Far Cry 2

For the longest time I had no real desire to buy this game. From the looks of screenshots and videos it just looked like another run of the mill shooter. And for the most part. It kind of is. The shooting isn't breaking any new ground, and isn't always the most satisfying. But what Far Cry 2 does have is a lot of "oh snap" moments. Whether it be blowing up a car and watching a raging inferno ravage the savannah or sneaking into a guard post and killing all the guards silently with your knife. Far Cry 2 doesn't re-invent the wheel, but it's definitly worth checking out, especially if your a fan of sandbox-style games.

Gameplay:
At the heart of any FPS, is of course, the shooting. And I have to say for a first person shooter, Far Cry 2's shooting isn't very satisfying. The aiming is kind of "sticky" in that when you make adjustments the view doesn't really move at the same speed. It starts out kind of slow, then speeds up. Right away this was incredibly annoying, but after a while i didn't even notice. Also, guns don't always feel as powerful as they should. For instance, it's not uncommon for it to take 5-6 bullets from an AK-47 to bring down a guy. It does put some incentive on going for headshots, because in my experience, a shot in the head with any gun, be it assault rifle or pistol or whatever, is always fatal. My final complaint with shooting is with sniping. When you aim the scope stays steady and has absolutely no sway. It makes it almost too easy sometimes, and definitly is unrealistic. Despite all these shortcomings, it's still fun to blast on merc after merc with any of the guns in the game, which there are plenty to choose from in this game. Explosions are really satisfying, not just because of their killing power, but because Far Cry 2 has some really great physics. Most of the man made structures can be destroyed, as can a lot of the vegetation. It's always fun to see the collateral damage 30 seconds after shooting a RPG at a vehicle.

When youre not shooting at dudes, your probably driving somewhere. Far Cry 2 has a ridiculously huge world. And it takes a while to drive from one side of the map to the other.The driving is about what you would expect from an FPS. It's good enough. Although trying to look at your map that your character pulls up under his face and keep your eyes on the road at the same made me get motion sickness many a time, but i got over it eventually. There are a few bus stations that are available for fast safe travel, that is if you are near one the few ones.

Story:
The story in Far Cry 2 is decent. Not the greatest in years, but it does what it has needs to to keep it a sandbox style game. Basically youre a mercenary hired to kill an arms dealer that is selling weapons to two opposing factions in a war torn african country. You find yourself taking mission from said factions trying to get closer to this arms dealer, named the Jackal. To make the missions more interesting are a cool edition to the game, which are your buddies. Your buddies are the characters you didn't choose for the main character, and offer side missions and a different way to do almost all of the main missions. It is a neat edition because it's easy to get attatched to a buddy, and it can be sad to see them fall in battle.

The story doesn't really do anything amazing with the story. Theres a lot of changing sides, and there aren't many moral choices. You really get the feel that you are a heartless mercenary, doing whatever it takes for the job. Which is kind of disappointing considering it would have been really easy to include some drama in the politically charged story.

Graphics:
Far Cry 2 is a real looker. The enviroment is always stunning whether your in the jungle or the desert. Explosions look amazing as do the fires. NPC's are well animated for the most part, and the blood splatters from close range combat with enemies is also satisfying. First person animations are done very well, and are very convincing, whether your entering a jeep or yanking a bullet out of your arm. Enemy deaths are probably the only animation that isn't spectacular. Occasionly, after popping a guy with a sniper the guys will just stand there, and then fall half a second later. It's really tacky looking but other than that, Far Cry 2 is a graphical wonder.

Few last complaints:
There are a  few other complaints that I have to mention just because they are what really kept this game from being 5 stars for me. Number one is inconsistent AI. Sometimes it was really realistic. Sniping a guy and moving to another location and watching the enemies try to flank your old position is a really great moment. Sometimes it wasn't so realistic. Sneaking up on an enemy sniper and silently taking him out with your knife a 100 yards from the enemy camp and immediately upon doing so every enemy and their grandma knows exactly where you are and open fires on you is one of the bad moments. It's things like this that made the game really frustrating, because it keeps you from doing things the way you really want, which is what this game is supposed to be all about. Another complaint is enemy respawns. After clearing out a guard post you would expect that area to be safe for at least one in game day right? Wrong. Considering how much you have to travel in this game it's really annoying to clear out 6 guard posts on the way to your objective then doing them all again 5 minutes later on your way back. My last complaint made me throw my controller on several occasions. I'm pretty sure that this is really rare for everyone else but either my xbox or my game decided it would be really funny to having my game freeze at completely unexpected and horrible times. At one point my game was freezing every 10 minutes of turning my game on. Often times while it was saving. It was really frustrating, but eventually it stopped doing it after I played on a different TV. I have no clue why it was doing it but it seems to not be a problem for other 360 owners.

That being said. Don't let all my complaints make you write this game off as a dud. There is definitly some fun to be had with Far Cry 2. And with so many guns and so many different ways to play it has plenty of replay value, and there are plenty of different choices that can affect your final outcome, adding more incentive to play through again. Far Cry 2 isn't without probelms. I would compare it to sex or pizza. When its good, its great. And when it's bad, its still pretty good.