Far Cry 2 is an open world FPS that you either love or hate that was released by Ubisoft in 2008. I don’t know of any other games that generate such a reaction in players, you either love it or bounce off it hard. While being billed as straight sequel, none of the previous characters, setting or game structure are the same.

You play as a Mercenary enlisted to kill the Jackal, an arms dealer who is profiteering from a civil war in an African nation. You contract Malaria, and as you are recovering the house you are in is blown up in a fight between the games two factions. The initial faction you pair up with and enemies you will fight as well as their sub commanders are all determined in a shootout at the very beginning, which has the potential to make the game slightly different for each playthrough, which I thought was a very cool idea. Doing quests for Buddies – the other mercenaries in the main bar in town opens up alternative routes for completing the main missions. The 2 buddies you have the highest affinity with become your primary and secondary buddy, with the primary giving you alternative quests and the secondary becoming a second life of sorts. I liked the plot twists with the buddy system, and wasn’t expecting anything deeper with them but was pleasantly surprised by some of turns the games story takes. Dam Mercenaries. The loss of a buddy was brutal you either have to put a bullet in them or OD them to end their misery. There are also 2 possible endings depending on the choices you make in the final mission but both are very bleak .

Compared to the first game which is a straight mission/objective based shooter, Far Cry 2 offers up a large portion of the African countryside for you to stumble around in, with a mission structure that has continued into Far Cry 3. Safe houses are introduced, which you can unlock, rest, restock and revive at if you are killed. Completing buddy missions improves items available at safe houses, making doing the side missions important. I liked the fire mechanic the game introduces- fires can spread uncontrollably and burns everything down around them and keep spreading, though in the wetter areas of the maps the fires go out quickly. It adds an extra level of surrealism that after winning a tough fight with only a sliver of health left you die because a wildfire is overrunning the area and you can’t escape as the car has broken down. Far Cry 2’s mantra is everything wants you dead, from the ever-spawning guards (check points respawn guards every time you go through them), the wildfires, constantly degrading guns which break at the worst times or having a dizziness spell from Malaria during a fight all add to the chaotic element the game. The only thing missing are active predators (which were introduced in Far Cry 3). The only quick travel points are train stations at the far ends of the map, which means it’s a lot of driving or running to get anywhere. The constantly respawning guard points can make traversing the map a drag, forcing you to fight your way through or trying to sneak around on foot.

The environment you wander through are very diverse, with locations including jungles, towns, savannahs, swamps and with a active day and night cycle (with guards changing behaviors depending on what time of day you encounter them) makes for interesting trips around the map. Being a 10 year old game it shows as the graphics are dated, but it’s still playable, though a little buggy ( I did suffer a few crashes to desktop). The environments are semi destructible, though nothing like red faction.

I didn’t get to try multiplayer, so can’t advise if the servers are still up, or if anyone is still playing it.

All extra content is included in this version of the game, and there are no steam achievements or need to connect to uplay to play the game.

For more reviews please visit https://store.steampowered.com/curator/31327216/

Far Cry 2 is an open world FPS that you either love or hate that was released by Ubisoft in 2008. I don’t know of any other games that generate such a reaction in players, you either love it or bounce off it hard. While being billed as straight sequel, none of the previous characters, setting or game structure are the same. You play as a Mercenary enlisted to kill the Jackal, an arms dealer who is profiteering from a civil war in an African nation. You contract Malaria, and as you are recovering the house you are in is blown up in a fight between the games two factions. The initial faction you pair up with and enemies you will fight as well as their sub commanders are all determined in a shootout at the very beginning, which has the potential to make the game slightly different for each playthrough, which I thought was a very cool idea. Doing quests for Buddies – the other mercenaries in the main bar in town opens up alternative routes for completing the main missions. The 2 buddies you have the highest affinity with become your primary and secondary buddy, with the primary giving you alternative quests and the secondary becoming a second life of sorts. I liked the plot twists with the buddy system, and wasn’t expecting anything deeper with them but was pleasantly surprised by some of turns the games story takes. Dam Mercenaries. The loss of a buddy was brutal [spoiler] you either have to put a bullet in them or OD them to end their misery. There are also 2 possible endings depending on the choices you make in the final mission but both are very bleak [/spoiler]. Compared to the first game which is a straight mission/objective based shooter, Far Cry 2 offers up a large portion of the African countryside for you to stumble around in, with a mission structure that has continued into Far Cry 3. Safe houses are introduced, which you can unlock, rest, restock and revive at if you are killed. Completing buddy missions improves items available at safe houses, making doing the side missions important. I liked the fire mechanic the game introduces- fires can spread uncontrollably and burns everything down around them and keep spreading, though in the wetter areas of the maps the fires go out quickly. It adds an extra level of surrealism that after winning a tough fight with only a sliver of health left you die because a wildfire is overrunning the area and you can’t escape as the car has broken down. Far Cry 2’s mantra is everything wants you dead, from the ever-spawning guards (check points respawn guards every time you go through them), the wildfires, constantly degrading guns which break at the worst times or having a dizziness spell from Malaria during a fight all add to the chaotic element the game. The only thing missing are active predators (which were introduced in Far Cry 3). The only quick travel points are train stations at the far ends of the map, which means it’s a lot of driving or running to get anywhere. The constantly respawning guard points can make traversing the map a drag, forcing you to fight your way through or trying to sneak around on foot. The environment you wander through are very diverse, with locations including jungles, towns, savannahs, swamps and with a active day and night cycle (with guards changing behaviors depending on what time of day you encounter them) makes for interesting trips around the map. Being a 10 year old game it shows as the graphics are dated, but it’s still playable, though a little buggy ( I did suffer a few crashes to desktop). The environments are semi destructible, though nothing like red faction. I didn’t get to try multiplayer, so can’t advise if the servers are still up, or if anyone is still playing it. All extra content is included in this version of the game, and there are no steam achievements or need to connect to uplay to play the game. For more reviews please visit https://store.steampowered.com/curator/31327216/