As you would be well aware by now, Lee is a fan of Far Cry 2. As a result, I couldn’t resist giving it a go. Indeed, he had already sent it to me via our respective significant others before I had to ask.
Ultimately, I think I am a little disappointed. Not a whole lot but definitely at least a little.
I get the gaming appeal of elements such as the unexpected onslaught of malaria. I get the presence of the factions and their need to defend their territory. But some of it just feels a bit irritating. Lee mentions these things in his own review: the malaria, the fact that road checkpoints you previously cleared are re-populated by hostiles again just moments later. Lee described that last point as tedious and I could not agree more. Also, I find the mechanics of driving a bit clumsy (though better than some other games, I must admit).
Everyone raves about the game’s engine, with its excellent grasp of day/night atmosphere, visually stunning and realistic fire effects and its clever ability to adapt the music to the situation. I agree with the first two points, but the third – the music – I found was a little annoying at times. Occasionally the music would switch back from action music to the more pleasant ambient music, despite the fact that an enemy was just a few metres in front of me (but couldn’t see me). These music changes occasionally took me out of the moment.
Oh – and one other thing. I arrived at an antenna that had a glowing box on it. Something glowing usually indicates you can interact with it in some way. But I had no option to interact in this case. I shot at it. I pressed buttons. But, no. Nothing. Don’t make it glow then! A bit of googling reveals what this is for, but I shouldn’t have to do that.
Despite all this, there are elements to the game that I like. The “buddy” system seems pretty clever; the ability to sneak up on enemies works well (when it works); the enemy AI, when fighting, is pretty clever (though not always); the mission acquisition and map browsing systems are clear and intuitive. I also like how the GPS works.
Some elements need improvement. Lee talked about a few changes he would make and I would take it a bit deeper than that.
The game is nearly two years old now, but with all of the hype around its game engine, I expected better visuals (apart from the fire), but perhaps that criticism is a little unfair.
Nonetheless, I’m going to push on. The missions are interesting and compelling enough that I want to keep going, despite the tedium involved in getting from A to B. Tedium is something I remember being a problem of the first Assassins Creed game: how tedious it became to go through each task. That was fixed in Assassins Creed II; maybe they can fix it in Far Cry 3?
I think everything you’ve said are pretty reasonable issues and like you I think if they can fix them before Far Cry 3 (which apparently will be African based again with a potential follow up in the Arctic).
It took me about of week of solid gameplay before I became hooked, at an obsession level. It was the only game I was playing and I really became immersed in the game.
I also enjoyed blowing off steam by going into town and picking fights. It was kind of nice to hear such adult language
I think the game does suffer for its age compared to current games but only in small ways.
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