Far cry 2 does some things better than any other shooter while leaving other things mediocre
The Good: A variety of realistic upgradable guns, graphics are great for an old game, very big free roam scenaries, requires tactics, fire is awsome!
The Bad: weak and hard to follow story, lots of tedious travelling between locations, repetitive missions, can be too hard at times.
Far cry 2 is one of very very few free roam first person shooters and it is also unique in many other ways, for example the guns rust when used alot and start to jam increasingly often until eventaully breaking(although their reliability can be increased by buying upgrades) your health goes down in sections like resistance fall of man and you must take injections or perform brutal self surgeries to restore your health. The game also features a map editor which, while harder to use than the likes of halo, can produce outstandingly fun maps once you get some practice.
Another thing which makes the game special is the use of fire, explosions,molotov's and flamethrowers can cause fire, but as the back of the games case states the fire is very dynamic and realistic. It will catch alight dead grass and trees and then spread quickly destroying all enemies,allies and explosives in its path, but beware , being caught in fire will drain your health only slightly slower than when your being shot at constantly!
The story starts of with you arriving in africa to hunt down a target known as the jackal but gets you involved in doing missions for the 2 rival factions, while also doing tasks for the local arms dealer and seeking medicine for the threatening malaria which your character contracts at the start of the game.Unfortunately this is one of the games downfalls as the missions are normally very similair and normally either involve killing someone in particular,blowing something up or retrieving something for the faction leaders.However the main faction missions do vary a bit and occasionally improve some very exciting new mission themes, however by the time your around 65% through the story most players will begin to get bored of the constant driving and repetitive missions, although fast travel points are featured (bus stops) they are far enough apart that if you get given a far away target then you'll face a few minute drive to a bus stop, a loading screen to the nearest bus stop to your target and then another few minute drive to your target.The actual driving mechanics are alright but nothing special, your journeys will include being shot at by everyone you drive past and occasionally getting out to repair your engine after accidentaly clipping a rock with your bumper.People are very hostile in far cry 2 and apart from in cease fire towns and the local bar, every single settlement in the game is full of people who will shoot you on sight.TO begin with this makes the game more dynamic and exciting but at the 65% point it starts to get tedious having to constantly stop,get out your car,kill a few guys and then steal their ammo and health before continuing on your way.
The game also features a buddy system where you make AI friends who will offer to be on standby near you at the various safe houses scattered around where you can sleep(save) and restock ammo.When you have a buddy on standby you essentially have a 2nd life so if you get run over,shot or blown up then you will see several few second cutscenes where your buddy appears,heroically shotts down a few guys, carrys you to cover and then pulls you to your feet and hands you a pistol of some kind.If yourbuddy is injured while saving you then he will pop green smoke and you can abandon,excecute or save him by sacrificing one of your restore health injections.
The enviroments in far cry 2 are excellent and feature favela's,mountain cliffs,large lakes and rivers, wild animals which you can hunt for fun,scattered jeeps,cars and the odd hand glider (the only method of flying) and other locations.The sheer size of the sandbox area and its beauty make it cry out for planes as a quick and view enhancing mode of transport but no such feature exists :(
So far cry 2 is a cheap* but long and unique FPS with a realistic,tactical shooting feel and amazing enviroments which are let down by a very weak story and repetitive play structure
because this game can be picked up for under £9 on the internet it is an obvious buy for a great FPS experience even if it will become boring before you complete the story.So now even though i mainly play online, and have just bought AC brotherhood and the saboteur, if i want some FPS action, i reach for far cry 2