The Far Cry series is one that I have admittedly got into fairly late into its series. I played Far Cry 3 last year, and considered it to be amongst the best shooter stories out there for action fans. While games like Bioshock have a lot of philosophical quandaries, Far Cry 3 had a deceptively simpler story of how far you would go to save your friends. While simple on the surface, it addressed a lot of smaller issues that go deeper; drug use, sex and love relationships, proving yourself in an age where being a man no longer matters, what makes a civilisation civil, are we missing our primal roots? It was very enjoyable and the story added much needed context to the madness happening on screen.
On top of that the game was well presented. A series tradition is showcasing the strengths of the graphics engines, and it showed with a lush tropical theme and a bright colourful aesthetic to add to the drug theme. The gameplay mechanics were rock solid, allowing for viable stealth and all out gunfighting if you upgraded protagonist Jason Brody into a ninja or a killing machine. And of course there were awesome set piece moments, which worked in context of the story. The helicopter gun turret may have been done to death in other shooters, but here it was important storywise.
You know its good when this plays
So with such a high benchmark I had caution when buying Far Cry 2, expecting less from the game in most aspects (and ultimately it does feel like an inferior sequel, more on that near the end) but unusually it has things which I enjoy more than Far Cry 3.
The setup is fairly straightforward; you play as one of a cast of mercenaries with their own backstories and are sent to a war torn country deep in Africa to assassinate the main arms dealer, the Jackal. He has been supplying both warring factions with all the death devices they could possibly need to continue the war, and he is bad news...or is he?
The Far Cry tradition of curious villains likely started here, with the Jackal really showing a lot of traits with both Vaas Montenegro and Pagan Min. He actually nurses you back to health after you contract malaria literally five minutes into the game (you really should have planned this better) and the rest of the game is the hunt for him while playing the warring factions against each other to get more information.
Unfortunately, another trait the Jackal shares with Pagan Min is that he disappears for long stretches of the game, mostly existing through audio logs, and you really feel his loss, as the rest of the characters are just so bogstandard, with only the mercenaries you encounter on your travels providing an anchor to the chaos. You want to hear more of his stories on the nature of warfare and blood diamonds but because there is so little screentime his point is lost in the chaos of the game. This leaves a game with the feeling that there could have been a much stronger narrative framework for the missions than what we actually have.
The civil war aspect seems to be the secondary focus then, and to its credit the game shows two very believable armies fighting for control. The UFLL feel authoritative but are constantly hiring mercenaries to keep dodgy deals off the books, and the APR are ruthless intimidating masses, and the obvious invaders, but which gained a foothold from ruling nearby nations for the better. Neither ultimately benefit the country, showing some dark scenes like destroying water supplies and burning villages. Its a shame then, that ultimately you never influence how the conflict ultimately turns out.
The Far Cry tradition of curious villains likely started here, with the Jackal really showing a lot of traits with both Vaas Montenegro and Pagan Min. He actually nurses you back to health after you contract malaria literally five minutes into the game (you really should have planned this better) and the rest of the game is the hunt for him while playing the warring factions against each other to get more information.
Unfortunately, another trait the Jackal shares with Pagan Min is that he disappears for long stretches of the game, mostly existing through audio logs, and you really feel his loss, as the rest of the characters are just so bogstandard, with only the mercenaries you encounter on your travels providing an anchor to the chaos. You want to hear more of his stories on the nature of warfare and blood diamonds but because there is so little screentime his point is lost in the chaos of the game. This leaves a game with the feeling that there could have been a much stronger narrative framework for the missions than what we actually have.
Did you miss me?
The civil war aspect seems to be the secondary focus then, and to its credit the game shows two very believable armies fighting for control. The UFLL feel authoritative but are constantly hiring mercenaries to keep dodgy deals off the books, and the APR are ruthless intimidating masses, and the obvious invaders, but which gained a foothold from ruling nearby nations for the better. Neither ultimately benefit the country, showing some dark scenes like destroying water supplies and burning villages. Its a shame then, that ultimately you never influence how the conflict ultimately turns out.
However, what they are fighting for is the reason Far Cry 2 stands out among the pack; the African country.
The first thing that really gives Far Cry 2 its own flavour is the setting. I don't think there is a better setting for this game and without it Far Cry 2 would be a shell of what it ultimately is. Set in the Unnamed African Country (UAC), it truly gives the game a breath of fresh air from most shooters with desert or urban combat. Here it shows an area where war is an everyday part of life, and some truly grim settings. The first visit to Mokuba feels awful because I had never seen such a place in games before. Its meant to be a town, but its really a slum built on sheet metal with no running water, food sources or electricity. Garbage bags and insects buzz around waiting to prey on the next poor soul to enter the area.
