Review: Far Cry 2

Four years after Jack Carver’s mutated tropical exploits and the subsequent remakes and ports for the consoles, Ubisoft Montreal took the reigns from the original developers Crytek, for the latest instalment in the series that has always prided itself on overtly foliaged first person combat .

Far Cry 2 bears no real direct comparisons to its predecessor in terms of the tropical scenery, and both the original protagonist Carver and his mutated abilities have been discarded altogether in favour of providing a more recognizably realistic impression to the setting and storyline.

Set in a fictional African region divided into two lawless and ungoverned territories; the North, Leboa-Sako and the South, Bowa Seko, FC2 revolves around the ongoing power struggle between the UFFL (United Front for Liberation and Labour) and the APR (Alliance for Popular Resistance).

Arriving in the area as a lone mercenary, you are tasked with eliminating an infamous arms dealer dubbed ‘The Jackal’ who is profiting from supplying arms to both rival factions, essentially fuelling the conflict between the two for the procurement of personal wealth. In order to reach him, the player must complete missions for both the UFFL and the APR, often playing the two off against each other to progress.

It’s a plot that would certainly struggle to win too much critical acclaim in the originality stakes, yet FC2 is by no means intending to be a game driven by a powerful or emotive narrative. The basic premise of the story gives you a licence to do what is integral to the games core factor for enjoyment; a healthy dose of death and destruction.

FC2 is not an FPS that sticks to the linear conventions we’ve come to expect from the genre. Rather than opting for claustrophobic corridor based action or the deceptively large, yet fundamentally restrictive set pieces encountered in say, Halo, here, there is a vast expanse of map to traverse, with mission markers and points of interest highlighted via your in-game GPS.

While the hybrid of and FPS and a sandbox title is a relatively original concept, it can be detrimental to FC2’s overall pacing. This is due to the long and often arduous treks you’ll be constantly asked to take from A to B. Missions will often seem particularly ground out and chore-like because of the sheer amount of travelling between locations involved.

The gradient of the landscape is often far to steep to simply cut across country and instead you’ll have to stick to the roads and as a result constantly become embroiled in fire fights at the many guard posts scattered throughout the world. At first, it’s undoubtedly entertaining dispatching of these foes in new and elaborate ways, yet after a while it results in achieving a simple task such as; leave the safe house at point A, and assassinate the target at point B, become excessively and unnecessarily drawn out affairs. There is a fast travel system implemented at coach stops, but these themselves tend to be in very remote and hard to reach locations, often raising the question if it’s actually worth detouring to one to speed up proceedings.

The key to maximising appreciation of FC2’s undoubtedly brilliant aspects is maintaining a degree of patience. This is by no means an all action, openly accessible pick up and play shooter. You will have to invest a substantial amount of playing time and endure some decidedly frustrating gameplay aspects in order to truly acknowledge the finer inclusions the title has to offer.

Although the constant guard post battles can grate when trying to complete a primary mission, the combat, though not without drawbacks, is where the game earns its appraisal.

Compliant to most FPS weapon systems, you start with some pretty basic and shabby weaponry, but by earning diamonds (FC2’s currency) through completing main objectives and side quests, powerful and ever more reliable upgrades can be acquired, thus making gunplay an all the more a joyous experience.

Starting off with a rusty pistol, you’ll often find it jamming mid combat as well as being woefully underpowered and inaccurate. Frustrating at first, yes, but once that rusty pea shooter is replaced by a lethal Mac-10 you’ll gain a real sense how well the developers have implemented the upgrade system to reflect the improved quality and feel of the weaponry throughout. They’ve captured the feeling of gradual empowerment expertly, never giving you an outrageously overpowered weapon early on, but rather making you earn the right to use and perhaps most importantly, to have fun with them later in proceedings.

Those initially exasperating situations when attempting to dispatch of a small army with a pathetic array of guns are all forgiven when rolling up to an encampment armed to the teeth with an Uzi, Dragunov sniper rifle, flamethower or RPG just to name a few.

This is where the aforementioned need for patience truly cements itself. Stick with FC2 and there is immense fruition to be extracted from the experience. Mounted machine guns, grenades, molotovs and IEDs are also involved in an extensive arsenal of nearly thirty different instruments of death, each feeling suitably unique and pleasurable to wield. This variety lends itself to a sense of tactical foreplanning, choosing either a highly explosive or long range load out depending on your desired style of combat.

Unfortunately the AI can often feel rather imbalanced. For instance, whilst up close, enemies seem to loose all sense of tactical awareness and are laughably easy to outflank and outwit. Contrast this to a battle at range however, and they can appear unfeasibly accurate. You may end up darting around, hiding behind cover constantly getting hit by an enemy you can’t see, let alone return fire towards, which is irritating to the extent that simply counting your losses and running away is often the favoured outcome in the hope that he will come to you instead. However, these are minor shortcomings that shouldn’t be too detrimental to an otherwise excellent combat system.

The buddy system is certainly worth noting and is a welcome inclusion when inevitably overwhelmed at some stage throughout the course of the game. Buddies are recruited via specific missions (releasing them from imprisonment more often than not) and will return the favour by dragging you to safety (if a bond has been built up and you have gained enough ‘history’ with each ally) when your health reaches zero. They will constantly ask you to subvert missions given by the factions, often involving fulfilling a sub-task for them before returning to the main objective. This will cause the mission to become stretched out, usually involving more time spent on foot or in a vehicle, however, complying with your buddy’s wishes is entirely optional if you don’t fancy the elongated alternative to the primary mission.

The mission structures of FC2 are relatively straightforward and tend to involve destroying a rival factions hardware, assassinating a target or eliminating a convoy carrying opposing goods. These are admittedly fairly basic and standard objective conventions but they often result in some stunning fire fights and explosive set pieces across the African terrain.

By and large the games looks stunning. Beautiful lighting effects compliment the jungle, rock face and desert sections across the two regions. Waging war at sunrise or dusk is a visual delight, the backdrops playing host to some particularly atmospheric and immersive action scenes. Although there is a day/night cycle implemented in FC2, simply to appreciate the games graphical qualities and for ease of spotting enemies, you will most probably opt to go about your mercenary duties from morning onwards rather than in darkness. That said the more stealth favouring players may well choose do the exact opposite as you’ll never be forced into doing a mission at a strict time period.

Two years after release, Far cry 2 can be picked up at most second hand shops for less than ten pounds, a veritable bargain, especially for FPS fans who have grown disillusioned with the endless reams of mediocre shooters that tend to populate the shelves.

The game undoubtedly has its faults and frustrations that will require time and patience to overcome, yet it is also big (around 25 hours of campaign playing time), different, and once immersed in the scenery and extensive arsenal on offer to the player, immensely enjoyable and rewarding.

Invest time in Far cry 2 to fully appreciate its qualities, certainly worth purchasing for the cheap price tag alone.