Product Description

Far Cry 2 by Ubisoft is the anticipated sequel to the award-winning original that brings players into the beautiful and hostile world of Africa. Far Cry 2 for Windows Vista/XP features open-ended gameplay that allows you to play the game whichever way you choose, with the choices you make affecting where the game leads you.

• First-person shooter for Windows Vista/XP gives players an open-ended gameplaying experience
• Roam the beautifully detailed jungles and savannah of Africa
• Pick up a wide range of weapons and hop into different vehicles
• Dynamic environment, including day-night cycles and fire propagation
• Online multiplayer supports up to 16 players

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1471 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: UBI Soft
• Released on: 2008-10-24
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Platform: Windows XP
• Original language: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish
• Dimensions: .35 pounds

Customer Reviews

Supurb game if you give it time.
First of all, this is not a game you should spend all day playing. It is best played in chunks of an hour or so. I've been playing it for over 20 hours in total, according to the game time, so in actual fact a whole lot longer, what with saves etc, and I am only half way through.

This is a big game. A lot bigger than you think too. Contrary to most of the reviews here I have played it long enough to come across the SECOND map. There may be more too, though I doubt it.

So what is the game like?

Graphics: I am playing it with a new XFX 9800GTX+ and it is quite simply supurb. I upgraded from an 8600 and it looked pretty good then too. If anybody thinks it looks like a 2004 game then they must be using a 2004 card. Thats all I can say.

Sound: nice, ambient. Some of the weapons sound great.

Gameplay: so far I have played the following:

Tutorial: lasts about an hour and is designed to show you how to play the game. The rest of the game is not like the tutorial, you have far more freedom.

Part #1: you get a big map to play with, with loads of locations marked on it. These locations range from:

Gun shops. Here you buy guns and get missions which can unlock more guns. The missions are of the format: go and blow up the ammo train at the following location.
You can also get ammo etc. Once you have bought a gun, you effectively can pick up a brand new one for free whenever you enter any gun shop. Later on you can also buy upgrades and repair enhancements etc.

Radio turrets: Here you can get missions which pay you in the diamonds you need to buy guns. The missions are of the format: Go to a location and kill somebody. The fun often begins when you have to escape having killed somebody.

Safe Houses: these are not safe until you kill the people at the house, but once safe you can sleep there. This means for instance, that if you want to do a mission at night, you can sleep in a safe house beforehand to advance time. As the game progresses, the safe houses get upgraded so that a jeep will also be available, and more ammo and health etc. Also, you can buy crates at a gun shop, and stick a weapon in the crate. That weapon will then be available at any safe house. There really is no excuse other than sheer desperation to use a knackered gun. Just learn how to use the gun shop and safe houses properly. At safe houses you will also occasionally meet buddies.

Bars: your buddies hang out at the bar. Occasionally just as you are about to die, a buddy will appear and save you. However, don't rely on this as they don't do it repeatedly and can be killed. Buddies can give you missions. They really become useful though, when you do faction missions...

Faction Houses:
There are two opposing factions, and you can do missions for both of them. Once you accept a mission you have the advantage of being paid up front. Also, you will get a call from one of your buddies. They will suggest an alternative to the actual mission. You can either do the misson proper or follow your buddy's advice. I always did what my buddy wanted, as it was more fun, so I can't say what happens if you do a vanilla faction mission. If you do the buddy mission you get more reputation and history. I have no idea what the history actually does, but it increases.

Finally, you also get Underground missions. These only appear when you need anti maleria pills, and are fairly straightforward affairs.

With the exception of the underground missions, you can do the other missions in whatever order you choose. I went immediately for the gun shop missions, as it unlocks weapons quickly.

You don't have to do missions to get diamonds though. They are also scattered about the island in suitcases. The island map is divided into sections. If you zoom in the detail map actually has a number at the top which tells you the amount of suitcases in that section, so you at least have a clue as to how thorough you should search.

The other buildings you come across tend to be mission related or guard posts. You can explore them whenever you want though. You don't have to wait for a mission beforehand. Opponents respawn fairly quickly, so if you wipe out a guard post, go and finish a mission and return via the guardpost, it is likely to be repopulated.

One other thing to note, there are bus stations at the extremities of the map. So if you get a mission on the other side of the map, don't spend half an hour driving across the map, just get on a bus and you will be instantly transported.

Weapons: weapons vary. You will soon have a decent variety though. I currently have an Uzi for close range spraying, a decent sniper rifle, and a flame thrower. The flame thrower is just about the best weapon I have ever come across in a game, especially in the second half. It even beats the HL2 gravity gun! Avoid picking up guns from dead foes unless absolutely necessary, otherwise they will invariably jam.

