Far Cry 2 is the sequel to the best selling PC game from Crytek which was originally released in 2004. But can this really be called a sequel? The reason I say this is that nothing that was part of the original game has made it to the second. The main character Jack Carver hasn’t made the jump across, nor has feral powers. The plot follows a fictional war in an unnamed African nation, the conflict is between two factions the APR and the UFFLL.

The game doesn’t have a set character for you to use instead you have a selection of about ten characters to play as, also the other nine characters that you didn’t pick will appear around the game world for you to use as buddies which will help you out on the missions. (More on mission buddies later) The premise of the game is to find and kill an arms dealer called the Jackal, who is pretty much responsible for supplying the conflict with weapons. The game starts off with about an hour to an hour and a half tutorial teaching you the basics of the game with what can only be described as a smash and grab mission.

Far Cry 2 is a completely different kind of FPS, for one it is completely sandbox giving you a massive map to wander around. This is amazingly interesting for an FPS to give you such a reign over what you wish to do, also gone is the linear framework that is the backbone of most FPS. The only thing that really has come close to the freedom given here is not even on consoles, it’s the PC only and brilliant S.T.A.L.K.E.R but even so Far Cry 2 doesn’t quite match up with S.T.A.L.K.E.R having more of an RPG element to it.

Ubisoft Montreal have taken a different approach to the way weapons are used in this game, what they have done is to assign a type of weapon to each of the directional buttons. So you have one button for small arms like your pistol, one button for your rifle or SMG or Sniper, one for your machete (something that you keep with you no matter what really) and finally one for the more special weapons like a RPG, mortar or Flamethrower.

Most of the weapons that you can get during the course of the game aren’t available until you have completed certain requirements. Throughout the game there are weapons vendors, these vendors not only sell you new weapons but give you missions that allow you to improve your weapons cache. These missions tend to be the same type thing, go to one area attack a convoy collect weapons rinse and repeat.

The main missions of the game have a real Assassin’s Creed feel to them, this is probably because they use a similar formula to that of Assassin’s Creed but with less assassination work. You basically move to one camp take it out and report back to base then the next mission is the same but it will be for a different faction. Now the way it looks in words sounds boring, when really only the journey to and from the camps and bases is boring to some degree, as you have to drive your jeep or car to said location then drive back, and although there is a quick location jump system in the form of a bus service, for the most part they are too far away to help at times. The missions, once you get there, are yours to play anyway you wish to, you can go in all guns blazing and takeout all the guards or you can take to the mountain top to snipe (if you have unlocked the sniper rifle) the guards from afar or you can move in and sneakily takeout enemies, its totally up to you how you tackle missions.

The main missions take on a different light if you have a buddy tackling them with you,  Depending on which one likes you the most they will give you a call just after you get a mission to give you a different route or way to complete your objective.  Depending on how the buddy wants to do things he can screw over the faction that gave you the mission as well as help them, but even with the buddy the missions here still all boil down to the same type of mechanic used in all the other missions.

When the word sandbox game is used there is usually a lot more to do outside of missions and Far Cry 2 is no exception, outside of the obvious exploring of the nation there is also over 200 suitcases around the game’s world that contain a varying number of conflict diamonds, these are the game’s currency, which are of course spread around for you to collect. There is also assignments other than that of the weapon vendors and the main game quests, these can be collected from buddies that you unlock or you can also decode these from the telecommunication network but the missions still the same. It must also be mentioned that your character has malaria so extra missions in the game will revolve around you finding medication to control the condition.

Not only have you caught malaria but of course as is the nature of the genre you will get shot at, and a lot of the time you will find those bullets connect. The AI can be very good and very dumb, the AI will move around to flank you if they know where you are or if you fire from one spot then move to another spot without them seeing they will be unsure where you are and call out to each other. The AI is pretty robust, however these computer controlled opponents do have their moments, for example at one point I took down two guys from a group with a sniper and the rest of the group didn’t notice at all. But this kind of glitch is so infrequent that it is easy to ignore. 

One thing that is amazing and is competing for COD4’s crown is the online multiplayer, it is one of the best online modes on a console game yet, but it has some major problems with logging on at the moment which means that you can play for a while but then get logged out or just can’t sign in to play at all. You get all the normal modes, but something that makes it so much more interesting is that Ubisoft have given the game its own map editor. This is simple and straight forward to use, you can create some great levels in just a few hours, it’s nothing that the likes of LittleBigPlanet for the PS3 will give you but it is a great extra.

Far Cry 2 is an excellent game and really sets a benchmark for what can be done with a FPS, there is a definite feeling that you have a massive Assassin’s Creed influence over the missions which is a shame, but overall it is an amazing game with some of the best gameplay you will find.