Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Grows on you"

If there's one thing to remember with Far Cry 2 it's that you should look past first impressions. After a promising opening cutscene the gameplay starts to trip you up. Initially the controls seem far too loose and targeting enemies more than a few yards away descends into a series of stop-and-shoot stand-offs. Out of ironsight, ropey weapons seem to miss the mark all too often whereas enemies seem deadly accurate even over huge distances.

There are further complications to simply getting around. Once you have got yourself a ride and realised that, unlike Liberty City, cars don't have GPS systems in the savannah you are left with a scruffy map and a lot of trouble. The biggest headache is that outside of some very small peaceful zones every person that you encounter will start taking shots at you. This can turn a simple mission into a series of unwelcome skirmishes. There is a bus network that takes you to various spots on the map but you will end up fighting your way through the same checkpoint time after time. It doesn't help that there is a potentially game-breaking glitch lurking around the 60% mark that will force you to restart the game if you haven't made plenty of back-up saves.

It's not until the 25% mark that the game begins to grab you. As you learn the mechanics of the game you realise that the run and gun gameplay of the first Far Cry won't work here. Making a slow approach, checking the map for a path of attack and being mindful of nearby cover are the way to go here. Planning an approach of attack, purchasing weapons appropriate to your style of play and completing missions how you want make for some genuinely satisfying missions. For instance, one mission involved destroying a gas tank in a railyard. Here the player is advised to fight through the yard, plant some explosives and dash for freedom, however, a quick look at the map reveals a mountain pass which looks above the target. One well placed rocket and it's Mission Successful.

The main reason for this is the great level design on show here. The map isn't the virtual playground of Mercenaries 2 but that works in it's favour and the authenticity of the map is unmistakable, in fact it's hard to believe that you are not in a genuine piece of wild African countryside. Lush jungle river basins give way to sandy deserts, criss-crossed with dusty roads and vegetation. Days and nights are book-ended by stunning sunrises and sunsets that are genuinely beautiful and on a purely technical level this game can't be faulted.

There has been a lot of criticism about Far Cry 2's story which although bare is certainly not bad, just absent. The malaria mechanic seems superfluous but in general you can't fault a game like this for having no narrative, it simply doesn't matter. Similarly, criticism around repetitive missions is exaggerated as the same can be said for GTAIV, Dead Space and a host of other top titles.

Basically this is a good game, perhaps even a great one but one that fails to initially impress. With a little patience Far Cry 2 can be a very rewarding FPS and if players are willing to persevere through a sub par first couple of hours then they will find an amazing world to immerse themselves in.