Far Cry 2

Morning sunrise over Africa. How deceptively peaceful.

Sent on an assignment to kill the infamous weapons dealer known as "The Jackal" you find yourself fighting for and against an entire nation in the midst of a civil war...

---

Recommended Age Minimum Age Available On... 14 12 Xbox 360, PS3, PC Overall Fun Length Frustration   Violence Sexuality Substances Gambling 7 5 3   7 0 4 0 Mods Religion Anti-Law Community Sports Magic Miscellaneous 0 0 5 1 4 0 5

1.     Gameplay

• Overall Fun - 7

Far Cry 2 is a beautiful open-world game set in a location that makes the visual imagery alone well worth the price.  It can be difficult to fully capture the diverse landscapes of an entire continent like Africa, but Far Cry 2 does this very well.  Players will find themselves driving through deserts, savannahs, jungles and swamps, all of which are perfectly recreated.  The maps are small enough to make traveling across the map reasonable, but large enough to seem like the player has to cross a large distance before the landscape changes.

Welcome to Africa. Here's your gun, there's the wildebeest. Have fun.

This game also includes an extra element that, for those willing to pay attention to details, adds an extra element of realism.  The game includes a very detailed set of fire-mechanics.  If a player lights a fire in some sort of vegetation or flammable substance, the flames will slowly spread out.  They will continue to spread until all of the fuel in the region is consumed.  This can lead to some raging brushfires.

The roof isn't the only thing on fire.

However, the game developers seemed to spend more time on game mechanics rather than on storyline, since Far Cry 2’s storyline is weak at best.  The player enters the country searching for a man known as “The Jackal”.  Unfortunately, the player’s constant fight with malaria leads to the escape of the Jackal.  You have to search for the Jackal while funding your campaign by fighting for both sides of a civil war.

It seems like this game was meant to make the player choose a side of the war since there are three overall.  However, the player has to complete every mission that all three sides gives in order to complete the game.  The end result is total confusion as to what is going on and who you are helping and why.

Good guy or bad guy? In this country, there are no good guys.

This lack of a true story is only compounded by the completely unsatisfying ending.  The end at the very least implies that the player dies.  You get two choices, and both end in your death.  It was entirely disappointing and felt like a terrible cop-out to what should have been either a sequel or an expansion pack (see “Definitions”).

The other noticeable issue was that the game was very, very empty.  Africa is alive with wildlife of all different shapes and sizes.  However, the landscape was devoid of all animal types except wildebeests, gazelle, and zebras.  Towns and cities were also devoid of humanity except for any enemies.  The only civilians in the entire game were those found in the “safe houses”.

• Length - 5

The innovative game mechanics made up for the lack of a storyline, so the game was definitely worth playing once.  The lack of storyline, however, leads to very little replay value.  There is a multiplayer game mode, but it’s secondary to the main storyline.

Players going for achievements or trying to buy all of the weapons in the game will have to find briefcases with diamonds inside that are hidden around the map.  This will definitely be time consuming, but it can be worth it to obtain the different weapons.

• Frustration Factor - 3

Aside from the lack of storyline, there are only two small things that can be somewhat frustrating.  First, some of the diamonds were hidden in locations that could only be reached by hang gliders.  This would not have been a serious issue except that the exact locations of the hang gliders were not listed on the map.  For a player like me who wanted to get every single diamond, this could lead to hours of frustrating searching for hang gliders.

The other frustration involved the game’s fast-travel system.  The game allows the player to quickly travel between bus depots.  There were always five for each of the two locations; one in each corner of the map and one in the center.  This meant that a player could quickly be placed in a mission that was in one of the four corners of the map, but often times the missions would take place between these depots.  This led to a lot of extra travel time that a player must endure.

However, the environment is so interesting to look at that this isn’t a huge problem.

2.     Parental Notices

• Violence - 7

The violence in this game is constant but not very graphic.  The player is able to shoot enemies who react to the shots in different ways.  There is blood splatter but no dismemberment or gore.  If an enemy is hit with an explosive he goes into a ragdoll-like fall.

If you can see the blood here, that's about as bad as it usually gets.

The game does feature some rather constant violence.  The player is hated by pretty much everyone in the game.  There are a few “safe zones” where the player will not be attacked, but these are few and only on certain locations on the map.  These locations can also change depending on the situation and the mission.  If the player violates a cease-fire zone, the entire population of that zone will come out to attack the player.

Ow ow ow hot hot hot ow ow ow

There are a few specific types of weapons that will be a bit more violent.  For example, Far Cry 2 includes flamethrower (to go with the fire mechanics described earlier) that can burn enemies.  Even enemies that get caught in the brushfires caused by weapons and explosions can be burned as well.  The player can also use his knife to stab down at an enemy who is on the ground.  The animations for these are relatively quick and not very graphic.

Who wants toast?

• Sexuality - 0

There are very few women in this game, and as a result there is no sexuality in this game.

One of the few women in the game.

• Substances - 4

If the player is injured, he must heal himself.  The primary method of healing oneself is by injecting a miniature syringe with some sort of clear liquid which instantly heals the player.  The player is seen injecting this syringe into his arm in first person.

Eeeewww...

I’m not a huge fan of needles and injections, so I got a bit queasy every time I had to do this.  However, it’s fairly mild overall.

The player also has malaria and constantly has to take medication.  The medication comes in the form of pills that the player must take at somewhat regular intervals.

The whole pill-popping process doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Some characters are seen to smoke, but this is relatively minor.

• Gambling - 0

There is no gambling in this game.

• Mods - 0

This game does have a map-building tool where players can construct their own multiplayer maps, but the modifications for this game don’t go much farther than that.

• Religion - 0

While there are churches in the game, they are mostly used as safehouses for the refugees.  There is no religious significance put into them.

Stick a cross on a building, suddenly it's a church.

• Anti-Law - 5

The game’s storyline follows an African nation in the midst of a civil war.  You are a profiteering mercenary that is willing to fight for both sides to make a few extra dollars.  Your actions prevent one side from winning the conflict, and as a result prevent any sort of law and order from being enacted.  While there is no true “law enforcement”, your actions prevent the creation of any laws to enforce.

FarCry 2's "law enforcement".

• Online Community - 1

This game does include an online multiplayer mode, but it’s such a small part of the overall game experience that it is nearly irrelevant.

• Extreme Sports - 4

The player is able to drive various vehicles all over the African landscape.  The dune buggies and humvees can be driven over cliffs and hills to spectacular effect.  These vehicles do take damage, but not on a realistic level.

If I had some photon torpedos, this could be the Death Star trench run!

The player is also able to hang glide in the game.  Gliders can be found hidden in various parts of the maps.

• Magic - 0

There is no magic referenced in this game.

• Miscellaneous – 5

Healing

If a player is damaged enough, he will have to mend some seriously injured part of his body before he is able to use the miniature syringes.  This process will usually depend on what type of damage was taken before the healing process began.  For example, if the player took fire damage before he begins healing from low-health, he will usually have to pat out a fire that is on his jeans.  If he was next to an exploding car, he might have to remove a piece of rebar from his leg.  If he was shot, he might have to remove a bullet from his hand, arm, or leg.  If he fell, he might have to relocate his knee, fingers, elbow, or shoulder.

Dude, pliers don't go there.

It’s all done in first person, and all pretty gross.  It’s not always graphic, but if you have problems watching surgery on television shows, you’ll have problems with these.

Africa

This game takes place in Africa.  Yes, the player will have to shoot Africans, most of whom are black.  No, not all of the enemies in this game are black.  In fact, the main antagonist is white.  There is no racism in this game.