And that is only the beginning. You are truly surprised at the variety of locales. Going into Far Cry 2 I assumed it would be savannah's, desert and little else. What I actually got was a taste of jungles, swamps, oasis, desert, ancient villages, river settlements, huge elevations, even a breathtaking lakeside view near a bar. It all looks spectacular, even after a few years of improved graphics tech. The art direction towards a realistic depiction of an African civil war has to be commended, and more games should do a game world this interesting to play in.
With the realistic world comes some realistic mechanics, and this is the second way Far Cry 2 stands out. Your character is a real idiot for not taking malaria precautions before arriving, and as a result you have to take malaria tablets every half hour or so to prevent the disease from killing you. This also fuels story missions, because eventually you will run out of tablets, and must find civilian missions to help the people stuck in this war. It may sound noble, but you are doing it for the same reason they are; to survive.
Weapons you find are rusted and the only thing the armies have at times, and as a result they are prone to jamming and malfunctioning. I cannot think of many other games that do this, even in the military genre, so having this adds to the game immensely. You learn that to become unstoppable you need a clean set of tools to get the job done. As a result you do assassination missions for blood diamonds, and head to weapon shops to help them out to get new weapons. Like with malaria, the mechanic serves story missions.
And finally there are missions involving fellow mercenaries like yourself that help you in the long run if you do favours for them. Any safehouses you find will be better stocked the more you give a helping hand, and even if you get shot to bits other mercenaries will heal you when out on the job. Its either that, or do the graphic improvised first aid to keep going.
The realistic world does have issues though. The map reading keeps with the immersive theme, but you do wish you could fast travel to safehouses like in Far Cry 3 to save on the long car journeys. Bus stations are your only hope, and much of the time they are a trek to get to anyway so you may as well drive across the 50 square kilometres of map.
Gun mechanics are fairly standard, but the addition of flame based weapons adds another layer of strategy as you burn the grass with molotovs or a flamethrower. The effect looks great as you see wildfires spread and can be used tactically.
While comparing to later instalments, it becomes apparent early on that stealth just isn't a viable tactic for most missions. You have a monocular to tag useful equipment, but cannot tag enemies movements like in later games. You also have no stealth indicator, so enemies will show no signs of spotting you before firing the AK47's right at you, even if you were hiding in the bushes. It makes weapons like the silent MP5 or the suppressed Makarov feel like a wasted opportunity, that they could have been used to greater effect if the mechanics improved on the stealth focus. Headshots also curiously seem to miss, so if you did take the aforementioned weapons and hoped to get silent kills, good luck because a lot of the time you hit the body and enemies take a lot of damage anywhere but the head.
Still, it does seem like a middling complaint knowing that these issues on the gameplay standpoint got rectified in the sequels, but heres my big complaint when comparing to the sequels; the narrative framework.
Far Cry 3 worked so well because the story pulled you into the mechanics, and not the other way around. You want to know more about the Far Cry 2 story because of the mechanics and the world. By contrast, Far Cry 3 has all of the same mechanics, but teaches them to you slowly and with fantastic story missions to invest you into it. You were intimidated by the first base you had to liberate because you were a Joe Soap with only a machete and the real fear of getting shot if you were spotted.By comparison, in this game you are a mercenary with all the military experience you need to kick ass across the world. Its perhaps a relatability issue, but then you also see that the characters in Far Cry 3 are a lot stronger. I cannot tell who the names are of the characters here, despite knowing a few over the course of a lengthy campaign.
You get to know all of your friends in Far Cry 3, along with the secondary villains and main baddies. They also reacted to your actions, illustrating your gradual arc from being a doomed tourist to an unstoppable legend. Its like Breaking Bad, you don't notice the change until someone else points out in the story of what you were like before you arrived on the island, and then it hits.
Despite all the moaning about a weak story and inferior mechanics, its not enough to avoid giving Far Cry 2 a recommendation. You just rarely see a game world as interesting as this one, and despite the lack of fast travel, there is something to be said about a relaxing drive through the lush jungles. Mechanics are solid, and standout in a genre filled with spotless weapons and no secondary concerns to your health. Its definitely worth buying if you see it in stores, as its likely quite cheap and easy to find. Who knows, maybe you will find a better tale in here than I could. Give it a shot.
