Far Cry 2 : Heat before use

Africa is the new place for everything, away from the urban hums and hues of hits like GTA IV and Fallout 3 - it makes a nice good change of formula, but is it as ot as it said it would be? Simple answer : no, long answer....

When you start Far Cry 2, there's no tutorial, no help - it slaps you into a spankin' hotel and hits you with Maleria, giving you one simple objective - find and kill The Jackal, the story goes a bit haywire afterwards - 'cos all your're really doing is missions for both of the two big factions who are raging civil war: the UFFL and the APR, but it gets a bit too complicated near the end. Ol' Nelson's land ain't good for fightin' much thoug, we'll get to that...

It's an FPS, so it plays like an FPS - but with it's doodads and whistles: you get a target, get to the place where it/he is (using a boat, car, hanglider, feet), get rid of the respawning guards (year...) and then kick his booty and claim the diamonds. There's a little more depth than that - for starters - if you get hurt, you have to perform a gruesome self-surgery act: pulling cords and bullets out of your body with nothing more than teeth, pliers and knifes, it can be a little annoying at times, especially in multiplayer, but it does add to the immersion sorta.

Now we get to the guns, which are prone to a thing called jamming, but also exploding. I just don't see how you can use a weapon for 10 minutes and it explodes in your hands, all rusty and dirty, this is supposed to be a realistic shooter right? There's some weapons in the game, like that flamethrower, which degrade faster and some weapons which are always in tip top condition (gotta find 'em first).

The hum of the wildlife and the gentle breeze, Far Cry 2 makes you feel it all , from the little puddle in the middle of the desert, to the skin of the man your hunting, it's without a doubt: the best looking game on the consoles right now. Apart from a few graphical bugs and ligting issues, this is a great example of atmosphere and general immersion. It deffo makes a change from your average alien horde 'em ups and your lonely depressed trecks through radioactive wastelands.

So, what else makes Far Cry 2 special? For starters, it's possibly the first full FPS in such a lush setting, and the graphics are probably the best I've seen on a console shooter so far... but presentation doesn't get you the big points, and to be honest - it's not anything different to the shooters that we get every month.

I love games that have it all, a good multiplayer, an alright single-player, but most of all I love all the extras and whistles you can get with it, the map editor is amazing - a simple wheel tool can create a miniture africa in minutes. These maps can also be shared, and although there's a few connection difficulties, it's all done very well.

The multiplayer side of things are... alright ,as said, there's a few connection issues, but it all goes down well at the end of the day, deathmatches work well imo - all add to the action with that self-surgery. In fact, the whole game is a good FPS, there's ajust a few nitpacks I might add - guards respawning at the checkpoints along with vehicles (which means they chase you when you go through them) and a lot of bugs, which I won't even go into details. The connection issues will probably be fixed with a patch later on.