Far Cry® 2: Fortune's Edition

If you're looking for a fast paced, non-stop, balls to the wall shooter. . . look elsewhere. As people have mentioned, there can be lulls in the action since you spend a good chunk of the game going from one point to the other. But, this game is great for immersion. When I play games, I like to forget my crappy life for a while. The more a game makes me feel like I'm part of the world, the more I like it. There is a hud, but it's small and only pops up when you're injured, reload, or put your map away. Then it fades out after three seconds. As someone who prefers to play games without a hud, I find it informative enough without being irritating. Other things like your map are incorporated as elements in the game (your character actually holds the map). I think it helps with immersion. The only reason I gave this a 4 instead of a 5 is for three reasons: 1. Malaria. What a dumb addition. You need to stay stocked up on meds or you pass out and have to reload. Meds aren't widely available (at least not as far as I've gotten in the game). 2. Gun jams. I want to try a variety of weapons and have fun with them. It might not be so bad if you could easily switch to another gun when it jams, but it doesn't let me until I unjam the stupid gun. 3. Downtime. While immersive, having to drive long distances gets old fast. There is a bus option, but it's not that elegant. A faster form of travel would be nice. Overall though, I enjoy the game and it beats the console version by far just because it has customizable controls and no DRM.

I have owned Far Cry 2 since its release and it is a part of my Steam collection. It is one of my favorite FPS, I have found it very enjoyable and have replayed it through several times. My favorite way of playing is sneaking around with a sniper rifle and picking off the bad guys from a bunch of weeds or from the rocks. I especially liked the .50 caliber rifle because you can pick off guys from such a long ways off. I have had a good gaming rig and so have been able to play the game at max graphic settings. They really did a great job of representing fire and smoke, it is great fun shooting a fuel barrel or a propane tank. The fuel barrels explode and shoot quite a way up in the air streaming a stream of fire and the propane tanks wiz around like a balloon before exploding. My son has the game on his PS3 and one of the difference we found with the PC version are some unexpected graphic elements. I was very surprised to discover while sneaking through the grass or trees and coming upon some of the bad guys that occasionally one of them would be taking a leak on the side of a tree or into a bunch of bushes, of finding a guy on a dock with a fishing pole fishing. I asked my son if he had ever seen this in when he was playing and he thought I was making it up. Then the next time I found a guy taking a leak I paused the game and went and got him, he could hardly believe it but immediately burst out laughing. Even though I already own this game I will be buying it again here to support the whole idea that we gamers do not mind buying our games but also like them with out any DRM. DRM has never worked, I can find any of the newest games on bit torrent the day they are released so the only thing that DRM does is piss off the game developers real customers. The people who get them via bit torrent would never had been a paying customer any way. So UBSoft stop with your draconian DRM like the bull shit you currently have that started with Splinter Cell Conviction and subsequent titles. I have gotten over the issue of having to have Steam to play a lot of the games but don't you think that having to use Steam is enough DRM? Obviously not because after launching the game I some times have to wait too long a tome for your new UPlay client to load before I can even play the silly game. Because of this I will not be purchasing any of your new titles, the same goes for the new crap that EA has started.

This game probably has some of the most athmospheric sounds and settings I have ever seen, I'd compare it to the likes of STALKER honestly if not better in some cases, gunplay and animations are top notch, not to mention the underlying story they tell with the Jackal isn't your average liberal BS about how Africa is taken advantage of. Africa is a hellhole, and this game captures it perfectly.

When this came out the biggest draws were "Far Cry but open world" and "fire propagation engine". I literally spent dozens of hours just shooting flares into the African savannah brush and laughing as the flames devoured all vegetation (and screaming enemies if you box them in). You have to see it, it has the best (not perfect, but best) fire system ever devised that I am aware of in an FPS. The fire will die after travelling 100 feet (30 meters) or so for balancing purposes, but just uses flares or molotovs and set fires in multiple locations. The flamethrower is gimmicky, feels like it has a range of about 5 feet and honestly your machete is almost as useful, so stick with the flare gun. You can even see leaves burning off of trees! Now the gameplay is fun to me. I usually walk through sandbox simulators and like doing as I please, and this game delivers that. It isn't quite like Just Cause 3, not as bombastic or fast paced, but it scratches an itch. Slice up enemies with a machete, burns villages (with only bad guys in them), deploy a personal mortar and make your own airstrikes, or simply pop heads from a kilometer or more away (similar to Far Cry 1). The only irritation is that the player character is a complete dunce, has malaria and is thus somehow talked into committing suicide for the villain "because your sick and screwed and why not?" Or you save yourself and implied to die immediately later from the malaria (despite taking medication the whole game). Either way, you are doomed. The devs wanted you to feel the hopelessness of war and not glorify it, but it really came off as preachy and my reaction was "well, how dumb do you have to be to get roped into that? RELOAD!" Ignore the story, focus on the combat and burn everything in sight, then later use the unlimited ammo cheat and you should have a blast in this game. And whatever you do: don't listen to the ass**** at the end and take the battery...

This is really a unique FPS. If you have ever played Crysis, then this one is very similar, minus the high tech suits of course. It's an open-world game set in an unnamed African country, where you are stuck between two warring factions, willing to do anything in order to beat the other, and becoming the leader of the country. To me, the missions and side-missions are somewhat disturbing in nature, with their unhuman motives such as "poisoning the water", "cut off the humanitarian aid" or "poisoning this or that". Anyway, that's the story. Gameplay-wise, this is a FPS that reward prior planning and tactics. Of course in easier difficulties, you can just do the regular 'gun-and-run' fiasco, but on harder modes, that's where Far Cry 2 shines. To assault enemy posts and bases, you need to be ready and make plans. And in FC2 you are provided with countless options to suit your style of play. Do you strike at night, when it's easier to stalk around silently but with limiting visibility, or attack at noon where you can easily spot your targets? Suppressed weapons, or mega loud and powerful ones? Set up traps to stop incoming vehicle convoys, or just shoot a mortar shell from far away? Or maybe I should just set the grass on fire and let wind do the job, spreading the wildfire to the enemies. In FC2 it's all about choice and planning. Of course the driving parts are the boring side, but the guns are very satisfying.