Ubisoft's new open-world mercenary shooter has some...quirks. Here's a few tips on getting around them.
Far Cry 2 came out this week, and I've been playing it for the last couple of days as I work on the review. The game has...well, it's rubbed me the wrong way a few times. Not long after starting out, I began getting frustrated by a number of things.
My guns kept jamming.
Dudes were attacking me nonstop.
I kept dying a lot.
I really dig the game's general concept--you're a mercenary in an arid open-world setting, free to take on side jobs, form alliances, and increase your notoriety--but those aspects of the gameplay were just getting me down. After playing a few more hours, it's starting to grow on me. Here's a few basic tips you might not be aware of when first starting out that might make your time in Africa a little easier.
Unlock New Weapons, Pronto
An untimely weapon jam can be disastrous.Dead guerillas drop plenty of tasty weapons--AK-47s, MAC-10s, RPGs, the works. But the game's weapon durability system makes them useless for more than a few minutes. The dirtier a weapon looks, the less time it has left before it jams. And you really don't want a weapon jamming in the middle of a firefight, because enemies tend to gang up on you in fours and fives.
To get good, reliable weapons, you need to unlock and then buy them at a weapon vendor. The game will lead you to one vendor during the tutorial, but you need to go back later on and pick up specific missions from him and other salesmen to unlock any guns worth buying. The catch is, the vendor only appears when you don't have any active missions pending.
So head to the little gun icons on your map ASAP; those represent the vendor locations. The gun merchant missions are pretty fun--they usually revolve around you blowing up convoys of weapon shipments. After polishing off two missions, I'd unlocked an MP-5, RPG-7, and silenced Makarov, which were all way better than the stuff I started out with. The game gets a lot more fun with better weapons.
Lastly, every vendor has an armory next to it that will always contain fresh versions of all the weapons you own. Those will last you for three or four missions before they start getting messed up, and you can always swing by an armory and get new ones anytime.
Roll With an Armed Vehicle
The buggy won't cut it. Go for the turret.There aren't a lot of vehicles in the game that I've seen so far, but by far the most valuable is a ubiquitous open-air jeep that has a mounted machine gun turret on the back. Stick with this thing as often as you can because it will save you in a lot of firefights.
Firefights happen more often than you might like. There's a lot of driving required to get to most mission objectives, and you'll get attacked every time you hit the road, either by passing guard stations or just people rolling up on you and not leaving well enough alone. No matter where you're going, you're going to get harassed, at least as early on in the game as I am.
The best thing about the armed jeep is that you can hit the jump button to immediately jump from the driver's seat up into the turret and mow enemies down with abandon. I was getting worked over on foot when I'd get ambushed. But in the turret, I could kill all my attackers really fast, even though I was taking a few hits due to being a sitting duck up there.
Pursue the Buddy Objectives
Buddy objectives can make the missions a lot more interesting.You've got a primary and a secondary buddy at any given time (as long as they haven't died, which they don't respawn from; you'll have to find another one in that case). After you pick up story missions, your main bro will call you with a plan to increase the rewards from your current task, or at least make it simpler in some way. It also increases your history and level with your buddy, though I'm not sure how that changes things just yet.
In one scenario, I had to destroy some greenhouses belonging to the enemy faction. Before heading down there, my buddy had me head to a chemical facility, steal some industrial defoliant, and deliver it to him. When I hit the plantation where the greenhouses were located, my buddy buzzed the field and dropped the chemicals, removing all the foliage and thus all the cover the enemies had to hide behind.
Another mission had me attempting to ambush an enemy convoy and destroy their supply trucks. The buddy option tipped me off to the location of the convoy's informant, who I intimidated into giving the group false coordinates. This led them into a village, instead of the original open area, where they were sitting ducks.
The alternative buddy mission usually involves more fighting and carries the risk of your buddy dying. But sometimes you get a reward; I got a pretty nice SUV out of one of them. And you gain more reputation, allowing you to increase your rep level faster. I haven't figured out what reputation level affects yet, but I can only assume boosting it is a good thing.
Get Your Other Buddy to Save Your Ass
When you bite it, this guy is your best friend. There's no auto-save in the game, s o it's no fun to put a lot of time in on a mission and then get smoked by an ambush. Luckily, your secondary buddy's sole function so far seems to be to save you when you go down.
Instead of getting a "Load Game?" prompt, your vision will start to fade back in as your comrade hoists you up and drags you along while smoking fools that get in his way. After a minute of this, you'll be back in the fight with some weapons and a modicum of health. Much nicer than a game over when you're almost done with a mission.
The only catch is that it seems like you have to prime your buddy for rescue after he's done it once. Seek him out at a safe house and talk to him to ready him for a rescue, and then you should have that ace up your sleeve if you happen to take a quick dirt nap.
Far Cry 2 isn't a perfect game, but I've been compelled to keep playing it despite its occasional headaches. I'll be back with a review next week; hopefully these tips will help you a little in the meantime.
