in the mind of the villain, and what he believes and thinks about the present crisis. Rare to find, but careful exploration can reveal them worthy of your time.
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GAMEPLAY - 5/5
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Throughout the course of the game, you will have to take the opportunities to negotiate with both sides of the conflict, and carry out their tasks by any means necessary in order to gain information about your main goal - Terminating the Jackal. Most of your missions revolve around you needing to infiltrate enemy strongholds and blow something up, and even know this style of approach gets repetitive, the action rarely does. The unique setting offers many benefits, and allows you great freedom to explore different African landscapes such as deserts, jungles, and savannas, and this also means missions can be approached from any direction you wish, and any style of gameplay that suits you. If your eliminating a specific target in one of the many side missions, you can opt for a stealth approach, and utilise a silenced weapon in order to achieve your goal, but on the other hand you can start things off with a bang and go in all guns blazing. Stealth is somewhat underdeveloped however, and because of the inconsistent awareness of enemies, you could find yourself wandering around without attracting any attention, but other times you'll swear that you were hidden in the trees with your camouflage suit, and then hear an alarm raise. You have a machete to silently dispatch foes, but it rarely comes into use since you won't ever probably get in that close behind an enemies back without triggering an alert.
There is a day and night cycle integrated into Far Cry 2, and this allows for precision timing to strike a enemies position. At night you'll be more difficult to spot, but then so are the enemies, so you'll need to take careful precautions when scouting out a guard post if you want to have the upper hand and surprise the position. Since its an open world game, you'll be able to roam where ever you wish, walk through the undergrowth to reach your destination, take command of a swamp boat and the most common choice - drive a vehicle. There are guard posts positioned all over the region of Africa you're in, and while its fun to negotiate the group of enemies because the action is so exciting, it can get exceptionally frustrating when you clear out a group, and then once you've moved on, they respawn almost immediately.
As you'll be frequently engaging with enemies along your path to a desired destination, your weapons condition will deteriorate over time of use, and depending on how often you use that weapon, and their reliability stat which is on the weapon statistics screen, you could find yourself in trouble. Weapons will become dirty and are prone to jam, until eventually they fail and are completely unusable until you get a new one. Before you start a mission its best to prioritise by collecting a new one from the weapons store, since some weapons degrade more quickly than others, you could find yourself in a fight with a rusty gun that is constantly jamming. Its a neat implementation and encourages you to be aware of your arsenal's condition. Diamonds are the source of payment and the way forward in upgrading your collection of weapons, and exploring the vast African region will earn you more, since they are hidden around in cases around the map. You are equipped with a handheld map and navigation GPS system with a proximity sensor, which all adds to the sense of realism, and this helps track down close by diamond cases, or highlight where your objectives or mission markers are located.
Another highlight of the realism, is the health system, split into five segments, but when you reach the last segment, you must perform a small first aid on yourself, which ranges from digging a bullet out of arm, patting yourself when on fire, or cracking a bone back into place. Its a nasty procedure, and for the most part of Far Cry 2, strong violence is a common attribute.
But overall, the gunplay is solid, and the explosions are fantastic, and with a dynamic weather system that forces you to approach areas differently and change up your methods of assault, there is endless opportunities to mix up your attack scheme with interesting and excellent results. Start a fire with the wind blowing, and watch it cause havoc as it spreads towards an enemy base, and then pick off any survivors from a distance with your powerful dart gun, or perform a head-on assault with a grenade launcher and target vehicles for fiery and realistic explosions and catastrophic fire effects that alter the look of the environment completely. Which ever methods you use, the huge 50 kilometre squared land allows you to progress through the game world as you see fit, and end up in exciting battles with explosions galore, and blood aplenty.
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GRAPHICS - 4/5
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One of the highlights of Far Cry 2 is its beautiful visuals. Set in Africa, there is a wide range of various wilderness, which are mixed together perfectly and look simply amazing. Jungles and Deserts are created with the right feel to them, and since every part of the landscape was built from the ground up by the developer's, it is quite an achievement. From the bright sunset, to the night sky with the moon providing a glimmer of light, the day and night cycle is put together wonderfully, and when combined with all sorts of explosive action and fierce fires that spread extremely well depending on the weather, you can't help but stand in awe as the clock ticks forward. Just as captivating is driving around, or even better, commanding a boat and witnessing all of the beautiful scenery whiz past under a spectacular sunny day that is topped off by a bright blue ceiling to the whole world your involved in.
