Open-world games have fascinated players since the days of "Grand Theft Auto III," but since then most games that have dared the concept have been "GTA" clones or simply role-playing games - a slow-paced genre that doesn't always make for the most exciting gameplay. "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." was the first open-world, first-person shooter, but its difficulty and technical issues limited its appeal. In contrast, "Far Cry 2" represents the first truly great open-world shooter; it creates a beautiful and immersive world with hours of exciting, accessible action.
"Far Cry 2" has nothing in common with the original "Far Cry." The story is much more straightforward and much less interesting. You play a mercenary sent to an unnamed African nation to kill "The Jackal," an arms dealer fueling both sides of the conflict destroying the country. To find him, you'll have to take missions from different factions for reasons that aren't entirely clear. The individual missions add some intrigue to the story as they take the essential immorality of a "GTA" mob mission and transplant it to the setting of an African political conflict. You'll take on plenty of dirty missions during the course of the game.
The mission structures are fairly uniform: go kill people or blow up stuff. You'll usually get another offer from a friendly mercenary to do the same thing slightly differently. It's everything that happens during the missions that makes "Far Cry 2" an amazing experience. You'll have to drive through portions of the massive, 50-square-kilometer world through lots of hostile forces to get to your objective. You can attack enemy strongholds from a variety of angles and with a variety of weapons, meaning that every strategy from guns blazing to nighttime stealth works, resulting in brilliantly dynamic combat. You don't have much health, and only a limited amount of "syrettes" to heal yourself, creating a very challenging game overall. Completing missions allows you to buy more weapons to be picked up at various safehouses, where you can save your game.
The advanced AI is the biggest reason "Far Cry 2's" combat is so immersive. Enemies will run around, take cover, shoot you, even if they've fallen to the ground, and yell some great combat dialogue. They're noticeably aware of one another, and always spread out to attack you from as many angles as possible, and will pursue you in vehicles if you try to escape.
The amazing visuals elevate "Far Cry 2's" combat to nearly poetic levels. The jungles are thick with foliage to rival "Crysis," and the savannah and desert vistas are stunningly beautiful, especially during a sunrise or sunset; the dazzling lighting is enhanced by a full day-night cycle. Despite a bit of pop-in, this is the best-looking console first person shooter to date, both technically and artistically. Just walking from place to place in the world can be entertaining. The fire system is the most realistic ever in a game; not only does it look great, but it realistically burns down foliage and spreads with frightening speed around the battlefield.
The multiplayer in "Far Cry 2" is fun, but just too standard to stand out. The gametypes are the typical deathmatch, capture the flag and territories, and the game half-heartedly copies "Call of Duty 4's" level and class systems. In a cool touch, the fire system translates over, allowing for some interesting tactics in multiplayer as well.
The best element of "Far Cry 2's" multiplayer is the map editor. The most powerful tools ever on a console game make creating large, intricate and highly detailed maps easier than you could imagine. You can place individual weapons and structures as well as "paint" dense forests and manipulate swaths of terrain. Even those who aren't seriously into making maps can have fun just playing around with the editor.
"Far Cry 2" isn't just a fun shooter-- - it's an exceptional and immersive experience that any FPS fan will appreciate at some level.
You can reach this writer at thescene@theeagleonline.com.