The bus system is more helpful that it seems at first. 2/3s of the missions are within 1 checkpoint of a bus station, and the station in Pala will get your unscathed to the APR and UFLL mission givers, and a quick uneventful drive from mikes bar. Â I also like the ATV and Buggy because you can often use them to go around check points, occasionally you'll find one you can't go around, thats when I have some fun trying to stealth kill everyone.
i like this game i have it for my 360 and i think the way the have made your guns jam is good coz it feels more real if u get what imean and also that when u pick up a gun its all warn out
Is there some kind of jeep repellent in this game? Jeeps out of nowhere every two minutes dammit. Did they inject a GPS transmitter into your bloodstream along with the malaria? Hope they're just harassing you like this in the very beginning because it's already getting on my nerves. And where do they come from? Are they hiding in the trees?
This tips are really good, I was getting fucked up about the game but I'm gonna try to get some better weapons and stuff to see if I can do better. Cheers
Too many interesting looking games comin' out. What's a dude to do? And now for something entirely different... Last weeks bombcast, Jeff brought to my attention an article concerning the current state of videogame criticism, so I started a blog to get my fellow Giantbombers thoughts on the matter. Here's the blog with a link to the article: http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/Dryker/blog/
Pretty good advice, you definitely can't play this game like your usual run and gun shooter.
I liked the armed jeep, but I also enjoy the buggy because it's fast and can handle bumpy terrain better. If you come under attack while driving it, you can just swerve off the road and blaze through the jungle while the enemies get stuck.
Also, I recommend nabbing the occasional diamond briefcase. Hunting them down isn't always easy, but if you don't have a pending mission and there happens to be one in the area, you should grab it. So far, the only missions that actually pay seem to be the UFLL and APR story missions, so having some extra diamonds really helps.
The map editor is mind blowing with its complexity. It's a huge upgrade from the last game and I've already seem some incredible maps online.Over all I'm really enjoying the game. The open ended nature is interesting, and the scenery is beautiful. It's not going to dethrone CoD4 as my favorite shooter, but it's still a lot of fun.
Never a good sign when there's a need to post an article on how to have fun with a particular game. Fun, within the context of any videogame, should be a fairly intrinsic quality readily available and easy to identify. I practice the slide whistle for the discipline, structure, and ultimately the payoff that comes at the end of all those hours (if not minutes) of hard work and dedication. I play videogames for the pink, meaty center. So where's the beef Brad?
Yep. I can't come up with a single shooter outside of Halo that plays better on consoles than it does on the PC. Mouse just gives much more control and precision over a stick.
Tip for anyone playing : sniper + uzi is the way to go. Â Oh, and watch out for the jeep drivers that get too close... they'll try ramming into you, I learned it the hard way trying to snipe the guy.
And anyone feels like its hard on the eyes during the night ?
I can honestly say that i'm not a fan of this game at all. It looked great, so i rented it and it was a huge disappointment. It just isn't my cup of tea i guess, but at least Fallout 3 is coming out on tuesday!
I like it so far except for the following: - the guy can't jump for shit and he runs like a 60-year old with asthma - the AI still can see me from anywhere as they always start shooting but when it comes to hiding they just stand about waiting for me to kill them off - I haven't noticed any "oh my buddy is hurt i'm gonna save his ass and get a bullet through my brain while doing it" at ALL. For the rest it's sweet though, I kinda miss African Radiostations
Oh and anyone know how I can get rid of those damn triangles everywhere, and don't say "update drivers" *urgh*
I'm really getting tired of clearing same guard stations over and over. Right now I just speed through them and hope my car can take the damage. It would be nice to get some reward for clearing them but nothing you do seems to make any difference. All that driving around for 20 some "rocks" that get you a new gun and/or few upgrades. I'm hoping, now that I moved to the next map, that things will change a little.
Fun:
Setting fire to a guard station and watching it destroy the station and guards is fun.
Setting off ammunition next to guards and seeing it take out most of them.
Killing guards using the machete!
Not fun:
Guards shooting you through bushes and walls when you can't even see them.
No climb action. Trying to jump to higher/better positions is difficult. Getting stuck on low crates/rocks/objects that shoud be easy to jump over during a firefight has killed me too many times.
Cases really should have more "rocks" in them. Some of the cases are really hard to find or get to. Why waste time for only 1-4 diamonds.
Yeah gotta add here, and not to sound like a Pro PC jerk either, the PC version is the way to go (quick saving, better aim) if you have the rig, which most people dont sadly, i've always been more of a fan PC shooters, more immersive.
I was really not enjoying Farcry 2 until I discovered the key. Buy a sniper rifle. I'm not even kidding, this is one of those games in which the inclusion of a shotgun is totally pointless, you cannot play this game any other way than with a sniper rifle, it is impossible. And anyone who says "Oh but I did" is lying. Whether they are lying or not.