Vehicle: small on realism, big on fun. There are a variety ranging from lorries to jeeps to racing cars. There is even the odd hangglider.

Second Half:
When you get to the second half, things also get harder. People take more hits to die for a start, and wounded people still shoot at you. I am enjoying the second half, though it was frustrating at first as I had got used to the ins and outs of the first map. Plus the enhancements to the safe houses were reset.

this game is big. It isn't a run of the mill shootemup. If you play it all day it will bore the pants off you probably, but if you play it in shorter bursts you will be able to appreciate it to its full. It deserves to be played properly.

+++++ UPDATE +++++

I'm nearly at the end of the game now. I just thought I would say a bit more about the buddies. In the second half I got more attached to them. Whether it is part of the programming or just chance, I don't know, but they seemed to hang around more in part 2. This gives you a chance to get to know them a bit better. Plus, as the game gets harder, they will need your help too. If they come to rescue you it is possible for them to get injured in the process. You have the option of healing them or leaving them behind. You have to find them first though, but luckily they set off flares to enable you to locate them when they are down. You also have a third option of blowing their head off, but this only happens when you press the wrong button by mistake. I might have done this once...

But get this, one time I went to heal a buddy, but it didn't work. I thought it was a bug in the game (so far I have only found one other.) so I tried healing him again. He just looked at me vacantly. I healed him a further time, but his head just rolled back and he died in my arms. My game character closed his eyelids with my hand, and I had to leave him there.

It was quite touching really, and I almost reverted to a save game but decided against it in the end.

As I said before, there is a lot to this game, if you take the time to find it...

++++++++++ FINAL UPDATE +++++++++++++++

Well, I finally finished the game. It has a definate ending, unlike, for instance Crysis. There are a few surprises and I was left wondering how much the decisions I made earlier on in the game affected some of the events at the end. I have to be vague so as not to give any plot elements away. Suffice it to say, that the next time I play it, (this time with the difficulty maxed out) I will make some different decisions.

That's the sign of a good game, whether you will want to play it again.

I won't start again for a month or two though. Need to have a breather first. What I will do first is go back to some old save games, and do some more exploring. I only did 3/4 of the side quests, and that surprised me, as I thought I hadn't missed anything. Also, I want to try some of the missions using stealth. There are stealth weapons I never used and it would be interesting to see how they work. And if I'm bored one rainy day, I can see if I can get from one side of the map to the other using only a pistol, or set myself any number of other challenges. I haven't tried MP yet either. The potential there is enormous...

To summarise this game, it is a genuine sandbox. You can attempt each mission exactly how you want to, especially once the game has progressed a bit and you have had a chance to get a variety of weapons. If you attempt each mission using exactly the same weapons and doing exactly the same thing each time, it will get boring. If however, you use your imagination, and get creative, then the game will open up a whole new world (well a few km at least) for you to explore.

heart of darkness
Quite simply Far Cry 2 is an awesome game, one of the best fps games for a long time, a very similar gaming experience to GTA although with more possible approaches to playing, and for anyone who enjoyed Black on the PS2 this is a must have. like many other reviewers i wouldnt compare this to COD as its much less linear, with COD you can pick it up and get a good feel for the game very quickly, but here some time and patience is required to discover your own method of playing. Patience is rewarded with a game that is impressive and highly immersive.
The world of Far Cry 2 is stunning, a huge variety of tropical landscapes which are hugely enjoyable, and highly realistic, from creeping through steaming jungles teeming with insects in a tropical rainstorm, to driving a jeep through endless deserts and savana dodging the herds of zebra its very easy to lose yourself in the game.
The actual game-play is a little frustrating initially and getting your gunsights on an enemy and emptying a magazine may not take him down, but things do improve, regular visits to the gunshops early in the game are a must as is learning to use fire tactically, personally i found the silent route a little frustrating as even when armed with a silenced MP5 it doesn't take the enemy long to realize you are nearby.
The enemy AI is indeed challenging, but this is no bad thing, enemies will try and outflank you, and sometimes climb to a vantage point to try and pick you off from a distance, wounding enemies can produce some interesting results, from a comrade running out of cover to try and assist them, to them crawling or hobbling off to cover.
All the characters in the game are superbly detailed, its impressive to see such evil stares and non verbal threats.
A very very good game, a huge and richly detailed world and an enormous variety of ways to play through the story. being a malaria ridden heartless mercenary caught up in an african civil war has never been so much fun.

Fantastic, realistic, very good
All I can say is that this is a stunning game, which reflects conflict and war in Africa. The guns are all realistic, and sights are all breathtaking, everything is as it should be. Buy it.