The first thing that really gives Far Cry 2 its own flavour is the setting. I don't think there is a better setting for this game and without it Far Cry 2 would be a shell of what it ultimately is. Set in the Unnamed African Country (UAC), it truly gives the game a breath of fresh air from most shooters with desert or urban combat. Here it shows an area where war is an everyday part of life, and some truly grim settings. The first visit to Mokuba feels awful because I had never seen such a place in games before. Its meant to be a town, but its really a slum built on sheet metal with no running water, food sources or electricity. Garbage bags and insects buzz around waiting to prey on the next poor soul to enter the area.
And that is only the beginning. You are truly surprised at the variety of locales. Going into Far Cry 2 I assumed it would be savannah's, desert and little else. What I actually got was a taste of jungles, swamps, oasis, desert, ancient villages, river settlements, huge elevations, even a breathtaking lakeside view near a bar. It all looks spectacular, even after a few years of improved graphics tech. The art direction towards a realistic depiction of an African civil war has to be commended, and more games should do a game world this interesting to play in.
With the realistic world comes some realistic mechanics, and this is the second way Far Cry 2 stands out. Your character is a real idiot for not taking malaria precautions before arriving, and as a result you have to take malaria tablets every half hour or so to prevent the disease from killing you. This also fuels story missions, because eventually you will run out of tablets, and must find civilian missions to help the people stuck in this war. It may sound noble, but you are doing it for the same reason they are; to survive.
Weapons you find are rusted and the only thing the armies have at times, and as a result they are prone to jamming and malfunctioning. I cannot think of many other games that do this, even in the military genre, so having this adds to the game immensely. You learn that to become unstoppable you need a clean set of tools to get the job done. As a result you do assassination missions for blood diamonds, and head to weapon shops to help them out to get new weapons. Like with malaria, the mechanic serves story missions.
And finally there are missions involving fellow mercenaries like yourself that help you in the long run if you do favours for them. Any safehouses you find will be better stocked the more you give a helping hand, and even if you get shot to bits other mercenaries will heal you when out on the job. Its either that, or do the graphic improvised first aid to keep going.
The realistic world does have issues though. The map reading keeps with the immersive theme, but you do wish you could fast travel to safehouses like in Far Cry 3 to save on the long car journeys. Bus stations are your only hope, and much of the time they are a trek to get to anyway so you may as well drive across the 50 square kilometres of map.
Gun mechanics are fairly standard, but the addition of flame based weapons adds another layer of strategy as you burn the grass with molotovs or a flamethrower. The effect looks great as you see wildfires spread and can be used tactically.
While comparing to later instalments, it becomes apparent early on that stealth just isn't a viable tactic for most missions. You have a monocular to tag useful equipment, but cannot tag enemies movements like in later games. You also have no stealth indicator, so enemies will show no signs of spotting you before firing the AK47's right at you, even if you were hiding in the bushes. It makes weapons like the silent MP5 or the suppressed Makarov feel like a wasted opportunity, that they could have been used to greater effect if the mechanics improved on the stealth focus. Headshots also curiously seem to miss, so if you did take the aforementioned weapons and hoped to get silent kills, good luck because a lot of the time you hit the body and enemies take a lot of damage anywhere but the head.
This might not do
Still, it does seem like a middling complaint knowing that these issues on the gameplay standpoint got rectified in the sequels, but heres my big complaint when comparing to the sequels; the narrative framework.
Far Cry 3 worked so well because the story pulled you into the mechanics, and not the other way around. You want to know more about the Far Cry 2 story because of the mechanics and the world. By contrast, Far Cry 3 has all of the same mechanics, but teaches them to you slowly and with fantastic story missions to invest you into it. You were intimidated by the first base you had to liberate because you were a Joe Soap with only a machete and the real fear of getting shot if you were spotted.By comparison, in this game you are a mercenary with all the military experience you need to kick ass across the world. Its perhaps a relatability issue, but then you also see that the characters in Far Cry 3 are a lot stronger. I cannot tell who the names are of the characters here, despite knowing a few over the course of a lengthy campaign.
You get to know all of your friends in Far Cry 3, along with the secondary villains and main baddies. They also reacted to your actions, illustrating your gradual arc from being a doomed tourist to an unstoppable legend. Its like Breaking Bad, you don't notice the change until someone else points out in the story of what you were like before you arrived on the island, and then it hits.
Despite all the moaning about a weak story and inferior mechanics, its not enough to avoid giving Far Cry 2 a recommendation. You just rarely see a game world as interesting as this one, and despite the lack of fast travel, there is something to be said about a relaxing drive through the lush jungles. Mechanics are solid, and standout in a genre filled with spotless weapons and no secondary concerns to your health. Its definitely worth buying if you see it in stores, as its likely quite cheap and easy to find. Who knows, maybe you will find a better tale in here than I could. Give it a shot.
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