Far Cry 2 will severely disappoint you if you expect a story-driven game that guides you through it. The missions are generic at best. Similar contacts will give you similar missions. All the time. There are assassinations, attacks on convoys and the slightly more varied story missions., but usually you have to kill people, get something or blow something up. There are two factions in the game, but you cannot become part of one. You always have to eventually do all the missions for either faction to progress in the story. And everyone will always try to kill you on sight. During the faction missions the bosses tell you that this is because the missions are secret and the goons don't know about them. This explanation is flimsy, to say the least. And the checkpoints respawn so quickly that there's really no value in attacking one unless you want something from in there. They also make the roads pretty useless. If you want to go somewhere without a fight, you will have to go offroad. So this doesn't sound all that great so far, right? And yet, I have come to love this game because I have accepted that it is a sandbox game. The missions are setups for you to go somewhere and play the game. And gameplay is what makes his game so great. The gunplay is outstanding. The fact that your selection of weapons is limited to three guns at a time makes you think about how you want to approach a confrontation. You have to plan your attacks, especially on higher difficulties. The AI uses the environment very well and is surprisingly challenging. I have rarely experienced gunfights as tense as the standoffs in this game when you fight your way through a guard post with an assault rifle, moving from cover to cover. After a while I even could accept why everyone attacks me. This is a warzone. The civilians are mostly out. Someone who does not belong to your own faction must be an enemy. So shoot first, ask later. Play it like a sandbox game. Play it slow. You decide what you do.
