A Far Cry From The Previous Instalment

After all my concern over what game I should play next (I know, life throws these dilemmas at you without warning), I finally decided that I needed to get back to some First Person Shooter fun. So my choices lay with either Far Cry 2, Fallout 3, F.E.A.R., Legendary, or getting back to some Left 4 Dead. Once I had recovered from being oddly obsessed with how my first 3 choices all began with an 'F', I decided that we would see what all the fuss was about with Far Cry 2.

I honestly got a bit bored with the first Far Cry, sure it was pretty, but the shooting felt pretty standard and when the monsters appeared, I struggled to take the game seriously. Subsequently it sits on the ever growing pile of unfinished games. So a few minutes into Far Cry 2 and I find my self feeling similar things. It looks pretty and the shooting feels pretty standard. For the first few minutes I'm convinced that I'm not going to enjoy this game. On a break I even check to see what kind of trade in price I can get for it.

And then something odd happened. All of a sudden, the game became fun. The shooting started to feel perfect (apart from the odd baddie who takes an enormous amount of bullets before falling), I found myself creeping through the bushes to find the ideal approach to take out an a gang of enemies. And once you finish the tutorial, the freedom truly kicks in. I can't even begin to describe how huge and free the game feels. You start to make sure that you aren't left without a vehicle, because it takes forever to get to anywhere by foot. Once you get buddies, you start to care for them, worried about them going out of their way to help you, but being sure that when the time comes, you do the same for them. You learn to buy weapons, rather than take them from corpses, because you don't want to have jamming issues. The game is one the most immersing experiences I've had since Grand Theft Auto IV. I really feel like being in the game is being a part of something real.

The only noticeably aspect that I'm currently unsure of is the isolation. I'm only a few hours in, and already it feels like everybody hates me. Unlike other games, where a variety of NPCs will meet and greet you, spurring on dialogue. In Far Cry 2, they are far and few between. Everyone, it would seem, is angry at you. They want you gone, and they are not afraid to show it. This does leave you feeling very alone. I'm going to leave my decision open on whether I think that this is a bad thing, or if it adds to the immersion.

Review up in the not too distant future.