Far Cry 2! (Far Cry 2 (PC))

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	Far Cry 2 (PC)
Date:	29/10/08 (46 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice visuals...

Disadvantages: Bland gameplay, boring missions

Note: originally written by me for Freeola.com, thanks!

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The year may not be over yet, but Far Cry 2 is already a certain candidate for the most disappointing game of 2008. Although technically impressive, there is little else to this long-awaited sequel, which successfully deconstructs everything which made the first Far Cry so much fun to play.

Baseless and trite, this sandbox FPS is a frequently infuriating experience, expertly squandering an interesting premise, debasing it to the mere follies of standard shooter fare. Anyone expecting a deep or even superficially complex narrative would best look elsewhere, which, when combined with the inert and simply boring gameplay mechanics, creates an experience that is anything but fun. Gone are the mutants from the original game, as well as the amusingly cliched action protagonist Jack Carver, and virtually all of the charm which made the fairly empty-headed narrative of the original game a riot nevertheless.

Far Cry 2 is a title concerned with nuances, some of which are commendable (such as changing weather patterns, attuned to your progress), yet many of them, such as weapons degrading and jamming over time (usually at the most inconvenient of moments), and the protagonist's need for malaria medicine after every thirty minutes of play, are merely irritating. Moreover, the incessant need for mission objectives to be sparsely-positioned means that the player spends far too much time walking and driving, and not enough time shooting. For a title that boasts the moniker of "first person SHOOTER", this is nothing but a worrying sign, when you spend approximately half of the game with your weapon holstered.

If the disinteresting and over-familiar mission objectives were not enough (several of which force you to perform so-called "side missions" in order to progress), the enemy AI is diabolical, and is in no way aided by the abysmal voice acting. It appears that the voice actors clearly could not be bothered with their performances, and whoever oversaw the voiceover recordings felt the need to speed the voices up to a laughable speed for some reason.

The game's strong suit is invariably its visuals. Far Cry 2 is well-optimised to operate on a wide range of gaming systems, and the general texture detail is impressive, although certainly not up to the level of last year's Crysis. As a shell, Far Cry 2 is certainly impressive, but the shocking lack of any intrinsic depth seems to undermine what would otherwise be a fairly tight, if unremittingly routine FPS game.

There is a fun and compelling game somewhere within the sum of Far Cry 2's parts, yet Ubisoft has buried it beneath a bloated product that offers up to 100 hours of gameplay, most of which, aside from some intense and kinetic car chases, is tired and shopworn. Never does Ubisoft allow you to truly take the reigns of your character's destiny, and in perhaps the game's greatest sin, it never asks you to care for your character either. Brainless and soulless, Far Cry 2 purports to aim high yet, in reality, low-balls and ultimately disappoints.

Summary: A considerable disappointment