Sadly the graphics are let down by frequent screen tearing, visual blemishes, object pop in when moving at speed and some minor glitches, which do take away some of the brilliance because of it being so highly noticeable in certain places.
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SOUND - 4/5
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When you're freely moving around, you'll hear the rustling of trees and bushes that move to the wind, the noises of evident species of wildlife, and the sound of tyres rolling harmlessly across the dirt tracks. Virtually every aspect of Far Cry 2's sound department is spot on, and apart from some out of place and laggy gun effects when fired, combat is also impressive in nearly every way. Explosions have the intensity as you'd expect, and the cackling of fires engulfing the grass and trees is remarkable to watch. When your in combat, the music upbeats, and you'll hear and distinguish unique African instruments playing in the background as you gun down armed enemies, and when the gunfight is over, you'll hear it slowly die down into the background, and all of the sounds of the animals will return to the foreground yet again. The sound design is really good, and is matched by the sounds of bullets striking flesh, and the gory procedure you perform when near death, and make Far Cry 2's entire sound department almost flawless.
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CONTROLS - 5/5
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Nice and sturdy vehicle handling make driving around the beautiful terrain worthwhile and enjoyable, even if a heavy amount of driving can become tedious eventually. The control layout is just as strongly built so as to not confuse you, and make the configurations easy to memorise for the many upcoming assaults you'll get swept up in.
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ATMOSPHERE - 5/5
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There is a tremendous amount of realistic energy propelled into the African landscape, and make your journey through it, a memorable one. The various animals and wildlife act as close to real life as you can get, from their animations to their awareness, and even there natural instincts to survive. Zebras run away to the sound of approaching vehicles, gazelle graze amongst the herbs growing in the ground, and birds sweep across the skies. Each making all the natural sounds that you'd expect, and making you feel positively conjoined with the African setting.
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ENEMY AI - 3/5
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The way enemies react is unfortunately an inconsistent feature in Far Cry 2, and whether you're assaulting their positions, or hiding in the long grass, a lot of times such simple procedures can become problematic for unnecessary reasons. There are some very good animations and team work visible when your attacking them from distance, and if you are sniping in the distance they'll work out your position and then attempt to flank you out of your hiding spot together. Other times you could set off an explosion and you'll hear them quickly talking to each other about you and how many people they reckon are attacking them. They take cover effectively, fire at reasonable intervals to try and flush you out of cover, crawl to cover if they are injured, and even carry fallen friends who have sustained lethal damage. At different times of the day there animations will change, so when at night they'll be relaxing and easier targets to pick off, and during the day they'll be drinking, sitting and chatting, and overall more aware of attack. All of these add up to tight encounters, as the non-scripted AI work together in order to try and defeat you, but there are some major flaws to their intelligence.
Sometimes you can appear directly in front of them and they won't register your presence immediately. If it wasn't for unfortunate AI blunders, then it would be almost perfect enemy intelligence.
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LENGTH - 5/5
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Far Cry 2 is a very long game, and thanks to its open-world design and lots of activities to keep you engaged, it should last you at least 30 hours until you reach its climax. But the length only adds to the enjoyment, since the gameplay is so solid, and the fierce explosions are so awesome.
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REPLAY VALUE - 5/5
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Far Cry 2 may not be a game worth replaying straight after you've finished it, but it certainly is a game worth keeping in your collection until another time. On future playthroughs you can change your approach to missions, your weapon purchases and upgrades, choose differently who you work for, and decide whether you want to help buddies out during missions, which ultimately change the mission layout altogether, and alter the experience. Far Cry 2 is great game, and what it has implemented is a fantastic achievement, because overall, its a game which adds something new to the genre, and has some extremely impressive integrations that you won't find anywhere else.
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OVERALL SUMMARY - 9/10
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Good Points: Beautiful visuals, Realistic and engaging African atmosphere, Good selection of weapons and upgrades, Shows off some cool dynamic weather system effects and weapon degradation, The Jackal is an interesting and somewhat likeable villain, Loads of exciting action set-pieces with fantastic explosions and fire effects, Some amazing enemy responses, Wide variety of missions to do which can be approached however you want.
Bad Points: Stealth is an underdeveloped gameplay element, Story doesn't make the most of its politically charged setting, Enemies respawn too quickly at guard posts.