Finished Far Cry 2

Yesterday evening I ended Far Cry 2's campaign in an action packed 6 hour sitting. If you don't want to be minor spoiled better don't continue reading. Far Cry 2 was released last year and I guess the most people that felt the need to play it will have done that by now.

So, the game is over. I've finished Far Cry 2 after estimated 25 to 30 hours. The game sadly had no playtime counter so I have to guess. But well, whatever, that's not so important. Scratches on a masterpiece. Yup, I found it that good. I know that Far Cry 2 is much more unpopular than it deserves. That propably resulted because of the release date in Fall 2008, a strong fall that brought us games like Fallout 3, Dead Space and Gears of War 2. So many gamers skipped it or didn't take themselves the time they'd need to understand a game as massive as Far Cry 2. I've recognized that many people today have short attention spans and when a game doesn't begin with big explosions and instant action they drop it. If only they waited another 10 minutes...
Far Cry 2 is the bombodrom of First Person Shooters. The action is incredible! You get guns and you always blow shit up... The game features an 50 square kilometers open world modelled after real life Africa. The devs did a week long trip there and took many impressions with them. That is a thing you'll notice soon in the game: The world looks like your holiday trip to civil war.

And civil war is the story of Far Cry 2. You get into the country as ruthless mercenary and use the tensions between the two factions UFLL and APR for your advantage. The characters are not that strong and rememerable in Far Cry 2. All are corrupt and want you to take out their rivals. Other than that are your buddies. In the course of the game I've met about 7 buddies. Buddies provide you with sidemissions and a back up when the enemies got you down. Everytime they save you or you save them the bond becomes stronger and you get more missions. If a buddy dies, he's permanently dead - like Aerith! I catched me with reloading missions when Flora or Nasreen died. So there's a bit of emotional touch in Far Cry 2. There are about 11 buddies to find in the North and South district of the game - some unlocked by main quest missions and some on exploration. Besides the main quests which are sweetened by the alternative options your buddies give you, there are radio tower missions that let you become a hitman or work from the gun shop keeper that want's his competitors out of the way. So there's really a lot to do - more than in your average FPS game but ,of course, less than in RPGs like Fallout 3. Even when all operations end in shootouts in the savannah, exploding gun mounted jeeps and a whole village of rebels hunting you.

The A.I. was surprisingly good in Far Cry 2. They roamed the terrain for better shooting positions and went in cover. It was pretty cool sneaking through the forest with high grass, the sun going down behind you, and enemy patrols driving 2 meters beside you and not seeing you. But in the end the sneaking didn't really work out, even with silenced guns the Rambo-worthy action was inevitable. Time to take the rocket launcher and clean the jungle up!

The graphics definitely was a strong point of the game. Without a doubt, this game belongs to the finest we can witness this generation. As I said, Africa is the silent star in Far Cry 2. The landscape is exctingly beatiful and a theme used in few games. I'd even say Far Cry 2 is way more Africa than Resident Evil 5.

Okay, enough with the praisings, I think you've got that Ubi Montreal's studio made me a FC2 fanboy. What were the game's weakpoints? The save point system was sub optimal, free saving always is the best choice, constant enemy respawning is another point I've heard people cry about (more action, that's what I think). Last but not least the missing of an fast travel option (there are 4 bus stops in both districts, but c'mon). It's not that important when you get used to how the game works, but I guess in the crowded fall/ winter time frame that was enough for some people. Not my problem, they don't know what the missed.

To sum it up: I found this game very good and I feel sorry for those that played one hour and saying it's garbage. Thanks for developing a great game, Ubisoft.