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Posted on: Oct 22, 2008
Far Cry 2
WORDS BY: Cameron Lewis
Why commit to one side of a civil war when you can get rich serving both? As a mercenary in Africa, you’ll roam almost 20 square miles of gorgeous jungle and sun-baked savannah as you take on assassination, sabotage, and plentiful (but repetitive) side missions, but the alternatives your buddies suggest give the campaign its life. Do you make a beeline for stolen gold, or whack the deposed king first?
It’s tempting to take the path of least resistance when you must repeatedly drive serpentine routes and battle irritating “patrols” that give stubborn chase every 30 seconds. But Far Cry 2’s combat reaches a fever pitch with remarkable frequency, and you have myriad ways to accomplish most goals. Torch an encampment at noon, sneak in by starlight, or just blow everyone into red paste with a large assortment of upgradable artillery. Foes won’t enter certain areas, but they’re intelligent enough to make your prolonged rampages tense and satisfying. Each unpredictable bullet-storm is filled with gritty flourishes of brutal realism. Malaria fl are-ups play havoc with your vision, weapons jam, and shrapnel punches holes in your flesh, so your alter ego comes off as both grizzled badass and vulnerable soft target.
Unfortunately, it becomes increasingly difficult to care about his contrived destiny when seemingly important choices don’t yield meaningful consequences and the cast chews through dialogue like they’re on crystal meth.
The biggest disappointment is that the six character classes, experience-based upgrades, and full-featured level editor can’t elevate online play past the weary familiarity of deathmatch, CTF, and control-point variations. But even if Far Cry 2’s flaws leave it a stone’s throw from greatness, it still offers some of the most pulse-pounding unscripted moments seen in a first-person shooter.
On Xbox 360
- Exciting and flexible combat.
- Enormous and detailed world.
- Lots of commuting; obnoxious truck patrols; underwhelming online.
- Who installed GPS units in all those ancient Ford Pintos?
Sun, 10/18/2009 - 12:32
Posted by wickland
yeah the commuting in this game was long and boring.
Sun, 08/02/2009 - 09:40
Posted by Biiiilly
the games great but everything just seems empty, when driving round africa you hardly see anyone and when you do they just shoot you.
Mon, 01/05/2009 - 09:54
Posted by MightyB
I must be playing a different game than what you reviewed because I wouldn't have been as disappointed with it as I am. #1 - you're in an Africa with no civilian population and everyone who sees you wants you dead, and with virtually no stealth- everyone sees you. #2 Doing a faction mission for a faction doesn't mean that the faction members will help you- if they see you- which they will- they'll kill you too. #3 Be prepared to kill the same people the same way infinite times since you'll be recrossing checkpoints at every intersection that repopulate no matter how many times you kill everyone...
Seriously- if you're looking for an immersive gaming experience that capitalizes on an open "sandbox" architecture- don't buy this game- buy Fallout 3 or replay Mass Effect. Rent Far Cry 2 for the fire effects and graphics- just don't buy it.
Sat, 12/27/2008 - 18:34
Posted by 72runner
This is a great game. It was such a shame Ubisoft didn't put this much work into assassins creed.
Fri, 11/07/2008 - 09:00
Posted by Spork
I guess you missed where it says "full-featured level editor."
Tue, 11/04/2008 - 05:35
Posted by chukky1728
I bought FarCry2 yesterday and have no plans to play it online or single player until I get over the sweet greatness of the new map creator. I've logged hundreds of hours on FarCry Evolution, making map after map. This new iteration, with all it bells and whistles, is like 1000% better! How could the map creator have gotten no mention in this review!?
Sun, 11/02/2008 - 20:39
Posted by Abyssal_Nova
If you could get only one or the other in your terms being Fallout or Far Cry, I would suggest you go with Fallout. Far Cry is an absolutely wonderful game just it doesn't meet up to Fallout's potential. I really love both games but Fallout is the winner here.
All Hope Is Gone = Best Album EVER
Sat, 11/01/2008 - 09:06
Posted by RAGE GT350
I'm not sure weather to get fallout 3 or far cry 2! can somebody give me a hand they both look good!
Bring it on
RAGE GT350
Thu, 10/30/2008 - 21:20
Posted by ideathief
what is UP with these long awaited games getting dikked on the reviews with less than half a page, like this one and dead space?
there ARE games other than Fable and Fallout...
good review (in spite of the brevity)
Sat, 10/25/2008 - 19:00
Posted by l TopGunX l
Im still on the fense about this one
Im might just get Fable II
Fri, 10/24/2008 - 07:28
Posted by thePhoenix
does this game have splitscreen?
Thu, 10/23/2008 - 15:57
Posted by DelishusSeagull
This game is awesome!
It is definitely one of my "knew it would be good but had no idea it'd be this good" games. The last game in that category was Assassin's Creed.
This game is an amazing looking 360 game and has some of the best day to night cycles i've ever seen. The open world was the best thing to ever happen to the series and i'm so glad that this game has nothing to do with the original Far Cry.
p.s. How do you put grass on the ground in the map editor, i tried to use the paint feature but none of the patterns show up. Is there some magic button i have to press?
Wed, 10/22/2008 - 17:33
Posted by mrdirt
the map editor + online multiplayer together would probaly have sold well is what i meant to say
Wed, 10/22/2008 - 17:31
Posted by mrdirt
this game is not for every one, if you paintball and like the practicing combat plans get this.
the online should stay new and more realisticly to the real world -rather than playing a cod map where every one knows all the map well enough to predict where people will hide and excetera- where you have the vaugest idea of the direction you should even walk. the map maker could have been a seperate $60 game it self and sold constiterably well, i think atleast, and it interests me (with it's handgliders) pretty closely to the actual playing of the game. the map editor also imidately set this game to follow my last game purchas, wich was GTA4 the day it came out
the animals are enough to exite me enough any ways so... ...i look forward to harassing many virtual animals in the imedate future (it will make up for not being able to touch the bison and elk in Yellow Stone and The Grand Tetons.
MATE.FEED.KILL.REPEAT.
Wed, 10/22/2008 - 15:38
Posted by PaperLantern
Seems strange you'd have that few words to talk about one of the biggest games of the year, but if that's the case, I don't blame you.
Plus I suppose I kind of already know what to expect from the map editor.
Wed, 10/22/2008 - 14:35
Posted by Spork
Given that I had 275 words to talk about the entire game, I figured they were better spent on the experience of actually playing it.
Wed, 10/22/2008 - 12:55
Posted by PaperLantern
Not much about the map editor. Thumbs down.