Unfortunately i would also appear to be too good at this game, the only time i've died is in the tutorial where you're supposed to die, the only times my weapons jam is when i purposely pick up enemy weapons to make them jam n get the cool animation, the only time i've seen a first aid animation is once in the tutorial which kinda sucks, i was hoping i'd get to do it more.
But then, maybe thats because i'm stealthy, guard posts i either drive around or take everyone out with the dart rifle before they know whats going on, i love driving ordinary vehicles (if you can call the buggy normal), if i'm being chased i just pop out n destroy anything following.
My poor rescue buddy hasn't seen action once and i'm 11-12 hours in.
The whole gurrila combat style of this game is great but I just wish that the first thing that happens isn't catching malaria. I have a bad habit of hitting my last health block, need to take a pill, fix a jam and dodge fire (both from enemy guns and the flamethrower I use to cover my retreat) at the same time.
Anyway it's a fun game but the AI has some retarded crap happening like driving into a red barrel and blowing up or running over your gunner who bailed.
Did anybody else notice that something about the from-the-hip firing in this game is wrong? Whenever I try to fire without aiming (I'm on PC if that makes a difference) I miss every single shot. In CoD4 it's easy to know at least where the invisible reticule for aiming from the hip is when you want to shoot a guy from close up. Here it's like you HAVE to aim or you're not going to hit anything, no matter how close you are.
As far as sniping goes, if you find a good spot, the guys wont know where you are and instead rush to cover. After a few shots, of course they will draw a bead on you, that's why you carry a sniper and another fully auto gun. The game is not even hard.
Reading over a lot of these comments, many people are having trouble with things that come down to control method. Due to the twitch aiming nature of this game, using an analog stick and not a mouse will definitely decrease playability. Please don't take me for one of those fascist PC gaming fundamentalists out there, but this game is clearly made to be enjoyed best with a mouse (especially at higher difficulties). I hope some of you that have given up on this game out of frustration try it again on PC before making a final judgment.
EDIT: Also the PC version has quick save/load of course which definitely cuts down on some frustration. F5 immediately saves the game in a new slot, and F9 loads the last save made.
Also, I happen to think the AI is pretty good. Better than STALKER's.
I have been loving the game and haven't had any problems with difficulty yet. Â I am playing on normal and maybe everyone else is doing hard or something but I love it.
I can see how people may have a hard time with Far Cry 2, but so far I've had a great time with it. Once you get going, the game really draws you in. also, I don't feel that the game is THAT hard. I've played it for about 4 or 5 hours and I've only died once, and it was by getting run over by a car...
Interesting... I haven't experienced any of those problems. I've died only a couple of times, I never really need to use dirty weapons, and I've had not difficulty with the number of enemies. So far I've found FC2 to be the best shooter of the year
Does anyone have any tips about navigating the damn jungle? It's a damn pain just to get from one mission to the next checkpoint. Those bus-stops certainly don't help when you're trying to get to the bar or the weapons shop.
I played the game for about 10 minutes at a friend's house and was instantly frustrated. You can't go anywhere without a bunch of dudes shooting you. And the objectives are so far away that if you don't have a vehicle there is no way in hell you're going to get to your objective without being killed by the insane amount of enemies that litter the entire map.
i don't like it. the whole do anything any way you want does not really work well. as soon as i snipe someone, everybody starts to gang up on me, and it becomes a shoot-out. every time. and the fact that the ammo situation is not modeled for shoot-out after shoot-out is just a pain in the asshole.
Nice write up. I personally really like the gun jam mechanic, because it's adds a "oh fuck!" dynamic to the fights. I deffo agree with the random encounters on the road, at the start it's fine but now it just irritates me, i just want to get to my damn objective!
I'm quite far in and i've only died once so far on hard, but i'm playing on the PC so aiming is obviously alot easier.
Something else to do is to use the rivers for a lot of your transportation. You move surprisingly fast on them and you have fewer checkpoints to contend with.
I played a few hours yesterday and I was very into it. I never died a lot, I took my time and done plenty of recon before diving in, and I was loving it yesterday. I will play some more of it later on and hopefully I can be just as into it again.
I wish there where some more ingame help, otherwise the game is fantastic, really grows on you the more you play it. But the buddy system is wierd, ive got 5 buddies, all crossed out. So I assume they are all dead :/
I have three weapon combo's right now consisting of:
MP-5, silenced Makarov
AS50, UZI
FN FAL Paratrooper, UZI (I am considering a Desert Eagle)
My favourite has to be the sniper combo, since there isn't a lot of things more rewarding than blowing people to shreds with a semi-auto 50. cal sniper, although it does jam quite often...
I kinda wish there was a lean left/right function like in STALKER, Crysis, and various other shooters. The game gets tough on Infamous difficulty but is a little easy on Normal. The game performs very well for how good it looks. People expecting Crysis graphics and gameplay will be both disappointed and satisfied (respectively). I'll be playing this game for a long time.
Also, this game has the same shitty DRM that SPORE has, limiting it to 5 activations. I have money ready to purchase as soon as the limit is removed, Ubisoft.
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