Far Cry 2 Review 0
Far Cry 2 Review
Well, I eventually got around to doing it folks, I’ve done a review of Far Cry 2. Yes I know it’s been out a while, and there are 101 reviews out there, but I thought I’d at least have my say.
My copy is the Xbox 360 version, and whilst on all 3 platforms (360, PS3 and PC) some people will regard it as the better choice of the 3 ? Anyway, you take control of a mercenary out in an un-named African nation, and are immediately plagued with malaria (yeah, shit happens right ?) well, this for me was the first annoyance of the game. Because of this, at certain intervals in the game, your character will have a fit, and you have to hit LB in order for him to take his malaria pills to regain stability, but the problem with this is it often happens in the middle of a fire fight ! You also have to do regular trips to a doctor to ‘top-up’ your supply of pills, which usually consists of driving to the other end on the map to shoot 3 people, then talk to the family and get your pills. MINOR annoyance, but an annoyance nonetheless.
The game revolves around two warring factions, the UFLL and APR, with whom the weapons dealer ‘The Jackal’ is making a killing, your goal, to track him down. To do this you must first complete missions for both the UFLL and APR, which sometimes involves you aiding other mercenaries along the way. Missions are generally the same… grab a big gun, drive to location, shoot target… done. Granted, I have only completed 58% of the game, but up until now, that has been it. But don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with that, at all.
The thing that makes it so appealing, is the breath taking scenery in Far Cry 2, really, I haven’t played any other game that the scenery really does make driving from one location to another so… rewarding. Snaking your way through dense forest with the setting sun’s rays creeping through the trees, or screaming along the desert with the sun on the horizon, it really is amazing, you have to remember after all though, this is a game, and for some reason, game developers won’t let you just drive.
It seems for every single person in this game, there is a permanent marker about your head saying ‘Shoot’, for as amazingly peaceful it is driving around, you are guaranteed to encounter one of many aggressive ‘checkpoints’ inhabited by troops whom it seem go trigger happy at the first sight of a person. If it’s not a checkpoint, it’s a random 4×4 with a mounted machine gun that appears out of nowhere and decides he wants a fight. This game would be so much more enjoyable to travel by car if they allowed you to pass checkpoints without getting fired upon, or to have cars actually drive past you, not opening fire. For this reason, and this reason alone, the bus stations become a luxury you couldn’t do without.
Not only for the reason you may not want to spend 10 minutes travelling, the bus stations are an easy ‘get out of trouble’ free-card, just visit a station and select on of a few destinations, yes they are few and far between, but they save un-necessary gun fight, and with the fairly low ammo load, you don’t want to run into battles all the time.
Save stations are done by the means of safe houses, which you generally have to unlock by taking out 2 or 3 troops at the house. Once you’ve acquired the house you are then able to save and ‘sleep’ forward in time, just in case you want to attack somewhere at night for instance, or if you want to skip night and get the breathtaking visuals of the day ? Up to you.
Personally, my favourite parts of the game are the ‘planning’ of taking out a target. This is where this game set’s itself apart from games such as Call of Duty 4 for instance, for this is where is becomes open, VERY open. Because really that is it, ‘Here’s your target, and go.’ You have the choice is how you want to do the mission, run and gun, snipe, ambush, or, my favourite, burn the roof down on them. The fire physics in this game and interesting to say the least, for you can grab a Molotov cocktail and set fire to huts, dry grass, and watch as the wind pushes the fire and engulf that little village. Nothing really beats setting fire to a village and to sit there sniping anyone trying to get out of the blaze. When the attack works, thanks to careful planning, you really do want to pat yourself on the back.
The story is not much to go by, for me anyway. Not helped by the 10 words a second voice acting. I swear, they must of ran out of room on the disc or something, but the speech is SO fast, at times it is hard to keep up, and because of this, the story can become dis-jointed if you miss key points. Subtitles are on, but to keep with the voice over, you have to be a quick reader.
Of course, I have not finished this game yet, far from it. But after many, many hours playing it, I can tell that this game was made to be a master piece, and for some reason, it falls short of something, that X factor perhaps ? For yes, the visuals are amazing, the feeling of ‘I can do what I want’ is very rewarding, but there seems something missing. What that is I can’t say, otherwise I’d be a game developer. But I do get the feeling, that even with all the plus points this game has, that sometimes, size ISN’T everything.
