Toronto Thumbs

REVIEW
Far Cry 2

Allow me to get this out of the way first: I’ve got a considerable amount of National Pride for Far Cry 2 because it was developed in by Ubisoft Montreal. Now I realize how strange it may seem that Montreal is getting a nod from someone in Toronto, but I am not a hockey fan and don’t hold grudges based on geographical location nor on which city has the worse team. So there.

In Far Cry 2, players find themselves in the shoes of a mercenary who has just failed his assignment after being sent to Africa to kill a man known as “The Jackal” who is supplying both sides of a civil war with weapons. The game opens with a lengthy taxi ride from the airport to the player’s hotel, during which the cab driver explains that mostly anyone with sense has left the country while fools and cab drivers remain. Oddly enough throughout the course of the game I only came across rather hostile characters, and couldn’t hail a cab – unless you count having a Jeep run me over and then having the driver jump out and shoot me down a successful “hailing.”

But getting back to the premise – the game introduces another interesting element: the fact that the player is stricken with Malaria. At first it hinders where you can go, as there are a few small missions to get out of the way before given free run of the 50 square kilometres the game boasts to cover (and without loading screens if you don’t use rapid transit). After a few meet and greets with other rogues, your first task is to get your malaria seen to by securing some medication. Then, it’s very much up to you to decide where to go and what to do, as long as you make sure to take your pills when the malaria starts messing with your perception.

Ubisoft has done a great job in putting players into the shoes of the protagonist, no matter whom you choose as your avatar from the start. Unless you’re accessing a system or option screen, you remain in-game at all time, even when looking at a map. Believe me, you’ll need to use the map. When you bring it up, you actually see your character hold it up on a board in one hand while the other hand holds a GPS device. In vehicles, the GPS is shown at all times and the map is shown over the steering wheel. By eliminating a paused map screen, the developers have ensured the action doesn’t stop just because you can’t figure out where you’re going. While looking at the map, you’re still susceptible to enemy fire and vehicular homicide attempts. The GPS is also helpful for finding the many diamond cases hidden throughout the game. An indicator light flashes faster the closer you get to one, then stays on when you’re looking in its direction. Diamonds are the only form of currency accepted by merchants, and you’ll need them to upgrade your weapons.

For the most part, everyone you meet is hostile. The only parts I came across in my playing where characters weren’t trying to kill me were in the cease-fire zones. Of course, I can’t resist poking at otherwise hostile folk in video games and I was thus paid back for my insolence – several times. For a time I tried to evade my enemies by crawling slowly across the African landscape, staying near enough to the roads to not get lost but not close enough to be a sitting duck. I soon realized that wasn’t the ideal mode of travel and traded that mentality for the run-and-gun method. Rather than wait around for trouble to find me, I actively searched for it.

It became a bit of a routine: Drive the dirt road to the next enemy outpost. Run over the first few guards and then hop into the back to use the mounted machine gun. Next, jump out the vehicle to pick off any stragglers. Outpost scouted and location secured.

Since there is a definite method to the madness in Far Cry 2, it should come as no surprise that there is some repetition in the main storyline and side quests. However, you’re a mercenary, and such is that life. For this reason, I would only play it in two-hour increments. It’s a lot of action to take in for extended periods of time, but in relatively short bursts, it’s excellent.

There are a few other major and subtle touches that prevent Far Cry 2 from being a typical first-person shooter. For one, the use of a buddy system is an interesting concept, and one that will help you get a little more out of your game time by postponing in-game death. If during your adventure you’ve befriended another mercenary with a rescue ability, he/she will show up after you black out. As you regain consciousness, your vision is a blur and fades out several times, but you do see enough to know you’re being dragged away by your buddy who is shooting at enemies at the same time. Once you reach cover, your buddy yells at you to clean yourself up. Now, you have to not only defend your position, but also make sure your buddy stays alive. If he/she dies, that’s it! He/she is not coming back.

Each rescue attempt adds a little bit of character history between you and your buddy as well. It’s a shame that the buddy doesn’t stick around for a longer while because the buddy AI is impressive. That said, it could also be a good thing this isn’t a “buddy” game because we’ve had a few of those already this season.

In keeping with the premise of putting players into the game, the health/recovery system in Far Cry 2 is definitely indicative of where I’d like to see more games go. When you pick up items, they don’t just disappear. Your character’s hand grabs and pulls the item towards you. When it’s time to recover from wounds, hitting the left bumper triggers an animation of your character either removing a bullet with a knife, removing feet of wire, and cauterizing wounds (among other things). The second phase of healing involves seeing the protagonist take out a syringe and stick it in his arm, injecting the magical fluid of life and revitalizing the health bar. And this, like the map, happens in real time. So you can still get killed when trying to patch yourself up.

Ubisoft created the Dunia engine just for Far Cry 2. It allows for realistic weather and fire conditions. The fire in particular is especially amazing. Firing a rocket on an angle while standing in tall, dry grass will cause a fire to break out around you (due to the rocket’s blast). Hitting something with a rocket, grenade, or other incendiary weapons will often cause things to catch on fire. And, depending on the wind conditions, the fire spreads and also burns out eventually, leaving charred remains of whatever it is that burned. Trees sway in the breeze and are also very life-like, including the way they’re destructible.

The game also includes a multi-player mode, which contains an extensive map creator and editor. Using the interface is simple enough (this is coming from someone with lots of computer design experience but no 3D design experience) and there are various tools for geographical elevation and effects, vegetation, vehicle placement, and just about anything else you’d want to place in a multiplayer map. Maps can also be shared online and users can easily spend hours on end customizing them.

If you’ve got the time to put into it, Far Cry 2 certainly has a lot to offer, especially to fans of the genre. It’s as fun as it’s technically impressive, and now that the Dunia engine is created, it’ll be interesting to see how future games make use of it.

Posted in Awesome, Features, PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 |