Far Cry 2 mini-review

Far Cry 2 is the best FPS game of 2008, IMHO. Enjoying it a lot. It is a slightly slow and very repetitive sand-box of a game (running in guns blazing is not a good idea in Far Cry 2), and requires patience, so the ADHD crowd won't be able to understand it.

Technically its amazing. It has the best simulation of fire I've seen in any game, and the destructable aspects of the environment are also handled incredibly well (I've spent a fair bit of time shooting individual fronds off palm-like trees, and even more time watching fire spread through the grass, bush and trees).

Graphically quite impressive, although I suspect the graphics on the Xbox 360 are inferior to those on a high-end PC. The wide range of environments: lush jungle, savanna/veld, and semi-desert, are all rendered beautifully. The mixed grass/bush veld-like environments really captured my memories of South African veld incredibly well, even down to the shape and placement of rocks and streams. The South African and British accents and phrases of a lot of the mercs were also a nice touch. Eh my china?


The game's story does a good job of showing the moral vacuity of warring groups, the mercenaries and arms dealers that serve them, and the mixed complicity and indifference of the wider world. Ostensibly you are a mercenary yourself tasked (by whom?) to kill the mysterious Jackal, an arms dealer involved in providing the weapons for any number of conflicts around the world. Obvious evil bad guy eh? But the game manages to rise above such a simplistic one dimensional caricature.


Thats not to say its without flaws. The worst is that is easy to sick of all the damn roadblocks staffed by endlessly respawning mercenaries, especially when quests seem to deliberately send you the exact opposite side of the country as you're in when you get the job to bump some one off.

Far Cry 2 has little to do with the original semi-scifi Far Cry, apart from also being a sand-box like FPS set in a tropical environment that avoid traditional linear FPS game play. Its not even made by Crytek, but instead by Ubisoft Montreal (who did also-excellent Assassin's Creed, I believe). I really liked the original Far Cry, but have to say I think Far Cry 2 is a better game.

[Update 01/28/09. I've just finished Far Cry 2. Can't say I'm particularly pleased with the way it ended, as the various characters actions seemed unrealistic given their prior actions and stated motivations. But weak endings are hardly unusual for games. Still, overall a great game from my perspective, and I'm looking forward to replaying it in the future.]