I'm aware of how dated this
title is for a video game, but I simply couldn't resist giving it a
review. I'm fairly new to the Far Cry
series after only recently playing Far Cry 3
along with its standalone expansion Blood Dragon,
however each entry to the series has nothing to do with one another
in terms of narrative or setting – so I'm trying my best not
to make this review a full on comparison between each game. Firstly
the title in discussion is an open world first person shooter
developed by Ubisoft Montreal (for those who aren't aware,
this is the same company which brought us Assassin's Creed and
Prince of Persia); it
throws the player into the setting of a civil war in which two
factions, the UFLL
(United Front for Liberation and Labour)
and the APR (Alliance
for Popular Resistance) are
pitted together under a collapsed government of a fictional African
state. On top of this the game objects the player to track down and
eliminate the notorious arms dealer known as “The Jackal”, no
other hints are given. As
the game world itself it insanely huge at 50km squared, the player is
provided with a map and GPS system which works in realtime as the
avatar physically holds the two items without the game pausing
(giving the option to find scattered diamonds using the GPS to be
used as in-game currency in order to purchase weapons and upgrades),
this already starts the game off with a tone of realism.
On
the topic of visuals, I perceive this title as graphically
astonishing for its time; the gritty colour pallet of at least fifty
shades of brown makes one feel well and truly immersed into a
decrepit and desperate world filled with conflict. It would also be
worth noting the quality of the fire mechanic, which was considered
revolutionary for its time (and as quoted on the box “the most
realistic fire ever seen in a game”); after playing video games at
least five years more visually advanced, I must admit it isn't bad -
witnessing an infernal bush fire in an arid savannah is a stunning
sight to witness. The mechanic also allows these flames to spread to
trees or other wooden structures, providing a sincerely convincing
simulation of a serious natural hazard.
The
main gameplay is presented through two core mechanics, which are
driving and shooting; in fact there isn't a significant amount of
variation – drive, shoot, obliterate, that's right – the player
will need to travel from point A to point B to either terminate a
specific person or blow up a certain object.
Already
we can see the limitations of the gameplay design in spite of the
vast openness of its map. That said, it's never as easy as a casual
drive to point B, the player will often be forced to abandon their
vehicle in order fend off an oncoming attack from the enemy – and
it is safe to say that it will leave some battle scars. The thrill
itself is in surviving such a hostile world given with the fact that
there is danger around each corner, this is what I love most about
the game, it punishes you in the sense that it virtually spits acid
in your face as it teaches you to kill or be killed.
As an
example I'd often find my health draining rapidly as I struggle to
escape one of the many inevitable gunfights I'd encounter; after
using my remaining morphine syringes the game provides the option to
heal oneself in several excruciating ways, from plucking a bullet
straight from the wound to snapping a dislocated limb back into
place, I soon learned that the battlefield was a desperate place to
which survival was rewarding in itself.
Another
great example would be the weapon conditioning mechanic, guns would
jam on a regular basis and occasionally break in the middle of a
skirmish - it truly granted a sense of realism, the kind of which
most modern shooters fail to utilise. This mechanic would effectively
stricken me with with panic and adrenaline, thus compelling myself to
feel as vulnerably helpless as a crippled turtle lying on its back –
and this eventually became a routine for me.
Additional
mechanics include the protagonist contracting malaria right from the
beginning; giving the player no choice but to perform delivery tasks
in order to be rewarded with pills, this medicine however wears off
after roughly forty five minutes in realtime forcing the player to
stay on their feet. During my play-through I was in favour of this
mechanic as it reinforces the idea of survival, as well as acting as
a reminder that the
UFLL
and the APR in
conjunction with The
Jackal weren't
the only present threat.
There
isn't much to say about the controls of Far
Cry 2 as
they are fairly typical to that of a modern shooter. My only
complaint is with the driving mechanic – which can only be
described as clunky; the vehicle itself is indecisive with its
sensitivity, often under-shooting I plunge head first into a ditch
and over-shooting the corner, finding myself crashed into a tree with
some idiot trying to ram me down as I attempt to exit the vehicle;
due to this I'd excessively exclaim “fucking bullshit!” at my TV,
hastily shutting down my console after being run down by an enemy
vehicle (which may I add – is an instant kill) and having to revert
to an earlier save file from at least thirty minutes prior.
Even
the smallest object on the side of the road could cause the vehicle
to come to a complete halt, as opposed to simply slowing it down; for
example sometimes I'd find my car sticking to the tiniest of
boulders, meaning that I'd have to inconveniently continue my journey
on foot – apart from this nothing stood out as a concerning issue.
I
purposefully kept the narrative to one side as I found it the weakest
part about this game, it wasn't bad – just not great. To begin
with, the story progression felt extremely tedious; as
aforementioned, the core mechanics of the game have their
limitations, after playing roughly twenty five missions of repetition
I felt little to no attachment to any characters, most of which were
non-memorable – with the slight exception of The
Jackal
– he was kind of
a
badass, but apart from this he didn't have much of a personality. I also
wasn't a particular fan of stepping into the shoes of a silent
protagonist (it's a pet peeve of mine – silent protagonists are
usually intended to be ambiguous, and to make the player feel more
immersed – I on the other hand believe it to be a lazy method of
designing a character); at the start of the game the player is told
to pick from a range of avatars from diverse backgrounds; I decided
to choose the Irish guy (his name is easily forgettable and is never
mentioned throughout the game) thinking that it would make a
difference with the way in which the story was set out – how wrong
I was. I was quite disappointed about this, and due to the silent
protagonist approach, there was obviously no character arc.
It
wasn't all such a let down; the third act of Far Cry 2 gave
off an Apocalypse Now vibe as I plunged into the lush,
jungle-like area named “The Heart of Darkness” (which so
happens to be the title of a book of which Apocalypse Now is
based upon – I hope that was a deliberate reference); as well as
this the player can have the option to choose one of two endings, but
this didn't really make much of a difference as the outcome is
virtually the same in either one of them and it isn't the most
climatic of endings. Personally, I didn't feel much of a build up
towards the fate of The Jackal
or the protagonist, due to my lack of connection with the both of
them.
Wrapping
this up to a conclusion, I was fairly satisfied with Far Cry 2
– with the exception of its consistent flaws. On the contrary I
can't be too mad at Far Cry 2;
given the fact that Far
Cry 3
had enhanced its mechanics and narrative in various ways I honestly
perceive its predecessor as my preferred game of the series. On a scale of recommendation, this game is definitely worth a try for those who are willing to try a decent and unique shooter on the market, the only catch being - they must possess superhuman patience and the unnatural desire to perform the same task over and over. This is
a decent game for having an impressive ingenuity in engaging the player
in a severely bitter society – or at least what is left of it.
7/10 - Good!
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